This is my latest column, published in today's Scotsman (12th May 2026). Far be it for me to offer advice to our political party leaders, but I must respectfully suggest that, in his recent criticism of police actions during the arrest of a suspect in the Golders Green stabbings in London, England’s Green Party leader Zack Polanski is talking tripe. Fortunately, the entire incident involving two Metropolitan Police Officers and the suspect, Essa Suleiman, was captured on video, leaving...

As the Scottish Parliament election looms, it’s worth remembering that police need to be adequately funded if they are to carry out long, expensive investigations into serious crimes This is my latest column, published on today's Scotsman (28th April 2026) When to stop investigating a crime? It’s a vexed question that every police force must answer sooner or later. Some crimes are so terrible that they must be investigated to the last but, in most cases, it’s a pragmatic decision based on...

This is my latest Scotsman column, published in today's paper (14th April 2026). Antecedents are among the key components of any murder investigation. The careful examination of the life of the deceased can give clues as to how they met their end. Likewise, the same exercise for the accused often offers strong indications of how and why their behaviour led to catastrophe. Carrying out a detailed ‘antecedents’ investigation is a skill-set that must be learned and is often a job given to young...