Alastair Peter Campbell, Lord Bracadale (born 18 September 1949) is a retired senior Scottish judge.

Early life

Campbell was born on 18 September 1949 in

Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some o ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, to Rev. Donald Campbell and Margaret Campbell. His family moved to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

when he was two years old, where he was brought up. He was educated at

George Watson's College George Watson's College is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a Scottish education in the eighteenth ...

, and took an MA at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

. He worked as an English teacher at the Vale of Leven Academy in Dumbartonshire during 1973–75, before returning to university to study law at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...

Legal career

Campbell was admitted as a solicitor in 1979 and entered the

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service () is the independent public prosecution service for Scotland, and is a Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. The department is headed by His Majesty's Lord Advocate, who under t ...

as a prosecutor. He was admitted to the

Faculty of Advocates The Faculty of Advocates () is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a const ...

in 1985, called to the

English Bar Barristers in England and Wales are one of the two main categories of lawyer in England and Wales, the other being solicitors. Barristers have traditionally had the role of handling cases for representation in court, both defence and prosecutio ...

at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

in 1990, and served as an

Advocate Depute The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service () is the independent public prosecutor, prosecution service for Scotland, and is a Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. The department is headed by Charles III of the United Kingd ...

from 1990 until 1993. In 1995, he became a

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

and Standing Junior Counsel to HM Customs and Excise. He was a member of the Criminal Justice Forum from 1996 to 1997, the Scottish Criminal Rules Council from 1996 to 1998, and of Criminal Injuries Compensation Board in 1997. In 1997 he was appointed Home Advocate Depute (Scotland's senior prosecutor) and remained in this post until 2001.

Lockerbie trial

Campbell was senior counsel for the Crown (prosecutor) in the

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...

over the

Lockerbie bombing Pan Am Flight 103 (PA103/PAA103) was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. Shortly after 19:00 on 21 December 1988, the Boeing 747 "Clipper Maid of th ...

at the

Scottish Court in the Netherlands The Scottish court in the Netherlands was a special sitting of the High Court of Justiciary set up under Scots law in a former United States Air Force base, Camp Zeist near Utrecht, in the Netherlands, for the trial of two Libyans charged wit ...

, under former

Lord Advocate His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate (), is the principal legal adviser of both the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolution, devolved powers of the Scottish P ...

Lord Boyd of Duncansby, and alongside Alan Turnbull, also now a judge. Libyan intelligence officer

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi ( , ; 1 April 1952 – 20 May 2012) was a Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing of Pan Am flight 103. He was head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies in Trip ...

was found guilty of the 270 murders, and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001. The conviction, though controversial, was upheld on appeal and the successful prosecution brought Campbell international prominence.

Judicial career

In 2003, Campbell was appointed a

Senator of the College of Justice The senators of the College of Justice in Scotland are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of senator: Lords of Session (judges of the Court ...

, a Judge of the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the highest national court of Scotland in relation to Civil law (common law), civil cases. The court was established in 1532 to take on the judicial functions of the royal council. Its jurisdiction overlapped with othe ...

and

High Court of Justiciary The High Court of Justiciary () is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. The High Court is both a trial court and a court of appeal. As a trial court, the High Court sits on circuit at Parliament House or in the adjacent former Sheriff C ...

, taking the judicial title "Lord Bracadale". Bracadale is a village on the Isle of

. Lord Bracadale has presided over some of the most high-profile and controversial criminal trials in recent Scottish history. In 2010, he was the judge in ''

HM Advocate v Sheridan and Sheridan ''Her Majesty's Advocate v Thomas Sheridan and Gail Sheridan'' was the 2010 criminal prosecution of Tommy Sheridan, a former Member of the Scottish Parliament and his wife Gail Sheridan for perjury in relation to an earlier civil case called '' S ...

''. In 2012, he twice presided over murder trials which resulted in convictions despite the absence of a body. In the first of these, '' HM Advocate v Gilroy'', television cameras were allowed into the High Court in Edinburgh to record the sentencing of the convicted, David Gilroy. This marked the first time in the United Kingdom that a murder sentence was filmed for same day broadcast. The second case was the retrial of Nat Fraser for the murder of Arlene Fraser, his wife, following the quashing of his original conviction as a result of the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

's decision in '' Fraser v HM Advocate''. This too was filmed, and the resultant two-hour documentary ''The Murder Trial'' (shown on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

on 9 July 2013) included interviews with participants, including Lord Bracadale. Bracadale took up an appointment to the

Inner House The Inner House is the senior part of the Court of Session, the supreme civil court in Scotland; the Outer House forms the junior part of the Court of Session. It is a court of appeal and a court of first instance. The chief justice is th ...

on 1 March 2013. He has consequently been appointed, by Her Majesty the Queen, to the Privy Council. He retired as a judge in 2017.

Portrayal in popular culture

Campbell appears as a character in the British television drama series '' The Bombing of Pan Am 103''. He is played by

Alastair Mackenzie Alastair John Mackenzie (born 8 February 1970) is a Scottish actor and writer. Early life Alastair Mackenzie was born in Trinafour, near Perth, and educated at Westbourne House School and Glenalmond College in Perthshire. He left home at ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Alastair P, Lord Bracadale 1949 births Living people Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Alumni of the University of Strathclyde Bracadale Scottish solicitors Members of the Faculty of Advocates People educated at George Watson's College People from the Isle of Skye Scottish King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel Pan Am Flight 103 Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom