Bridge campaigner questions judges' masonic links

Published on Wednesday 19 February 2003 00:00

THE administration of justice in Scotland, from the Dunblane inquiry to the Lockerbie trial, could have been corrupted by a "secret brotherhood" among judges, it was alleged yesterday.

The claim by Robbie the Pict, the Skye Bridge toll protester, came after he asked three appeal court judges whether they belonged to a masonic order.

Lord Gill, the Lord Justice-Clerk, said he and his colleagues, Lords Kirkwood and Wheatley, would consider answering his question when they deliver a judgment on his attack against the Speculative Society, which Robbie describes as quasi-masonic.

The "Spec" was founded in 1764 and is open to former students of Edinburgh University. Supporters insist it is "a debating society, no more and no less", and exerts no influence over members.

Robbie, who has legally changed his name from Brian David Robertson, is fighting a conviction for refusing to pay the Skye Bridge toll, and objects to judges who are members of the Speculative Society hearing his appeal. He alleges that influential figures connected to the building of the bridge also belong to the club.

They include Sir Ian Noble, chairman of the Skye Bridge Company, and Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, who had been the government minister with responsibility for the construction and financing of the bridge.

The issue at yesterday’s hearing at the Justiciary Appeal Court in Edinburgh was whether membership of the "Spec" should be a bar to a judge being involved in Robbie’s appeal.

The three judges declared that they were not members, but Robbie wanted to make sure also that they otherwise "were not obliged by any expectation of loyalty which has the potential to produce an imbalanced judgment".

Robbie said he had investigated the "Spec" and had learned that several judges were members. He believed there was evidence pointing to "the wholesale corruption of the Scottish judicial process".

He added: "It is not unreasonable to suspect that the mere presence of such a secretive society ... does indeed constitute a potential threat to the impartiality of the judiciary."

Robbie said Lord Cullen, who chaired the Dunblane inquiry, was a member, as were Lords Coulsfield and MacLean, two of the three judges who heard the Lockerbie trial.

Raymond Doherty, QC, for the Crown, said the test for deciding whether a judge should be removed from a case was if a fair-minded and informed observer concluded that bias was a real possibility. He said: "I would submit that the concerns advanced would be considered by such an observer to be fanciful rather than reasonable. There is no basis for drawing any sinister conclusion about the role of the Speculative Society or its influence on members.

"Robbie the Pict clearly holds strongly-felt views about it, but it is not his stand-point that is decisive. He is not detached and objective."

Lord Gill said the judges wanted time to consider the submissions of both sides, and they would issue a written judgment later.