Pilley Case - Appeal to start before Xmas

McCann-hater:

Jacqueline Cowan ‏@ThePlebian
@Trolls_Nemesis Cadaver dog evidence used in court in Pilley case. No forensics found yet conviction won http://bbc.in/yYxDZa #mccann

Ahem!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-20153898

David Gilroy's murder conviction appeal to start in December

The Edinburgh man jailed for murdering Suzanne Pilley has been told his appeal is to start just days before Christmas.

Solicitors acting for David Gilroy, 50, have been told by Appeal Court judges his bid to have his conviction quashed will begin on 20 December 2012.

dinburgh in April 2012 of murdering former lover Ms Pilley in Edinburgh in May 2010.

He was sentenced to life and must serve at least 18 years.

Prosecution lawyers believe he dumped Ms Pilley's remains in a shallow grave somewhere near the Rest and Be Thankful beauty spot in Argyll.

The pair had split in the weeks leading up to her death.

However, Gilroy's defence team say he has been wrongly convicted of murdering Ms Pilley, whose body has never been found.

In July 2012 his solicitors lodged an appeal against conviction. They were given permission to argue that police should have told Gilroy he was suspected of committing a crime when officers interviewed him days after Suzanne went missing.

His legal team believe police may have broken the law when they spoke to him. They say that officers are supposed to tell people who are suspected of committing a crime that they are being spoken to as a suspect in a criminal investigation.

At the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh earlier this month, his lawyers were told they could argue that the judge at Gilroy's trial, Lord Bracadale, also acted wrongly during proceedings.

During the trial, members of the jury were supposed to be shown an edited report which had been composed by pathologist Dr Nathaniel Cary.

In the report, Dr Cary speculated about the circumstances surrounding Ms Pilley's disappearance.

But rather than be shown the edited report, the jury were wrongly given copies of Dr Cary's unedited text by the prosecution.

Lord Bracadale allowed the trial to continue.

The jury were then handed copies of the edited report.

At that hearing John Scott QC, the solicitor advocate acting for Gilroy in his appeal, argued that this action could have prejudiced the jury against the former businessman.

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As many have attempted to explain, it is one thing for a court to be told that a dog woofed at a floor.

It is completely another for that woofing to be given any weight in court.

And with their usual perfect timing, the hounders decide to use the Pilley case as an example of the infallibility of dogs. Still failing to grasp that little or no weight was given to the woofing.

Incidentally, why weren't the woofs taken to Argyllshire for a good old sniff around? The police supposedly had an idea as to where the body had been dumped. As with the Prout case, actually finding the body would have been a bit more impressive than floor-woofing.

We must take it that if ever anything untoward happened in the lives of the hounders and someone was missing, the woof of a dog would be the deciding factor as to guilt?

No body found, just a woof. Would that be okay with them?

Odd, isn't it, the difficulty the Hounders have in finding a case when Grime's 'cadaver dogs' actually FIND A CADAVER UNAIDED, like normal cadaver dogs.

Eddie was still a normal police dog when he found the remains of the late Mrs Harron; the poor woman smelled so bad, the humans didn't actually need dogs. And they always try to gloss over the fact that he, and the non-famous dog Frankie, also alerted to blood in that case....

Orkney was scarcely a triumph, as the only reason Eddie was needed was that the gravedigger had been too drunk to remember in which particular bit of sand dune he had buried the deceased.

Can anyone think of a case in which Grime's dogs have actually found a cadaver? Because that would be impressive.

Can anyone think of a case in which Grime's dogs have actually found a cadaver? Because that would be impressive.

No. I think that that is the problem. How to hype his wares?

It will be interesting to see what happens with the Pilley case, Lily. If the whole thing gets thrown out over some enormous prosecution blunders, then that will rather leave the woof fans up a gum tree.

Don't get me wrong, I am pretty sure Gilroy was responsible for Ms Pilley's death, but on the evidence made public, I did think it might be a Not Proven.

But then, unlike some of the jury, the public didn't see the speculative material which was given to them in error.

Yep, we will wait and see.