The DUP thread

[David McKeown]

How come she was all fine before this came about, same with Peter Robinson wife, i just cant see Joe Bloggs not been took to trial for this. Hell if u a borderline psycopath u still be seeing a trial.

How do we know she was fine?  The process she has gone through is the exact same process any defendant would have gone through if there were concerns over their fitness to give instructions.

Would there be many examples of working class people going down this path? That's ultimately what people will see this as. Someone of status getting what they would deem as preferential treatment.

Absolutely there's plenty at an estimate of say between 5 and 10% of cases. They just don't tend to attract press coverage.

I have 6 such cases at the moment

All with the same process as Lady Donaldson went through with many of the same experts and similar concerns.

I understand the optics are bad. I think that's a combination of a number of factors. Poor reporting, social media, human nature, a lack of education on actual procedures etc to name just a few of those.

David, you're going to be tortured with questions and queries during this trial. 

Maybe take a holiday for a week or two...without your phone.

I actually am on holiday from next Thursday but always happy to help to the extent I can.

[SaffronSports]

How come she was all fine before this came about, same with Peter Robinson wife, i just cant see Joe Bloggs not been took to trial for this. Hell if u a borderline psycopath u still be seeing a trial.

How do we know she was fine?  The process she has gone through is the exact same process any defendant would have gone through if there were concerns over their fitness to give instructions.

Would there be many examples of working class people going down this path? That's ultimately what people will see this as. Someone of status getting what they would deem as preferential treatment.

Absolutely there's plenty at an estimate of say between 5 and 10% of cases. They just don't tend to attract press coverage.

I have 6 such cases at the moment

All with the same process as Lady Donaldson went through with many of the same experts and similar concerns.

I understand the optics are bad. I think that's a combination of a number of factors. Poor reporting, social media, human nature, a lack of education on actual procedures etc to name just a few of those.

Even then 5% or 10% would be very low I would imagine if you put that up against the percentage of people from the working classes going through the courts.

[David McKeown]

How come she was all fine before this came about, same with Peter Robinson wife, i just cant see Joe Bloggs not been took to trial for this. Hell if u a borderline psycopath u still be seeing a trial.

How do we know she was fine?  The process she has gone through is the exact same process any defendant would have gone through if there were concerns over their fitness to give instructions.

Would there be many examples of working class people going down this path? That's ultimately what people will see this as. Someone of status getting what they would deem as preferential treatment.

Absolutely there's plenty at an estimate of say between 5 and 10% of cases. They just don't tend to attract press coverage.

I have 6 such cases at the moment

All with the same process as Lady Donaldson went through with many of the same experts and similar concerns.

I understand the optics are bad. I think that's a combination of a number of factors. Poor reporting, social media, human nature, a lack of education on actual procedures etc to name just a few of those.

Even then 5% or 10% would be very low I would imagine if you put that up against the percentage of people from the working classes going through the courts.

The way it works is as experienced lawyers we tend to have a fair idea when someone is borderline fit to give instructions. We also have a knowledge of the legal test.

Talking personally if I had any concerns I'd direct reports immediately and then see what the experts think. I'd say my colleagues would be the same. I've had two cases ever that I can recall where my solicitors who are also highly experienced have disagreed but by and large we are usually in agreement. So we know with a high degree of accuracy when fitness is an issue.

As I say it's an issue in I'd approximate anywhere between 5 and 10 % of cases. That's still a lot of people.

As a result of how few properly qualified experts there are in the area the process can take between 9 months and 2 years. Lady Donaldson's process took exactly how long I would have expected it to take had she been a legally aided working class individual.