Stuart's murder conviction was overturned on 11 July 2006 following a referral to the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Lord Abernethy said:"...the non-disclosure of police statements and other information resulted in a miscarriage of justice." Read more on

"I am shattered, absolutely shattered. I am still shaking." Read more in

"The defence were deprived of a powerful argument on the crucial issue of identification" - read more at

‘You don't go to court expecting anything to go in your favour. I even brought my clothes and shaving kit in a bag because I was fully expecting to go back to jail today ’ - Stuart Gair

Mr McAuley, Mr Gair's lawyer, said: "The rule is that anything that will help the defence, and is in the possession of the Crown, should be handed over to the defence. In a great many cases, the Crown will have evidence that only they know and the defence do not know and in fact, could not know."
He went further. "This was a malicious prosecution by the police. It was based on false evidence from start to finish. If you take the entire case, you will find one impropriety [from Strathclyde Police] after another, one serious failing after another, one piece of malice after another, and we're not talking about one officer here, we're talking about a number of officers. It was very much a railroaded conviction."

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"Gay 'outing' threat by cops forced me to lie at murder trial" claim by witness at Gair appeal: Scottish Evening Times 12 May 2004

More information on MOJO Scotland website

Interim appeal judgment

Scottish TV report 7 June 2005

The man at the centre of what campaigners claim has been one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in Scottish legal history, has been freed from prison on bail pending an appeal.

Stuart Gair was convicted of murder 11 years ago but has protested his innocence ever since. He claims he was framed by police for the murder of Peter Smith in a toilet in St Vincent Street.

His case has been referred to the Court of Appeal by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, although judges said his release was not a comment on the likely outcome of his appeal.

Mr Gair, 37, was convicted of the brutal murder of Mr Smith in 1989. His lawyer, Edgar Prais QC, told the Court of Appeal in Edinburgh that the appeal process was likely to continue well into next year and that Gair had already served virtually a life sentence.

He also told Lord Milligan, sitting with Lords Philip and Reed, that Gair had been offered a home with Dr James McGregor, a long-time supporter.

After hearing that there was no opposition from the Crown, Lord Milligan ordered Gair's release from Shotts Prison, pending the result of his appeal. The judge added that the granting of bail was in no way a comment on the strength of Gair's appeal.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission - set up to look at alleged miscarriages of justice where the normal appeal process had been exhausted - regarded his claims as arguable.

Gair claims that he has an alibi for the time of the stabbing, and that witnesses who gave damning evidence against him at his trial have now come forward changing their stories. His defence team are also challenging forensic evidence said to link the fatal knife to Gair.

Gair has been ordered to stay away from potential witnesses as a condition of his freedom.

After almost 12 years in prison for murder, Stuart Gair was freed yesterday and began a process he says will unravel one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in Scotland's legal history.

At the appeal court in Edinburgh, Gair, 36, was flanked by Jim McGregor, a prison doctor who had campaigned ceaselessly for his release, as three judges granted him bail, pending a full appeal.

That appeal threatens to be explosive: the police will be accused of corruption on a grand scale; witnesses will say they were forced to lie; and Gair will bring forward two alibi witnesses who were, bizarrely, never called at his trial.

But yesterday Gair's friends said their thoughts were focused on his release and a celebratory 30-year-old malt. "My family and I are absolutely delighted," said Dr McGregor. "Stuart has proved his innocence against all conceivable odds from his cell, and this has been a long fight."

On April 11 1989, Peter Smith was stabbed through the heart in a lane beside a Glasgow cruising spot. None of his circle knew he was gay: such things were all but impossible to admit in his hometown of Plean, a rundown former mining community in Stirlingshire.

That night, Gair, a petty crook with a string of previous convictions, was staying in a shabby B&B in west Glasgow. At 10.45pm a friend arrived with bags of chips to share. Gair wanted butties, so he persuaded the night porter to let him in to the locked kitchen. During his trial, the night porter backed up his alibi for this time. After his buttie, Gair went back to the room he shared with Hector Wood, a stranger. Another stranger, Danny Marshall, was also there. The three sat talking.

At 11.15pm Smith was murdered. Mr Marshall and Mr Wood could offer alibis for Gair. But, though a special defence of alibi was lodged, the two were never called to give evidence.

On April 12, Gair was called in by police investigating a robbery. By his admission, he was cocky. When detectives found he was from Plean, however, the atmosphere changed. Gair says he had never met Smith, but he was charged with his murder.

Three weeks later a man called Willie MacLeod was stopped by a police officer in Glasgow, who told him he resembled a photofit, and took him in for questioning. Detectives asked MacLeod if he knew Smith and Gair. He now says he did not know them, but lyingly said he did. "They told me they had witnesses that had seen us, and then they said it was a murder; and I panicked. Next thing I knew I had been charged with murder," he told the Guardian.

Mr MacLeod told detectives he and Gair had taken Smith down an alleyway to mug him, Gair had stabbed Smith, and he had run away. He now says this was a lie, proffered only because he was terrified.

Mr MacLeod was remanded in Glasgow's notorious Barlinnie prison. It was there, he says, he first met Gair. On the morning of the trial, all charges against Mr MacLeod were dropped. But when he took the stand he told what he says is the truth. In the afternoon he changed his story; then he changed it again. That night he was charged with perjury. The next morning he was asked to take the stand again. Facing seven years in jail, he fingered Gair.

Three others testified, a gay man and two rent boys. They say they lied because they were intimidated. A fourth man now admits he picked Gair at an identity parade because a police officer had shown him a photo beforehand.

Only two people who placed Gair around the murder scene have not withdrawn their testimony - a policeman and policewoman out on the beat that night. One is now dead, the other says she now does not remember; neither was otherwise involved in the case.

On conviction, by a jury's eight-to-seven majority, Gair spent much time in solitary confinement until, at Glenochil prison, he met Dr McGregor. He began a campaign on Gair's behalf and found him a new solicitor, John Macaulay, who drew up Gair's appeal; Dr McGregor's campaigning, however, meant he was forced to resign. But he was successful, even convincing Mr Smith's sister, Anne, that Gair was innocent. Yesterday she welcomed his release: "I am glad to see Stuart go free, but I am angry justice has not been done for my brother. Hopefully the truth will come out. The trial was a farce, it was a disgrace, and people have the right to know the truth."

Peter Smith was stabbed to death in a seedy Glasgow lane by a cruising spot. Stuart Gair had an alibi, but he was convicted of murder. Gerard Seenan reports

Peter Smith went to Glasgow on the night of April 11, 1989, looking for sex. No one knew he was gay. To admit to being homosexual in a rundown little place like the former mining village of Plean was all but impossible. Smith, aged 44, lived with his mother, hid his secret, never had a boyfriend, contented himself with quick liaisons in city-centre toilets.

Smith didn't find the sex he was looking for that night. Instead he was stabbed through the heart in a seedy lane beside a well-known cruising spot. He died two weeks later.

Nine years on, Stuart Gair is still in prison for Smith's murder. Gair will not take part in parole procedures. He says he did not kill Smith. Four prosecution witnesses who placed Gair close to Smith's murder that night say they were forced to lie. The prosecution's star witness, Willie MacLeod, gave evidence so constantly changing and unreliable that Gair's present lawyer says much of it should never have been heard in court.

Gair had two cast-iron alibis for the night of Smith's murder. Neither of the people who provided the alibis was any more than a passing acquaintance and neither has any reason to lie. Neither was called to give evidence. Gair's appeal is now before the Secretary of State for Scotland. If Donald Dewar accepts only a fraction of the grounds, Gair's case will prove to be one of the most notorious in Scottish legal history. It is a story of bizarre legal decisions - and an innocent man.

On the night of Smith's murder, across the city in the prosperous West End, Gair was staying in a shabby B&B. Gair was a petty crook with a string of previous convictions. Only two weeks before he had been in Low Moss Prison, but this time he planned to make a go of it. He spent the night with his girlfriend, looking after a friend's baby.

At around 10.45pm their friend returned home with bags of chips to share. Gair wanted butties, so he went downstairs and persuaded the night porter to let him into the locked kitchen. During the trial, the night porter gave Gair an alibi for this time.

After finishing his butty, Gair went upstairs to the room he was sharing with Hector Wood, a stranger. The B&B's owners wouldn't let Gair share with his girlfriend -it complicated DSS claims. So, until they could get the money together for something better, Gair would be sharing with Wood.

When he got back to the room, another man, Danny Marshall, was there too. The three men sat around together, smoking and chatting, having a laugh. After half an hour or so, Marshall left. But Wood stayed with Gair all night. At around 11.15pm Smith was stabbed in North Court Lane, a dingy alley next to the St Vincent Street toilets, where cottaging is a standard night-time practice.

Wood and Marshall could both offer alibis for Gair for the time of the murder. But, though a special defence of alibi was lodged and both men were named as witnesses, neither witness was called.

On April 12, Gair was called in for questioning by police. Why he was called in is unclear - it may have had something to do with a chemist shop robbery, though Gair's lawyer, John Macaulay, is uncertain. Whatever the reason, Gair, by his own admission, was cocky. He was used to police questioning; he knew he had done nothing wrong.

After a few hours in custody, the police asked Gair where he had grown up. 'Plean,' he answered. The 'Plean connection' was formed - and things started to go badly wrong for Gair.

When the police began their investigations, there was nothing to link Gair to the death of Smith beyond the basic fact that they both came from Plean. The two men did not know each other: Smith lived on a farm outside the village and age further separated them: at the time of the murder, Gair was 25.

Three weeks after Gair's arrest, MacLeod was walking through Glasgow's busy Buchanan Street bus station when a uniformed police officer approached him. He showed MacLeod a photofit picture and asked if he thought it looked like him. 'I suppose so,' replied MacLeod.

Half an hour later in Stewart Street police station, things started to get difficult for MacLeod. 'They kept asking me if I knew Stuart Mitchell Gair and Peter Dewar Smith. I said no, but they said I did know Gair. They told me they had witnesses that had seen us and then they said it was a murder and I panicked. Next thing I knew I had been charged with murder,' MacLeod says.

MacLeod is a timid man, easily frightened. He has no alibi for the night of Smith's murder; he says he can't remember where he was. But MacLeod is certain of one thing: he does not know Gair. Under police questioning, MacLeod, a man who had never been in trouble before, lied.

When the police switched on the tape recorder, MacLeod said he had been with Gair that night in North Court Lane. He said Gair and he had taken Smith down the lane to mug him, but Gair had stabbed Smith, and he had run away. They were lies.

MacLeod spent three months in Barlinnie prison. It was there, he says, that he spoke to Gair for the first time. Through the latch of a locked cell the two men shared only a few words. 'He said to me: 'Are you up for Peter Smith's murder?' and I said: 'Aye, but I don't know anything about it.' He said: 'I'm your co-accused and I know fuck all about it as well',' MacLeod says.

On the morning of the trial, all charges against MacLeod were dropped. He was to be the prosecution's star witness. When he took the stand, MacLeod did what he should have done all along: he told the truth. Despite a prolonged attack by the prosecuting advocate depute, MacLeod said he did not know Gair, he knew nothing about the murder, he had not gone down North Court Lane with Smith and Gair.

At lunchtime, MacLeod went for a walk to clear his head from the barrage of questions. When he came back he says he was ushered, not into the witness waiting room, but to the waiting room used by police officers. The policemen openly discussed the case. Willie felt frightened, intimidated, the memory of his first prison experience still fresh.

In his afternoon testimony, MacLeod changed his story. He said he had watched Gair stab Smith. Then he changed his story again; he said he didn't know Gair. At the end of the day, when the court was cleared, MacLeod was taken to Stewart Street police station and charged with perjury.

Terrified, he spent the night in the cells. The next morning he again went to court and, in an unusual but not unique move, the judge allowed MacLeod to take the stand again. Facing perjury charges with the possibility of a seven-year sentence, MacLeod lied. 'The only way I was going to get myself off was by going in and telling the lies; nobody believed me when I was telling the truth. I lied and I'm ashamed of it.' But MacLeod was not the only person to lie in court. Gair was placed in the vicinity of Smith's murder by four men. They were all vulnerable and they were all gay; at least two of them were working as rent boys at the time.

All of them were hanging around a well-known gay pick-up point. Three of the men admit they lied in court. The fourth man, the only one among them to pick Gair in an identification parade, has now signed an affidavit saying he could pick Gair from the parade only because he had seen a photograph of Gair beforehand. Again, he lied because he was frightened.

There are only two trial witnesses who have not retracted their testimony. The two police officers, bobbies on the beat. They had been working all night, pounding the streets, seeing literally hundreds of faces. One of them is now dead and the other no longer remembers the case.

Forensic evidence at Gair's trial was, to most observers, extremely poor. Dr Bill Hunt, a former vice-president of the Royal College of Pathologists and chief UN pathologist in the investigation into mass graves in Bosnia, says the forensic evidence ranged from 'quite seriously flawed' to 'total nonsense'. The ornamental knife with which the prosecution claimed Gair stabbed Smith had no blood splattering on it. The knife was not consistent with the wounds found on Smith. A jury decided by a majority verdict of eight to seven that Gair was guilty.

He was sentenced to life. He refuses to accept prison regime and has spent much of his time in solitary confinement. His lawyer, Macaulay, says the appeal will eventually be successful, despite the fact that Scots law, untainted by causes celebres such as the Birmingham Six or Guildford Four, is notoriously complacent.

'I have never seen an appeal with so many aspects to it,' Macaulay says. 'There is so much to it - from witnesses giving false statements to alibi witnesses not being led and forensic evidence that is totally unacceptable. I have never seen anything like it.' Gair will go to sleep tonight in Edinburgh prison tortured by the same questions that have haunted him for nine years of confinement. Who killed Smith and why was Gair imprisoned for a crime he did not commit? Strathclyde Police refuse to comment.

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