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Considers whether: (1) the time bar under the Scotland Act 1998, s 100(3B) (providing that any proceedings brought on the ground that that an act of a member of the Scottish Executive were incompatible with Convention rights must be brought within a year) applies to the first respondent’s appeal;  (2) the third respondent had waived his right of access to a lawyer when he made an unsolicited statement during a police interview; and (3) the subsequent reliance of the Crown on these admissions deprived him of his right to a fair trial under ECHR, art 6.

The Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the appeals on the limitation issue and the issue of waiving access to a lawyer, and allowed the appeal on the question of a breach of art 6 by a 4-1 majority (Kerr partly dissenting), referring that question to the High Court of Justiciary.

For judgment, please download: [2011] UKSC 55
For the Court’s Press Summary, please download: Press Summary
For a non-PDF version of the judgment, please visit: BAILII