https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ex-lawyer-faces-extradition-over-paedophile-network-59r5gjkxk
Interesting. Hallam QC tweet. Cant get the full article as its behind a paywall. Was this Fairbairn a fellow director with Torbett at the Fairbridge childrens home. ?
Ex-lawyer faces extradition over ‘paedophile network’
Marcello Mega
June 24 2019, 12:01am, The Times
Most of the suspects, including Sir Nicholas Fairbairn, QC, the former solicitor-general, are dead
WILLIAM H ALDEN/EVENING STANDARD/GETTY
Detectives investigating allegations of historical child sexual abuse have uncovered compelling evidence that a paedophile ring operated among senior Scottish lawyers in the 1970s.
The majority of the suspects, including Sir Nicholas Fairbairn, QC, the former solicitor-general, are dead, but extradition proceedings have begun to have a retired QC who lives abroad brought to Scotland to face charges.
Further allegations against two very senior retired lawyers who are still alive have been left on file by police so that they can be reopened should other victims emerge to corroborate the claims.
A five-year investigation by Police Scotland was begun in 2014 when Susan Henderson, 52, daughter of the late Robert Henderson, QC, told police that she had been
repeatedly raped by her father, a flamboyant figure regarded as Scotland’s top QC in the late 1970s and 1980s, and a number of his friends in the legal profession, when she was aged three to 12. She has waived her right to anonymity.
Five of the men are dead. As well as Sir Nicholas, who died aged 61 in 1995, and her father, who died in 2012 at 75, Ms Henderson says she was abused by Sheriff Andrew Lothian, QC, and the advocates Raymond Fraser and Lawrence Nisbet.
Sir Nicholas was a Tory MP for Kinross & Western Perthshire. Later, as Scotland’s second most senior prosecutor, he would have taken decisions on the prosecution of other sex offenders.
Mr Lothian, who died aged 74 in July 2016, quit his post after it emerged that he was using prostitutes at an Edinburgh sauna. He was an alcoholic and was exposed as a wife-beater in 2001.
Despite testimony from his wife, Harriet, and their children, the Crown refused to prosecute him.
He continued to work as a judge, including dealing with other domestic abusers and sex offenders, until he was disgraced by the sauna revelations and forced to quit towards the end of 2008.
Mr Fraser, also an alcoholic, died of cancer aged 55 in 2002. He was disciplined numerous times by the Faculty of Advocates for his conduct, which included being charged with shoplifting.
Mr Nisbet, a noted hedonist, had a heart attack and died at 45 in 1993.
Two detectives visited Ms Henderson at her home in the north of Scotland last week to brief her on the outcome of their investigation. They reassured her that had the five dead men been alive they would have been charged.
Evidence against them included information from other sources that corroborated her claims. This has been underlined by a decision by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) to make the maximum award of £22,000 to Ms Henderson as a victim of sexual crimes.
Ms Henderson, a carer and mother of one, said last night: “It is an enormous relief to know that my story has been placed under rigorous scrutiny and I have been believed. The award by CICA is important because it emphasises that I have been telling the truth for years, but I am still looking for justice.”
She said she was glad that the police intended to pursue one of her alleged abusers, even though he lived abroad.
She added that she was disappointed the two other men who were alive were not being pursued but hoped that other victims would come forward.
The Crown Office confirmed that the case against one man was active but declined to comment further.