Scottish Human Rights Law Group

This was an appeal against conviction of two charges of lewd, indecent and libidinous practices. The police officers who were witnesses in the case against the accused were stationed at Airdrie and Motherwell. At the end of his trial it emerged that the forewoman of the jury had trained with the police in Lanark, had worked as a special constable in 1999 and had been a police constable between 2000 and 2001.  

When this information emerged she was discharged from further jury service on the ground of her statutory ineligibility therefor. The accused argued that the fact of her ineligibility for jury service meant that the verdict against him could not be sustained as in breach of the Article 6 requirements of impartiality.  The court dismissed this argument relying on the Section 1(4) of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Scotland Act 1980 which provides that the fact that a person serving on a jury was ineligible for jury service would “not in itself affect the validity of any verdict returned by that jury in the trial”.  The court further noted that there was no suggestion that the juror had any personal connection with the accused’s case or with any witness and (accordingly ?) there was no reason why an informed observer could reasonably have concluded that the verdict in his trial lacked the appearance of impartiality.