UK Government’s most senior adviser on Scots law cleared of misconduct over firearms offence

Lord Richard Keen QC, Advocate General for Scotland. Picture: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

Lord Keen QC appeared at an all-day Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service hearing to face an allegation of bringing the legal profession into disrepute.

The allegation related to a 2017 conviction of failing to secure a firearm, therefore breaching a condition of his shotgun licence.

On 27 December 2016, the unsecured 12-gauge shotgun was found in a canvas bag in a cupboard in Lord Keen’s Edinburgh home after police were called by a neighbour who reported a burglary.

While searching the five-storey property as Lord Keen and his wife were on holiday, officers found the weapon  out of its safe, breaching the conditions of his shotgun licence.

Lord Keen, the Advocate General for Scotland with 39 years of experience as a barrister, pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay a £1,000 fine at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in March 2017.

The former chairman of the Scottish Conservative Party, who was made a life peer in 2015, said he had forgotten to secure the gun as he was intending to clean it. Tom Forster QC, representing the Bar Standards Board, said his conviction amounted to professional misconduct as it could reduce trust in barristers and had also posed a potential risk to the public. He said: “The gun was being kept in a residential property in an urban area.

“Therefore there was a heightened obligation to Lord Keen to ensure it was kept securely.”

Mr Forster accepted that the conviction was “at the bottom of the scale of criminality”, but argued it was a significant offence.

However, Tom Richards, representing Lord Keen, described the incident as a “one-off and inadvertent omission” that was not professional misconduct.

“He has apologised for his offence. He has pleaded guilty and he has been appropriately punished,” he said.

A three-person panel led by retired judge Michael Topolski QC found the allegation of professional misconduct not proved after nearly two hours of deliberation.

Judge Topolski said: “The evidence is that Lord Keen has been a beneficiary of a shotgun certificate for two-and-a-half decades. His conduct has been exemplary until now.”

Lord Keen said: “I’m obviously relieved that the complaint has been rejected and dismissed.”

The tribunal found that being convicted of a non-minor offence was a breach of standards.