Murder of Surjit Singh Chhokar
The murder of Surjit Singh Chhokar occurred in November 1998 in Overtown, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Two prosecutions – in 1999 and in 2000 – were unsuccessful. Two inquiries were held that reported in 2001. Eighteen years after the crime, in October 2016, a conviction was made. This was only the second time in Scottish legal history that a person was tried twice for the same crime. This controversial case raised a number of complicated legal issues, including the double jeopardy rule, as well as institutional racism on the part of investigating police and prosecutors. Murder Three men confronted Surjit Singh Chhokar on the night of 4 November 1998. Ronnie Coulter, his nephew Andrew Coulter and another man, David Montgomery, went to see Chhokar following a dispute over a £100.17 Giro cheque. Chhokar was stabbed three times, with one wound piercing his heart. Chhokar collapsed in front of his partner Liz Bryce. Within days of the murder, the three suspects had been arrested. First trials In March 1999 the case was heard at the Glasgow High Court, although that had only led to a conviction of assault. Lord McCluskey, who was at the time Scotland's longest-serving judge, presided over the trial