Colin Boyd, Baron Boyd of Duncansby

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Colin Boyd, Baron Boyd of Duncansby, PC, QC, (born June 7, 1953) was Lord Advocate for Scotland from February 24, 2000 until his resignation on October 4, 2006[1]. On April 11, 2006, Downing Street announced that Colin Boyd would take a seat as a crossbench life peer[2]; however he took the Labour whip after resigning as Lord Advocate[3]. He was formally introduced into the House of Lords on July 3, 2006[4].

Contents 1 Legal evolution 2 Political career 3 Lockerbie trial 4 Fingerprint controversy 5 SCCRC 6 Publications 7 External links 8 See also

[edit] Legal evolution

Lord Boyd's title is taken from Duncansby Head in Caithness – a favourite spot for family outings – when he was a child living in Wick. He was educated at Wick High School and George Watson's College, Edinburgh and graduated BA (Econ) from Manchester University in politics and economics, and LLB from Edinburgh University. He was a solicitor in private practice before being called to the Scottish Bar in 1983. Boyd was an Advocate Depute from 1993 to 1995 and took Silk (as Queen's Counsel) in 1995. He is a legal Associate of the Royal Town Planning Institute. As an Advocate he built up a practice in administrative law.

[edit] Political career

As a university student, he joined the Labour Party but left to join the breakaway Scottish Labour Party, sharing the SLP founder Jim Sillars' distrust of the mainstream Labour Party to follow through on its commitment to devolution. Boyd stood as a parliamentary candidate for the SLP at the 1979 general election but garnered only 176 votes. When the SLP disbanded, after its failure to make an impact at that election, he decided to rejoin the Labour Party rather than follow Sillars into the Scottish National Party. Following the 1997 general election, he was appointed Solicitor General for Scotland. He was promoted to Lord Advocate in 2000 upon the elevation of Andrew Hardie to the bench. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 2000.

The announcement on April 11, 2006, of Boyd's appointment to the House of Lords as Baron Boyd of Duncansby, of Duncansby in Caithness created controversy in Scottish political circles [5]. But Lord Boyd said:

"I remain firmly committed to the full time role of Lord Advocate, leading the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, and seeing through the programme of reform I initiated four years ago. 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 Scotland's interests at home and at UK level."

[edit] Lockerbie trial

Lord Boyd of Duncansby's role as Lord Advocate featured leading the prosecution in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial between May 2000 and January 2001. Of the two defendants, one – Fhimah – was acquitted and the other – Megrahi – was convicted on January 31, 2001 of 270 counts of murder, and sentenced to 27 years in jail. Controversy continues to surround Megrahi's conviction despite the rejection of his appeal on March 14, 2002. Evidence presented at the trial has been called into question and doubts have been expressed about the reliability of several key prosecution witnesses. According to The Sunday Times of October 23, 2005 former Lord Advocate, Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, described one such witness as "not quite the full shilling" and "an apple short of a picnic". Boyd has demanded that Lord Fraser should issue a public statement clarifying what he actually said about this witness, and what he meant by those remarks.

[edit] Fingerprint controversy

In February 2006, Boyd was drawn into the PC Shirley McKie fingerprint controversy. PC McKie had been wrongly accused by four experts from the Scottish Criminal Record Office(SCRO) of leaving her thumb print at a murder scene in January 1997. McKie was arrested in March 1998, charged with perjury but at her trial in May 1999 the SCRO fingerprint evidence was rejected, and she was acquitted. A senior Scottish police officer, James Mackay QPM, was appointed in June 2000 by the Crown Office to investigate the matter. Mackay's interim report in August 2000 suggested that the evidence given in court by the four SCRO personnel amounted to 'collective manipulation and collective collusion'. As a result, the four fingerprint officers were immediately suspended by SCRO, and Scottish ministers were informed.

Mackay's final confidential report was presented to the Crown Office in October 2000. The report remained under wraps until extracts were published in the Scotsman newspaper in February 2006. Mackay had concluded that 'cover-up and criminality' had taken place at SCRO and recommended that the four fingerprint officers should be prosecuted. However, the Scotsman also revealed that the Lord Advocate had decided in September 2001 to take no action in response to Mackay's recommendation, and the four SCRO officers were reinstated.

Boyd now faces calls to explain to what extent his decision not to prosecute the SCRO personnel in the autumn of 2000 was related to the then ongoing Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial, where he was leading the prosecution. With the eyes of the world focused upon the Scottish judicial system, it could have undermined the Crown's case to have the SCRO scrutinized and its fingerprint experts prosecuted for covering up acts of criminality. Veteran campaigner, Tam Dalyell, has asked Boyd 'to consider his position', while former MSP Mike Russell maintained that he cannot continue as Lord Advocate.

[edit] SCCRC

For more than two years, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) has been conducting a wide-ranging investigation into Megrahi's conviction, and is expected to decide in the first half of 2007 whether to refer the case back to the Court of Criminal Appeal for a fresh appeal.

[edit] Publications

Boyd contributed to a book The Legal Aspects of Devolution published just before the 1997 General election.

[edit] External links

• Police investigations of "politically sensitive" or high profile crimes
• Cover-up, conspiracy and the Lockerbie bomb connection
• Lord Boyd explains McKie case prosecution decision, but is silent on any Lockerbie connection
• Honour for prosecutor causes row
• James Mackay's confidential report
• James Mackay's precognition
• Lord Boyd announces his resignation

[edit] See also

• Pan Am Flight 103
• Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial
• Investigation into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
• Alternative theories into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
• List of Scottish Executive Ministerial Teams
• Lord Fraser of Carmyllie

Legal Offices
Preceded by: Paul Cullen	Solicitor General for Scotland 1997-2000	Succeeded by: Neil Davidson
Preceded by: Andrew Hardie	Lord Advocate 2000–2006	Succeeded by: Elish Angiolini