A former Scots lawyer has failed in his bid to have some of his historic sex crimes quashed. The ex-prosecutor and and criminal defence counsel, John Watt, lost his appeal at the Criminal Appeal Court last month.
The Scottish Courts and Tribunals website published their judgement summary today, February 3, and said there had been no miscarriage of justice in Watt’s conviction for historical rape and sexual abuse.
He was jailed for 10 years last summer for sexually abusing four young children between 1973 and 1987 at houses in Edinburgh. He was granted leave to appeal on two charges against one victim - one charge of rape and the other of lewd, libidinous and indecent practices
The appeal was based on claims from the defence that the complainer's "late father sexually abused her during childhood, headed a paedophile ring involving prominent legal professionals and instigated her abuse by members of the ring." They also alleged that the victim hadn't named Watt until 2014, despite making claims as far back as 2000, and that the former lawyer didn't move to Edinburgh until 1978.
Watt launched an appeal claiming he was denied a fair trial as he was not able to present evidence that the complainer had previously named other alleged abusers in a paedophile ring but he was among the last to be named and the complainer did not remember him until the late stages of her disclosure.
But the appeal judges threw out his bid, saying that they "were not persuaded that any unfairness arose" from the preliminary hearing decision. It was ruled that any evidence about a supposed paedophile ring or other alleged abusers was “plainly collateral, irrelevant and inadmissible” - and found that there was no miscarriage of justice.
The ruling came just days after one of Watt's victims spoke out this week to blast legal pals who failed to report the beast to the police. During Watt’s trial last summer, the High Court in Glasgow heard the father of two of Watt’s victims had reported abuse to other senior lawyers but cops were never informed.
Mark Redwood-Thomson, 46, was abused by Watt years later, just short of his ninth birthday. He waived his right to anonymity to speak out about the case for the first time.
Mark, who now lives in South Africa with his husband, said: “It’s diabolical. It sounds like they’ve hidden it rather than taking it to the police or whatever. That is appalling. There’s no excuse for that. He raped me when I was in his care, being looked after by him. I remember it happening. I remember his words. He’s just a nasty, horrible man.”
Another victim, Susie Henderson, 56, who was abused by Watt and her father, the late Robert Henderson QC, spoke of her experience with the fiend. She explained how at the age of seven or eight she was taken to 'parties' to be abused by her father and his lawyer pals.
One day, he took her to Watt’s home in Leith and told her to do as she was told. Susie, who also waived her right to anonymity, said: “Then he raped me.”
Susie’s desire for justice sparked the investigation in 2014, two years after her dad’s death, when reported all her abusers to police, including Watt and another living lawyer. The police file on the second man remains open.
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