The year in review: January to March

Scotland's fishermen were angered by EU restrictions

In the first of a four-part series, Thomas McGuigan looks back at some of the major events in 2004.

Scotland's fishermen locked horns with EU ministers in Brussels over plans to limit fishing in an effort to preserve dwindling stocks.

Controversial plans to create a £70m superquarry on the Western Isles were thrown out.

A florist ran over a bride following a dispute over payment for flowers on her wedding day.

A man was banned from using the internet on his own after being caught with more than 1,000 child porn images on his computer.

And two men jailed for the so-called Ice Cream Wars in Glasgow 20 years ago had their convictions quashed.

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In January, Scotland's fishermen vowed to breach European fishing restrictions introduced to preserve dwindling North Sea stocks.

The quarry application had rumbled on

The Scottish White Fish Producers' Association (SWFPA) said its members would go to sea for 24 days a month, instead of the 15-day agreed limit.

The skippers said they were also prepared to go to court to challenge the Brussels deal, agreed in December 2003.

The North Sea fishing fleet was told it could catch 30% more prawns and 53% more haddock but they were restricted to 15 days at sea per month.

Mike Park, of the Scottish White Fish Producers' Association, said that the time had come to bring matters to a head and they were prepared to go to court to challenge the new European regulations.

'Highly irresponsible'

EU fisheries commissioner Franz Fischler described the move as "highly irresponsible".

A florist, who tricked a couple into paying double for their wedding flowers and then ran over the bride was given 160 hours' community service.

Rosalind Watson knocked Kathryn Rooney over when the couple turned up at her shop in Perthshire to complain.

She had previously been found guilty at Perth Sheriff Court of assaulting the newly-wed and of dangerous driving.

Watson, 37, of Aberuthven, was also banned from driving for a year and ordered to re-sit her test.

The court had heard how she repeatedly ignored the couple's pleas to get their money back.

Rosalind Watson ran over the bride

She had conned them into paying the same bill for £500 twice for their wedding at Huntingtower Hotel in Perth on 25 August, 2002.

Controversial plans to create a superquarry on the Western Isles were rejected at the Court of Session.

Lafarge Aggregates had argued that planning permission granted in 1965 allowed it to quarry throughout the 600 hectare site at Lingerbay, Harris.

But the judges backed an earlier ruling that the consent only covered three small areas.

Campaigners claimed plans to reduce Roineabhal Mountain to sea level would be an environmental disaster.

The £70m plan to extract 10 million tons of rock a year from Harris over six decades has been one of Scotland's most bitterly fought planning proposals.

It was rejected by the Scottish Executive in 2000 after 10 years of wrangling.

In February, Derick Robertson was banned from using the internet on his own after being caught with more than 1,000 child porn images on his computer.

He went back to court to try and change the order at the request of Fife Council social workers, who claimed it was impossible to regulate.

Kriss Donald was seized by a gang in Glasgow and later murdered

But his bid was turned down by Sheriff Shiona Waldron at Perth Sheriff Court.

She said many probation terms like Robertson's online ban were impossible to police on a day-to-day basis, but that did not make them invalid.

In March, MSPs threw out plans to allow High Court trials to begin without the accused being present.

The Scottish Parliament's Justice One Committee voted narrowly for a compromise deal instead.

The legislation now states that the accused must be present when the prosecution evidence against them begins.

If they subsequently abscond, the trial judge then has a level of discretion on whether the trial should continue.

Victims' rights

The Scottish Executive had argued that the amendment to the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill would safeguard victims' rights.

However, lawyers described the plan as "unworkable".

A 15-year-old boy was abducted by an Asian gang in Glasgow in March and murdered in a race attack.

Kriss Donald's body was found on wasteland near the River Clyde, close to Celtic football stadium in Parkhead.

Daanish Zahid, 20, was later convicted of the racially motivated murder of Kriss, who was seized as he and a friend walked along Kenmure Street in the Pollokshields area of Glasgow.

The leader of the British National Party was condemned for visiting Pollokshields soon after Kriss Donald's murder.

Mohamed Al Fayed said his son "may have been taken by force"

Nick Griffin insisted that his party was not there to stir up tensions between white and Asian residents.

However, politicians and community leaders, including First Minister Jack McConnell and former Scottish Socialist Party leader Tommy Sheridan, accused him of seeking to provoke tension.

In March, judges quashed Thomas TC Campbell and Joe Steele's convictions for the Ice Cream Wars murders in 1984.

Three judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh decided they were victims of a miscarriage of justice.

They had been convicted of murdering six members of the Doyle family at their Glasgow home in a turf war over areas served by ice cream vans.

The men always pleaded innocence and this was their third appeal.

'Everybody lost'

Mr Campbell said he was in no mood to celebrate.

"Everybody has lost. The Doyles have lost their family, we've lost our lives in prison and for 20 years justice has lost," he said.

Mohamed Al Fayed vowed to appeal a judge's decision preventing a full public inquiry taking place in Scotland into the death of his son.

Lord Drummond-Young ruled that the Scottish Executive acted lawfully in refusing his request for a probe into the death of Dodi and Princess Diana in 1997.

Mr Al Fayed was allowed to make the application because he owns property in Scotland.

At the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Richard Keen QC, Mr Al Fayed's lawyer, said there were "numerous matters which cast material doubt" on the official explanation of the 1997 crash in Paris.

A French inquiry concluded driver Henri Paul, who also died, was drunk and on anti-depressants and blamed him largely for the fatal crash.

But in court, Mr Al Fayed's senior counsel said his client had reached the "reasonable belief that the life of his son Dodi may have been taken by force".

Mr Al Fayed, who owns the Balnagown estate in Easter Ross, said he was "dismayed" by Lord Drummond-Young's decision, but vowed to fight on.

Also, the first paedophile in Scotland to be banned from using the internet had a bid to get the order lifted rejected.