HC Deb 12 May 1976 vol 911 cc454-6
37. Mr. David Steel

asked the Lord Advocate what recent representations he has received concerning the case of Mr. Patrick Meehan.

The Lord Advocate

I recently received representations from two solicitors who are members of the Patrick Meehan Committee. Following these representations, I instructed the Crown Agent to precognosce various witnesses. This was done. Thereafter, I instructed the Strathclyde police to investigate certain matters which had come to light.

The results of these inquiries were submitted to me for my consideration, and I directed that a copy be immediately sent to the Scottish Office so that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland would have all the relevant information to enable him to reach a decision on the case.

Mr. Steel

Can the right hon. and learned Gentleman, if he is in touch with the Secretary of State, say how long it will be before we get a decision? Does not the right hon. and learned Gentleman now regret that he and the right hon. Member for Kilmarnock (Mr. Ross) persistently refused to refer this case to the High Court for further consideration? When it is all over, will the right hon. and learned Gentleman undertake to support the idea of an inquiry held by someone outside the Scottish legal or police world into the whole handling of this case?

The Lord 'Advocate

It would be inappropriate for me to attempt to answer the last point. There is some misunderstanding about this matter. For example, the Sunday Times, in its leader on 9th May, which the hon. Gentleman is echoing, stated that efforts during the past two years to get the Meehan case reopened had been regularly rejected, on my advice, by the Secretary of State for Scotland. That statement is inaccurate. The matter is now before my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland for consideration, and it is unlikely that he will be in a position to make a state-before early next week.

Mr. Fairbairn

I speak as a member of the Meehan Committee and as his counsel at his trial. Now that the Lord Advocate has received a very painstaking and impartial report by Assistant Chief Constable Arthur Bell and Detective Chief Superintendent John McDougall, which establishes beyond peradventure Mr. Meehan's innocence of this crime, will he take immediate steps to ensure that this man, wrongly imprisoned, is released at once and thereby remove one blot from the law of Scotland? Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman also have an inquiry made into how this appalling event has been allowed to drag on for so long?

The Lord Advocate

The hon. and learned Gentleman has made an impassioned appeal but it would be inappropriate for me to respond when the matter is before my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. It is his decision, and it is an important one. Certainly it should not be based on emotive considerations.

Mr. Robert Hughes

Is my right hon. and learned Friend aware that one feature in particular seriously concerns lay people like myself, and I hope that he will take it into consideration? The solicitor for a man who had recently died sought special permission from the Scottish Law Society for this exception from the rule of confidentiality so that he could make the information available, since it was suggested that there was a strong possibility that a miscarriage of justice had occurred. How long can a solicitor keep that information while a man stays in prison? Will my right hon. and learned Friend undertake to discuss the rule of confidentiality with the Scottish Law Society, and if necessary consider, with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, referring the matter to the Royal Commission on the Legal Profession? Would he also draw this idea to the attention of the Attorney-General?

The Lord Advocate

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will also have heard what my hon. Friend has said. The degree to which the doctrine of confidentiality can extend is a matter for some concern.

Mr. Gordon Wilson

Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman say whether this report is one of a factual nature, con- taining admissions and analyses of the case, or whether he has passed it to the Secretary of State with advice as to what should be done in connection with the matter on legal grounds?

The Lord Advocate

It would be wrong for me to go beyond the statement I have already made.