News In Focus
3 July 2007
Findlay did not bring profession into disrepute
Top defence QC Donald Findlay has been cleared of bringing his profession into disrepute after telling jokes about the Pope.
A Faculty of Advocates disciplinary tribunal headed by retired judge Lord Coulsfield said the jokes complained about did not or would not reasonably be expected to give offence.
The incident took place in May of 2005 while Mr Findlay was attending a Rangers' supporters club dinner in Larne, Northern Ireland. A newspaper report of the event had said Mr Findlay had joked that the room was very smoky and asked if another Pope had died. Pope John Paul II had died the previous month.
Complaints were made to the Faculty by a former headteacher of a Catholic school in Falkirk who complained about Mr Findlay's racist and bigoted behaviour, and a former businessman who stated that he had found Mr Findlay's behaviour disrespectful and objectionable.
Mr Findlay told the tribunal that he had lit his pipe, blown out smoke and then asked if another Pope had died. He said the joke was aimed at the practice of of blowing smoke out of a chimney when a Pope died, rather than at the Pope himself.
He also claimed that should any action be taken against him, this would infringe his human right to free speech.
Rejecting the complaint, the tribunal stated: "It is clear that the two particular jokes complained of do not amount to conduct which either did or would reasonably be expected to give rise to offence to a significant proportion of the Roman Catholic community in Scotland."