Court considers private prosecution bid against David Goodwillie

Appeal judges in Edinburgh are considering whether to allow a private criminal prosecution of former Scotland international David Goodwillie after hearing competing arguments about the decision not to prosecute him for rape. BBC News reported that Denise Clair’s lawyer challenged that decision, while the Crown and Goodwillie’s legal team argued that the requirements for a private prosecution had not been met.

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Clair previously brought a civil case over an attack at a flat in Armadale, West Lothian, in January 2011. In 2017, Court of Session judge Lord Armstrong found that Goodwillie and his former Dundee United teammate David Robertson had raped her and ordered them to pay £100,000 in damages. Both men had denied the allegations. That ruling was a civil finding, not a criminal conviction.

At the latest hearing, Thomas Ross KC, representing Clair, argued that prosecutors had made a mistake in dropping the case against Goodwillie because of insufficient evidence. He told the Court of Criminal Appeal there had been enough evidence to proceed and a reasonable prospect of conviction. Ross described the decision as irrational, presenting that assessment as the basis for Clair’s application rather than an established finding by the appeal court.

Alan Cameron KC, appearing for the Crown, defended the original decision. He argued that prosecutors were entitled not to bring the case after considering all the available evidence and that no exceptional circumstances justified issuing criminal letters. According to the BBC’s account of the hearing, Clair’s lawyers must satisfy a demanding test: showing that the decision was one no reasonable prosecutor could have made.

Goodwillie’s lawyer, Lord Stewart of Dirleton KC, also argued that the legal tests for a private prosecution had not been satisfied. He separately challenged the fairness of using Goodwillie’s evidence from the civil proceedings in a criminal case, saying it had been given after the Lord Advocate renounced the right to prosecute. He argued that a warning should have been provided if a prosecution was to follow.

Goodwillie made three appearances for Scotland and played for clubs including Dundee United, Blackburn Rovers and Aberdeen. The application remains unresolved. Lord Pentland, sitting alongside Lord Matthews and Lady Carmichael, said the court would consider all the submissions before delivering judgment. No permission for a private prosecution was announced in the hearing reported by the BBC.