Duke of Orkney to return to Scotland?

Conservative MSPs have backed calls for the body of the only Duke of Orkney to be returned to Scotland.

The remains of James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell and third husband of Mary Queen of Scots, currently languish in a crypt in Farevejle Church in Denmark. Bothwell was accused of treason in 1567 and fled to Orkney where he hoped to raise support to put Mary back on the throne.

Failing to find sufficient backing, he went to Norway and then to Denmark, where he was imprisoned in appalling conditions for some ten years before he eventually died, insane.

Now Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife Ted Brocklebank, along with Conservative Culture Spokesman Jamie McGrigor, have backed a campaign by one of Bothwell’s descendants, Sir Alistair Buchan Hepburn, for the Earl’s body to be returned to Scotland. They said it’s time Bothwell was allowed to come home.

Ted said “For many years, Bothwell’s mummified body was kept in a glass coffin as a ghastly tourist attraction by the Danish church authorities. Only in 1975, was it moved to a crypt in the church.

“I have been in correspondence with the Scottish Culture Minister Patricia Fergusson about the possibility of the Danish authorities returning Bothwell’s remains to Scotland, where there is no doubt he wished to be buried. A number of Bothwell’s descendants, including Sir Alistair Buchan Hepburn, a constituent of mine, have been in touch with the minister and elders at Farevejle Church seeking to have the remains repatriated.

“In September of this year, Queen Margrethe II respected the last wish of Maria Fjodorowna, a Danish national and widow of Tsar Alexander III, to be removed from her grave in Denmark and re-buried in Russia. How much more appropriate that the remains of the husband of Mary Queen of Scots, himself a Scot, should be returned to his homeland.

“And perhaps an appropriate last resting place for the Earl would be the Collegiate Church of Crichton in Midlothian, close by Crichton Castle which played such an important role in the story of James Hepburn and his ill-fated Queen”.

Mr Brocklebank said he hoped Bothwell’s reputation had not contributed to the inertia of officials in trying to retrieve his remains, arguing that revisionist historians like John Guy and Gore Brown had carried out extensive researches which portray Bothwell in a far more sympathetic light than in he past.

His calls were backed by Highlands and Islands MSP and Scottish Conservative Culture Spokesman Jamie McGrigor who said it was time for Bothwell to come home.

“There is no reason why James Hepburn’s wish to return home, even although expressed 438 years ago, should not be treated with equal respect to the wishes of Czarina Maria, whose body has now been reinterred in St. Petersburg. Maria was consort to the Tsar of Russia and Bothwell was consort to the Queen of Scotland. Both were buried in Denmark, a place they didn’t want to be.

“It’s now time for James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell and Duke of Orkney, to be allowed to come home to Scotland”.

Helen to fight for Holyrood

Helen Gardiner (37) will contest next May's Holyrood elections after being chosen as the Conservative candidate for Orkney at a packed meeting in Kirkwall.

Brought up in the Highlands, Helen read law at Edinburgh University, followed by a postgraduate diploma in Legal Practice at Glasgow University. A Scottish qualified lawyer, she ran her own law practice in Shetland throughout most of her twenties and early thirties. Since then she has been an international lawyer, seconded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to various countries aiming to join the EU.

Commenting on her selection, Helen said: “I am new to politics in the sense that I’ve never run for a seat before. However I’m not new to the issues. It’s the issues that brought me back to the Conservative Party at this time. I am very excited about the way David Cameron is steering the Conservative party back to a position of power. I want to play a part in that.”

Helen has a strong background in health related matters, having been one of the youngest ever appointed non executive directors of her local NHS board, then in Shetland. She was also instrumental in bringing about new drugs misuse services, was a Safeguarder to the Children‘s Panel and a Curator ad Litem in Sheriff Court matters relating to children. She is a keen follower of issues relating to island life including farming, fishing, tourism and transport.

Helen added: “I look forward to speaking to people in Orkney between now and May and hearing about what’s important for them. I want to persuade people to look again at what the Conservative Party has to offer. We’ve been on the side lines too long and it‘s time we reconnected with people. I want to be given an opportunity to put across our policies - devolving power from central government to local communities, providing better health care, education and housing, encouraging economic growth, and I am looking forward to the campaign.

McGrigor attacks Orkney reconviction figures

MSP Jamie McGrigor has described as appalling new figures which show that nearly a quarter of those convicted of crime in Orkney are reconvicted of new offences within 2 years.

The Conservative MSP said it was clear evidence that convicted criminals were not being rehabilitated successfully.

Jamie McGrigor said “These figures are appalling. Labour and their Liberal Democrat colleagues should hang their heads in shame.

“24% of people convicted in Orkney are being reconvicted within two years, with one in ten reconvicted within only 6 months. But what is most concerning is that these figures are from 2002/3 so who can tell how bad the situation is now.

“Nothing could demonstrate more clearly that convicted criminals are not being rehabilitated successfully or helped off the conveyor belt of crime. The Scottish Executive has a responsibility to protect the honest law-abiding citizen from those who wish to commit crime but it is a responsibility which Labour and Liberal Democrat ministers are failing to meet.

“We now have fewer police on the beat, far easier access to bail, ineffective community sentences and, as these figures show, a cancer of repeat offenders causing mayhem and misery”.

Mr McGrigor said the Scottish Conservative “Three Strikes” policy, whereby anyone given a third custodial sentence for any crime will receive an extra tariff automatically, was the first step in the fight against the problem in Orkney.

“This policy will help prisons to fulfil their objectives; protecting the public, deterring criminals, punishing them for their crimes and rehabilitation.

“It will send a clear message to criminals in Orkney that we will not tolerate repeated, serious offending such as mugging, robbing, rape, assault and burglary”.