Notes Of Appeal Against Conviction And Sentence By (first) Paul Green, (second) Lee Noonan And (third) Robbie Darren Brown
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judge | Lord Turnbull,Lord Drummond Young,Lord Justice General |
| Neutral Citation | [2019] HCJAC 76 |
| Court | High Court of Justiciary |
| Date | 14 November 2019 |
| Docket Number | HCA/2019/173/XC, HCA/2019/57/XC |
| Published date | 03 December 2019 |
APPEAL COURT, HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY
[2019] HCJAC 76
HCA/2019/173/XC, HCA/2019/57/XC
and HCA/2019/56/XC
Lord Justice General
Lord Drummond Young
Lord Turnbull
OPINION OF THE COURT
delivered by LORD CARLOWAY, the LORD JUSTICE GENERAL
in
NOTES OF APPEAL AGAINST CONVICTION AND SENTENCE
by
(FIRST) PAUL GREEN, (SECOND) LEE NOONAN
and (THIRD) ROBBIE DARREN BROWN
Appellants
against
HER MAJESTY’S ADVOCATE
Respondent
Appellant (Green): J Scott QC (sol adv), Considine (sol adv); Paterson Bel l
(for Fitzpatrick & Co, Glasgow)
Appellant (Noonan): O’Rourke QC, Findlater; Faculty Services Ltd
(for Bridge Litigation, Glasgow)
Appellant (Brown): CM Mitchell QC, Armstrong; Gilfedder & McInnes
(for Callahan McKeown, Paisley)
Respondent: Fraser AD; the Crown Agent
14 November 2019
Introduction
[1] Two issues are raised in these three conviction appeals. The first is the nature and
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extent to which a trial judge may interrupt the examination and cross-examination of an
accused. The second is the adequacy of the judge’s directions on antecedent plan concert.
[2] The second and third appellants challenge the level of the punishment parts, which
were imposed in conjunction with the sentences of detention or imprisonment for life, on the
basis of their relative youth.
General
[3] On 7 December 2018, at the High Court in Glasgow, the appellants were convicted of
a number of offences including that:
“(5) on 23 February 2018 at ... 19 Copland Quadrant, Glasgow, you … did assault
James Watt, residing there and did strike him repeatedly on the body with knives …,
strike him on the body with an unknown object or objects and a golf club and
otherwise inflict blunt force trauma to his head and body, and you did murder him
and you Paul Green did previously evidence malice and ill will towards him;…”.
[4] On 29 January 2019 the trial judge imposed sentences of detention or imprisonment
for life on each appellant. He selected punishment parts of 18 years for Mr Green, 21 years
for Mr Noonan and 18 years and 5 months for Mr Brown.
The evidence in the Crown case
[5] Unfortunately, the trial judge has not produced a readily understandable,
chronological account of events, as revealed in the Crown case. The narrative which follows
is gleaned from his three different reports, the Closed Circuit Television logs and the parties’
Cases and Arguments.
[6] At about 1.00pm on 23 February 2018 the deceased, namely James “Scudger” Watt,
aged 40, assaulted John Mitchell, who was regarded by Mr Green as his father. Mr Green,
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who was aged 30, arrived at the scene in his white BMW. He offered to take his father to
hospital. His father was friendly with Pamela Troy, who was the mother of Mr Noonan and
who also knew the deceased. Mr Green drove to Carmichael Street in order to look for the
deceased. He had a knife and a pick axe shaft with him.
[7] The events which followed occurred in the vicinity of Carmichael Street and Copland
Quadrant, whose gardens back onto each other. Mr Noonan, who was aged 20, lived with
his mother in a ground floor flat at 130 Carmichael Street. The deceased lived in a ground
floor flat at 19 Copland Quadrant. A great deal of the evidence which incriminated the
appellants came from CCTV cameras which focused on: Carmichael Street itself; the front
close entrance to no. 130; and the back garden of no. 130, which also showed the part of the
Copland Quadrant gardens.
[8] At about 1.30pm Mr Green attacked the deceased in Carmichael Street by repeatedly
striking him with the pick axe shaft. The assault ceased when Mr Green was told by a
bystander that the person, whom he was attacking, was not “Scudger”. This was not true.
Having made some phone calls, Mr Green reversed his car, but remained in Carmichael
Street.
[9] At about the same time, Mr Noonan and Mr Brown, who was aged 18, exited
through a window at the rear of Mr Noonan’s flat. Mr Noonan was wearing a scarf pulled
up over his lower face. He was carrying a knife. Mr Brown was wearing a hoodie with the
hood up and a scarf over his lower face. He too had a knife. Mr Noonan had acquired a golf
club. They both made several sorties in the vicinity of the gardens before returning to the
rear of the common close at no. 130. Shortly afterwards they came out of the front of the
close, armed as before. This activity was not connected with Mr Green or the deceased.
Mr Noonan and Mr Brown had had some form of confrontation with a group of workers,
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