The Scottish Government’s counsel, Roddy Dunlop QC and Christine O’Neill QC, ordered the unredacted document – including Nicky Page’s email address – to be in the disclosure bundle on Wednesday 12 December 2018 in advance of the hearing on 14 December. This would have shown that the email exchange about potential reporting to police, against the wishes of complainants, and a draft of the policy itself, had been sent to Police Scotland (inadvertently) on 23 November 2017.
What was concealed from disclosure in the judicial review was the email address of Nicky Page of Police Scotland, and the subsequent email exchange between her and Judith Mackinnon withdrawing the documentation. It renders the First Minister’s account today simply extraordinary.
LIES OF P SITE FULL
The full significance of these events is described by Roddy Dunlop QC in his note, at paragraphs 6-20. On the evening of Thursday 13th December, junior counsel discovered this had not been done, and the unredacted document had NOT been included in the disclosure bundle.Īs a result of this omission – and faced with the exceptionally grave matter of the breaking of their assurances to the court and fellow counsel with regard to the duty of candour – government counsel withdrew their opposition to the Commission and Diligence process, which then went ahead in order to obtain further evidence which had been withheld from Lord Pentland by the Scottish Government. On Wednesday 12 December 2018, in the run up to a judicial-review hearing in front of Lord Pentland on Friday 14th December, counsel for the government discovered that a redaction of an email address – one belonging to a senior Police Scotland officer – had been wrongly made.Ĭounsel then instructed civil servants to include an unredacted copy of the document in the disclosure bundle. The First Minister’s account of this matter does not accord with the facts. The evidence that civil servants DID in fact seek to obstruct the court process is found within the note of Senior Counsel to the Lord Advocate dated 17 December 2018 and finally published on Friday 5th March 2021. The quote below is from an email sent today by SNP communications chief Murray Foote, briefing ministers and MSPs on the official Scottish Government line, which is what the First Minister told the chamber in response to a question from Ruth Davidson. We’ve received information this afternoon with regard to Nicola Sturgeon’s statements at today’s FMQs, which appear to have been wholly and disturbingly dishonest.
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