One of the bloggers who named Lord McAlpine in the wake of Newsnight’s report wrongly accusing a senior Tory of paedophilia is, surprisingly, a barrister. Duncan Roy practised at the Bar for nine years until 2010. He writes the ‘Scrapper Duncan’ blog.
Roy’s post naming Lord McAlpine – which gave significant credence to the false rumours, coming as it did from a member of a respected profession like the Bar – was removed over the weekend (see screenshot below). However, at least one version of it has been re-published elsewhere and remains online…
In the post, Roy branded McAlpine “evil” and claimed he had “a source” to back up the paedophilia allegation (which has since been proven to be totally false), before stating: “These allegations have been known about in informed circles for many years.”
Roy was called to the Bar in 1997, completing his pupillage at Staple Inn Chambers and the Chambers of Rock Tansey QC, before going on to practise at Common Law Chambers, the Chambers of Jonathan Dingle and Harry Hodgkin, and Jew Street Chambers. Roy also worked as a freelance law reporter for Lawtel during this period.
It has been reported that McAlpine is set to launch a series of legal actions against those who wrongly named him in connection with the allegations.
When contacted by Legal Cheek this morning, Roy declined to comment.
