Aero Trial Update.

[Sloan1874]

Will Lauder, 48, appeared at Selkirk Sheriff Court this morning, where he was indicted on a charge of theft, namely that he had stolen from Aero Leather, "a quantity of jeans, jackets, other clothing, badges, labels and patches for attaching to clothing, books, bags, trousers, folders and miscellaneous items and accessories valued in cumulo at £194,825"
The thefts are alleged to have taken place while he was employed as a managing director of the company, between 1 September, 2004 and 4 March, 2014, inclusive, at Aero Leather Clothing Ltd, Greenbank Mill, Huddersfield Street, Galashiels; an address in Hawick and elsewhere.
He pleaded not guilty and the case was continued for another hearing next week, ahead of a trial date set for next month.

 

[Bunyip]

Very interesting. This has been a long time coming. I wonder if any fraud charges re the fqhh switcheroo will come into play.

 

[Otter]

Long time coming, wheels of justice grind slowly, but very small.

 

[Sloan1874]

Impossible to say, but any trial will be limited to the charge as it reads above. BBC also covered it.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-29602033

 

[Edward]

The legal process does indeed take quite some time; in all three UK jurisdictions, it's perfectly normal for it to take one to two years from date of arrest to date of court proceedings; a jury trial, as this case is now extending to, obviously takes longer than a situation in which an accused pleads guilty and the courts can then set a date to proceed straight to sentencing. Of course, the reason for this length of time is twofold - certainly, the courts will always have a bit of a backlog given the list of cases with which they must deal, but also, crucially, there must be sufficient time to build acase on each side, ever mindful of the importance of seeing true justice done, in line with, inter alia, the Article 6 right (Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, enshrined in the UK system via the Human Rights Act, guarantees eveyr individual the right to a fair trial before an impartial court).

Of course, speaking with my professional head on, it would be wise for all here to remember the strict laws under which UK trials operate in relation to contempt of court. In this context, it would be unwise for any of us to speculate publicly on the outcome of the trial prior to its conclusion.

 

[Worf]

Well.... I wonder what this means to A.L. et al? Guess Amanda left at just the right time. Of course there is no such thing as coincidence....

Worf

 

[Superfluous]

What is the status of the civil action?

 

[Rudie]

Where is Amanda now?

 

[Sloan1874]

Tbh, until the trial is concluded it means nothing to AL, as there is the presumption of innocence that must be observed and assumed. Trial set for November 7 btw.
Not sure of the civil case's status at the moment.

 

[garzo]

Thanks for the update Sloan. I've been wondering about the case lately as it's been quite a while since we've heard anything ...

 

[tonypaj]

Where is Amanda now?

Irrelevant. She was not mentioned in the article quoted. The article quoted just stated the charges against one individual, the rest of the "story" is not worthy of discussion.

Edward put it nicely, though in a somewhat academic way. I'd leave it there.

 

[jlanderson]

Wow. The 10-year time span is pretty shocking.

Thanks, Craig, for keeping us up-to-date. Please know we appreciate it.

And Edward, thank you for apprising us non-Brits of the intricacies and eccentricities of British and Scottish jurisprudence.

 

[Rudie]

Tony, thank you for taking the trouble to decide for me what I would like to discuss and what not. It's so bothersome to make my own decisions.

 

[Monitor]

That is a lot of money.

 

[Otter]

Edward,different country! Still similar but not quite the same!

 

[Fanch]

Craig, thanks for the heads up. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds. Almost £200,000 is mucho dinero for sure. :eeek:

 

[GregO]

Here in the States, I would put more value on the civil suit. The small piece of the civil suit would be for the return of, or compensation for, the stolen items. The main focus of the civil suit would involve misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition, tortious interference with contract, etc. In other words, if I was handling the civil suit, I would focus on shutting AL down, in addition to a damages award. AL could not have been started so quickly, with so many patterns and so many hide options, if Will hadn't (1) stolen patterns, (2) learned of suppliers and supply costs from his time at Aero, (3) learned of customers and prices charged from his time at Aero.

Does Scottish/UK law recognize these types of claims as we do in the States?

 

[Otter]

Here in the States, I would put more value on the civil suit. The small piece of the civil suit would be for the return of, or compensation for, the stolen items. The main focus of the civil suit would involve misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition, tortious interference with contract, etc. In other words, if I was handling the civil suit, I would focus on shutting AL down, in addition to a damages award. AL could not have been started so quickly, with so many patterns and so many hide options, if Will hadn't (1) stolen patterns, (2) learned of suppliers and supply costs from his time at Aero, (3) learned of customers and prices charged from his time at Aero.

Does Scottish/UK law recognize these types of claims as we do in the States?

I would suspect they are waiting on the result of the Criminal cases before launching any Civil Suit.

 

[breezer]

That is a major theft! One question though. Is the accused still a director of AL?

 

[Superfluous]

I would suspect they are waiting on the result of the Criminal cases before launching any Civil Suit.

There has been a civil case pending for quite a while. The focus of the civil case is trade secrets and related issues, as opposed to the theft of personal property underlying the new criminal case.