News / Hill gets his legal hearing
A DATE for a legal hearing has been set after self-styled Shetland independence campaigner Stuart Hill appeared before Lerwick Sheriff Court challenging the jurisdiction of the court.
Mr Hill appeared on 12 motoring charges alleging that on 15 June and 5 July, at Scalloway Road and at Holmsgarth Road in Lerwick, he drove without a licence in vehicles that were faulty, not insured, taxed or registered. He is also charged to have obstructed police officers on the same dates.
Appearing in a cloak and initially refusing to enter the dock, Hill, with an address at Ocraquoy, Cunningsburgh, said he challenged the jurisdiction of the court on the basis that Shetland was not part of Scotland, the UK or the European Union.
The legal hearing will take place on 16 August at 11am, at Lerwick Sheriff Court.
Sheriff Graeme Napier told Hill that he would not accept him appearing “in that outfit” again, and warned him to be properly prepared for a legal argument.
Hill said he was delighted to have been given the opportunity to make his case in a court.
“I don’t think I could have expected better. I have now got a proper legal hearing where all the legal arguments will be presented, and that’s what I have been trying to get for the last three years,” Hill said.
The 68-year old campaigner had been arrested for driving two vans that were not registered with the DVLA; neither were they insured nor taxed.
He claims his “consular” vehicles were registered on his island enclave of Forvik, a tiny rock off the Shetland coast, that he declared independent a few years ago.
On Wednesday, he appeared in yet another “consular” vehicle and parked it outside Lerwick Sheriff Court.
Hill has been challenging the authorities for several years about their sovereignty over the isles, saying Shetland has never become part of Scotland, and the UK.
“I have been preparing for this for nine years. I have all of the evidence I need. I have to prepare it now in a suitable way for the court, but I have all the documentation I need.
“It will be hard work to get it all together in a suitable form, because it is a big question and a big deal for Shetland. If I am right then it overturns the whole of the UK authority here.”
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