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Judges named for Lockerbie appeal
17/01/2002
The Lord Justice General, Lord Cullen has appointed the
five judges to hear the appeal of convicted Lockerbie
bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi.
The appeal is expected to begin at the Scottish Court in
the Netherlands at Camp Van Zeist near Utrecht on
Wednesday, January 23.
Megrahi was found guilty last January of the murder of
270 people by placing a bomb on board Pan Am Flight 103
which was en route to New York when it blew up over
Lockerbie in December 1988. His co-accused Al-Amin Khalifa
Fhimah was acquitted.
The judges who will hear the appeal will be:
The Rt. Hon. Lord Cullen, Lord Justice General
The Rt. Hon. Lord Kirkwood
The Rt. Hon. Lord Osborne
The Hon. Lord Macfadyen
The Hon. Lord Nimmo Smith.
The appointment is made under paragraph 14(3) of the
High Court of Justiciary (Proceedings in the Netherlands)
(United Nations) Order 1998 as amended by the High Court of
Justiciary (Proceedings in the Netherlands) (United
Nations) (Variation) Order 2001.
Rt. Hon. Lord Cullen, 66
- William Douglas Cullen PC, Lord Justice General,
was appointed Lord Justice General and Lord President
of the Court of Session in 2001 . He was Lord Justice
Clerk from 1997 until 2001.
- He has been a Judge since 1986 and a Privy
Counsellor since 1997.
- He is a graduate of the Universities of St Andrews
(MA) and Edinburgh (LLB) and was admitted to the
Faculty of Advocates in 1960.
- From 1970 to 1973 he was Standing Junior Counsel to
HM Customs and Excise.
- He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1973 and served
as an Advocate Depute from 1978 to 1981.
- He was a Chairman of Medical Appeal Tribunals from
1977 until his appointment as a Judge.
- From 1988 to 1990 he conducted the Public Inquiry
into the Piper Alpha disaster and in 1996 he chaired
the Public Inquiry into the shootings at Dunblane
Primary School.
- In October 1999 he was appointed to chair the
Ladbroke Grove Rail Inquiry.
- He is a former member of the Royal Commission on
Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.
He has been awarded honorary degrees of LLD from the
Universities of Aberdeen and St Andrews, and DUniv from
Heriot-Watt University.
Rt. Hon. Lord Kirkwood, 69
- Ian Candlish Kirkwood PC, is a graduate of the
Universities of Edinburgh (MA LLB) and Michigan,
(LLM).
- He became a judge in 1987 and he sits in the Second
Division of the Inner House.
- He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1957
and was Standing Junior Counsel to the Scottish Home
and Health Department in 1963.
- He served on the Parole Board for Scotland from
1994 to 1997 and prior to his appointment as a Judge he
was a Chairman of Medical Appeal Tribunals.
He is a former international chess player and the patron
of Edinburgh Chess Club.
Hon. Lord Macfadyen, 56 - Donald James Dobbie Macfadyen, was
appointed a Judge in 1995 after serving for
a year as a Temporary Judge.
- He spends most of his time in the
specialist court for commercial
actions.
- He is a graduate of Glasgow University
(LLB) and was admitted to the Faculty of
Advocates in 1969.
- He was Standing Junior Counsel to the
Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for
Scotland (1977-79) and to the Scottish Home
and Health Department (1982-83).
- He served as an Advocate Depute from
1979-82 and was appointed Queen's Counsel
in 1983.
- He was Counsel to the Inquiry into the
Removal of Children from Orkney which sat
from July 1991 to March 1992.
- He served as a Chairman of Medical
Appeal Tribunals from 1989 to 1995.
- He was Vice-Dean of the Faculty of
Advocates from 1992 to 1995.
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Rt. Hon. Lord Osborne, 64 - Kenneth Hilton Osborne PC, has been a
Judge since 1990.
- He is a graduate of Edinburgh
University (MA, LLB) and was admitted to
the Faculty of Advocates in 1962.
- He was Standing Junior Counsel to the
Ministry of Defence (Navy) from 1974 to
1976.
- He was appointed Queen's Counsel in
1976 and served as an Advocate Depute from
1982 to 1984. He served on VAT Tribunals,
Medical Appeal Tribunals and the
Disciplinary Committee of the Potato
Marketing Board.
- He was a member of the Lands Tribunal
for Scotland from 1985 to 1987 and he has
been Chairman of the Local Government
Boundary Commission for Scotland since
1990.
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Hon. Lord Nimmo Smith, 59 - William Austin Nimmo Smith, was
appointed a Judge in 1996 after a year as a
Temporary Judge.
- He is the Insolvency Judge in Scotland
and hears proceedings for the winding up of
companies, and related matters, in the
Outer House.
- He is also one of the Scottish
Intellectual Property Judges.
- He is a graduate of the Universities of
Oxford (BA, Balliol College) and Edinburgh
(LLB) and was admitted to the Faculty of
Advocates in 1969.
- He was Standing Junior Counsel to the
Department of Employment from 1977 until he
was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1982. He
served as an Advocate Depute from 1983 to
1986.
- He was a Chairman of Medical Appeal
Tribunals and Vaccine Damage Tribunals from
1986 to 1991, and a part-time member of the
Scottish Law Commission from 1988 to
1996.
- He was a joint author of the Report on
an Inquiry into an Allegation of a
Conspiracy to Pervert the Course of Justice
in Scotland (1993), and the author of the
Report of the Monklands Inquiry
(1995).
- He is Chairman of the Council of the
Cockburn Association.
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