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CRIME
Keir (Appellant) v His Majesty's Advocate (Respondent) (Scotland)
Case summary
Case ID
UKSC/2023/0123
Parties
Appellant(s)
Keir
Respondent(s)
His Majesty's Advocate
Intervener(s)
(1) Council of the Law Society of Scotland (2) The Faculty of Advocates Rape Crisis Scotland
Issue
1. Is the Scottish courts’ current approach to the admission of evidence concerning the complainer’s sexual history in trials for sexual offences liable to infringe defendants’ rights to a fair trial under article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights? 2. Were Mr Keir’s rights under article 6 infringed at his trial?
Facts
On 7 October 2022, Mr Keir, was convicted of sexually assaulting the complainer at his home address while she was intoxicated, asleep and incapable of consenting, and of raping her when she awoke. Initially, Mr Keir was also charged with raping the complainer vaginally and orally in a pub toilet earlier the same evening, and with sexually assaulting her during a taxi journey on the way to Mr Keir’s house. However, the trial court granted the Crown’s application to drop these additional charges after the complainer was questioned about CCTV footage of the evening in question. Before his trial, Mr Keir made a written application under section 275 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. Among other things, he sought to introduce evidence of consensual sexual activity between him and the complainer earlier in the evening, including the events shown in the CCTV footage. This part of Mr Keir’s application was refused and he went on to be convicted at trial. Mr Keir appealed against his conviction on the basis that his trial was unfair. He contended that the Crown should not have been allowed to drop the additional charges and that the trial court was wrong to refuse his section 275 application. Between March and June 2023, the High Court of Justiciary rejected Mr Keir’s appeal at the first and second sift stages. Mr Keir appeals to the Supreme Court.
Date of issue
29 October 2023
Linked cases
Judgment details
Judgment date
12 November 2025
Neutral citation
[2025] UKSC 38
Appeal
Justices
Hearing dates
Full hearing
Start date
21 October 2024
End date
23 October 2024
Watch hearings
21 October 2024 - Morning session
21 October 2024 - Afternoon session
22 October 2024 - Morning session
22 October 2024 - Afternoon session
23 October 2024 - Morning session
23 October 2024 - Afternoon session
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Change log
Last updated 23 October 2024