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firefly
Hi all,

(General, jeffrey - sorry for the subject header, couldn't resist it!)

Without stealing too much of The General's thunder, yesterday was a good day for Scottish law!

Briefly for those who don't know, The General's case spun out over two days in April and May. Due to the late-ish start on day one, the case was obviously going to finish way past everyone's bed time, so an adjournment was suggested.

Yesterday was the conclusion. After some excellent cross examination from The General's brief, the prosecution's witness was found "wanting". Undermining the prosecution's case in my opinion.

Anyway, after a superb summing up by The General's brief, the JP delivered a not guilty verdict on the grounds of "sufficient reasonable doubt" as to the prosecution's evidence.

Myself and jeffreyarcher (not to mention The General's family and friends) who had been there for the two days, almost jumped into the air and gave each other high-5s! How The General kept emotionless in the dock I will never know!

jeffreyarcher and myself were in agreement that to a certain extent, the district courts in Scotland seem to have a greater degree of separation and autonomy from the police and Procurator Fiscal than the magistrates courts do in England. Whether or not this is the case throughout the whole of Scotland I couldn't tell. I have to say though, that from reading other posts and from speaking to various people, if The General's case had been south of Hadrian's wall, then the Sassenachs would have convicted him!! icon_wink.gif

A minor triumph for Scottish law!

Well done to The General for his dogged persistence and determination.
The General
FF

Thanks mate - and a big thanks to Jeffrey for his help/support also.

Mika and Paul Smith along with my lawyer friend (who shall remain anonymous) were the inspiration for getting going with this whole "adventure". Mika/Paul - thank you very much indeed. You are a couple of absolute gentlemen and it has been a pleasure getting to know you.

The lawyer who assisted me in court was nothing short of awesome, and vital in getting the fantastic result.

Having witnessed the "Bristol case" I share ff's opinion. In Scotland there appears to be segregation, where the court is not just a rubber stamping exercise for the police.

I thought the Crown witnesses were extremely weak, with the brief delivering nothing short of a maulication. If you ever wanted to see a traffic cop squirm - yesterday was the day.

The case fell apart on the basis of the reliability of the evidence. The ProVida 2000 system was admitted as being faulty by the so called expert witness from PMI. The police in turn did not follow the adopted ACPO guidelines in Scotland and failed to carry out the appropriate calibration checks. The fault and lack of appropriate checks I believe made the case.

One officer claimed that a suitable check was to lean over his partner's side of the car to look at the speedo and compare this to speed indicated on the ProVida 2000 System as an alternative to what's called a double switch. This procedure is completed at 80mph! One can only imagine what must have been going through the young constable’s mind as his sergeant leant over his side of the vehicle with his head about stomach level! icon_wink.gif

Actually - the more I think about it!

Not to mention the danger involved in this standard manoeuvre by Strathclyde's finest.

By the way ff - I could have jumped for joy, but as I thought the JP and the Clerk seemed like fairly decent blokes, I didn't want to lower the tone of the occasion by appearing to disrespect the court.

All in all an interesting episode. I am pulling together a website of the whole story - so watch this space. If I can inspire one other person to take the same path it will be worth it.

Once again thanks to everyone who helped.

The General
Blackbird
Hi General

I know that I pm'd you last night but now it is in the open, CONGRATULATIONS to you and to those that helped you.
8)
To those that don't know the case look at the website when the General has it up and running - it should be well worth it.


Best Regards
bulletmagnet
another one up 'em

well done
Mika
General,

Congratulations, and it was my sincere pleasure to assist a fellow exponent of “defensive driving”. Monster e-mailed this evening, requesting a copy of your traffic video – the Met will just love it – trust me.

Please don’t tell anyone who was responsible for the disclosure of the traffic video, because I am sh1t scared of ‘them’ - honest.

Remember the magic words:

“I am not ‘avin it” and “they don’t like it up ‘em”. icon_wink.gif
The General
Mika

The video in the public domain - shock, horror.

Police, Camera = Loads of Trouble!

ProVida, LTi 20-20, what next. They don't like handing out these videos do they?

One issue that did inspire me in my case was that the primary evidence seemed to be the video. When the video said 22mph, the sergeant claimed that was representative. Within 0.44 of a second Provida was showing 64mph! The constable "corroborated" his superior's estimation by claiming they were travelling at around 40-45mph.

So there you go - 22mph, 40-45mph and 64mph. In fact the constable in his statement said it was February when in actual fact it was July!

It was apparent that between them, i.e. two highly trained traffic officers and a shining piece of electronic wizadry, they didn't even know what speed they were travelling at themselves, never mind anybody else. icon_eek.gif Nor could they agree on the month. laugh.gif

I'd like to speak to monster, give him my number and ask him to give me a call.

The General
Mika
Hi all,

For those of you are interested in the in The General’s case, a selection of stills from the ProVida traffic video, have been made available.

The images do not adequately portray what is recorded on the traffic video and, for your information, the speed of the police vehicle is displayed in the bottom right of each frame. An unmarked Volvo T5, that was not displaying warning lights or using its sirens, recorded these images.

The reason that some of the images are somewhat unclear, is because the video camera had been shaken lose from its mounting behind the driver’s rear view mirror.

Monster,

You will be receiving a personal copy of the traffic video, and please ensure that you share it with your colleagues at Hendon Police college. icon_wink.gif
dave99
that is unbelievable - 123mph with no lights or sirens is totally irresponsible IMO. Is that the A616 by any chance?
cjm99
What flagrant hypocracy. No doubt, over twice the speed limit!


Chris
Mika
Chaps,

What may be more unbelievable is that one of Strathclyde Constabulary’s senior traffic officers – Sergeant O’Neal – was sitting in the passenger seat.

Furthermore, Sergeant O’Neal is one of Strathclyde Constabulary’s road traffic accident 'crash investigators'.

Just wait until you read the letters relating to the complaint that was made! Then you will be able to judge the conduct of the “independent” Procurator Fiscal, for yourselves.

Chris,

You could be mistaken; are you sure that they are hypocrats?

But Mr Brunstrom hit back, saying: "Speeding is a form of anti-social behaviour…… icon_redface.gif
The General
Guys, Guys

Don't do as I do, just do as I say!

Not only is this hypocritical, it's down-right dangerous. In fact, as far as I understand it's also criminal.

So there you have it. The first picture Mika has displayed in the sequence shows traffic officers approaching a blind summit at 95mph. For information, his foot remains on the "gas" as he goes over the brow. As you can see, nothing beyond the brow can be seen. How do we know there is not a deer or a sheep, a broken down vehicle or perhaps an unlucky motorcyclist lying just beyond the line of sight.

The fact of the matter is - we don't

The General
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