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Statement: Supreme Court ruling on Daly v HM Advocate; Keir v HM Advocate

Our response to today’s Supreme Court judgement.

Last year Rape Crisis Scotland intervened in a Supreme Court case looking at two criminal appeals (Daly v HM Advocate; Keir v HM Advocate). 

The Supreme Court has now unanimously dismissed the appeals of Daly and Keir and ruled that they both received fair trials. 

However, it also has ruled that Scottish courts should modify their approach to the admission of evidence for sexual offences because it may infringe the rights of the accused.

Rape Crisis Scotland chief executive Sandy Brindley said: “We are pleased that the Supreme Court has rejected both individual appeals before it, ruling that inadmissible evidence did not prevent either person from receiving a fair trial.

“The judgment also makes it clear that not all sexual history and character evidence should be admissible. In the specific cases put to the court, the sexual history and character evidence of the complainers in question were found not to be relevant to the facts of the case.

“However, the wider implications of this ruling will have a profound and distressing impact on survivors of rape and sexual violence who, through no fault of theirs, now find themselves in an incredibly uncertain position. There is a lot of work within the criminal justice system that needs to happen urgently which must ensure their concerns are addressed.

“Protecting women in rape cases from irrelevant and humiliating questioning has a difficult history in Scotland. We only need to look back five years to find an instance of a complainer in a sexual offence case being asked 11 different questions on what she was wearing immediately prior to and during the incident.

“The Supreme Court judgement cannot mean a return to the days where women are allowed to be routinely subjected to this type of questioning.”

Notes to editors:

• Daly (Appellant) v His Majesty’s Advocate (Respondent);Keir (Appellant) v His Majesty’s Advocate (Respondent) [2025] UKSC 38: https://supremecourt.uk/uploads/uksc_2023_0107_0123_judgment_e1f6f46776.pdf
• Rape Crisis Scotland intervened in the Supreme Court, represented by the Emma Ritch Law Clinic and counsel, to ensure the perspectives of complainers of sexual crime was available to the Court.
• MacDonald v. Her Majesty’s Advocate [2020] HCJAC 21: https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/media/i0xjcf5f/high-court-judgment-note-of-appeal-against-conviction-by-gavin-watson-macdonald-against-hma-26-may-2020.pdf