Paul McBride QC (13 November 1964 – 4 March 2012) was a Scottish

criminal lawyer A criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer (mostly barristers) specializing in the defense of individuals and companies charged with criminal activity. Some criminal defense lawyers are privately retained, while others are employed by the various ...

based in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. He was a board member of the

Scottish Legal Aid Board The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government, responsible for managing legal aid. It was established in April 1987, under the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986, taking over functions ...

, and a former vice chairman of the Faculty of Advocates Criminal Bar Association. He died suddenly on a trip to Pakistan.

Education

McBride, an only child from a working-class family, attended the private Catholic Jesuit school St Aloysius' College, Glasgow and thereafter studied law at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) 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 chart ...

from the age of 16. He graduated with an

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the China, People's Republic ...

aged 19, and joined a solicitors firm in

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

. After completing his two-year traineeship with the firm he devilled with a practising advocate for nine months, and was admitted advocate in 1988. He was appointed

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 2000 aged 36, one of the youngest ever in the UK.

Legal career

McBride was very well known for his intelligence, his skillful advancement of the merits of Scottish Law as well as his courage. He often represented high-profile clients in controversial criminal cases. He led the legal teams which won the acquittal of human rights lawyer

Aamer Anwar Aamer Anwar (born 30 December 1967) is a Scottish political activist and lawyer of Pakistani background. He was an active participant in the Stop the War Coalition, and campaigned against the 31st G8 summit at Gleneagles. He has been a longs ...

of contempt of court in July 2008, and Gail Sheridan of perjury 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 the earlier civil case '' Sheridan ...

. When he was appointed to the latter case the '' Daily Record'' called it a "legal dream team". In 2009, McBride defended

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

goalkeeper Allan McGregor on sex attack claims, which never reached court. Later, McBride represented Celtic F.C. on a number of legal and disciplinary matters. He issued statements to the press about incidents that involved Celtic and defended Celtic's staff in court including touchline bans for their manager, drink driving charges, charges of child neglect and speaking out about football officials. In April 2011, McBride branded the SFA "the laughing stock of world football", and "not merely dysfunctional and dishonest, but biased". This statement came after an SFA disciplinary hearing involving three members of

staff. McBride later apologized for the remarks after the SFA threatened legal action and made a formal complaint to the Faculty of Advocates.

Personal life

McBride was a fan of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

and was considered to be one of the club's "highest profile supporters". McBride was gay and had been in a

civil partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

with his partner Gary Murphy since 2007.

Politics

In April 2009, McBride made a high-profile defection from the

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour ( gd, Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Labour Pairty; officially the Scottish Labour Party) is a social democratic political party in Scotland. It is an autonomous section of the UK Labour Party. From their peak o ...

to the

Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party The Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party ( gd, Pàrtaidh Tòraidheach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Tory an Unionist Pairty), often known simply as the Scottish Conservatives and colloquially as the Scottish Tories, is a centre-right political par ...

. On 6 November 2011, McBride resigned from the Scottish Conservative Party hours after the election of leader Ruth Davidson, describing the party as "divided and dysfunctional" and "a bunch of unreconstructed morons".

Bomb threat

In April 2011, McBride, Neil Lennon and

Trish Godman Patricia Godman (née Leonard; 31 October 1939 – 21 July 2019) was a Scottish Labour Party politician who served as Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 2003 to 2011. She was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for ...

, public figures all connected with Celtic, were sent parcel bombs. The device sent to McBride was intercepted by

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

at a depot in Kilwinning. This resulted in the trial of two men, HM Advocate v Muirhead and McKenzie, in which McBride was due to appear as a witness, but died before he was called. Trevor Muirhead, 44, and Neil McKenzie, 42 were later jailed for five years, having been found guilty of sending devices in the post to McBride, Celtic manager Neil Lennon, and Trish Godman.

Death

On 4 March 2012 McBride died in his sleep while in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. He was visiting Pakistan on business with fellow lawyer

. His body was discovered in a hotel room in the city

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

by Anwar, who said later that McBride had been unwell during the trip. A post-mortem examination carried out on McBride has found that there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death. The post-mortem was carried out at the Mayo Hospital in

, Pakistan. His Requiem Mass was held in St Aloysius' Church, Garnethill, Glasgow, and many prominent figures in Scottish public life attended, including First Minister Alex Salmond, and Neil Lennon, then manager of Celtic FC, who was a pall bearer. He was buried in St Conval's,

Barrhead Barrhead ( sco, Baurheid, gd, Ceann a' Bharra) is a town in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, southwest of Glasgow city centre on the edge of the Gleniffer Braes. At the 2011 census its population was 17,268. History Barrhead was formed when ...

Obituaries

Obituary: Paul McBride QC, high-profile criminal lawyer who was appointed Queen’s Council at the age of just 35
''The Scotsman'', 5 March 2012
Paul McBride obituary
''The Guardian'', 5 March 2012
Paul McBride, QC
''The Herald'', 5 March 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McBride, Paul 1964 births 2012 deaths 21st-century King's Counsel Alumni of the University of Strathclyde Members of the Faculty of Advocates Scottish Labour politicians Scottish Conservative politicians Scottish King's Counsel Place of birth missing Scottish LGBT lawyers Scottish gay politicians People educated at St Aloysius' College, Glasgow 20th-century Scottish LGBT people 21st-century Scottish LGBT people 20th-century Scottish politicians 21st-century Scottish politicians 20th-century Scottish lawyers 21st-century Scottish lawyers