The trial of Scottish gamekeeper William Dick has been continued at Dumfries Sheriff Court.
Dick, 24, of Whitehill Cottages, Kirkmahoe, Dumfries is accused of bludgeoning and repeatedly stamping on a buzzard. The offences are alleged to have taken place in Sunnybrae, Dumfries in April 2014. He is also accused of alleged firearms offences. He has denied the charges.
The trial has been adjourned, again, and will now apparently resume in August! We don’t know the reason for the long delay.
Previous blogs on this case here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
Raptor Persecution UK 
Have been following Raptor persecution for a few years. Why do some of these cases take so long to process?
It seems to be pretty standard practice for most ‘summary’ cases, not just those related to wildlife crime. A four-month delay once a trial has started does seem a long time, but who knows, it may just be related to the availability of the QC – he’s probably a very busy man.
Standard trial shenanigans.
[Ed: last sentence deleted. We realise you’re probably talking about trials in general but the way your statement is written it could be inferred to refer to this specific case].
Yes, it was about trials in general. How about this? If anyone reading is ever on trial or defending someone on trial, for anything (I dunno, mass regicide there ya go) then your counsel will almost certainly advise playing for time as it will almost certainly benefit your case. Not for any malicious reason, but simply because time gives room for a prosecutor to cock up (not intentionally, contrary to prime time television most prosecutors will neither throw a case nor go on a deranged vengeance filled rampage), but paperwork can be lost, witnesses memory grows foggy and in some cases witnesses drop out of contact for various reasons, new scientific controversies can change the way evidence is viewed on even the simplest traffic fine (never mind the mass regicide the reader is on trial for), aliens could make contact and change the way we view morality via a technobabble machine (okay not likely, but imagine you lost your case and next week aliens do that, you’ll be kicking yourself for not asking for that adjournment), for a counsel your defendant may actually die (of natural causes) mid-trial which means they remained innocent of all charges until the end of time and the last trump calls, the last trump can call… The possibilities are endless, so always, always, always play for time. Especially when on trial for mass regicide.
[Ed: comment deleted. Please remember this is still a live trial]
its strange, there’s apparently no money to be made from running a grouse moor, despite the average moor getting well over 200k in government subsidies annually. then we are also led to believe gamekeepers are on little more than national minimum wage. simple question, how does a gamekeeper afford a QC? its either raining warm water or someone is p*****g down my back
whilst on the subject of Court costs the RSPCA were heavily criticised by the fieldsports fraternity for bringing members of a hunt to court for breaking the law, will the same people who criticised the RSPCA now stand up and give their opinion of a QC being employed to defend a gamekeeper
With regard to the QC Merlin, I made the same point on a previous thread that wont be published till after the trial.
I imagine that the Vicarious Liability law has led to green pastures – for certain ‘types’ of ridiculously high paid lawyer.
[Ed: Comment deleted. Dick hasn’t been convicted; right now, he is merely accused of a series of alleged offences].
I think legal representation is one of the benefits of SGA membership.
With vicarious liability and cross compliance regulations there’s a lot at stake for the landowner.