News In Focus
21 March 2006
Society's £5,000 reward for attack info
The Law Society of Scotland is offering a £5,000 reward for any information that leads to the arrest of the assailant who attacked its chief accountant.
Douglas Mill, the Law Society's chief executive, confirmed the award and welcomed news of the additional £5,000 offered by Crimestoppers for further information.
Mr Mill said: "The Society is delighted that Leslie Cumming has been able to return to work so quickly. The profession and the organisation showed their support for him and his family at the Society's AGM on Friday when they welcomed him to the meeting and applauded his presence as well as his courage."
"The Society is delighted that Crimestoppers has matched the Society's reward with a further £5,000 bringing the total reward to £10,000 in the hope that the person responsible for such a violent attack will be found."
The Society is continuing to support Lothian and Borders Police in its detailed investigations of the attack, particularly relating to questions about whether the attack could be connected to Mr Cumming's work on the prevention of money laundering and inspection of accounts in solicitors' firms in Scotland.
Speaking yesterday, Detective Inspector Keith Hardie said police had compiled a partial DNA profile of Mr Cumming's attacker from forensic evidence left at the scene. They have also swabbed a number of solicitors as part of the inquiry - those known to have been in legitimate contact with Mr Cumming.
Two potential suspects who were caught on CCTV close to the scene have also been eliminated from the inquiry in this way.
DI Hardie said that if the crime was connected to solicitors, he thought it unlikely they would have carried out the attack themselves.