APPEAL COURT, HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY |
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Lord Macfadyen Lord Carloway Sir Gerald Gordon
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Appeal No: XJ295/02 OPINION OF THE COURT delivered by LORD MACFADYEN in STATED CASE in causis GEORGE WIMPEY UK LIMITED Appellants; against PROCURATOR FISCAL, Hamilton Respondent; and BARBARA ANN SWEETIN Appellant; against PROCURATOR FISCAL, Hamilton Respondent: ______ |
Appellant: R. Anthony, Q.C., A.D.; Crown Agent
Respondents: Brailsford Q.C.; Campbell Smith: Shead; Drummond Miller
22 April 2003
"houses belonging to Scottish Homes at Highstonehall Road situated adjacent to said Avonlea Gate, Hamilton, were to be demolished and that said demolition would occur during 1999".
The averment in support of the falsity of the statements was in the following terms:
"the truth being that said houses were not scheduled for demolition during the period stated, and there were no plans for their demolition and that they have not been so demolished".
"The older houses referred to by the prospective buyers and by [Mrs Sweetin] in the course of their meetings were the houses belonging to Scottish Homes at Highstonehall Road and Ewart Crescent, situated adjacent to said Avonlea Gate, Hamilton, and the same houses referred to as being in Ewart Crescent by [Mrs Sweetin] in the course of her statement ..., by the said Councillor Falconer [who wrote to Scottish Homes about the matter], by the said Fiona Martin [who interviewed Mrs Sweetin] and by the said Mrs Pat Harvey of Scottish Homes."
The Sheriff then found:
"(12) That between August 1998 and January 1999 the older houses were not scheduled for demolition during 1999, there were no plans for their demolition and they have not been so demolished."
"... I was satisfied there was sufficient evidence to link the evidence which Mrs Harvey gave regarding houses in Ewart Crescent to the houses belonging to Scottish Homes spoken to by the prospective purchasers.
Firstly, there was the evidence of the Trading Standards Officer who looked at the photographs and identified photograph number 6 of the site, as showing Ewart Crescent. Secondly, there was the evidence contained in the interview with [Mrs Sweetin], who said in relation to the older houses which she mentioned that a local had said to her that she was sure the houses were coming down because she wanted to buy her Council house in Ewart Crescent (across the road from the Wimpey development at Avonlea Gate) and Scottish Homes had refused to allow her to buy it ...
Thirdly, there was the letter of complaint dated 7th December 1999 from the witnesses John Cole and Lee-Ann McCumisky which was produced by the defence and shown to these witnesses ... which stated in gremio in paragraph 2 that the accused also claimed that the residents of Highstonehall Road and Ewart Crescent had already received notification (i.e. of the demolition) two weeks prior.
Finally, there was the link that prospective purchasers had been referred in relation to this matter to the Trading Standards Authority by Councillor Alan Falconer who of course was the author of the letter to Scottish Homes of 8th March 2000 to which Mrs Harvey was replying in her letter of 14th March ... when she referred to the Scottish Homes houses at Ewart Crescent.
I considered that there was sufficient from this accumulation of evidence and links to satisfy me that the Scottish Homes houses spoken to by Mrs Harvey were indeed the Scottish Homes houses which had been referred to by [Mrs Sweetin] in her statement and by the prospective purchasers in their evidence and referred to generally in the complaint as "at Highstonehall Road situated adjacent to said Avonlea Gate, Hamilton".