Scottish Criminal Case Review Commission v Swire

DOI10.1177/0022018317734703
Published date01 October 2017
Date01 October 2017
AuthorRobert S Shiels
Subject MatterComments
Comment
Scottish Criminal Case Review
Commission vSwire
Robert S Shiels
Parliament House, UK
Abstract
The disaster over Lockerbie, a small town in Scotland, in 1988 was an atrocious event that
resulted in the deaths of 259 crew and passengers, as well as 11 residents all of whom were
killed when the disintegrating aircraft fell to the ground. Twenty-seven years after the event the
criminal case law continues to accumulate.
Keywords
Major crime of international interest, HM Advocate vMegrahi, review of conviction,
competence of request for reference by relatives of deceased
It was too optimistic, on reflection, to suggest in an earlier note for the Journal of Criminal Law some
22 years and 13 reported cases after the Lockerbie disaster of 21 December 1988 that the whole business
from a legal point of view had been concluded.
1
Comparatively recently, and by then 27 years after the
crime, another reported case was added to the legal literature concerning the event, at least as far as it
concerns the law of Scotland.
Moreover, there is the prospect of yet more criminal litigation in the form of another referral to the
appeal court in Scotland: In July 2017, there were lodged at the office of the Scottish Criminal Cases
Review Commission (‘the Commission’) in Glasgow files with unspecified papers that were ‘based on
concerns’ over the evidence that resulted in the serious charges being held proved.
2
Review of Conviction
The Commission was put on a statutory basis with powers to refer to appellate judges a whole case for
consideration where there was considered to be a possibility of a miscarriage of justice.
3
The deceased
Corresponding author:
Robert S Shiels, Solicitor in Scotland, SSC Library, Parliament House, Edinburgh EH1 1RF, UK.
E-mail: robertshiels@hotmail.com
1. R.S. Shiels, ‘The End of the Lockerbie Case’ (2010) 74 JCL 27.
2. The Times: Scotland, Wednesday July 5, 2017, pp. 1–2.
3. See Shiels, above n. 1.
The Journal of Criminal Law
2017, Vol. 81(5) 356–358
ªThe Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0022018317734703
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