Criminal Law
Miscarriages of Justice
October 26th
Glasgow
Miscarriages of Justice – what causes them and how can they be corrected?
October 26th
2 - 5pm
Speakers: Gerard Sinclair; Raymond McMenamin
Glasgow; Venue TBC
From the early days of the infamous Oscar Slater trial, to the media campaigns in the 1970s and 80s on behalf of the Birmingham 6 and the Guildford Four, and through popular investigative TV programmes such as "Rough Justice" and more recently Netflix's "Making a Murderer", the public and the media have always been fascinated with miscarriages of justice and what causes them.
The Criminal Justice Process is only human. Mistakes can and will happen – at different stages in the process and for many different reasons.
This seminar will look at the various ways in which a miscarriage can arise and at the methods currently available within the criminal justice process to seek to cure such miscarriages. It will also consider the type of matters which may give rise to new miscarriages in the future.
Gerard Sinclair, the Chief Executive of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission will consider the causes of miscarriages of justice and how this statutory body was set up to investigate and review such cases. As Principal Solicitor of the SCCRC for the last fourteen years Mr Sinclair has been responsible for the day to day management of the Commission’s caseload and has been involved in over three quarters of the total number of cases ever considered by the Commission (presently over 2300 cases), including the review of the conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the person convicted of the Lockerbie Bombing.
Raymond McMenamin, an experienced solicitor advocate, will look at how to remedy miscarriages through the process of appeal after trial and will consider some of the more recent appeal court decisions and what effect these may have on future procedure.
The seminar will help delegates understand how to best deal with the issues of miscarriages as they arise and to assess which method of review may be of most benefit to their clients.
The event begins at 2pm. Delegate registration is open from 1:30pm.
Gerard Sinclair is the Chief Executive and Principal Solicitor of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. The SCCRC is the statutory body with the responsibility for investigating and reviewing possible miscarriages of justice in Scotland. Prior to joining the Commission, Mr Sinclair was a solicitor in private practice for 18 years and a senior partner with a law firm in Glasgow. He is dual qualified in both Scottish and English Law and in his earlier legal career was involved in conducting a wide variety of criminal, civil and commercial litigation.
He has previously served as a member of the Council of the Law Society of Scotland and as a member of the Judicial Council for Scotland. Other public appointments include being a member of Lord Coulsfield`s Reference Group on “The Law and Practice of Disclosure” in 2007 and a member of Lord Carloway`s Review Group on “Criminal Law and Practice” in 2011. He is currently a member of the Advisory Council of the Judicial Institute for Scotland. Mr Sinclair has sat throughout Scotland as a part-time sheriff for over ten years and, in 2015, was appointed as a shrieval convener for the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland.
Raymond McMenamin is a solicitor advocate and a Board member of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. Raymond trained in the Crown Office and was a Procurator Fiscal Depute in Linlithgow and Glasgow between 1982 and 1984 before going into private practice. A partner in KW Law, West Lothian for thirty years and senior partner there for the last twenty, he resigned earlier this year to concentrate on his work in other areas.
As a Solicitor Advocate since 2000 and accredited senior since 2011, he has extensive experience in criminal law and continues to defend cases in the High Court. In 2007 he was appointed as a Part Time Sheriff and was President of the Part Time Sheriffs' Association from 2013 to 2016. In 2015 he became a shrieval convener of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland.
