Court / Maverick campaigner jailed for secret court recordings

Contributed

20 February 2020 17:28

SELF-styled campaigner for an independent Shetland, Stuart Hill, was jailed for two months at Kirkwall Sheriff Court after admitting having secretly and illegally recorded court proceedings.

Stuart Hill.

The 77-year-old from Cunningsburgh is standing trial in Orkney after failing to declare election expenses.

Hill stood as an independent candidate during the 2017 UK parliamentary election in which he came last with 245 votes.

In court on Wednesday sheriff Richard McFarlane said he had spotted a passage in Hill’s book Stolen Isles: Shetland’s True Status in which the author claimed to have recorded court proceedings.

Asked if he was recording his current case, Hill confirmed that he was.

When Hill appeared back in court on Thursday he was sentenced to two months behind bars for contempt of court after declining to delete the previous day’s recording from his BlackBerry phone stating he didn’t recognise the sheriff or the court’s authority.

He was also ordered to forfeit his recording device. The election expenses trial continues on 4 March.

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