This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Criminal justice appointment
17/06/2004
The extension of the appointment of an existing member
of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission was
announced today by Minister for Justice Cathy Jamieson.
The member is:
Sir Gerald Gordon QC CBE. Sir Gerald was a Sheriff from
1976 to 1999 and was a temporary High Court Judge between
1992 and 2004. He was Professor of Scots Law at Edinburgh
University from 1972 to 1976 and Head of the Department of
Criminal Law and Criminology there from 1965 to 1972. He
practised as an advocate from 1953 to 1959 and was
Procurator Fiscal Depute from 1960 to 1965.
The extension of his appointment is for a period of
eighteen months, has been approved by the Commissioner for
Public Appointments and will run from June 18 2004 until
December 17 2005.
This post is part-time and attracts a remuneration of
£230 per day (or pro rate per part thereof) for a time
commitment of three to four days per month. Sir Gerald
currently holds no other public appointments.
The extension of this Ministerial public appointment was
made in accordance with the Code of Practice issued by the
Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
All appointments are made on merit and political
activity plays no part in the selection process. However,
in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations,
there is a requirement for appointees' political activity
(if there is any to be declared) to be made public. No
political activity has been declared.
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission was
created by section 194A of the Criminal Procedure
(Scotland) Act 1995 as inserted by section 25 of the Crime
and Punishment (Scotland) Act 1997.
The Commission's role is to consider alleged
miscarriages of justice and if, after proper investigation
it believes that i) a miscarriage of justice may have
occurred and ii) that it is in the interests of justice
that a reference should be made, it may refer a case to the
High Court for determination. By statute at least
one-third of members must be advocates or solicitors of at
least ten years' standing.