Criminal proceedings continued at Elgin Sheriff Court today against Scottish gamekeeper Stanley Gordon.
Mr Gordon, 60, of Cabrach, Moray, is facing a charge in connection with the alleged shooting of a hen harrier in June 2013.
Here’s a summary of what’s happened so far in this case:
Hearing #1 (19 May 2016): Case continued without plea until 16 June 2016.
Hearing #2 (16 June 2016): Case continued without plea until 14 July 2016.
Hearing #3 (14 July 2016): Case continued without plea until 11 August 2016.
Hearing #4 (11 August 2016): Case continued without plea until 1 September 2016.
Hearing #5 (1 September 2016): Mr Gordon enters a not guilty plea. A provisional trial date is set for 19 December 2016, with an intermediate diet set for 18 November 2016.
Hearing #6 (18 November 2016): Case adjourned for another intermediate diet on 2 December 2016.
Hearing #7 (2 December 2016). Provisional trial date of 19 December is dumped. Case adjourned for another intermediate diet on 10 February 2017.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Seriously, this is rapidly turning into something of a farce or is it me who doesn’t appreciate the Scottish judicial system?
Your patience does you all credit.
An awful lot of time wasting. Is this a clever ploy from the defence to close the case without a verdict?
[Ed: thanks for the comment Gerard but probably best not to publish it]
Still don’t understand the Scottish legal system. Seems like a bureaucratic black hole consuming unknown quantities of money without achieving anything, in this case for over 7 months.
The legal system doesn’t half like to string it out. More money down the drain and into the coffers of those who are employed in the legal system.
I despair for justice in this case..
Are there any implications to these delays
Perhaps there are, maybe more raptors persecuted, the perpetrators knowing full well that the law will be lenient when it comes to such crime.
Makes Fawlty Towers look like a haven of sanity.
The crown obviously has lots of money to waste on this case, probably a [Ed: rest of this comment deleted as defamatory. The court will decide Mr Gordon’s innocence or guilt]
As a waste of time and money, this saga looks set to rival that of Jarndyce v Jarndyce. How far is this usual in criminal cases?
RPS – I have a feeling you may have already done this in the past but please clarify the definition of ‘diet’ in this context
Js – ‘diet’ in this context is just Scottish legal jargon for ‘hearing’. There are different types of ‘diet’ – the most common is an intermediate diet and a notional diet. This glossary will help:
http://www.scotland-judiciary.org.uk/29/0/Glossary/a#N
There’s very little light relief in this [and the other ongoing sagas] but I like the sound of a ‘notional diet’, particularly as Xmas looms.
A diet is a further opportunity to make a meal of it in order to sustain the bloated and anachronistic judicial system.
The Keystone Cops live on!!! PLEASE will someone tell me what can hold up a case for 3 1/2 years. Are they trying to get into the Guinness Book of Records for the longest case ever, or are they simply hoping Stanley Gordon will die of old age before they have to make a decision?
Tony – the main delay (just under three years worth) in this case relates to the period between the commission of the alleged crime (June 2013) and the first court hearing (May 2016). The reason(s) for that long delay may well become apparent during the trial, and it’s certainly an issue we’ll discuss after the trial but it’s not something we should speculate on at this stage of proceedings.
The more recent delays (May 2016 – Feb 2017, so far) are fairly commonplace, as you’ll have seen with many of the other cases we’ve covered here over the years, and may be caused by either the prosecutor or the defence agent.
[Ed: comment deleted as defamatory. The court will decide Mr Gordon’s innocence or guilt]
[Ed: comment deleted as defamatory. The court will decide Mr Gordon’s innocence or guilt]
Sounds about right for a justice system that is largely self-serving…..judges, sheriffs, barristers, solicitors, courts administrators and legislators all feed from a very large trough of public money, so what would you expect……efficient justice? Thank the heavens they don’t service cars or bake bread!
I pity the accused who must have a massive legal bill, who is paying for this? Guilty or not someone must have to pay for this!!!
I believe that one of the benefits of SGA membership is legal representation in cases such as this.
It must be a comfort to grouse moor owners that their employees interests are so vigorously and assiduously defended.
[Ed: thanks for your comment but we’re unable to publish it at this stage of legal proceedings]
Just a question, obviously he has his own defence, but are any of the PAW partners supporting his defence?
Summary justice……..!
The criminal justice system is a mess and being exploited by the rich
Thought I would see if there was any coverage in Scottish newspapers re stuff (guff) from Scottish landowners and the wonderful stories of Raptor sighings.
Found nothing in my trawl but did find this, thought you may be interested:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/animal-charities-raise-concerns-over-wildlife-crime-prosecutions-1-4303391
Keep up the good work
Allan
Many thanks for the explanation RPUK. I will now wait with bated breath – if I live that long!