Andy established his own solicitors practise specialising in criminal law for eight years prior to calling as an advocate in 1984.
Andy acted as a temporary sheriff and was appointed as an advocate depute by Lord Rodger of Earlsferry for a four year term. Thereafter, he acted as an ad hoc Advocate Depute and continues to do so.
Andy was appointed Queens Counsel In 2002.
He called to the Bar in England and Wales in 2014 and from 2014 until 2020 Andy acted as Queen’s Counsel at the Ministry of Justice in London.
During that period, Andy worked on an EU human rights project in Kazakhstan. The project involved the review and revisal of the Constitution and Criminal Code of that Country. He also worked on a secondment to the CCRC in Birmingham.
HMA v Lilburn: A murder case in which the accused killed his wife by a stabbing her 19 times. The issue at trial was diminished responsibility and involved extensive and complex psychiatric evidence over a lengthy period of time.
R v Gilfoyle: A murder case dating from the 1960s which is the subject of the CCRC referral mentioned above. This involved the review of a vast volume of evidence from the trial the appeal court and a previous review. This took a period of months and involved interest from two MPs. A lengthy report was submitted to the commissioner and chief executive in due course.
The Bluebell Woods Murder: An appeal on referral from SCCRC. This involved fresh evidence relating to the safety of confessions given by two young accused. Complex expert evidence was given over a period of days by Professor Gudjonssen.
HMA v Agutter: Prosecuted a unique murder case which involved the attempted murder of the accused wife and child by means of atropine poisoning. The accused endeavoured to cover up the crime by introducing atropine into bottles of tonic water at a Safeway store. Various members of the public became seriously unwell as a consequence. An unsuccessful appeal ensued.
HMA v Cowan and others / HMA v Mitchell and others: These were both lengthy and complicated UDA terrorist trials.
HMA v Hawes: An appeal against extradition to the USA on the basis that it contravened the human right to family life.
The Linda Spence murder: A case involving abduction, protracted torture and murder. Her body was never discovered and lengthy evidence of proof of life featured in the case.