William Frederick Ian Beggs v. Her Majesty's Advocate [2010] HCJAC 48

Application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court:- On 9 March 2010 the Appeal Court refused the appeal of the appellant in his appeal against conviction. Here the appellant sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. There were four “devolution issues” upon which leave to appeal was sought:- (1) the rule of specialty; (2) prejudicial publicity and the problem of the possibility of jurors conducting searches of the internet in order to obtain access to material concerning the accused or the subject matter of the trial; (3) the absence of any requirement on a jury in this country to give reasons for its decision amounts to a contravention of Article 6 ECHR; and (4) the non-disclosure of a statement taken by the police from the witness Irene Callaghan. It was submitted on behalf of the appellant that all of the grounds of appeal taken collectively raised a question as to the general fairness of the trial and hence amounted to a breach of Article 6 of ECHR. Here the court considered whether any of the four grounds referred to constituted devolution issues and if so whether permission to appeal to the Supreme Court should be granted.