Expensive Lawyers

The Neil Lennon bomb plot trial which is heading into its third week features two of the most expensive defence lawyers in Scotland - Donald Findlay QC and Gordon Jackson QC - the latter being the former Labour MSP for Govan.

I don't know what the two lawyers are being paid for representing their clients - Messrs Muirhead and McKenzie from Kilwinning.

But I doubt you'd get much change out of £3,000 a day for their fees - each of the two gentlemen.

The enormous cost of which is borne by the public purse - of course.

Although why this information is not freely available and published routinely is beyond me - maybe someone will submit an FOI request to the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) to discover the details on this occasion.

Anyway what I don't follow is why the two accused men are allowed such expensive lawyers to represent their interests.

Why can't someone else do the job and save the public purse a bob or two - why are they entitled to representation from two of the most highly paid lawyers in Scotland - that money can buy?

Now the trial may be about very serious issues - but it has a lighter side as well - which the other day involved a text message from one of the accused contained a message referring to "our package".

The BBC reports that a phone recovered from Trevor Muirhead's house contained a message sent to someone called "Mac" last April which said:

"Sorry about the time m8. Our package was in Pennyburn last night waiting on navy bomb disposobal (sic)."

Now l know this is not a laughing matter, but please - 'disposabal'. 

Chalk up another big success for the Scottish education system - I think the defence team might also have their work cut out on this particular case.