'I could be firm but I hope I have been fair,' says retiring sheriff at the Inverness Justice Centre in the Highlands
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The first female sheriff to be appointed in the Highlands has presided over her last trial at the Inverness Justice Centre.
Sheriff Margaret Neilson was the senior judge in Inverness and served on the bench at Inverness Castle and the north justice hub for 13 years.
But she has decided to take early retirement after almost 40 years in the legal profession.
She hit the headlines in 2013 when she granted a warrant for controversial former Rangers owner Craig Whyte after he failed to turn up to be a witness in the trial of two of his former employees.
However she had already established herself as a no-nonsense sheriff who would scold ill-prepared prosecution and defence lawyers with Sir Alex Ferguson-style hairdryer treatment.
But she was also respected for her astute sentencing and her knowledge of the law.
Born in Falkirk, she studied law at the University of Edinburgh and, after working in France for a couple of years, took up a post with solicitors firm Balfour and Manson in the capital.
She specialised in personal injury and employment, leaving her eventual partnership after 23 years to become a part-time sheriff. She also served on employment, immigration and social security appeals tribunals for those three years before going full-time in 2009.
She said: “I was only supposed to be in Inverness for five years and the fact I have stayed 13 years tells its own story.
“I could be firm but I hope I have been fair in that time. It has been a difficult last two years but adjustments had to be made because of Covid.
“Everyone will hope it returns to normality soon and we will see jurors back in court which I believe is important.
“I have a commission as a retired sheriff so I may be back on occasion, if available and needed.
“I will take six months off to consider what I intend to do. So I will enjoy life, go walking, maybe scuba diving and, of course, reading and relaxing.”
One of her last official tasks was finding 36-year-old disqualified driver Ian Stewart of Round House Court, North Kessock, guilty of driving while having been previously banned for eight years. The court heard he was recognised by police behind the wheel in Longman Road on May 6, 2020.
He was also convicted by Sheriff Neilson of the associated driving without insurance and breaching an undertaking not to drive.
He claimed he was only a passenger in the grey BMW.
Sentence was deferred until May 25 for a background report and a restriction of liberty order assessment.
