Jethart Justice
The freelance journalist, broadcaster and former SNP staffer Mark Hirst was last week acquitted at Jedburgh Sheriff Court, after a very short trial, of a charge of threatening behaviour against the anonymous complainers who made false allegations of sexual misconduct against the former First Minister, Alex Salmond.
Many hundreds of years ago a very different type of law used to operate in Jedburgh, or Jethart as it’s known locally. “Jethart Justice” was once meted out to the Reivers – the lawless cattle stealers and highwaymen who used to range freely in that part of the Borders – which was that the local prosecutors would hang suspects first, then try the dead men afterwards. Some believe it’s where the concept of lynching originated.
Anyone who thinks those days are over doesn’t know the Scottish media.
Just as with Salmond himself, Hirst was subjected to a trial in the press long before he saw an actual court. Rape Crisis Scotland, a Scottish Government-funded mouthpiece which still refuses to accept the jury’s verdicts in the Salmond case, dubbed comments made by Hirst in the video for which he was arrested “sinister” and “threatening”, in a seemingly transparent attempt to prejudice the trial in which the question of whether they were threatening or not was in fact to be determined.
For good measure they then comprehensively set the presumption of innocence on fire by adding “This behaviour should be condemned in the strongest possible terms by all parties” in a statement reported widely in Scottish newspapers, who also emphasised Hirst’s links to Sputnik, a Russian state-owned broadcaster.
But the truth of events hasn’t been aired until now – there was remarkably little media coverage of the acquittal compared to the amount there had been of his arrest and charging – so Wings spoke to Mark Hirst to find out what really happened.
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WINGS: When did you first know something was amiss?
MARK HIRST: The first I knew of any prospect of police involvement was when Paul Hutcheon of the Daily Record contacted me on 31 March to tell me that certain unnamed individuals had made a complaint about a video I’d posted on YouTube the day before.
He’d been tipped off by a freelance hack called Russell Findlay, who’s now Director of Communications for the Scottish Conservatives.
I’d heard nothing from the police, directly or indirectly. I assumed it was the kind of thing certain Scottish-Government-funded organisations say when they want to splash a story but have no real intention of actually doing so.
I spoke with a local police officer I know and he said they’d heard nothing. Days went by and still I heard nothing, so I decided to phone the police in Edinburgh and asked specifically if there was an outstanding complaint against me. They had no record of it.
And so, as the weeks went by, I went on with my lockdown life until one sunny morning in April when five plain-clothes detectives appeared at my door.
[The image below is from Mark’s front-door security camera. The faces of the officers have been blurred.]
WINGS: What happened then?
MH: I was informed that my computers, and phone, holding the details of my entire life, were to be seized and examined. It was a surreal experience, like the final scene of a bad Cold War thriller. I was asked to slowly step outside and then three of the five detectives entered my home and began searching under the bed, the wardrobe, shelves, everywhere.
I began to wonder if I’d unconsciously committed a murder in my sleep and they were actually looking for a body. But as the Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) spoke to me outside, he confirmed the reason for the raid – the 2m 39s video I’d recorded the previous month while walking in a field miles from anywhere.
The video had only been published as an unlisted link on YouTube, with a link published via my Twitter profile. It wasn’t possible for a casual user to locate it via either a Google or YouTube search, so it had only had about 100 views.
As the search continued I offered to set the video to private or to delete it – as a gesture of goodwill and to avoid any further alleged offence – whilst their investigations continued. This offer was turned down and I was told if I did change the settings this would amount to “tampering with evidence”.
WINGS: But they didn’t arrest you at the time, did they?
MH: No. They just left with all my stuff. After they were gone I felt shocked and suddenly realised I had no practical way of communicating what had just happened to me to anyone. My laptop, my iPad, my mobile phone and external hard drive had been taken. I got in the car and drove to get a replacement mobile and talk to those I needed to, most obviously a lawyer.
WINGS: It sounds very like the time I was arrested on ridiculous trumped-up charges of “harassing” a mad newspaper hack by fact-checking her stories. Even though all the supposedly offending comments were made on Twitter, and the evidence was therefore on Twitter’s computers and not mine, the police took all my desktop PCs, all my laptops, all my tablets and all my phones.
You think, “Hang on, what do you actually need those for? What do you think you’re going to find, a Word document called ‘ALL MY EVIL PLANS’?” It’s like they’re just using it as an excuse to have a general snoop around in the hope of finding something incriminating totally unrelated to the ostensible offence.
MH: Yep. In light of what subsequently transpired there’s no doubt at all in my mind now that the raid was nothing but a fishing expedition. The police – who confirmed they’d all worked on the Alex Salmond inquiry – had already seen the video in question online and secured a copy. They had no reason to come round in person if they weren’t going to arrest me there and then and take me for questioning.
Instead, they spent the next four weeks trawling through my computers and phone, my browsing history, my photographs, my financial records and my media contacts before finally confirming to my lawyer that they’d found nothing of a criminal nature.
WINGS: But of course, that wasn’t the end of it.
MH: Indeed. At that point they informed me I was being “invited” for interview in Edinburgh with detectives. It’s not a good idea to reject this “invitation”! As I have no previous criminal record and had never been interviewed under caution by police I had no idea what to expect.
On the 12th of May I attended St Leonard’s police station in Edinburgh along with my lawyer. Once through reception I was taken into a side room by the two senior detectives who had supervised the search of my home.
I was formally arrested and then taken downstairs, past the dozen or so cells they have there [St Leonard’s exterior and custody suite pictured below], and formally booked in and my clothes searched. I was then taken into an interview room and my solicitor brought in to observe the interrogation.
I read a prewritten statement outlining the reasons I had for making the video. I was then questioned for around 45 minutes during which, on my lawyer’s advice, I gave “no comment” responses to everything.
WINGS: Yeah, I got the same. The arresting officers refused to let my lawyer see any of the “evidence” beforehand, so she instructed me to flatly “no comment” everything, at which point they’d let her see it and consult with me, and then they’d ask me all the same questions again.
We told them this would be a pointless waste of two hours of everyone’s time since I’d be no-commenting everything until she’d advised me, and that it would save everyone a lot of bother if they just showed her the evidence there and then, but they insisted on going through the whole charade.
MH: Aye. People might think that saying “no comment” for 45 minutes is an easy thing to do. But it’s surprising how difficult it is when you’re being asked, “How long have you lived at your current address?” or “Did you previously work for STV News?” or “Is your middle name John?”. It’s like being on some weird gameshow where they’re trying to trick you into saying something.
But my solicitor had strongly advised me to do it, because once you answer one question you’re obliged to answer them all, in case a court might think you’re being selective about the more ‘probing’ questions.
The most difficult one was when I was shown one of the productions they were going to present as evidence. It was a screenshot of my Twitter account from a month before the video was made, in which my bio read “Spending lockdown sharpening my pitchfork.”
“What did you mean by that reference to a pitchfork?” the female SIO had asked, sternly.
I wanted to respond, “Are you serious? I don’t even own a pitchfork. I’ve never owned a pitchfork, and besides how many people in Scotland over the past 50 years have threatened anyone with a pitchfork?” But you can’t.
WINGS: But in the end you weren’t charged with pitchfork menaces?
MH: Well, sort of. It ended up being cited as an aggravating factor. When the questioning ended I was formally charged, initially under Section 127 (a) of the Communications Act – sending threatening or menacing communications. The Crown Office later changed it to a charge under Section 38 (1) of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act – a breach of the peace by “threatening” behaviour.
The reason for that became apparent at the trial, when it was established that to be guilty of a Section 127 offence you have to have actually sent the alleged offending communication directly to the individual you intended to threaten.
I hadn’t intended to threaten anyone, let alone actually send the video to any of the individuals I referred to in it. That was ultimately accepted by the Crown Fiscal during my trial. The amended charge was a tacit confirmation that they were desperately hunting around trying to find something they could pin on me.
Section 38 also has one of the lowest thresholds when it comes to determining criminality, meaning it’s normally relatively easy to secure a conviction under that section of the law.
My lawyer advised he would meet my outside the police station once I was booked out. I was taken back into the custody area, photographed, swabbed for DNA and had my fingerprints taken.
Just like the search of my home, no COVID-19 social distancing measures were being observed by any of the officers, and nobody was wearing a facemask, even though this was at the height of the first lockdown.
A month later I received the indictment and confirmation that the Crown Office were proceeding with a trial.
WINGS: At which point you have all the grim months of waiting, and being officially out on bail with the constant threat that they could pull you in again. I think it was about 11 weeks before the Met finally told me I wasn’t getting charged because the case against me was so obviously deranged, and it’s a real drag. It’s like they want to wear you down before – in your case – they get you into the dock.
MH: Yeah. In the seven months waiting for my trial to take place it was clear the Crown Office was following an established pattern of delay and obfuscation related to my case. In particular, we made several offers to the Crown Office to have the video set to private so that nobody else could feel “threatened” by it.
But both Police Scotland and the Crown ignored them. It was only after my senior counsel once again offered again to have the video set to private, six months after it was first published, that the Procurator Fiscal agreed.
By that time it had gone from around 100 views immediately before the story first broke to over 5,200 views. The Sheriff at my trial expressed some astonishment that neither the Crown nor the police had taken up our earlier offers to restrict the potential audience.
It was also interesting that none of those 5,200 people had bothered to report it for any violation of terms and conditions on either YouTube or Twitter.
WINGS: How long did the trial actually take in the end?
MH: It was over in 90 minutes. The Crown agreed to drop the allegedly aggravating factor of the ‘pitchfork’ comments and accepted our long list of writers and journalists using phrases like “reap the whirlwind” and “day of reckoning”.
After both counsels had made their arguments the Sheriff ruled straight away that the video was protected under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act as free political expression and acquitted me, saying the video was clearly just commentary on the state of the SNP and that “I do not accept it would cause a reasonable person fear and alarm”.
WINGS: That must have been quite a weight off.
As many readers will know, myself and Craig Murray had undertaken a joint campaign to highlight the abuse of power that was taking place, and we secured a lot of international backing and support, prompting the Lord Advocate himself to respond to a joint open letter signed by thousands of people including a host of prominent international freedom of speech advocates.
Additional focus on our plight was maintained through articles and comments by Tommy Sheridan, Kenny MacAskill MP, Gordon Dangerfield and of course Wings among other well-known bloggers, although there was a very notable silence from some other independence “voices”.
Nonetheless I have so many people to thank, literally thousands of people who have contacted me and offered support before and after the trial. It would take an eternity to detail my individual thanks to them all, so I’d like to offer them here now. Thank you all so much.
WINGS: So why do you think this happened to you? How did such an obviously dodgy prosecution get so far?
MH: There is no question in my mind that this is corruption, and I know it’s a view shared by some elected politicians and senior legal people.
There’s been quite a lot of focus on the amount of taxpayers’ money spent paying Alex’s costs after the atrocious way the Scottish Government proceeded with their unlawful persecution of him.
But there’s been much less interest from the corporate media and political class to explore how much money Police Scotland and the Crown Office have spent on a case which has brought, and is still bringing, the entire Scottish legal system into utter disrepute.
We’re constantly told finances in our criminal justice system are under huge pressure. Yet we know that 22 detectives were tasked with conducting over 700 witness interviews with the aim of dredging up something against Alex Salmond that would bear scrutiny in the High Court, without success. The pathetic return they got for all that effort in terms of charges was embarrassing.
But even Police Scotland and the Crown Office know that however craven our media and political class is, eventually someone is bound to start adding up how much public money they’ve blown on the failed and crooked prosecution of an innocent man. It’ll undoubtedly be millions and millions of pounds.
So to counter this they’ve sent out a posse of their very best to try to hunt down and secure a scalp from anyone who backed him, to at least have something to show for the obscene costs of that massive operation.
My legal team are in no doubt that I would not have faced this prosecution if I hadn’t been a known ally and supporter of Alex Salmond. At least 12 detectives have been engaged on my case – officers that are normally deployed on murder investigations and other serious crime.
Alex has been treated in the most outrageous and grievous manner both by the current ruling political class and certainly at the hands of a malign and utterly corrupt Crown Office.
But his trial and mine also show that despite the best efforts of this corrupt prosecution service in Scotland we still have judges and sheriffs who are simply not going to roll over and take part in this politically-driven action by police and prosecutors. I very much hope that’ll continue to be the case for Craig Murray too.
But much more effort will be needed to shine a light on what’s taking place at the Crown Office and to end these malicious political prosecutions. It’s an ongoing fiasco that doesn’t reflect well on our country, and it’ll have to be addressed directly before we can build the independent and genuinely progressive Scotland that I’m sure most readers will want to see.
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Wings Over Scotland agrees with Mark Hirst. If an independent Scotland is to be a thing worth having, Jethart Justice just won’t do.
This is becoming a dangerous habit. Thank god, in this case , the Sherriff saw sense. I hope he sues for wrongful arrest.
So do we understand who exactly in the Crown office is behind this clear politically motivated attack?
A simple bloody hell is all I can think of to say at the moment.
Bravo ! Honest and heartfelt. The police officers should be charged with harassment.
Mark has behaved openly and honestly from the start. How unlike the home life of our own dear queen (and I don’t mean the windsors). I am willing to chip in and buy him a big, big pitchfork.
Lord woolfe – resign . And I would start having porridge for breakfast.
And SNP MSPs – grow a backbone, pick the honest side and start speaking out. Or you’re toast in May.
Welcome to the SNP’s vision of an Independent Scotland – a dictatorial and corrupt Police-State.
And they expect our votes and to “wheesht for Indy”?
Well they can f*** right off!
FFS. How can the police expect public support in their constant battle against cuts when they can squander resources on such nonsense?
Good god, absolutely sickened by this. Thank you for the light you shine on this festering darkness.
As Mark said “they’ve sent out a posse of their very best to try to hunt down and secure a scalp from anyone who backed him”…I’m now really worried for Craig Murray…..
Helluva story, Mark, almost unbelievable, the going-on of a rogue, corrupt state. Astonishing degree of criminality taking place at the very top of Police Scotland and COPFS.
Once all the perpetrators of Mr Salmond’s miscarriage of justice are dealt with we’ll start on the Lord Advocate, James Wolffe next – his days as chief-crook are numbered.
Regards all commentators eager to deny Mr Salmond’s just verdict, whether in social media, print media or otherwise; in time these people will think twice about blithely slandering innocent victims when they themselves will be taken to task, either by Mr Salmond himself, or through the pages of a crowd-funded site of a so-slandered blog. The days will soon be gone – as will this belligerent First Minister – of riding roughshod over ordinary members of the Scottish public in pursuit of personal gain or power. No more.
First-class interview.
“So do we understand who exactly in the Crown office is behind this clear politically motivated attack?”
We do, but are currently not allowed to say.
Who still feels comfortable living in Sturgeon’s “open, transparent, socially responsible” Scotland?
Thank you, yet again, Rev.
““So do we understand who exactly in the Crown office is behind this clear politically motivated attack?””
“We do, but are currently not allowed to say.”
Will we ever be allowed to know?
Very much hope Craig Murray’s case is thrown out too. I’m listed as a defence witness if not.
Can’t wait to read this one in The Spectator
They can enter and search your house and take your possessions without some sort of warrant ?
Thank god it ended well for you but this is astonishing.
The current SNP are now becoming unelectable
Rev Stuart and Mark Hirst ,
Thanks to both of you for your honesty in reporting the truth ,
I watched the video that Mark made and in no way was it threatening , What Mark said in the video is exactly the same as a lot of people felt at the time and still do feel the same that what happened to Alex Salmond was total corruption by the Snp as they are the Scottish Government .
There needs to be an inquiry into the COPS and Police Scotland’s behaviour in all these matters .
.
It’s getting to the stage where FREEDOM OF SPEECH will not be allowed at all in Scotland and that’s not the Scotland that I was brought up to believe in .
If honest, responsible elected members in the SNP don’t do something very soon Scotland will be declared a failed state, with corruption at the highest level, and Johnson and Co will announce a return to direct rule in time of emergency.
“Will we ever be allowed to know?”
I believe so.
It’s becoming a lot like the Chinese justice system.
Clear corruption and disrespect for human rights.
Never thought I would see this in my life here.
Oh well better pack a toothbrush before we all get sent for re education.
Things is, this will all be dismissed – not because of what actually occurred but because of who Mark Hirst happens to support, or because more generally, he supports an independent Scotland.
This looks terrible. What the hell is going on in Scotland?
Is this the COPFS acting on it’s own? Is it being directed?
Does it matter?
Nicola Sturgeon getting asked just now about the meeting with Geoff Aberdein at the daily briefing but totally deflecting the question .
Innocent people being harassed and charged while guilty people in high places laugh, draw their large taxpayer funded salaries, and move others around like pawns on a chessboard.
That’s what’s been happening as Stinky Sturgeon stinks out Scotland.
I have a family member who is an ordinary copper, though at the sharp end of policing. This action by those in authority in the Police brings down to that level the threat of disrespect from, and erosion of the confidence of the public.
Number two of Peel’s Principles* –
2 To recognize always that the power of the police to fulfill their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behavior, and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect.
*The others are worth a look, too.
This is a timely reminder of the precarious positions those that really step up for the cause can find themselves in.
I’m sure many commenters and readers are extremely thankful to those who make the massive commitments to provide us with information and a view of what is going on. We should not take them for granted when we see the associated risks they have to endure.
That’s the difference between the likes of Mark H, Craig M, and Stuart C, when compared to lurkers like Alex Massie 😉 who can seemingly write and publish any amount of shite without a care or worry of negative implications.
Previously posted btl on last article, but will tack the link on again as worth a read for folk that may have missed it as contains extra info.
link to gordondangerfield.com
I am sure call Kays will feature this anti SNP story soon.
I wonder why not?????????????????????????????
“They can enter and search your house and take your possessions without some sort of warrant ?”
I’m sure they’ll have had a warrant. When I got arrested nobody showed me one – they just hauled me off to the police station. I didn’t see a warrant until hours later, when they showed me it at the same time as revealing they’d gone into my house after they took me away and taken all my computer equipment, something they hadn’t mentioned at the time.
It must always leave a problem when a Government sets the legal system of the country on a corrupt course in order to destroy a person (or persons). Once folk have committed certain crimes then paranoia will set in and anyone who might find out how badly they have behaved will be harassed and bullied to make sure they don’t dig further. I suppose it’s comforting to believe that the police in Scotland haven’t been overly politically corrupt until the past few years and so it won’t be difficult to root out the offenders – that will be their worry of course:-)
I hope that the experience both Stuart and mark have undergone leaves them angry rather than frightened and I hope that this article is read far and wide with the concentration and seriousness it deserves.
BTW Did Mark ever find out where the ‘initial’ complaint about which he had been given the ‘heads-up’ came from?
Connect the dots … who in the Crown Office is closest to the Scottish Government & its Civil Service?
It is obvious to anyone with an IQ greater than the number of walnuts in a Walnut Whip, that there is a corrupt relationship between key members of the Scottish Executive, the Civil Service & The Crown Office & a culture of corruption within the Office itself.
Never forget, that in the public sector, not unlike the private sector, the culture of any organisation is invariably a reflection of the character at the very top. The pyramid below is, where possible, is orchestrated to mirror the ambitions, aspirations, values & objectives of the lead person.
While no conspiracy theorist, you do have to wonder how it is that at least four people, independent of each other, except for their strong ambition for Scottish independence & deep suspicion of the true intentions of Sturgeon’s government, have now all been arrested on ridiculous charges, three of whom so far have been, thank goodness, wholly acquitted.
This is a blatant pattern of political persecution against people who one could reasonably conclude are viewed as a threat to the Scottish Government & the pillars of Establishment it has surrounded itself with.
This is the sort of behaviour we assume is normal in a developing banana republic, not in a first world, western European country that likes to imagine itself as a progressive democracy.
This, ladies & gentleman, is Sturgeon’s Scotland.
Wheesht for Indy, indeed. I can’t wait to read the comments from “Evita’s” followers as they spin the above in accordance with their own states of advanced gullibility. We’re in a very bad place ladies and gents.
From what’s been witnessed recently I wouldn’t be 100% confident that “stuff” wouldn’t suddenly appear on a computer. Maybe a daily disk image uploaded to the cloud each night would be a good idea for anyone who thinks they might attract some unwanted attention.
Having to sit and say “No comment” is just farcical. Another 2 hours’ worth of lawyer time for that?
“From what’s been witnessed recently I wouldn’t be 100% confident that “stuff” wouldn’t suddenly appear on a computer.”
I must admit that was a thought that went through my head several times while the Met had all my gear. I knew there was nothing dodgy on them when they left my house, but after three months in the hands of the cops? Who knows?
Great work you’re doing, Mark Hirst and Stuart Campbell. Makes me think of those films that used to come out in the 70s about corruption and brave journalists.
Small remark I’d make on this: Wings Over Scotland agrees with Mark Hirst. If an independent Scotland is to be a thing worth having, Jethart Justice just won’t do.
I’d have thought that could have a statement added: “, but those at the heart of this corruption are pretty unlikely to help deliver an independent Scotland in any case.”
This looks like it is coordinated and directed.
We will know one day how much and by whom or what.
We are all guilty, it has just net been defined of what, where and when?
Makes you wonder what sort of stuff was going on, maybe still going on in NI
A free Country?
The Parliamentary side of my erse it is.
*From the article*
“MH: There is no question in my mind that this is corruption, and I know it’s a view shared by some elected politicians and senior legal people.”
I would say further to that that these are acts of terror. All of these prosecutions, including against AS, are acts of violence being perpetrated by the state against citizens to instil fear of authority and to quiet dissent.
That is the purpose of Yousaf’s Hate Crime Bill.
“So do we understand who exactly in the Crown office is behind this clear politically motivated attack?”
We do, but are currently not allowed to say.
By what mechanism then could the person(s) responsible for these witch hunts be forced to admit wrongdoing or have their anonymity exposed so that we can discover the source & motivation of these unfounded prosecutions?
Here’s Iain Lawson’s latest blog post ,
“ WE NEED ANSWERS “
“ I also think there is a serious need for a grouping in the SNP to have a realistic look at themselves. That is the group I often describe as the MY Party, Right or Wrong Brigade ( MPROW) who spend their lives verbally attacking anyone who suggests the SNP are less than perfect. To be part of this Group these days involves abandoning any sense of justice or honesty, the ability to change your narrative in mid sentence and be willing to keep you head in the sand, in a loyal manner, a lot of the time. A complete absence of any sense that you are condoning and supporting the same corrupt and destructive positions so common at Westminster and permitting them to become established policy at Holyrood is lost on them. So they are my choice for my article today
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
My jaw is almost touching the floor and Im standing upright.
Is this the vision of Scotland we are fighting for?
I’m mortified on reading the above—–words fail me.
Maggie C
Iain’s “My Party, Right or Wrong Brigade” is very apt.
I call them the party patriots. The prestige of the SNP is their obsession, and Scotland’s freedom is given less attention.
Honi soit qui mal y pense
Re Costs, i understand that a defendants costs in a criminal trial are not reimbursed. Could this and similar trials be no more Than Psychological and Economic Warfare against Indy Supporters and therefore against ECHR and other Human Rights in International Law. Perhaps Amnesty International should be invited to become involved?
Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
11 January 2021 at 12:21 pm
“So do we understand who exactly in the Crown office is behind this clear politically motivated attack?”
“We do, but are currently not allowed to say“.
Was that person there in 2010/11?
Mark Hirst is a guest on Twa Auld Heids 7.00pm Tuesday 12th on Independence Live, where he also explains how what he has endured takes its toll financially particularly in gaining work as a journalist – also on is Denise Findlay with her views on the reconstituted NEC given her work for the “Good Guys”.
I’m not in the slightest bit shocked by what happened to Alex Salmond and Mark Hirst. I already knew it’s how the Scottish colonial Establishment operate against those they perceive as a threat.
Then it’s pot luck whether you get a bent judge or a decent one.
Alex and Mark were fortunate that they had good legal teams to fight their corners and had a good jury and Sheriff respectively.
The public need to know who these complainers are, not least so we can avoid them, whether that’s on Twitter or in real life.
Woooow. I feel like taking a transcript of this over to Wee Ginger Dug, and asking every one of BTL commentators to add their online signature either condemning or endorsing what is happening right under their noses, and then ask whether they still don’t smell the stench of corruption oozing out of Camp Nicola.
These are solid, pro Indy stalwarts being targetted here. How can people possibly trust this regime with our votes in May, whether those are votes in a referendum, election or plebiscite? 5, yes FIVE detectives deployed for this??? It doesn’t even warrant a PC on a bicycle from Heartbeat in the 1950’s turning up. Truly incredible.
Here’s me been rumbling on about the unconstitutional abdication of Scottish Sovereignty thinking all the time this was a consequence of rank incompetence and constitutional illiteracy, but now I feel I need to recalibrate my assessments, because there is something very dark and sinister going on here… and I mean mucher darker and more sinister than even a cynical malcontent like me was picking up on radar…
And congrats again to Mark… another one that got away. 😉
It is simply incredible what has happened – it is hard to put into words the dismay and horror felt about the way Alex Salmond has been treated and the way the complainers have been protected from scrutiny as well as the journalists like Garavelli, Wark and Smith have been protected and given a platform even after AS was found innocent.
From ‘About Us’ – Police Scotland – scotland.police.uk
‘Police Scotland’s purpose is to improve the safety and wellbeing of people, places and communities in Scotland, focusing on Keeping People Safe in line with our values of Integrity, Fairness and Respect.’
From ‘About us’ – Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) cops.gov.uk
‘COPFS plays a pivotal part in the justice system, working with others to make Scotland safe from crime, disorder and danger.The public interest is at the heart of all we do as independent prosecutors’.
‘Our values are:
Being professional
Showing respect’
A powerful piece from Stu and Mark every word totally believable. What a horrible experience for you both. Why is it that Independent bloggers are the go to source for accurate commentary on events? As a comparison the BBC just asked a question of Douglas Ross. In light of the pandemic do you think the investigation into the FM should be suspended. Like lying to the Parliament and the public is a minor misdemeanor. Never mind the dilution in our trust of our law enforcement and COPFS. Now that question was unbelievable.
Police Scotland and the Scottish legal establishment are dyed in the wool unionist organisations serving their london masters.
seems an appropriate time to post these
– american, but the principle applies
link to youtube.com
defence for the modern world, mostly counter-attack strongly and refuse to be “decent”
link to file.wikileaks.org
at least they never planted kiddie porn on the hard drives, that is nuclear
– there’s a lot of satire about our cops of late, scotsquad and the “kwallity polis”, but this is no joke
I am always amazed and grateful to people like Stu, Mark, Craig Murray etc who can withstand this kind of pressure and still carry on.
Not until your head is in the lions mouth do you find out who you really are.
We all like to think we would be the same. Me? I crumble over the phone arguing about my council tax.
The YouTube programme “The Only Game in Town” has similarities.
I’m afraid the problem is perhaps much wider than this and goes well beyond the more blatant political prosecutions we appear to be witnessing. Criminal law changes passed by Holyrood have permitted many prosecutions to take place that might not have made it to court in the past. Many cases such as this one based on doubtful or mischievous complaints and a dubious prosecution narrative have resulted in considerable distress and destroyed lives for a growing number of the population, much as Scotland’s overflowing prisons testify, and as anyone who has sat in our theatres of ‘justice’ might appreciate. It is difficult to describe what we now see other than as a focused colonial form of oppression meted out on ‘natives’, and which forms part of the bigger picture concerning the need for independence and with that a cultural shift in what is still very much a colonially structured society.
Absolutely unbelievable.
Excuse my ignorance but I’ve never been through anything like this. Would the person arrested be able to claim back his lawyers fees and roughly how much would this cost the person arrested?
““Will we ever be allowed to know?””
“I believe so.”
When? And what is preventing us knowning now that will change in the future? I am guessing talking about the prevention itself is not legit?
Who sits atop the CPS?
Anyone appointed by London?
Just asking as I have no idea of the names, titles and responsibilities
terrible that we can no longer trust people put in positions where all the people should be protected from State harm.
so much wrong.
hope the culprits and their stooges are revealed soon and removed, to allow there to be a clean slate for our new future.
And Livingston is still in a job and the Sturgeon cult are as rabid as ever. The stench is also rank, rank to the point I want to vomit. It is another example of all power corrupts.It is no wonder that the SNP hacks stoop to slandering and libeling Wings everyday. Sturgeon and her cult has to go, they are so corrupt that they are now a liability to achieving Independence. We are becoming a Police State.
No praise is sufficient for the work you are doing Stuart.
As regards the mistreatment of Mark and others the very same thought occurred to me, although I wasn’t aware of the history of “Jethart Justice”. What occurred to me were the witch trials from the 16th to 18th centuries and the scene from Michael Reeves’ classic film “Witchfinder General”. Bind the suspected witch and throw her into a body of water. If she floats then she is a witch, guilty as charged, tried and burned at the stake. If she doesn’t float then she is innocent – unfortunately by then also dead from drowning. Apparently there were even people with sticks and rods who would stand by the waterside and ensure that the poor victim wouldn’t float.
Sadly history is not linear but cyclical and we are now caught in the darkest depths of the Kali Yuga.
Here are just some of the symptoms of Kali Yuga (the age of the daemon Kali, not to be confused with the Goddess Kali):
• Avarice and wrath will be common.
• Religion, truthfulness, cleanliness, tolerance, mercy, and memory diminish with each passing day.
• Sin will increase exponentially, while virtue will fade and cease to flourish.
• People will become addicted to intoxicating drinks and drugs.
• Followers of deviant sexuality will wrest control of the mind from all human beings.
• Weather and environment will degrade with time.
• Many fake ideologies will spread throughout the world.
• The powerful people will dominate the poor people.
• Many diseases will spread…
To misquote Andy Warhol
“In the future Scotland, everyone will have their fifteen months of imprisonment”
That’ll learn ya!
Is it time we learned from elsewhere – consider item 3) below as you consider what is happening in Scotland with the Crown Office admitting “malicious prosecutions” costing the public purse £millions.
What is a county grand jury and what does it do?
In California, the grand jury system consists of 58 separate grand juries—one in each county—that are
convened on an annual basis by the Superior Court to carry out three functions:
1) Investigating and reporting on the operations of local government (which is known as the
“watchdog “ function a civil, rather than criminal function),
2) Issuing criminal indictments to require defendants to go to trial on felony charges, and
3) Investigating allegations of a public official’s corrupt or willful misconduct in office, and when
warranted, filing an “accusation” against that official to remove him or her from office. The accusation
process is considered to be “quasi?criminal” in nature.
On the Crown Prosecution Service website there is a section (there may be a similar one on the COPFS website, but it is not easily found) headed –
‘Misconduct in Public Office’
Its ‘Level of misconduct required’ paragraph includes the following –
‘Examples of behaviour that have in the past fallen within the offence include:
Wilful excesses of official authority;
‘Malicious’ exercises of official authority;
Wilful neglect of a public duty;
Intentional infliction of bodily harm, imprisonment, or other injury upon a person;
Frauds and deceits.’
Its definition of ‘A Public Officer’ paragraph includes the following –
‘A public office holder is an officer who discharges any duty in the discharge of which the public are interested, more clearly so if he [or she] is paid out of a fund provided by the public.’
Its ‘Scope of the offence’ paragraph includes the following –
‘It carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.’
link to cps.gov.uk
Rev Stu@12:51
‘…they just hauled me off to the police station. I didn’t see a warrant until hours later…‘
Weird, on the occasions I’ve had to ‘entertain’ similar unwanted visitors, the first thing they did, even before setting foot on the premises, was show the warrant. That was the Met..First time, loud battering at the door at ungodly hour in the morning as I was getting ready for work, I opened it just as they were about to force entry, had the warrant more or less shoved right in my face and they then all barged in (the second time, 4 o’clock knock with the armed squad, was fun as they’d gotten the wrong address for the surprise pre-dawn raid..no longer much of a surprise to the real target – a couple of doors down – after all that noise..but the squad leader *still* had a warrant in his hand)
A question re the police ‘..who confirmed they’d all worked on the Alex Salmond inquiry’.
Any idea as to if whatever ongoing operation they were obviously participating in as a team is still ‘active’?
[…] Wings Over Scotland Jethart Justice The freelance journalist, broadcaster and former SNP staffer Mark Hirst was last week […]
You’ve been treated in a disgraceful manner Mark, one wonders who put the COPFS up to it, and once they knew they had no evidence why did they continue to pursue you. We know why of course, you focused on the real truth of the Alex Salmond fit up, and those at the very top didn’t like it one little bit.
Like the Rev, and Craig Murray they like to keep people hanging on for a period to wear them down and keep the pressure on you, its all part of the procedure to fill you full of doubt, you stood up well too it, well done.
Craig Murray is also in the same boat, he’s being falsely persecuted for reporting the truth on the Alex Salmond fit up as well, Christ I could be commenting on a story from days on gone by in East Germany, but I’m not this is modern day Scotland, which makes it all the more worrying.
I’d image the judges dealing with corrupt cackhanded cases like this one must be wondering what’s going on at the COPFS offices, the Rev and Craig Murray have written a few articles on the COPFS and they don’t portray them in a good light.
Police Scotland appears to be in this instance and several others being used as a private army, at considerable cost to the Scottish taxpayer.
Anyway Mark, more power to you.
Josef Ó Luain says:
11 January, 2021 at 12:58 pm
“Wheesht for Indy, indeed. I can’t wait to read the comments from “Evita’s” followers. ”
If they send someone to Buenos Aries to collect DNA from Evita’s tomb, and mix it with the DNA of a bent Met copper of below average intelligence, they can probably grow a replacement in a test tube once the original is a gone from public life.
Strathy@1.54pm
I’ve not heard of many prosecutions.
To paraphrase John Harrington
Misconduct in Public Office doth never prosper.
Why?
For if it prospers none dare call it Misconduct in Public Office!
Seems the crown office aided by the snp are playing genga with the scottish legal system .I can almost hear the torys saying we should live by the english legal system due to the wholesale corruption within the scottish legal system.snp mps/msps really need to emerge from there bunkers and put a halt to this.political show trails are not a good look.
This paragraph sums it up entirely “The freelance journalist, broadcaster and former SNP staffer Mark Hirst was last week acquitted at Jedburgh Sheriff Court, after a very short trial, of a charge of threatening behaviour against the anonymous complainers who made false allegations of sexual misconduct against the former First Minister, Alex Salmond.”. These people what the full force of the law barring down on them for trying to jail another innocent man and the public needs to know who these individuals are making these false allegations, to protect the general public from them.
If Scotland wants to be a normal European country it needs a legal system fit for purpose.
I wonder if any of the peelers involved in the raid on Mark’s house were also involved in the costly gudge up of the case against the insolvency experts working on the demise of Rangers FC as that one was also a huge waste of time and money. A bit of a pattern emerging here. Not fit for purpose springs to mind.
This story is unbelievable.
There can be no trust whatsoever in Police Scotland. They are a corrupt sectarian para military force operating to destroy political opponents. No one can read these accounts and conclude otherwise.
But it is not just the Police but the prosecution services too. And moreover, the question is who is directing them. Well I think we know the answer to that.
This type of thing is no different from Northern Ireland’s hated ‘ B’ Specials. A sectarian police force specifically set to operate out with the law against political opponents. Nor is it any different from the political police in 1930s Germany. In both cases the Rule of Law is broken utterly. But this is what’s happening in Scotland today.
Salmond, Hirst, Murray being the high profile targets but it’s also people like march organisers like Manny Singh, or his Aberdeen equivalent, or long term campaigner Sean Clarkin.
And similarly does anyone see a similarity with the hapless Margaret Ferrier who made a mistake. With no charges made by the metropolitan police for travelling after she had been told that she’d tested positive, the Police Scotland charge her three months later with culpable and reckless behaviour.
People should now fear the Police. They are not part of our community that support the community. All trust has been destroyed but the Police and the current political junta do not care. They didn’t either in Northern Ireland, nor any of the other country’s where Police are used as a weapon of vicious suppression.
But where to next. Well on current form it is clear that this behaviour is not going to change. Sturgeon, her Justice Secretary, her cabal of control are not going to change unless and until they are removed from power. Democracy and the Rule of Law under these people has been traduced. They must go because if they don’t this will continue and only get worse.
As for those who say it could never happen to them, there were many i Germany who pondered that eighty five years ago as they walked into the gas chambers. Political jailing today, extra judicial killings later.
And the Police, the Gestapo, they were only doing their duty, doing what they were told to do.
Thank you Rev for bringing this particular account to press. But for you, and others like you, this would never have surfaced in our Nacht und Nabel world that is modern Scotland.
Wow, the Sturgeonistas in full flow. Murdo said either NS or AS is lying snd made a joke about pandas.
Cue outrage and emails to L Fabiani, suggestions the committee should be closed down and the whole process started again with a new committee.
Make no mistake the worshippers at the feet of the high heels, are rattled
Congratulations to Mark Hirst on the only sane and sensible outcome available in this ludicrous, pathetic, and disgusting case.
A funny thing about all these dodgy interrogations and court cases – they’re all against men. How odd. I think it fair to say that a mentally unbalanced cabal of crackpot manhater women has been allowed to run free for far too long in this country, and that goes right to the top.
I also think that humiliating home violations and dodgy computer seizures and such do more than act as a fishing expeditions; they are meant to intimidate verbal opponents of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, making people think twice before criticising third-rate flabbyarse Holyrood seat-warmers.
Thank god these horrible, vindictive people are too inept and stupid to actually achieve what they are trying to do with these dog-and-pony free speech-shushing farcical showtrials. Remember, male so-called witches were burned during Scotland’s dim, distant dismal past, too. History repeating itself as usual.
re BuggerLePanda @ 1:43pm
Why care if ‘it was anyone appointed by London? It seems to me that a few Scottish people are making the lives of other Scottish people difficult, and looking specifically for English involvement might make you miss the true culprits. More likely a big fish in a little pond i think than some evil megalomaniac with a full bathtub down south.
But I searched for ‘scotland CPS’ and got this page:
link to copfs.gov.uk
On that page are two other head people, but oddly enough if you get the ‘who we are’ page on it’s own there no obvious links to the details.
I’ve no idea if appointments are vetted by WM, esp as the Scottish legal system is distinct from the English one, but maybe someone else can reveal all.
There has to be the political equivalent of link to en.wikipedia.org
Hey. while trying to remember Hanlon’s razor, i stumbled across :
Pournelle’s iron law of bureaucracy: “In any bureaucracy, the people devoted to the benefit of the bureaucracy itself always get in control and those dedicated to the goals the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely.”
Sturgeon’s law: “Ninety percent of everything is crud.” Derived from a quote by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon (1918–1985). Yes scraping the barrel but it was close dammit.
Like others here, I have little knowledge of the people involved @CPS
Rev,
Is it possible to list senior names & their position @CPS?
Purely for the purpose of imparting information/knowledge, you understand.
Mike Fenwick says:
11 January, 2021 at 1:52 pm
Is it time we learned from elsewhere – consider item 3) below…
Aye, but no Mike. What Scotland needs is a Constitutional watchdog, safeguarding the principles of Scotland’s Constitutional Sovereignty. Had such a chamber, (don’t like calling it a chamber, but you know what I mean), but had such a chamber already existed, it would surely have savaged to the bone a Scottish Devolved assembly abdicating Scotland’s sovereignty and rolling over to accommodate Westminster’s colonial subjugation.
Come to think of it, such a Chamber might also have savaged the whole Scotland Act and the whole unconstitutional rigmarole of setting up of a devolved Assembly to begin with.
And why stop there? It would also have had a few things to say about 1707 Treaty of Union itself…
Arguably, it’s because Scotland doesn’t have such a Constitutional Watchdog to protect and defend it’s sovereign Constitution that these colonial encroachments from London, aided and abetted by an unhealthy dose of idiocy and constitutional illiteracy from Holyrood, are meeting with success to the extent the encroachment and subjugation is effectively unopposed and unchallenged.
Holyrood, like this, is virtually useless to Scotland, and arguably doing us more harm than good. Scotland is right in the epicentre of a a full blown Constitutional emergency, which could not be more onerous if there were enemy battle tanks trundling towards the Capital, BUT SCOTLAND IS DOING NOTHING! The roads to the City are unguarded and we are defenceless.
Holyrood is our Dethenor, the Steward of Gondor, meant to look after us, but who has done nothing to bolster our defences for an attack we all knew was coming.
A Constitutional Watchdog? Aye, until we have a sovereign Independent Government, I think such an interim watchdog is vital, but it CANNOT be Holyrood.
Question too for Mark Hirst… How did you know these detectives were from the Get Alex Salmond branch?
Shouldn’t we thus know who else is, and what status this significant pooling of resource has within the wider Police Scotland organisation?
Nothing new to me with the system, good more people are realising what actually goes on. Credit goes to WoS for educating more people. Thank you.
avocado devil says:@2:39pm
Pournelle’s iron law of bureaucracy: “In any bureaucracy, the people devoted to the benefit of the bureaucracy itself always get in control and those dedicated to the goals the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely.”
The Shirky Principle: “Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.”
Remind you of anyone?
A group of Police Scotland that specialises in targeting Salmond supporters.
Are they nicknamed The Swinney?
This is far worse than it initially seemed in part due to the constraints Mark had put on him in a live case. I am so glad it was resolved although the seriousness with which this flimsy case was pursued is terrifying.
In the heady days of the first referendum there were lots of instances of figures of speech taken literally and out of context to hype drama and fear. Margaret Curran was particularly adept at this and she lied and embellished the truth so many times I cannot quote them all. However I don’t remember that any were followed up by the Police or COPFS with this level of aggression. That makes this so much more worrying and why we should all be aware there is probably more to come. That it is being sanctioned by ‘our’ side is of even more concern.
The problem we have now is a government in Scotland that wants to sanitize all speech and discussion except when it agrees with the dogma. Even the phrase ‘free speech’ is now being associated with nutcases wanting to deny science or exhort violence
The circular feed of media editors and PR people into positions of actual power is disturbing and maybe accounts in part for where we are now.
Trump is the new Hitler and everything that the dogmatic amongst the present regime disagree with is described as Trumpian and lumped together. Ironically in the US where actual hate speech was accompanied by action no notice was taken until too late.
In the Scotsman, Ex-Tory MSP Michelle Ballantyne appointed Scottish leader of Reform UK. it just gets funnier by the minute, Nigel and George, Michelle the three hasties all anti-Scottish or anything Scottish, but all now want to be part of the Scottish politics.
joe m @2:53
you’re not shirking.
May i shoehorn in a fat former banker in a too tight suit who goes to WM to ask ‘so can we have some more pocket money’ instead of championing his country as self sufficient and able to stand on it’s own feet.
Yet, on the face of all this, no perjury charges against the Alphabet Women?
Both this case, and that of Mark ‘Count Dankula’ Meechan, are based on wholly subjective (sp)interpretation of material broadcasted across the net. Does make you wonder what sort of unenforcable, ludicrous utter shite Yousaf’s Hate Crime Bull…sorry…Bill would throw up.
I am beyond disgusted, as writer, for the potential ramifications of this braindead tongue-cutter rubbish. I never in my lifetime thought I would see this sort of corrupt, censorious swill in this country. Cosmopolitan, world-leading Scotland? We’re heading back more into retrogressive, Calvinistic kailyard keech intellectually and legally by the day.
Jesus, Joseph & Mary!! I am absolutely appalled at the way Mark was treated, particularly over something that was so obviously a figure of speech (‘Reap the Whirlwind’)!! To arrest him for using what is widely known to be journalistic rhetoric is just criminal! (No pun intended!)! But in saying that, it just DOES NOT SURPRISE ME. Not any more.
Between Mark & yourself, Stuart, you have put up with the horror & worry of arrest & punishment & poor Craig Murray still has to face his trial for much the same – ridiculous, trumped up charges aimed to shut you all up. I believe they have thought that none of you would be able to fund good lawyers of your own, thus most likely would end up in jail.
What COPFS fail to recognise – there are still good people who won’t sit by and accept the persecution of those people whose aim is to let us know what is REALLY going on in govt. and those good people are willing to throw cash into the pot to defend bloggers & to defend their right to know what is going on. They didn’t reckon on people being so willing to meet the costs of defence of good people. And we’ll continue to do so if that’s what it takes to make people aware of the corruption at the top of the govt tree.
I’m genuinely sorry you bloggers have had this appalling trouble with the law. I can’t apologise any other way than to say I am not what you’d call well off but I always put my hand in my pocket to support any legal fees that are incurred by your writing what ‘they’ don’t want exposed – and I always will. Though I HOPE that it won’t be necessary in future, that the Prosecution Service will finally understand that you don’t stand alone, that we have your back & we’ll always cover the costs incurred in the persecution of bloggers, particularly under such spurious charges that they bring against you. Hopefully, and soon, they’ll understand the only thing they’ll get out of trying to prosecute you is embarrassment & bad publicity of THEIR services.
Again – a horrific read but I’m thankful it’s over for you, Mark. Thanks to both of you (and to all bloggers who go further than expected) for continuing to speak up for the Scotland we want, not the charade we’ve got.
Somebody said that NS models herself on her political hero Hillary Clinton.
Can I suggest an alternative…
link to news.sky.com
kapelmeister says:
11 January, 2021 at 2:56 pm
A group of Police Scotland that specialises in targeting Salmond supporters.
Are they nicknamed The Swinney?
Every time I see Swinney now all I will hear is the Sweeney theme tune and “Get your trousers on, you’re nicked”, in a cockney accent, of course.
On Police Scotland, with regards to officers telling Mr Hirst that they were on the Salmond squad. I’m sure Craig Murray put a comment up once saying that 22 Police Scotland officers searched for dirt on Salmond for 4 years, at an incredible cost to the Scottish taxpayer, and found nothing in the process.
Police Scotland is a tool to be wielded in normal circumstances against crime and criminals, however we’re witnessing this taxpayer funded institution, the oldest in the world, being used as private investigating force to shut people up, and stop them from revealing the truth.
When will we see the Murrells in the dock? I cant wait to sharpen my bloody pitchfork…
I bet I could make an educated guess at which two alphabet women were the ones who complained
Stu hutch says:
11 January, 2021 at 2:11 pm
Seems the crown office aided by the snp are playing genga with the scottish legal system .I can almost hear the torys saying we should live by the english legal system due to the wholesale corruption within the scottish legal system.snp mps/msps really need to emerge from there bunkers and put a halt to this.political show trails are not a good look.
I know this might shock some on here (though possibly not Breeks), but I do believe that we should live by the English legal system. It is less corrupt.
Ironically, this is the only “benefit” we are not allowed to have under the Treaty of Union, as it kept our own legal system!
The Scottish legal system is horribly corrupt.
What is interesting is whether the person at the top orchestrating all this is doing it all for Nicola or for the union?
I would go for woman H and woman A if I had to guess.
That the gullible fools, the ones who believe St Nicola can do no wrong, and who wait excitedly to laud yet another ‘wonderful’ Covid Briefing, can not see what’s happening is unbelievable.
If £600,000 of ‘Referendum Fighting Fund’ cash had been ‘Misplaced’ on Alex Salmond’s watch, Police Scotland would have been all over it, like a rash.
If AS were in the position of having been caught, clearly lying to Parliament, the massed ranks of the BBC and MSM would have been attacking him on every front page, and on every single newscast.
Can none of these so-called Independence seekers ask themselves the questions; “Why is it that Sturgeon is being given such an easy ride? When, and why, was she first approached by the British security services? Where is the ‘misplaced’ £600,000 exactly?
Alf: I, too, think that this goes deeper and farther than Holyrood and the SNPG, although the party is at the root of this. At a guess, I’d say that at least one of the women is a very close ally of someone right at the heart of government. Secondly, the organizations that are funded by the government have rallied round. Thirdly, the sense that women are not receiving justice from the justice system is compelling and, largely, true, but this is not the way to go about changing things. All that has happened is that these women, and others, professing solidarity with feminists and other women, are breaking the rules. That is totally counter-productive and, ultimately, fatal to a cause.
At the other end are the shadowy figures of the British Establishment, buoyed by the self-lacerating that is taking place within the Scottish political establishment. I think it is and always was, two-pronged in that one was the support and justification for the other. I could understand to some extent what has been happening if women were being supported, but they are not, by this SNPG. On the contrary, it is the trans lobby and its sinister tentacles reaching into women hard-won rights that is being given all the support, both by the government and by the government-funded organizations. It all seems so faux outrage on behalf of women – certain women, that is, when both the GRA reform and Hate Crime bills appear to be designed specifically to cut women’s feet from under them.
I have no doubt that this move to remove Alex Salmond from the scene was politically-motivated, before taking on a life of its own. I have no doubt that Mark Hirst and Craig Murray were being used to discourage others and I have no doubt that, once set on that road, the juggernaut is proving hard to put the brakes on because that is what happens when you set something like this in train. However, I also believe that a perfect opportunity was created for some mischief on the part of the British State, to cause disruption to the independence project. It was handed to them on a plate. We have never got the measure of the UK (England) in 313 years of Union. We are like the spouse who is beaten over and over again, and still thinks there is goodness in her oppressor, if she can only get through to him. The party ultra loyalists are in a similar frame of mind. No matter how bad it gets, something good will come of it. It won’t, not in either case. The SNP is set to tear itself in two and the British State will seize the opportunity with both hands to ensure that it never recovers.
@David Holden I concur
Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
11 January, 2021 at 12:21 pm
“So do we understand who exactly in the Crown office is behind this clear politically motivated attack?”
This would be a guess – but I’m thinking someone whose surname is almost the same as the First Degree in the Masons – which might well be very appropriate in these circumstances.
Something that keeps coming up in my discussions with lawyers in relation to the Crown Office and Judiciary in Scotland is Lodge Canongate Kilwinning No2, St John St, Edinburgh.
I could, of course, be comptely wrong, and could be impugning monies a Widow’s Son.
Heavens to Jahbulon!
How utterly reprehensible, blatantly politically motivated and a flagrant abuse of power. Whilst serious crimes, with real and traumatised victims, are subject to lengthy delays in the criminal justice system, the time and money and effort put into prosecuting Mark beggars belief. A successful prosecution seemed unlikely on such trumped-up charges. They still however had the power to cause distress, reputational damage, harm and suffering. Job done, eh?
It’s as if those behind the conspiracy to “ get Salmond “ have no intention of accepting the jury’s verdict of NOT GUILTY. It must have stung them to their core that Alex was acquitted in a high profile High Court case, where justice was seen to be done. They seemed very keen to consider, last year, proposals for trials without juries. Yet another early warning sign of Justice Secretary Humza Yusaf’s lust for more power, and his trashing of citizens’ rights to free speech, expression and association with his Hate Crime Bill.
I have now reached the point where I am ashamed to have ever voted for these crooks and charlatans and manipulators. There is a moral and ethical apathy at the dark heart of this government.
if the cops take anything like laptops phones or ipads get them deep cleaned they will have put stuff there just waiting to be switched on at a time that they need it so stu and mark get youre stuff looked at when they took my laptop somthing wasnt right got it checked out and sure as hell a chip was replaced and was told to get rid of the laptop as luck would have it after leaving the shop the laptop slipped out my hands how jammy is that
Surely after Salmond’s exoneration, and now Mark’s, the 2 complainants should be deemed “vexatious litigants”.
Perhaps even officials at COPFS should be likewise.
I’d be tossing that grenade around if I were Craig Murray’s silk.
Lorna – I agree and have long suspected the trap was lain ” elsewhere ” – for the motive you refer to – and for political gain , misplaced solidarity with MeToo and so-called ” Progressive ” ideals NS went along with it . It’s not that difficult either for people to persuade themselves they’re doing something out of noble motives when in fact they’re actually doing it for political advantage or some other less noble motive – revenge for example . Looks like their amateur hour antics are unravelling rapidly , the only question now is the degree of harm it will inflict on our Movement and what it will take for the ” True Believers ” to disabused of their illusions regarding the sanctity of their idol
There’s a lot of accusations about the police.
Now maybe there is corruption at higher levels, but it strikes me that the fact they did not put “evidence’ or incriminating material on the seized computers suggests that the individual officers on the case were not corrupt, but simply doing their duty by obeying their orders.
Unfortunately, just like all those decent German police once did…
Wherever it is, there is rot at the top. Excise that and the rest will be cut out as a consequence.
” be ….”
Absolute power corrupting absolutely.
A complicit Media, A hungry prosecution, a willing Police force and a vindictive Political class…its the stuff Netflix Dramas are made of and its going on right under our noses.
Poor Joe McPublic sees the headlines and simply says “Must be bad
uns!” and the taregtting continues.
Really Terrifying to think it is just gonna get worse if that awful “Well I’m offended” Bill gets passed.
Cap doffed to all fighting the good fight.
According to Gordon Dangerfield Mr Hirst was not allowed to know who the the complainers were. How then were his lawyers expected to conduct a defence?
A rare Guardian pick-up.
link to theguardian.com
I agree with baldeagle.
No way would I use any piece of electronic equipment returned after being in authority hands for any length of time
Bonfire the lot
And get your house electronically swept as well
No such thing as too paranoid once they’re publicly harassing and intimidating you
NS has, at best, been naïve in thinking she could be seen to step back meanwhile everyone around her is in deep. The blurring of ‘me too’ with high level criminal prosecutions and the hope of removing your political adversaries is a heady mix.
The SG has many people who appear to assume dual roles in govt, party and Special adviser and these roles have been seen to blur and overlap and compromise when something like this happens. The worm tongues at the side of those in power need a light shone and rooted out. At the very least a separation of such roles must be something that is highlighted for the future.
Astonishing Stasi-like behaviour. Who are the police representing here? It certainly isn’t the interests of the Scottish taxpayer or justice.
Even if they thought there might be a case, the despatch of a junior officer to explain the concern, with a warning, and the video deleted, would have been ample action (though in this case even that would be over zealous). Why do the police make it so hard to support them when they have a difficult job, by acting like the secret thought police?
Lorna
The SNP is set to tear itself in two and the British State will seize the opportunity with both hands to ensure that it never recovers.
It doesn’t have to be this way, and the numbers involved are limited, so it shouldn’t be this way. The ordinary folk who want independence for Scotland and the vast majority of those running the party are not a part of this conspiracy and if the ‘conspirators ‘ can be made public I think the greater and better part of the Independence movement could move ahead at an ‘alarming’ pace and we could get the job done. Once the juggernaut is detached from the main body of the independence movement it will rapidly race away and overturn into a ditch leaving a clear road for the rest of the Independence train .
WRYC
Here’s an archived link for that Guardian article.
link to archive.is
J Galt at 2.10pm.
It does seem to be a tricky area, but –
In the Glasgow Times article on 11 November 2020 – ‘Shameful episode, Lord Advocate admits malicious prosecution of ex-Rangers boss Charles Green.’
‘Gerry Moynihan QC, for the Lord Advocate, said ……. “It is admitted that the prosecution of Mr Green had no proper basis. It is admitted there has never been objective probable cause. And it is admitted that in these circumstances malice, in the sense required to give rise to liability in common law, can be inferred.’
Surely this is the admission that one, or more, of the offences listed on the CPS website were committed in this case.
Given the details in Stuart’s post and Mark Dangerfield’s blog about Mark Hirst’s prosecution, there seem to be questions to be asked to say the least.
And of course, there is Alex Salmond.
We await the result of Craig Murray’s case.
Watch your back Stuart! They are out to get you too!
“Speak the truth whate’er betide,
Those who have deceived
Even though they speak the truth
Will not be believed”
They use a trivial charge as an excuse to seize all your personal information and then they trawl through it with a fine tooth comb looking for anything to charge you with.
But they are also looking to see from whom you might be getting your information and sharing it, contacts, finding out what you know and what you don’t. Looking for ‘kompromat’. It is a treasure trove for them looking to undermine a victim.
It is no different to being accused of littering and the Police using that littering charge to seize all your personal computers, phones, ipads etc and then for them to read every last bit of personal information on them, looking for anything to charge you with a crime.
The whole thing is foul. Police Scotland and the Crown Office are a disgrace. It is they that should be investigated and charged over their malicious behavior.
But it clearly comes from the top down as well.
It is just non-stop abuse of power. This is the defining characteristic of NS’s increasingly regime. They have no ethical boundaries. They tried to send an innocent man to die in jail FFS…
O/T.. Just listening to the news, UK has vaccinated 2.5 million with first dose. Sturgeon has only managed 113,000, and this from the woman who is supposed to be puting Covid at the top of her agenda.
Liz says:
11 January, 2021 at 2:30 pm
“Make no mistake the worshippers at the feet of the high heels, are rattled”
Just don’t dare call them “killer heels”. You’ll have five burly men banging on your door and confiscating your IT equipment.
I’m concerned for Craig Murray, they must be desperate to stitch up someone (properly), now.
I honestly can’t think of another European country where police and govt collusion such as this wouldn’t have been a huge story.
But here, it’s barely reported.
Thank you, as ever, Stuart..
Rev Stu to the rescue.
Five detectives turned up?
Fucking hell. Whats wrong with one detective and 3 or 4 no-marks to do the lifting?
On this basis, what kind of Scotland do the hierarchy envisage after independence – Belarus or North Korea?
Imagine the state of the courts when the Hate Crime Bill is passed after the election. I worry about the prospects of an independent Scotland if wrongthink is officialy adopted as a crime.
@wee child hahaha
It looks like the Inquiry is now dysfunctional. I know people won’t want to hear it, but if the choice is between a rigged Inquiry and no Inquiry, we have no choice – close it down.
Was it stupid to expect an Inquiry dominated by SNP politicians to be impartial?
I’m disgusted but not surprised at the way AS and those who spoke out against his treatment have been treated.
What give so.much hope is the untouchables in the Scottish establishment have been ousted, and the truth is coming with vengeance.
If I were a false accuser of AS MH and others, I’d be having panic attacks.
The truth is coming liars, and it’s coming your way!!
Meant outed not ousted in my last post. Though that will surely happen.
We must always remember who will be giving the orders to Civil Servants in Scotland and the police in Scotland and it is not Holyrood. Lesley Evans travels to London every week to speak to her ‘counterparts’ and remember also these people are UK unionists colluding with Daily Record and others to spout bile at everything Scottish and the SNP.
Mac says:@4:37pm
“They use a trivial charge as an excuse to seize all your personal information and then they trawl through it with a fine tooth comb looking for anything to charge you with.”
Compare and contrast with images in the link below. That fine tooth comb is only wielded against us, not them.
link to wingsoverscotland.com
From link to gordondangerfield.com the website referred to above by other posters:
“The two complainers against Mark were also two of the complainers against Alex Salmond…
“Through their unofficial spokesperson, Sandy Brindley of Rape Crisis Scotland, and taking advantage of that anonymity – an anonymity which was surely never designed for such a purpose – they told the Daily Record that Mark’s comments were “sinister” and “threatening” towards them.
“Then they reported him to the police”.
“…Police Scotland and COPFS are conducting themselves in a manner which is patently biased and political in nature”.
Cringe says:
11 January, 2021 at 4:06 pm
“According to Gordon Dangerfield Mr Hirst was not allowed to know who the the complainers were. How then were his lawyers expected to conduct a defence?”
This, plus systematically denying a defendant access to documents in a judicial proceeding are breeches of DIRECTIVE 2012/13/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the right to information in criminal proceedings. This from a party that claims to be pro-European, led by someone who has ( had, the other delusion is that she’s some global statesmen in line for a top job at The EU or UN) designs on other employment. Would you want her in your office?
Scotland is no longer an EU country due to the effete, fecklessness of SNP leadership. I wouldnt be so sure that the road back will be easy either.
Hatuey says:
11 January, 2021 at 4:55 pm
It looks like the Inquiry is now dysfunctional. I know people won’t want to hear it, but if the choice is between a rigged Inquiry and no Inquiry, we have no choice – close it down.
I think that would be foolish . we need the information and we need these people to say on record what we know to be a lie. The only way we can get to the truth is to extrapolate it from the lies. We must read and, where possible, hear everything they have to say
The UK is unravelling at the seams by the day and the British State is revealing itself to be the proto-fascist entity it always has been, with Sturgeon as Johnson’s little helper of course.
I see they have wheeled out Mrs Battenberg for their propaganda machine. (That’s if they gave her the vaccine at all – they probably just gave her a vitamin injection to be on the safe side.) I’m sorry to disappoint those who have placed their salvation in the government’s monkey juice but it has more chance of being effective than Nicola Sturgeon has of entering the kingdom of heaven.
And where have all the decent people gone, those in the SNP, other parties and in positions of authority who have the ability to speak out for us? Why are they doing nothing, remaining silent, and letting the burden fall entirely on Stuart and Alex and a few others?
“Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.”
Did Linda Evans not have an American style fling with the dildo Ulsterman of the Daily Record???
And I wonder which newspaper broke with the Salmond story???
All tied up in a pretty little bow.
Surely, any minute now the “woke” faction will pick up on all this and start their virtue signalling, calling out the oppressive measures of the State being selectively meted out to their fellow Indy activists…
I mean, Ms Blackman will be all over this right?
#IndyActivistLivesMatter #IALM
My granny always said that,
`a good gauge of whether you live in a moral and fair country or a corrupt and tyranical country is when you see the police do you feel protected or threatened`,
starting to lose the `protected` feeling.
They should just come clean.
Q: When did you first learn about the accusations against Alex Salmond?
A: A voice in my head informed me while Liz and I were chatting about his possible return to front line politics
For those with 40 mins to spare, this morning’s ‘Start The Week’ with Andrew Marr (I know, I know ..) on Radio 4 is well worth a catch-up. Subject: ‘Scotland and the Union, also starring Ruth Wishart.
link to bbc.co.uk
I find it inexplicable that Craig Murray is suffering harassment for the “crime” of
reporting the witnesses statements for the defence in the Salmond trial.
What surprises me about the newspaper coverage at the time was the complete lack of balance.
If we’re to criticise the police and the CPS, are we really turning a blind eye to the rabid Unionist press whose lurid front page coverage IMO skewed public perception of the facts in the Salmond trial?
Craig Murray performed a service not available from the Scottish press.
Salmond though, should have moved on after the not guilty verdict and re-applied for membership of the SNP.
The SNP remains the only vehicle to achieve independence.
As far as I’m aware he’s still recommending SNP 1&2 for May.
Any equipment removed by Plod…
When returned, destroy and replace ASAP.
@hatuey another one wanting the commission shut down. No way
So its even got to the stage that Severin Carrell is basically defending Sturgeon – while (just IMHO) skirting libellous statements re Salmond.
If that doesn’t ring alarm bells for people I dunno what will….
Should one become so disposed, how exactly does one go about threatening anonymous people?
“Then they came for me,and there was no one left to speak out for me”.
I mentioned some time back that we, the public, are funding aid to individuals to defend themselves when subjected to state scrutiny.Rather than future ad hoc responses I would be pleased to contribute to a Standing Defence Fund, the publicly declared objective being to defend individuals against State harassment.
The very public declared need for such a requirement may just cool the heels of fervent State employees.
Regards the vaccine, I admit my predudice, Westminster pushing the OXFORD Astra vaccine pushes me to request any other type of vaccine.
Hey Jack Collatin,
Still believe that the police and crown office aren’t corrupt?
Is my comment on wgd months ago still vacuous? Take your head out your ar*e and see what the h*ll is happening in this country,
Hi Rob at 4:38 pm.
You typed,
“O/T.. Just listening to the news, UK has vaccinated 2.5 million with first dose. Sturgeon has only managed 113,000, and this from the woman who is supposed to be puting Covid at the top of her agenda.”
What is the source of the 2.5 million figure?
The figures on 7th January for ‘Number of 1st doses given and percentage of population vaccinated’ were:
Northern Ireland
40,685 2.1%
Scotland
113,459 2.1%
Wales
49,403 1.6%
England
1,092,885 1.9%
Source: coronavirus.data.gov.uk 7th January.
link to pbs.twimg.com
Apples must be compared with apples, not parsnips.
Hancock announced tonight that the UK had done 2.6 mn.
Sturgeon announced earlier that Scotland had done 163000.
“SNP National Assembly where #PlanB will be getting discussed.”
link to twitter.com
For those looking for a comparison they should take a look at the South African Police as it developed over the apartheid years.
The C1 unit in particular specialised in political dissidents and delivered the full range of services including extra judicial execution.
Of course over in NI the B Specials were not unknown for getting rid of a political dissident or two.
Ah well, keep your head down and wheesht against saying anything about our First Minister.
@Vestas
I thought that as well. Very public spirited of Sev to remind us all for the umpteenth time of the details of each charge laid against Alex Salmond and that he was acquitted only on majority verdicts. Where would we all be now without the Guardian to stand up for our rights?
If this malicious behaviour doesn’t give you the heebies, you want to have a word with yersel.
The apprentice shouldn’t have used the masters tools.
I’ve seen the deputy at work, many years ago in the Sheriff court.
V good,but Beltrami had the measure of the man.
If he’s not the weakest link in the chain, he’s not far away!
And way smart enough to know what pokey would be like for him(in with the nonces, for protection), and when to cut & run.
My question 11 January, 2021 at 4:06 pm kindly answered by Gordon Dangerfield on his blog now.
I concur with every thankful sentiment expressed re Mark Hirst , Stu Campbell , Craig Murray and others who have taken on the daunting challenge to educate and expose the rank and putrid corruption that lays at the heart of the SCOTTISH ESTABLISHMENT , at 70 I have lived through some bent Scottish governments , but those were mostly unionist tory and liebour governments whose ONLY focus was to keep Scotland catchd and impoverished
I unashamedly always believed that if we gained our freedom from the festering sore of the WM establishment that we could make our wonderful country which is blessed with an abundance of natural resources into a fair and socially responsible country which enhances the lives of ALL our citizens
Unfortunately WE now have an even bigger problem , not only are we fighting to free ourselves from our oppressors in WM, we are having to fight the endemic corruption in a government in Scotland that seeks to vilify and ostracise through any and all means ANYONE who DARES to EXPOSE their lies and corruption . AS ALEX SALMOND SAYS “THE DREAM WILL NEVER DIE” so fight on we must
‘myself and Craig Murray had undertaken a joint campaign to highlight the abuse of power that was taking place…’ Shame you didn’t take up a joint campaign to highlight the abuse of power that Salmond inflicted on so many female employees of the Scottish Government. Because, court cases aside, nothing has been done about that, while you all wail and gnash your teeth about how unfair it all was to him. It wasn’t. He deserved so much worse. As do all predators.
“Shame you didn’t take up a joint campaign to highlight the abuse of power that Salmond inflicted on so many female employees of the Scottish Government. Because, court cases aside, nothing has been done about that, while you all wail and gnash your teeth about how unfair it all was to him. It wasn’t. He deserved so much worse. As do all predators.”
Hi! Maybe check the trial verdicts.
awful ordeal for Mark but glad he was fully exonerated.
Police Scotland are not the only UK police force to carry out similar transgressions.
link to newyorker.com
Last Nov (2020) — The PSNI had to pay £875,000 to these two men. The entire PSNI operation was said to have cost somewhere around £3 million
Kate says:
11 January, 2021 at 6:29 pm
“Shame you didn’t take up a joint campaign to highlight the abuse of power that Salmond inflicted on so many female employees of the Scottish Government. Because, court cases aside, nothing has been done about that, while you all wail and gnash your teeth about how unfair it all was to him. It wasn’t. He deserved so much worse. As do all predators.”
—————————————————————–
So Kate do you have any inside information none of us are aware of you know like facts, or are you just the bitter twisted man hating feminist you come over as ?
As do all INNOCENT predators ?
. Dont think so.
Got any savings Kate?
@Brian Doonthetoon 5:50pm
Well said. People must not confuse doing down Sturgeon with doing down Scotland. And Britnats on here, a growing number it would seem, are so obvious.
Also meanwhile, British nationalist senior civil servants, appointed by Westminster, are still in place in Hoylrood.
@ Kate: have you any evidence of “the abuse of power that Salmond inflicted on so many female employees of the Scottish Government”? I would be interested to see it.
It should be of deep concern that, in a post-MeToo world, justice for men is now considered an obnoxious, unearned anachronism to some. Some women now seem to believe that they can just attack men with impunity cos, well, we’re men, scum, evil, the patriarchy, we leave the toilet seat up, and blah blah blah.
The fact that Alex Salmond and Mark Hirst were both dragged into court due to anonymous complaints from still-anonymous women, at great mental, emotional and financial costs to themselves, and found not guilty…is not the full picture here. It is clear that the Scottish government is using the police as a tool of manhating revenge, attacking those they do not agree with (including Craig Murray), using sex and violence as excuses for those unwarranted court appearances.
(I did not include the Rev’s own case here because I don’t remember the details and, as I remember, the female complainant was English, and identified to him. )
America’s recent deranged manhating example in dealing with men in court, whether they are guilty or innocent, has been (poorly) observed and (ineptly) recreated in this country. And, with this now being a clearly-established sneaky, vicious, cowardly form of anonymous eyes-scratching-out attack, it will continue in the future. Because, well, always believe women, not all men…except, etc. The cases in question all cost the defendants something, even when found not guilty…and that was the point.
These vile manhating guttersnipers got to take their cat lady spite and hate out on confused male targets, set them in career and reputation limbo for months, fucking with their heads and hearts (people have committed suicide for less), at absolutely no cost to themselves (bonus!)…so whatever happened, win or lose…they won anyway. Really, REALLY fucking sick shit. The reaction of the loonies still attacking Salmond tells you everything you need to know. Disgusting disgraceful, disturbing…and utterly, utterly stupid and pathetic beyond belief. I dunno what the fuck happened to Scotland, but this is fuck all like the place I grew up in, for good or bad or ugly.
I am going to be brutally honest here on what was my opinion of wIngs as a relatively new reader of this site , I use to think wings were bordering on conspiracy theories at times , but this latest story is definitely a light bulb moment ,in particular the comment by Mark below plays a large part in my opinion changing to sadly accept there are people out to get AS,Mark and others by any means possible:
“ My legal team are in no doubt that I would not have faced this prosecution if I hadn’t been a known ally and supporter of Alex Salmond. At least 12 detectives have been engaged on my case – officers that are normally deployed on murder investigations and other serious crime.”
Keep up the good work wings
Frazerio says:
11 January, 2021 at 5:40 pm
Should one become so disposed, how exactly does one go about threatening anonymous people?
Oh come on Frazerio, you’re not a Liam Neeson fan?
“ If you let my daughter go now that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you, but if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you”.
Good luck.
Obviously if the film was set in Scotland, the kidnappers would have ran squealing to the police and Liam would have been arrested and had all his tech seized.
Kate – a majority female jury found him not guilty. They heard all the evidence and didn’t believe it. One of the charges was pinging a women’s ringlets for heavens sake. Trumped up charges borne of hatred towards the man. Unless you have any facts, which you could take to the police, maybe best to keep quiet.
Pete @ 5.58 pm
Can’t help yourself can you?
Full of it.
Travellingtabby website gives good graphics of where each UK country is regards covid on a daily basis. Back in your yoon box.
Kate @ 6.29pm
Your post is dishonest, unfair and actionable.
Mark Hirst and Alex Salmond have already been exonerated. You should accept this rather than repeat vile gossip aimed to undermine a great statesman.
Alex Salmond is the only politician the yoons fear.
For all the britnats on here:
link to talkingupscotlandtwo.com
Kate
Did I read that comment of yours correctly? ‘You and Craig Murray took on a joint campaign to highlight the abuse of power that was taking place’- your words
I can’t remember if I’m one of the 100 original viewers of the video or I watched it after it all kciked off to make my own assessment.
You would have to take a ridiculously literal interpretation of words even Mr Spock would not have done to conclude there were threats in that video. It warned of a democratic campaign that is all.
AYRSHIRE ROB says:
11 January, 2021 at 7:01 pm
Kate
Did I read that comment of yours correctly? ‘You and Craig Murray took on a joint campaign to highlight the abuse of power that was taking place’- your words
—————————————————————
ishy Wullie says:
11 January, 2021 at 7:04 pm
AYRSHIRE ROB says:
11 January, 2021 at 7:01 pm
Kate
Did I read that comment of yours correctly? ‘You and Craig Murray took on a joint campaign to highlight the abuse of power that was taking place’- your words
——————————————————————————————————–
Not her words ROB I think she was quoting Mark Hirst
Liz says:
11 January, 2021 at 5:30 pm
@hatuey another one wanting the commission shut down. No way
———————
It’s not a commission, it’s an Inquiry. Or, at least, it’s supposed to be. But if it’s rigged, it isn’t even an inquiry; it’s political theatre.
You might be enjoying the drama now but think ahead and ask yourself if a rigged Inquiry could possibly come up with a truthful report.
@Kate
As is detailed in the article dozens of detectives spent months interviewing potential claimants and even asked the Met to see what he might have done while at WM. The Met found nothing.
Are you saying you are more thorough or more knowledgeable than those detectives?
If so you are duty bound to inform Polis Scotland of your knowledge are you not?
Breeks.
Love your posts. Not quite getting the gist of your reply to me. Hope your not misunderstanding me. Im just pointing out one of the many absurdities is; how can anyone threaten people that are anonymous?
Otherwise, keep up the good work, your posts are as good as any on here at the mo.
Who’s side is the law in Scotland on. Well, it managed to stay independent in 1707 so your guess is as good as mine.
velofello says:
11 January, 2021 at 5:41 pm
“Then they came for me,and there was no one left to speak out for me”.
I mentioned some time back that we, the public, are funding aid to individuals to defend themselves when subjected to state scrutiny.Rather than future ad hoc responses I would be pleased to contribute to a Standing Defence Fund, the publicly declared objective being to defend individuals against State harassment.
The very public declared need for such a requirement may just cool the heels of fervent State employees.
I had the same thought while reading the story. I would also be happy to chip in as would others i’m sure.As things seem to be getting out of hand with all the shennanigans that are taking place, I am now at the point where nothing surprises me anymore.
I am fairly relaxed about which day Nicola knew what.
What bothers me is the harassment of anyone who supports a high court judgement of innocent and the informal feeding of information to instigate inappropriate police action by individuals in a position of power.
What is even more interesting is the MSM and the BBC in particular, lack of interest in such a story. Why would they keep quiet about such a story.
Very, very happy to see the outcome.
I would say that to ANYONE put through the wrigher like that, no matter their politics.
Just don’t teach your pug any tricks though, that’s REALLY, REALLY bad.
Scotland Today.
Not a very nice place after all it seems.
So this is the “progressive” Scotland NS wants us to have. No thank you stasiland. Well done the sheriff for acquitting MH.
Fishy willie
Ah, I see it now after reading the exchange again between Stu and Mark.Seems she clipped a bit so didn’t pick it up immediately.
Thanks Fishy.
This is horrific to read.
It’s a mix between Stalin’s secret police and Orwell’s 1984.
We really need a large body of honest people with with a good
set of morals along with a strong belief in truth and justice.
They would need to start investigations into the U.K. politicians,
the Criminal not applying Justice body and the senior police officers
to start with.
These people think they are above the law and set out to distort it for their
own gratification.
Next time I’m on jury duty I’ll be more suspicious of the police and prosecutors
than the people in the dock.
shug says:
11 January, 2021 at 7:09 pm
Quote
.
“What bothers me is the harassment of anyone who supports a high court judgement of innocent and the informal feeding of information to instigate inappropriate police action by individuals in a position of power.
What is even more interesting is the MSM and the BBC in particular, lack of interest in such a story. Why would they keep quiet about such a story.”
Pretty obvious really: They either worship at the alter or are shit scared to do their “job”
@ Breeks
Aye, Liam Neeson immediately came to mind when I read Frazerio’s earlier post!
On a more serious note: @ Frazerio at 5:40 pm you said:
“Should one become so disposed, how exactly does one go about threatening anonymous people?”
In modern day Scotland, I think you’ll find you’ve already crossed the line with the tone of that sentence which certain protected anonymous people will inevitably feel threatened by.
Probably be best to start drilling holes in and chapping fuck out of your phones and hardrives now afore the knock at the door comes… 😉
COVID death rate for Scotlands 5.5 million people hits a screamingly high 0.12% for 2020.
Over 90% of the perished had at least one pre-existing health condition.
The average age of the covid casualty is over 80 – higher than the average life expectancy for Scotland.
Facts don’t care about your feelings.
Effijy says:
11 January, 2021 at 7:20 pm
Quote
“This is horrific to read.
It’s a mix between Stalin’s secret police and Orwell’s 1984.
We really need a large body of honest people with with a good
set of morals along with a strong belief in truth and justice.
They would need to start investigations into the U.K. politicians,
the Criminal not applying Justice body and the senior police officers
to start with.
These people think they are above the law and set out to distort it for their
own gratification.
Next time I’m on jury duty I’ll be more suspicious of the police and prosecutors
than the people in the dock.”
do some research on “common purpose” to see where our political, civil service and police hierarchy “mind set” comes from…
You know, if the anonymous complainants in these cases had to reveal their names in public when complaining in cases like these…you gave to wonder how many more cases like these you would get. When a case is thrown out, the complainants should pay court costs, and maybe compensation, for wasting court and defendant time. Or keep the names of noth sides anonymous until a verdict. As it stands, this anonymous shit just encourages malicious complaints, wasting police and court and defendant time and energy and money. It needs rebooted from the bottom up.
I can’t believe what I have just read. It feels like we’re living in a police state. Everyone and thing is corrupt. I cannot wait for Mr Salmond to return to the fray although I understand what an ask that is. Is there nothing an ordinary citizen can do bar fund the likes of Wings, Martin, Craig etc. I simply do not know what it is the British state wants. Have you seen the state of the police ops down there (granted on the news, but..) George O was so correct. I say the British state as I now believe that is what the SNP lead by Sturgeon supports.
Absence of preparation for independence, weak leadership, surrender of our sovereignty, questionable integrity, obsession with the irrelevant, submissive acceptance of reducing devolution, and failure to capitalise on Brexit means it is unlikely Scotland will achieve independence anytime soon if left to the SNP and its reverse gradualism.
Delays on the journey to independence could be beneficial if used wisely. For example, the Scotland I want to see will not oppress its citizens. It’ll tak time tae muck oot the top levels o’ that byre.
‘… the fact of having a national flag and the hope of an independent nation does not always tempt certain strata of the population to give up their interests or privileges.’ Fanon, 1963.
Self explanatory link.
link to barrheadboy.com
Frazerio says:
11 January, 2021 at 7:08 pm
Breeks.
Love your posts. Not quite getting the gist of your reply to me….
No, no, don’t worry, it was tongue in cheek. I did understand what you meant, that you can hardly threaten people you don’t know, – and I agree, it’s nonsense in Mark Hirst’s case, but it did put me in mind of the Taken film, where Liam Neeson did precisely that, threatening to hunt down and kill people when he’s no idea who they were.
It was all meant in good humour, but maybe I was trying too hard… lol
Brian Doonthetoon says:
11 January, 2021 at 5:50 pm
BBC 6pm tonight
Thanks for posting this astonishing and frightening story Rev. I knew nothing of it. I read it with disappointment that the system is so badly broken, that corruption rules. Davie Allan
Has anyone ever bothered to ask Roddy Dunlop & co.(?),if they had any objection to the public seeing a copy of their advice to HMG(Scotland) regarding the likelihood of success in defending this debacle of a political assassination attempt?
Especially when you see what is transpiring.
Public interest, if ever there was.
Guilt by association Rodders.
😉
The ‘client/lawyer confidentiality ‘ card has already been played remember.
@Charles Dixon
What an unpleasant post.
I don’t for a minute believe that’s your real persona; ah but then that’s just opinion, nothing personal friend.
Your contribution just oozes a bad smell.
MI.
I am afraid of Police Scotland. Who wouldn’t be after seeing all of this. They fit up First Ministers. You think you are safe?
Another aside to ponder.
When Whitehall told LE not to pursue the change in policy, they must have known who the target was.
Maybe they just didn’t want a precedent set, albeit a different jurisdiction.
Top Westminster Tory in sex pest inquiry shocker!
It’s even possible they saw the illogical nature in pursuing exes, the opening made for corruption (no laughing at the back please) etc….
If you’re looking for a way of maximizing the damage, slip LE/NS the nod.
‘we advise against, but (unofficially)fill your boots’!
@Willie 2.28: you’ve got it spot on in its historical context.
Just waiting for more police action to enforce NS’s impending extended lockdown: that will solve a lot of problems for her, potentially including the suspension of the Inquiry and the HR elections.
Frankly, I’ve suspected for a long time that Humza Yousaf’s Hate Crime Bill is really directed at the likes of The Rev. and Craig Murray. After all, what would we know about the AS affair if it were not for them?
Delighted Mark Hirst was acquitted, and kudos to the sheriff for being a man o independent mind.
Wings man, watch out for yourself. You must be top of their list.
Posted this on the previous page by mistake.
There’s a new game on WOS. It’s called “Spot The Ronald Fraser”.
As soon as you spot a comment that has all the qualities of a Ronald Fraser/Clyde/Charles Dixon comment, you fire off an email to Rev Stu and claim your bag of sugar-coated kudos.
I’ve just received one… They’re TASTY!
I found that whole account absolutely chilling. It’s like something you’d expect with the East German Stasi. This is not the country I want to live in. This Owrellian Thought Crime obsession needs to stop. Horrifying.
@Dan 7.48pm
Chris McEleny’s plan is self explanatory – and fatally flawed IMO.
Why do we have to use #HR2021 as yet another mandate for another referendum?
The extra step is unnecessary surely?
Just demand Westminster confirm they will honour the 2012 precedent for #indyref2 by 31/03/21, or state #HR2021 is a de facto plebiscite.
Won’t happen of course, which is why we have to start preparing for what to do post #HR2021.
@kapelmeister says:
11 January, 2021 at 2:56 pm
Are they nicknamed The Swinney?
…I bet you’re here all week, too…?
So Chris is advocating Holyrood 2021 being another mandate for a referendum (but one without Westminster’s approval) @Dan says at 7:48pm ?
“2.0 Executive Summary
2.1 The Scottish Government must issue a deadline of 31st March 2021 to the UK Government, in advance of the Scottish General Election, to agree to a Section 30 request to amend schedule 5 of the Scotland Act, as per the Edinburgh Agreement of 2012.
2.2 In the event that the UK Government do not agree to the above then Pro Independence Parties should unambiguously state that in the event of a Pro Independence Majority of MSPs being elected to the Scots Parliament in the Scottish General Election, there will be a referendum on Scottish Independence – as sanctioned by the Scottish Parliament, which will be given popular legitimacy by the Scottish electorate via the mandate given in the 2021 Holyrood elections.
2.3 The newly formed Pro Independence Scottish Government should then begin preparations to hold a Referendum – without the requirement of seeking the approval of the UK Government via a Section 30 Order -on Scottish Independence in the early part of the new parliament.”
Surely not, I thought Chris had more fire in his belly than that!
Personally I’d rewrite 2.2 to read:
2.2 In the event that the UK Government do not agree to the above then Pro Independence Parties should unambiguously state that the Scottish General Election will be a Plebiscite on Scottish Independence – as sanctioned by the Scottish Parliament, which has been given popular legitimacy by the Scottish electorate via the mandate given in the 2016 Holyrood elections and the material change in circumstances of Scotland being removed from the EU despite voting 62% to remain.
As such in the event of a Pro Independence Majority of MSPs being returned to the Scots Parliament in 2021 the incoming Scottish Government shall declare that the Union of 1707 is over and Scotland an Independent Nation once more – immediately beginning negotiations with the Westminster Government to determine equitably, an independently audited list of all assets accrued by the Kingdom of Scotland since 1707 as the Bipartite Partner Kingdom of the Unitary State of the UK and any liabilities owed (or credits due to Scotland).
When are the next indy polls due, and who is running them?
I have a feeling a 60% is on the horizon…
Sitting back on my rocking chair, musing…what has Nicola Sturgeon achieved to our benefit and our political aspirations since becoming FM in 2014? –
Baby boxes, the bedroom tax. free prescriptions.
Anything else worth a mention?
James Horace says:
11 January, 2021 at 9:31 pm
When are the next indy polls due, and who is running them?
I have a feeling a 60% is on the horizon…
—————————————————————-
James Kelly (Scot Goes Pop) has commissioned a poll should be with us in about 10 days time I believe
Surely this is a civil rights violation.
I`ve just spoken to relatives in the States and Oz and they cant believe this is happening in Scotland.
Baby boxes, the bedroom tax. free prescriptions. Free personal care,
Free Hospital parking, free University Education, No more Bridge or Road Tolls,
The new Fourth Bridge, paid off some of Gordon Brown’s Dodgy PPI projects
with massive interest, stopped double and treble inflation rate council tax rises,
equal pay settlement for those conned by Glasgow’s Labour Council, more
efficient train services than England or Wales, the same for our NHS services,
Free period products, Smoking bans in enclosed spaces, the Aberdeen by-pass road, the
M74 Extension, saved Prestwick Airport, increased free Nursery Care, adjusted tax rates to
Give the majority lower taxes and the richest higher taxes.
Don’t the London Westminster parties hate every word of it.
velofello says:
11 January, 2021 at 9:32 pm
“Sitting back on my rocking chair, musing…what has Nicola Sturgeon achieved to our benefit and our political aspirations since becoming FM in 2014? –
Baby boxes, the bedroom tax. free prescriptions.
Anything else worth a mention?”
Free prescriptions came in 2011
@ Andy Ellis at 9:08 pm
Aye, it does seem to add an extra step, but is there a possible reason for that.
Do you recall Jim Fairlie wrote several articles last year. Here’s a link to the third one with a couple of paragraphs extracted that may explain the two stage strategy.
link to thenational.scot
“I propose the SNP and others wishing to achieve independence must have in their manifestos for Holyrood 2021 a commitment, at the behest of the sovereign people of Scotland, to resume responsibility for constitutional affairs, which was misappropriated by Westminster in the 1998 Scotland Act. Should Westminster refuse to co-operate or try to place any conditionality on any agreements, then, by direct instruction from the people of Scotland, the Parliament will revisit the terms of the Treaty of Union.
By our sovereign will of voting for parties who agree to assume constitutional affairs at our instruction, we are demonstrating that we, the people, have exercised our sovereign right to choose. It will then be for the people of Scotland to decide whether to continue with, alter or leave the Union at a time of our choosing. This is entirely within the scope of Holyrood as the sovereign voice of the people, because we are revisiting the Treaty of Union, not the Act of Union. “
@effigy most of that was under Alex S, not NS
@Effijy says:
11 January, 2021 at 9:52 pm
“The new Fourth Bridge”
Isn’t it the Fifth?
“Shame you didn’t take up a joint campaign to highlight the abuse of power that Salmond inflicted on so many female employees of the Scottish Government”
As a female and given the circumstances of the criminal court case, the disgraceful amount of taxpayers’ money wasted in all this and the available evidence from the inquiry, frankly your comment disgusts me.
It comes across as yet another cheap, tacky attempt at smearing an innocent man. A man who was acquitted from the malicious and inflated charges brought up by a bunch of unscrupulous cowards, far too insignificant to having the guts to fight the man politically in fair terms. Cowards arrogant enough to think they can continue to undermine the verdict of a jury and judge in order to stop the man coming back to politics. Cowards dishonest enough to think they are owed the sympathy vote if only they manage to smear the man enough. Cowards unprincipled enough to indulge in the waste of goodness knows how many millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money that could have been put to better use for covid vaccines or ppe, for the sake of delaying a parliamentary inquiry to save their own reputation and comforts they became used to, even if the ultimate price was sending an innocent man to jail for the rest of his life.
It is unacceptable. No matter how much they, those that are attempting to amplify their message or you continue to smear Mr Salmond to protect their own arse, it will remain unacceptable.
So the shame is all on you because in your carefully chosen words seemingly in the quest to smear the man and to undermine the verdict of that court, you are also undermining the suffering of women who have been the subjects of real harassment at the hands of real predators.
You are doing those women and any other women no favours. Real women with principles do not enjoy watching how cowards smear the reputation and credibility of other women by attempting to abuse the sympathy of others in order to maliciously end the career of a man, or worse, sending an innocent man to jail seemingly for the only sin of being far too astute a politician. No, we don’t enjoy it. We find it sickening and humiliating.
So unless you are speaking for yourself, then I would suggest you let those women you say, if indeed they exist, find the backbone to step forward and make whatever accusation they have to make for themselves.
Kate says:
11 January, 2021 at 6:29 pm
” Shame you didn’t take up a joint campaign to highlight the abuse of power that Salmond inflicted on so many female employees of the Scottish Government. ”
Do you have evidence of abuse or have you just committed a libel?
What do you consider “abuse”?
Do the courts always get their verdicts wrong, or just the ones with which you don’t agree?
Kate says:
11 January, 2021 at 6:29 pm
‘myself and Craig Murray had undertaken a joint campaign to highlight the abuse of power that was taking place…’ Shame you didn’t take up a joint campaign to highlight the abuse of power that Salmond inflicted on so many female employees of the Scottish Government. Because, court cases aside, nothing has been done about that, while you all wail and gnash your teeth about how unfair it all was to him. It wasn’t. He deserved so much worse. As do all predators.
=======================================================
Did you forget to take your medications today? I will give you the benefit of the doubt in relation to the medications. The jurors obviously didn’t agree with your Feminazism. Not even in the most Yoon city in Scotland.
Effijy says:
11 January, 2021 at 9:52 pm
Quote
“Baby boxes, the bedroom tax. free prescriptions. Free personal care,
Free Hospital parking, free University Education, No more Bridge or Road Tolls,
The new Fourth Bridge, paid off some of Gordon Brown’s Dodgy PPI projects
with massive interest, stopped double and treble inflation rate council tax rises,
equal pay settlement for those conned by Glasgow’s Labour Council, more
efficient train services than England or Wales, the same for our NHS services,
Free period products, Smoking bans in enclosed spaces, the Aberdeen by-pass road, the
M74 Extension, saved Prestwick Airport, increased free Nursery Care, adjusted tax rates to
Give the majority lower taxes and the richest higher taxes.
Don’t the London Westminster parties hate every word of it.”
Never read such a load of TRIPE, none, NONE of anything you just so laboriously typed stands up to the scrutiny even a 10 yr old could put it too with a few clicks of a mouse.
Mia @ 10.58pm WOW just WOW I was actually going to reply to Kate but you have done it better than I ever could , applause, applause
The only way to deal with the “Kates” of this world is to lie back and hope, however uncharitable it might be, that one dark night she’ll have the great good fortune to encounter a genuine misogynist – a Fred West or a Peter Sutcliffe.
She won’t have much time to ponder the error of her ways – maybe just enough to come to an understanding that all the screeching and caterwauling from her and her pals about the guy who touched her arm through her blouse in a pub nine or ten years ago was maybe a little out of proportion, and to wish that there was an Alex Salmond or some other such misogynist around to come to her aid…
@Confused: re the American video. I remember watching this ages ago and the advice to never answer even ‘innocent’ questions without a lawyer present to advise you. Interesting that Mark’s lawyer told him to answer ‘no comment’. I wonder if he’d seen the video too.
Thanks for that interview.
You’d thought that one of the Scottish newspapers would have done that, with a proper headline that could surely be used to dominate public debate for a few days, sell lots of copies, and get lots of clicks for their website…
The whole so called justice system is corrupt at local level as well, as I have found out a few times.
I was in my brothers house on a sunday morning at 8.30 am, there was a quiet knock at the door, I answered it as my brother was still asleep and never heard the door.
Two police officers a man and a women entered the flat without being asked in, they informed me that they where there about a complaint about loud music.
I said there is no music playing which they where well aware of as they had wakened me up and the house was in silence.
I said to the woman, did you hear any music, yes she said, we heard it from the street, so I never spoke to that idiot again.
Then the male officer said, I will have to take this music system away, I said, you can’t do that, he turned round and handcuffed me and I was taken to the police office, charged and put in a cell for 8 hours, I informed them I was a diabetic and I wanted to see a doctor, never got to see a doctor and I was not feeling very well as I had not had anything to eat or drink from the night before
I made a complaint as did my brother about this whole situation, and when we where interviewed seperately by a high ranking police officer he said, there is no evidence that you where treated unfairly.
Months of going to court with pleading diets and the disruption to our lives they where hoping we would plead guilty to something that never happened.
On the very last day, my lawyer said, they are throwing it out of court, no explanation, no apology for all this nonesense they put us through.
I found out that the male officer had retired at 52, and the female was still on the force as she was 24 years old.
Neither of them came to the court as they new fine well they would need to take the oath, and then it would be a case of perjury against them.
The procurators office new fine well that me and my brother where innocent and still they carried on with this farce.
So that is what our justice system has become, its a corrupt system run by corrupt people who could not care less if a person is innocent or not, two idiot and corrupt police officers charge you with something you have not done and the crown office just carries on with it.
And btw, my brother had a guy living downstairs with mental health problems, he used to carry a camera around with him in case he was attacked, completely paranoid individual, and it was him that made the complaint, I heard the house he lived in before, he complained to the women upstairs that she was making a lot of noise to annoy him, the woman was hoovering her carpet in the middle of the afternoon, and her man was not to pleased with him going to there house and abusing his partner when he was not there.
So he was moved into my brother close and the whole carry on with him started there, he moved out and he seems to be ok now, maybe he is taking his medication correctly now, his windows where about 30 feet from street level and he always had his curtains closed, scared of peeping tom’s I suppose.
And the police went along with this guys complaints all the time, my brother was sick of police coming to his door because of that guy’s paranoia, everyone in the close was glad to see the back of him, but the justice system is a farce to put innocent people through this crap, I was in my brothers one night when another two policemen came to the door, my brother was supposed to have attacked the guy about an hour before we had not been out the house, the two cops did not know what to say, but I informed them the guy had mental health problems and they just went away and the whole sorry saga just kept happening, one stuoid thing after another and the police kept going with it. justice they don’t even know the meaning of the word, and their stupidity is unbelievable to say the least.
Is there now access to the original comment?
Missed this first time around – great interview, and makes me fear for the future. Sounds as if certain elements of the state should be charged under Section 127 (a)…