Colin Boyd, Baron Boyd of Duncansby

Colin Boyd, Baron Boyd of Duncansby PC , QC (* 7. June 1953 in Falkirk ) is a British politician of the Labor Party and a lawyer .

life and career

He attended Wick High School and George Watson's College in Edinburgh and graduated from Manchester University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political and Economic Sciences ("Economics") . He graduated from Edinburgh University with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB). He worked as a lawyer in his own practice from 1978 to 1982 before he was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1983 . In 1991 he became a “Legal Associate” of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI). From 1993 to 1995 he was an “Advocate Depute”. In 1995 he became a Crown Attorney ("Queen's Counsel"). His main focus was on administrative law.

As a university student, he entered the Labor Party , but left it again to join the split-off Scottish Labor Party (1976-1981). He shared the distrust of the SLP founder Jim Sillars towards the Labor Party and its way of implementing regional political independence for Scotland. Boyd ran for the 1979 general election for the SLP, but received only 176 votes. When the SLP disbanded after the election failure, Boyd returned to Labor, unlike Sillars, who joined the Scottish National Party .

After the 1997 election, Boyd was appointed Solicitor General for Scotland . He was promoted to Lord Advocate on February 24, 2000 after Andrew Hardie was appointed judge. Boyd was named Privy Counselor that year. On October 4, 2006, he resigned as Lord Advocate. Boyd left the Faculty of Advocates in 2007 to work as a consultant for the law firm Dundas & Wilson . He told The Herald newspaper , “This is the first time I know of. I don't think any Lord Advocate has ever done this before: retire from the judiciary and become a solicitor . "

Membership in the House of Lords

On April 11, 2006, Downing Street announced that Boyd would receive a seat as a Crossbench Life peer . However, after his resignation as Lord Advocate, he became a member of the Labor Group. After the announcement of Boyd's appointment as a member of the House of Lords , this nomination caused a sensation and a lively discussion in Scotland . Opposition politicians criticized in particular that the appointment would give the independent position of the highest representative of the judiciary an originally unintended, stronger political weight.

Boyd defended his appointment: “I remain committed to the role of Lord Advocate in running the Crown Office , as well as remaining Prosecutor Fiscal Service and pursuing a series of reforms that I did four ago Years ago. The appointment to the House of Lords is a natural extension of my duties as Lord Advocate and a development which will allow me to represent the interests of Scotland within and at the level of the United Kingdom. "

He was formally admitted to the House of Lords on July 3, 2006 . Boyd's title comes from Duncansby Head in Caithness , a popular spot for family outings since he lived in Wick as a child . In the upper house, he has been a member of a special committee, the “Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform”, since 2007. Boyd cites constitutional , criminal justice and environmental issues as his political interests . From 2008 to 2009 he was a member of the Committee on Scottish Devolution.

Public controversy

Lockerbie process

Boyd's role as Lord Advocate included leading the investigation into the Lockerbie attack between May 2000 and January 2001. Of the two accused, one, Lamin Khalifah Fhimah , was acquitted; the other, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi , was found guilty of 270 murders on January 31, 2001 and sentenced to 27 years in prison. Despite the rejection of the appeal on March 14, 2002, the conviction of Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi remained controversial. Evidence from the trial has been challenged and doubts have been raised about the credibility of key witnesses. According to The Sunday Times of October 23, 2005, former Lord Advocate Peter Fraser described the main witness, a Maltese shopkeeper , as "not quite the full shilling" as well as "an apple short of a picnic." Boyd asked Fraser for clarification of his testimony about this witness and to clarify what he meant by these remarks.

Fingerprint affair

In February 2006, Boyd was drawn into the so-called “fingerprint controversy” in the criminal case against Shirley McKie , which ended in an out-of-court settlement with £ 750,000 in damages. As Solicitor General, Boyd was responsible for the prosecution of Detective Constable (DC) McKie. McKie was accused by four Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO) forensic investigation officers of leaving fingerprints on the scene of a murder in January 1997. McKie had denied this, however. McKie was arrested on charges of perjury in March 1998 , but the fingerprints were dropped as evidence during her trial in May 1999 and she was acquitted.

In June 2000, a senior Scottish police officer , James Mackay of the Crown Office , was appointed to investigate the case. His interim report of August 2000 indicated that the evidence had come about through the collective manipulation and collusion of the crime scene agents. The four officers were immediately suspended from SCRO and Scottish ministers were informed. Mackay's confidential final report was presented to Boyd in October 2000. This remained unpublished until excerpts were published in The Scotsman newspaper in February 2006. Mackay concluded that "cover-up and crime" had taken place at the SCRO and recommended prosecution of those involved. The newspaper also reported that in September 2001, Boyd decided not to take any action. The four officers were reinstated. In June 2007, The Scotsman questioned how Boyd's decision not to initiate criminal proceedings against the SCRO officials had anything to do with the investigation into the Lockerbie attack, where he was prosecuting . With the eyes of the world on the Scottish judicial system, the credibility of the Scottish judiciary with regard to the Lockiebie trial could have been undermined if the SCRO case had been pursued. Tam Dalyell , a former Labor MP, asked Boyd to reconsider his position, while Scottish MP Michael Russell insisted Boyd could not continue his work as Lord Advocate. A committee of inquiry into the case was set up and started work on June 2, 2009. Boyd's successor, Elish Angiolini , agreed to testify before him.

Offices and honors

In 2000 he became a Fellow of the Society of Arts . He has been a member of the Law Society of Scotland since 2007 .

Publications

• 1997: The Legal Aspects of Devolution (Articles)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Colin Boyd ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Vita at the Commission on Scottish Devolution 
2. ↑ Top law officer resigns from post BBC News, October 4, 2006
3. ↑ Colin Boyd QC ( Memento of the original from July 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Vita on the website of the law firm Dundas & Wilson  
4. ↑ Boyd steps away from the bar in: The Scotsman, May 16, 2007
5. ^ New working life peers unveiled BBC News of April 11, 2006
6. ↑ Lord Boyd of Duncansby documentation of the change at TheyWorkForYou.com
7. ^ Honor for prosecutor causes row BBC News, April 10, 2006
8. ^ Lord Advocate Appointed to the House of Lords Website of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
9. ↑ Lord Boyd of Duncansby Colin Boyd on the House of Lords page
10. ^ Fraser: my Lockerbie trial doubts in: The Times, October 23, 2005
11. ↑ Inquiry into Lockerbie link to McKie prints 'cover-up' in: The Scotsman, June 4, 2007
12. ^ Cover-up, conspiracy and the Lockerbie bomb connection in: Scotland on Sunday, February 19, 2006
13. ↑ Lord Advocate to appear before Shirley McKie fingerprint inquiry in: The Times, October 21, 2008