Lady Scott | |
---|---|
Senator of the College of Justice | |
Assumed office 2012 | |
Nominated by | Alex Salmond As First Minister |
Appointed by | Elizabeth II |
Personal details | |
Born | Margaret Elizabeth Scott 1960 (age 61–62) Nairobi,Kenya |
Profession | Advocate |
Website | Judiciary of Scotland |
Margaret Elizabeth Scott,Lady Scott (born 1960,Nairobi,Kenya) is a Scottish lawyer who was appointed a judge in 2012.
Scott was born in 1960 in Nairobi,Kenya. [1] She graduated from University of Edinburgh with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree and from the University of Strathclyde with a Diploma in Legal Practice (DipLP). [2]
Scott was admitted as a solicitor in 1989, [2] and she was called to the bar in Scotland (the Faculty of Advocates) in 1991. [3] She "took silk" (became a Queen's Counsel) in 2002. [4] She has acted as lead counsel in a number of high-profile appeal cases such as the Lockerbie bombing and the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars,in which she defended Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Thomas "TC" Campbell,respectively. She was also successful in the appeal case of Kim Galbraith,whose murder conviction for shooting her policeman husband was reduced to diminished responsibility.
On 6 November 2008,Scott applied to the Court of Criminal Appeal for Megrahi's release on bail pending the second appeal against his conviction at the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial in 2001. The three judges reserved their judgment on the application. [5] A week later,Megrahi's bail application was refused. [6] Megrahi was told he would remain in jail for the duration of his second appeal. [7]
From 2003 to 2012,Scott was a part-time sheriff. [2] On 2 November 2012,she was installed as a Senator of the College of Justice, [8] taking the judicial title Lady Scott. [9]
Scott provoked public anger in July 2013 when sentencing a man convicted of several incidences of rape,as she appeared to praise him for having overcome his difficult background and succeeded at running a business. Her comment was viewed as inappropriate,with the Scottish Conservative Chief Whip John Lamont arguing that,"plenty of people have had tough lives ... but don’t rape anyone." [10]
In March 2017,Scott granted a man who confessed to the rape of a 12-year-old child an absolute discharge. Although Scott acknowledged that Scottish law dictates an individual under the age of 13 is considered incapable of giving consent in any circumstance,she stated that the victim was not distressed and that all eyewitnesses believed her to be over 16. [11] Rape Crisis England and Wales critiqued Scott's ruling,saying that,as a 12-year-old has no legal capacity to consent,sexual activity with them is always illegal. Moreover,it is an adult's responsibility to ensure that their partner is capable of giving consent. [12] In a letter published after the trial,the victim claimed that she was unconscious at the time of the attack,further calling into question her ability to consent. [13]
Scott's partner is Frank Richard Crowe,a sheriff. [14] Together they have one son. [2]
Kenneth Wright MacAskill is a Scottish politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for East Lothian since 2019. He previously served as Cabinet Secretary for Justice from 2007 to 2014 and was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 1999 to 2016. A former member of the Scottish National Party (SNP),he defected to the Alba Party in 2021,and serves as their depute leader.
The Scottish court in the Netherlands was a special sitting of the High Court of Justiciary set up under Scots law in a former United States Air Force base,Camp Zeist in Utrecht,in the Netherlands,for the trial of two Libyans charged with 270 counts of murder in connection with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie,Scotland,on 21 December 1988. A school on the former base was converted into a judicial court for the trial.
The High Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. The High Court is both a trial court and a court of appeal. As a trial court,the High Court sits on circuit at Parliament House or in the adjacent former Sheriff Court building in the Old Town in Edinburgh,or in dedicated buildings in Glasgow and Aberdeen. The High Court sometimes sits in various smaller towns in Scotland,where it uses the local sheriff court building. As an appeal court,the High Court sits only in Edinburgh. On one occasion the High Court of Justiciary sat outside Scotland,at Zeist in the Netherlands during the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial,as the Scottish Court in the Netherlands. At Zeist the High Court sat both as a trial court,and an appeal court for the initial appeal by Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
A sheriff court is the principal local civil and criminal court in Scotland,with exclusive jurisdiction over all civil cases with a monetary value up to £100,000,and with the jurisdiction to hear any criminal case except treason,murder,and rape which are in the exclusive jurisdiction of the High Court of Justiciary. Though the sheriff courts have concurrent jurisdiction with the High Court over armed robbery,drug trafficking,and sexual offences involving children,the vast majority of these cases are heard by the High Court. Each court serves a sheriff court district within one of the six sheriffdoms of Scotland. Each sheriff court is presided over by a sheriff,who is a legally qualified judge,and part of the judiciary of Scotland.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was a Libyan who was head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines,director of the Centre for Strategic Studies in Tripoli,Libya,and an alleged Libyan intelligence officer. On 31 January 2001,Megrahi was convicted,by a panel of three Scottish judges sitting in a special court at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands,of 270 counts of murder for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie,Scotland,on 21 December 1988 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. His co-accused,Lamin Khalifah Fhimah,was found not guilty and was acquitted.
The Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial began on 3 May 2000,11 years,4 months and 13 days after the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 on 21 December 1988. The 36-week bench trial took place at a specially convened Scottish Court in the Netherlands set up under Scots law and held at a disused United States Air Force base called Camp Zeist near Utrecht.
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government,established by the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.
Robert Black is Professor Emeritus of Scots Law at the University of Edinburgh. He has been an Advocate in Scotland since 1972,was in practice at the Bar and became a QC in 1987.
Herbert Swire,best known as Jim Swire,is an English doctor best known for his involvement in the aftermath of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103,in which his daughter Flora was killed. Swire lobbied toward a solution for the difficulties in bringing suspects in the original bombing to trial,and later advocated the retrial and release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi,the originally convicted suspect in the case. Swire also carried a fake bomb onto an aircraft as a demonstration of lax security.
Tony Gauci was the proprietor of Mary's House,a clothes shop in Tower Road,Sliema,Malta,who was a witness in the prosecution of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi in relation to the Lockerbie Bombing.
Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. The transatlantic leg of the route was operated by Clipper Maid of the Seas,a Boeing 747-121 registered N739PA. Shortly after 19:00 on 21 December 1988,while the aircraft was in flight over the Scottish town of Lockerbie,it was destroyed by a bomb that had been planted on board,killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew in what became known as the Lockerbie bombing. Large sections of the aircraft crashed in a residential street in Lockerbie,killing 11 residents. With a total of 270 fatalities,it is the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United Kingdom,as well as its deadliest aviation disaster.
Rape is a type of sexual assault initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force,under threat or manipulation,by impersonation,or with a person who is incapable of giving valid consent.
Hans Köchler's Lockerbie trial observer mission stemmed from the dispute between the United Kingdom,the United States,and Libya concerning arrangements for the trial of two Libyans accused of causing the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie on 21 December 1988.
Mebo Telecommunications AG is owned by Swiss businessmen Erwin Meister and Edwin Bollier.
Aamer Anwar is a Scottish political activist and lawyer of Pakistani background. He was an active participant in the Stop the War Coalition,and campaigned against the 31st G8 summit at Gleneagles. He has been a longstanding critic of the Dungavel Detention Centre for failed asylum seekers,and is a trustee of the Time for Inclusive Education charity for LGBT-inclusive education in Scottish schools.
In common law jurisdictions,statutory rape is nonforcible sexual activity in which one of the individuals is below the age of consent. Although it usually refers to adults engaging in sexual contact with minors under the age of consent,it is a generic term,and very few jurisdictions use the actual term statutory rape in the language of statutes.
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted on 31 January 2001 by a special Scottish Court in the Netherlands for the bomb attack on Pan Am Flight 103 on 21 December 1988 over Lockerbie. After he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer,he was released from prison on compassionate grounds on 20 August 2009,having served 8½years of a life sentence. His release was authorised by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill. The decision attracted significant news coverage,engendering widespread celebration in Libya,a largely hostile reaction in the United States and a more equally divided reaction in Britain.
Events from the year 2001 in Scotland.
Nicholas Alahverdian,also known as Nicholas Rossi among other aliases,is an American sex offender who faked his own death in 2020.
McNally v R [Crim 1051 (2013)],is a 2013 court decision in which the English and Wales Court of Appeals (EWCA) ruled that Scottish student Justine McNally's prior conviction of six counts of sexual assault by penetration would be upheld. McNally's sentence,however,was reduced. The convictions were made under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Various other cases were explored to maintain the conviction,expanding the previously slim "rape by deception" laws. McNally v R was one of the first cases to display gender fraud or gender deception arguments.
A 12-year-old child does not legally have the capacity to give their consent and sexual activity with them is always therefore a sexual offence. It's any adult’s legal and moral responsibility to actively seek and be sure they have received the other person’s consent for any and all sexual activity with them. This includes making sure that that person has the freedom and capacity to give their consent. For example, if someone is unsure as to whether the person they're with is too drunk to freely consent, they should not have sex with them.
It was said that I consented but how can someone consent when they can't even talk?