Justice in the dock again after murder case fails

William Wilson, 21, was cleared of murder last week. He had blamed Carl Anderson, 22, for the killing.

Stephen Bates, 22, of Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, who was also charged with murder, was freed earlier this year after the judge ruled there was not enough evidence against him.

Mr Anderson, of Dalmarnock, Glasgow, was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice by setting fire to Mr Gibson's car but was never tried.

Instead, he was used as a key prosecution witness to testify that Mr Wilson, from Glasgow, was the killer.

Four members of the Gibson family, including the murdered man's wife, Susan, will meet Crown Office officials on Wednesday to discuss the handling of the case.

The case comes at a time when the Scottish legal system has been accused of incompetence after three men were cleared of killing Surjit Singh Chhokar, a waiter, and two men accused of murdering a barman, Chris Cawley, were freed after blaming each other.

Roseanna Cunningham, the SNP's justice spokeswoman, is urging the lord advocate to review cases involving multiple accused who have blamed each other, saying she fears people are learning to ''work the system''.

Alan Gibson, Gordon's brother, said the family felt deeply disappointed by the legal system and felt the three men should have been put in the dock together.

''We have so many unanswered questions that we need answers to before we can move on,'' he said.

''In particular, we want to know why some evidence that was introduced in the first trial and which we thought was relevant, was not introduced in the second.

''We thought there was a very strong chance of a conviction but then the trial was aborted and second time round this crucial evidence wasn't mentioned.

''There may be a good legal reason why the case failed. We know we're not going to get the verdict changed or get a re-trial. But we have just been left in the lurch and we really need to know what happened.''

Mr Gibson's father, Jack, 77, said: ''I feel such a sense of anger and injustice. It has been established as a matter of fact that

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there were four men in the car park on the night Gordon was murdered. The Crown used one of the three to try to get a conviction against the others but failed. They should all have been tried together.''

Gordon Gibson was an operations manager with West Guard Security in Balmore. He left Strathclyde Police after suffering occasional bouts of mild depression, triggered by a traumatic experience working at a mortuary during the Lockerbie disaster.

During Mr Wilson's trial, Mr Anderson told the court he saw the accused slash one of Mr Gibson's tyres. When Mr Gibson got out of his car, Mr Anderson said Mr Wilson repeatedly stabbed him from behind and when Mr Gibson caught Mr Bates in a bear hug, he was again attacked from behind by Mr Wilson.

Ms Cunningham said: ''It is with the same regret that I read about another case with similar circumstances which has ended up so badly. My concern is that an understanding about how to work the system may be developing. For that reason, I would be calling on the lord advocate to review cases where multiple accused have blamed each other and to look at the outcomes of them to establish whether or not to reconsider the use of the tactic.''

The Crown said its ''approach to the indictment of this case was very carefully considered. Bates and Wilson were both indicted with the murder of Gordon Gibson. It was entirely appropriate for them to be tried together. There was never any basis for charging Anderson with murder.''

Donald Findlay, QC, who defended Mr Wilson during the first trial, said it was wrong to draw similarities with the Chhokar case, adding it was ''one of these cases where the evidence was very very thin''.