Donald Finlay | |
|---|---|
| Lord Rector of the University of St Andrews | |
| In office 1993–1999 | |
| Preceded by | Nicky Campbell |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Neil |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 17 March 1951 (1951-03-17) (age 74) Cowdenbeath, Fife, Scotland |
| Political party | Scottish Conservatives |
| Education | Harris Academy |
| Alma mater | University of Dundee University of Glasgow |
Donald Russell Findlay[1]KC (born 17 March 1951) is a Scottish advocate. He has also held positions as a vice-chairman ofRangers Football Club and twiceRector of the University of St Andrews. He is now chairman of his hometown football clubCowdenbeath.
He is well known for a distinctive style of dress and manner, particularly the smoking of apipe, as well as his staunch support forUnionism in Scotland and theScottish Conservatives. He has faced some controversy over several incidents where he sang songs and told allegedlysectarian jokes.[7]
Findlay was born on 17 March 1951 inCowdenbeath, Fife, the son of a churchbeadle. He was subsequently educated atHarris Academy in Dundee, and later at theUniversity of Dundee and at theUniversity of Glasgow.
As a boy, Findlay was influenced to become a lawyer by following the trial ofPeter Manuel and by watching the TV seriesBoyd Q.C..[8]
A combination of high-profile controversies, acute legal skills and a well-cultivated image has generated Findlay a lot of coverage in the Scottish press in recent years and he now has one of the highest legal profiles in Scotland and widely considered to be Scotland's premier criminal law advocate.[9] He took silk, becoming aKing's Counsel in 1988,[10] but his behaviour has been censured by theFaculty of Advocates on more than one occasion (see below). He has served as a defence lawyer in many high-profile murder cases includingJodi Jones,Mark Scott and theKriss Donald murder trials. He representedPeter Tobin, the murderer ofAngelika Kluk in the so-called "body in the church" case.[11] Findlay is a member of theOptimum Advocates.
At present, he is also a notedafter-dinner speaker[9] and in 1997 was a high-profile campaigner on behalf of the unsuccessful Think Twice campaign which supported a double-no vote in theScottish devolution referendum.
In 2006, he was a defence counsel in the trial ofMohammed Atif Siddique, which saw the youth sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for collecting and sharing online information about terrorists. Donald Findlay successfully appealed this conviction in January 2010. In April 2010 following an eight-week trial he secured the acquittal of the English solicitor Marshall Ronald in the infamous Da Vinci recovery trial.
He also achieved the acquittal, on a technicality, of William Beggs who had been convicted of the murder of Barry Oldham. Beggs went on to attack others including Barry Wallace, the victim of murder in the "Limbs in the Loch" case.[12]
Glasgow based newspaperDaily Record reported that Donald Findlay was one of the highest paid lawyers in 2007, earning £350,000 from his high-profile cases.
In June 2010 Findlay was elected chairman of the Faculty of Advocates Criminal Bar Association.[13]
Findlay's academic links with theUniversity of St Andrews (of which Dundee was once part) saw him elected as Lord Rector in 1993 and again in 1996. After his retirement from this position, he took the position of Chancellor of the University'sStrafford Club. St Andrews, allegedly, dropped plans to award him an honorary degree after one of his controversial outbursts, most notably being caught on film singing sectarian songs. At this time, he was also noted to be suffering from severe depression and later revealed that he had contemplated suicide.[14]
In the mid-1990s he left his third wife Jennie to set up house with theReporting Scotland television reporterPaddy Christie. This relationship later foundered.[15]
In May 2011, Findlay was sent a parcel in the post to Cowdenbeath football club where he is chairman.[16] Initially it was thought to contain a bomb but it was later revealed to contain a knife.[16]
Findlay is anatheist,[9] but is mostly noted in Scotland for his support ofRangers, a historicallyProtestant football club, and for engaging in controversial behaviour that has been widely interpreted as beinganti-Catholic in nature.[2][3][4][5][6][17] In May 1999 he was accused of sectarianism, after being filmed singingThe Sash at a private party organised by a Rangers Supporters Club.[18] For his role in this event, Findlay resigned from the board of the club.[19] After this incident Findlay admitted to feeling so pursued by the media portrayal of him that he had even considered suicide.[20]
In May 2005, shortly after the death ofPope John Paul II, while speaking atLarne Rangers Social Club in Northern Ireland he said "It's very smoky in here tonight – has another f***ing Pope died?"The Scotsman reported that he went on to tell a vulgar joke about a nun, whileThe Herald reported that his routine was "alleged to have been littered with obscenities and jokes about Catholics" although Findlay has stated that he also made jokes aboutProtestantism and about the Protestant clergyman and politicianIan Paisley.[21] It is believed that theFaculty of Advocates passed a vote of no confidence on him following the controversy over his comments.[22] He was also fined £3,500 by the Faculty of Advocates.
Findlay was cleared of an allegation of misconduct before theFaculty of Advocates in 2007[23] following a complaint regarding his conduct at the Rangers Supporters Club inLarne and contribution to a book entitledHow Soccer Explains The World – An Unlikely Theory of Globalisation.[24]
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Rector of the University of St Andrews 1993–1999 | Succeeded by |