Jock Thomson QC

Born: February 28, 1942; Died: September 30, 2013.

JOCK Thomson QC, who has died aged 71, was one of Scotland's finest and most respected criminal lawyers whose strong social conscience often brought him into conflict with the legal establishment.

Never afraid to speak his mind, he railed against injustice and unfairness throughout his career. Only last year he attacked what he called the unholy, unhealthy alliance of law makers and senior figures at the Crown Office which he said had resulted in a morally and mortally flawed legal system.

Mr Thomson, a robust figure in every way, was among the country's most distinguished and effective advocates. His guid Scots tongue, confident courtroom manner and vast experience ensured that he always enjoyed a busy and successful career. Over the years, he was involved in some of the country's most notorious criminal trials.

It could, however, all have turned out differently for John Maxwell Watt Thomson. He and a twin sister (he often joked that he could never remember her birthday) were born into a working-class family in Scone, Perthshire.

He was educated at Robert Douglas Memorial School, Scone, before moving to Perth Academy. He left school at 16 and joined the merchant navy as a deck hand.

After four years sailing the world he returned to Perthshire and joined the local constabulary, rising to the rank of sergeant. In 1971 the force, in its wisdom, gave Mr Thomson the opportunity to study law at Edinburgh University. Three years later, at the age of 32, he graduated LLB. However, instead of returning to the police, he chose to embark upon a legal career.

He secured a traineeship at the Campbeltown firm of Stewart, Balfour and Sutherland and after completing his training joined the procurator fiscal service, working first in the Borders. He later became a fiscal in Glasgow before being called to the Bar in 1983. As a junior advocate he appeared in the infamous Ice Cream Wars trial as junior counsel to Donald Findlay QC, who was representing Joseph Steele. He also juniored to Lord McCluskey (then John McCluskey QC) in the case in which the High Court ruled that selling glue-sniffing material to children was a criminal offence.

In 2000, by then one of the country's most experienced and respected defence counsel, Mr Thomson was promoted to the "rank and dignity" of Queen's Counsel.

His elevation was regarded as vindication for what many regarded as an unjustified slur against his good name the previous year. In 1999 he had been suspended as a High Court prosecutor after allegations of racial abuse.

Lord Hardie, Lord Advocate at the time, had decided that Mr Thomson's services as a temporary advocate-depute would no longer be required. This followed reports of a jocular remark he made to a macer at a Christmas party. A subsequent inquiry by the Faculty of Advocates concluded that Mr Thomson's remarks fell well short of professional misconduct and that, though inappropriate, even the macer himself had not regarded them as racially offensive in any way.

At the time of the incident Mr Thomson declared that he was outraged at the slur, adding: "I do not have a racist bone in my body."

Mr Thomson was a man of great principle who was always prepared to speak out when the occasion merited an opinion. Though he never courted controversy, he never shied away from it either.

Last year, in a letter to The Herald, he entered the ongoing debate about the issue of corroboration in court cases. He went on to raise fears about any moves to scrap an accused person's right to silence, declaring: "Will the next inexorable step be the replacement of the presumption of innocence with that of a presumption of guilt? It's beginning to look that way."

He was also a stalwart supporter and advisor to the Justice for Megrahi campaign.

Throughout his legal career Mr Thomson worked exclusively on criminal cases, both as a defender and a prosecutor. He served as an ad hoc Advocate Depute under three successive Lord Advocate and was appointed to the post full time by former Lord Advocate, now Dame Elish Angiolini.

It was only relatively recently that he resigned from the Crown Office and returned as a defence counsel with the Glasgow-based Mackinnon stable of advocates.

As a younger man, Mr Thomson was a keen rock climber, skier, sailor and windsurfer. He was also a guitarist and folk singer and helped found Perth Folk Club.

Latterly, as a lover of opera, he became a director on the board of the award-winning Opera on a Shoestring company.

Mr Thomson, who had been ill for some time, is survived by his wife Christina, soprano and creative director at Edinburgh Grand Opera, and two sons from earlier relationships.

ALLAN LAING