BBC Scotland podcast explores conspiracy theory about big legal names

A true crime podcast series from BBC Scotland delves into a conspiracy theory that shook the legal establishment to its core in the 1990s.

The claim was that gay judges and lawyers, who were afraid their reputation would be damaged if their homosexuality was revealed, were posing a threat to the justice system.

A media feeding frenzy followed, which gripped Scotland for years.

The story circulating in legal and journalistic circles suggested a group of high-profile, gay, legal professionals had been perverting the course of justice.

This claim – that collapsed cases were linked to ‘a list’ that could expose some big legal names – was really a conspiracy theory, put together by a powerful lawyer, Bob Henderson.

He was a flamboyant figure in Scotland’s courtrooms with the nickname Shiny Bob, but it was unclear why he caused such chaos.

Decades later, dark secrets about the once-celebrated lawyer and his inner circle, started to emerge.  

Shiny Bob: The Devil’s Advocate features exclusive interviews with one of the arrested journalists, Scotland’s most senior judge at the time, detectives and victims, as the podcast series unravels the sinister mystery of the master manipulator, Bob Henderson. 

You can hear Shiny Bob: The Devil’s Advocate on BBC Sounds from Monday 5 June.