The Herald
Another ‘appalling vista’ as an innocent cries for justice
Eamonn O’Neill June 17 2005

On January 17, 1980, Lord Denning, then Master of the Rolls, delivered his infamous ruling regarding the possibility that evidence he had before him might mean that the alleged Birmingham Six bombers were, in fact, innocent. Denning stated: "That was such an appalling vista that every sensible person would say 'It cannot be right that these actions should go any further'. In other words: "Stuff their innocence – let's protect our corrupt system instead."
Eventually, such wrong-headed legal hubris and blind defiance of the realities that were staring the entire judicial system in the face meant that the "appalling vista" of police lying in order to frame innocent men for terrible crimes did indeed come into focus for all the world to see.
To this day however, as recounted by Ludovic Kennedy recently, many members of what used to be termed the Establishment still labour under the illusion that the Birmingham Six did indeed carry out those IRA acts of terrorism and that they "got off" on a technicality of some vague variety. Kennedy asked one mutterer of such nonsense if he could pass on his comments to the Six's lawyer: "Why?" he was asked. "So they can issue you with a writ" he replied.
Most people sleep easy assuming that such fates only befall "other" people. Examine the cases in detail and you realise that's not true – they can happen to anyone. When they're publicised, heads are shaken and hands are wrung. Whatever case surfaced last, it's assumed that'll be the end of the matter. The system will ensure it doesn't occur again. If only that were true. Instead, as Thomas Jefferson said, "Eternal vigilance is the price we pay for liberty."
So, it's of concern to everyone that we find another worrying case on our collective doorsteps. It involves Stuart Gair, the man convicted in August 1989 for the murder of Peter Smith from West Plean, Stirling. The death arose following the discovery on April 11 of a bleeding Mr Smith slumped at the bottom of the steps of the St Vincent Street gents' lavatories. A police investigation followed and a court case took place which resulted in Stuart Gair's conviction for the murder. There, if justice had been done, the matter should have rested.
But over the years, several men and women of conscience – not members of the press, we only trooped onstage later – heard Gair's pleas of innocence from inside Scottish prisons and started investigating the case themselves. What they found was, to put it politely, a dog's breakfast of evidence which put him there. One of these individuals was a GP from Alloa named Dr Jim McGregor. He met Gair in prison and after examining the case along with other concerned individuals, including the family of Billy Harris, another young man murdered in controversial circumstances in the same area of Glasgow's city centre, he started banging on doors and asking hard questions.
Dr McGregor courageously put his career on the line because of the strength of his belief, after scrutinising the case files, that an innocent man had been jailed.
The guts of the reason why concerned citizens like him and his wife Maureen – neither of whom could ever be pigeonholed as irritating self-serving "do-gooders" – stepped forward to highlight this case hinged on the manifestly porous nature of the Crown's evidence against Gair. Suffice to say – speaking for myself – I interviewed four out of five of the main prosecution witnesses and found myself hearing damning tales of police coercion and homophobic threats from officers. I also read the transcript of the original trial proceedings and it genuinely read like a bad TV script.
I then interviewed a solid witness who gave Gair an alibi for the whole evening on which the murder was committed – a witness inexplicably never called to testify on Gair's behalf at the original trial. And, last but not least, I read damning forensic evidence which cast serious doubt about a knife that Gair supposedly used in the murder. Interviews took place in chilly Glasgow flats and tacky Blackpool hotels.
No-one was forced to say anything to me. The four main witnesses could have backed out whenever they wanted – one did and I ended up speaking to him by phone. The rest chatted into a tape recorder for hours. Their transcribed testimonies ran to scores of pages . They lied in court, they told me. All sounded terrified but they wanted to help Gair. The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission also got involved and, after its inquiries, recommended the case back into the Appeal Court in Edinburgh. So far, so good. more.....