A retired surgeon who had been accused of causing the death of his next-door neighbour has walked free from court after a jury decided that the case was not-proven.
Hamish Towler denied the culpable homicide of Inverness garage boss John Birrell, 55, who collapsed and died from a cardiac arrest following a violent confrontation on the road outside their homes.
Mr Towler, 66, admitted striking Mr Birrell with a dog lead during the incident, but told the court he had done so in self-defence after his neighbour approached him with “his fists raised” and landed “several blows”.
Over the course of a week-long High Court trial, a jury heard how Mr Towler and Mr Birrell had been involved in a long-running neighbour dispute over matters like planning, access and drainage.
Witnesses described how matters had come to a head on August 17 2020 when they met on the road outside their neighbouring Blackpark properties as Mr Towler was walking his dogs and Mr Birrell was returning home in a van driven by his son Jake.
Giving evidence, Jake told the court that Mr Towler struck on the bonnet with a dog lead.
He said: “Dad was in a fluster, rolled down the window and asked what he was doing.
“Dad got out and pushed Mr Towler on the chest with two hands and Mr Towler struck Dad across the face with the dog lead.
“He took a punch to Dad’s stomach and was pulling him away from the van in a lock, trying to get him down. Dad managed to break free.”
Taking to the witness stand to give his own version of events, Mr Towler said Mr Birrell was the aggressor.
He said Mr Birrell got out of the vehicle and came at him with “his fists raised” landing “several blows”.
He said it was then he turned and swung the dog lead at Mr Birrell, hitting him on his shoulder.
Asked how much force he had used, he said: “Just enough for him to feel it.”
A short time later Mr Birrell collapsed having suffered a cardiac arrest and died at the scene.
Forensic pathologist, Dr Leiganne Deboys, who carried out a post-mortem on the garage proprietor said that “there could be a link” between the stressful altercation he had and his cardiac arrest.
But she also told the court: “He had such heart disease that he could have had a heart attack at any time.”
In her closing speech to the jury, defence advocate Shelagh McCall KC said that Mr Birrell might have been considered “the proverbial time bomb waiting to go off”.
She told jurors that while they might consider her client’s actions on the day “bloody-minded and unneighbourly” they did not constitute a crime.
Jurors took just over two-and-a-half-hours to reject the Crown case, returning a unanimous verdict of not proven on the culpable homicide charge.
Following the verdict, Lord Fairley also granted Towler, of Carn Mhor, Blackpark, an absolute discharge on his guilty plea to breaching bail conditions, meaning the retired opthalmologist will not have a criminal record as a result.
Speaking after his acquittal Mr Towler told the Press and Journal: “I am very happy with the verdict.”