The peer, who was appointed to the bench in 1995, has had more convictions overturned than any other High Court judge.
It is the first time that information about the performance of Scottish judges has been published and follows eight months of negotiations between The Sunday Times and the Scottish executive.
It was also the first case to be investigated by Kevin Dunion, the Scottish information commissioner, whose intervention ensured that the material requested was eventually made public.
As a result The Sunday Times has been able, for the first time, to compare the performances of Scottish judges over the past five years.
The previously unpublished figures reveal that between 1998 and 2002 Dawson had nine convictions overturned or altered on appeal — almost twice that of any other judge and four times the average.
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Dawson’s errors included misdirecting the jury in the trial of Brian Donnelly, who murdered 27-year-old Margo Lafferty, a Glasgow prostitute, in 1998. In the same year he misdirected the jury in another trial, leading to the quashing of a conviction against Brian Silverman, who was jailed for 14 years for his part in a £10m drug smuggling operation. In 1999 two men who were part of a gang that kicked a teenager to death were freed on appeal after it was found that Dawson had misdirected the jury. At a retrial Ryan Renicks, 19, and Martin McGlinchey, 23, pleaded guilty to culpable homicide and were sentenced to six years.
In 2002 Dawson handed down a six-year sentence to Craig Hamilton, an Edinburgh oil worker who had raped a mentally handicapped 42- year-old woman. The sentence was raised to 10 years by appeal court judges following a public outcry.
In all, cases tried by 19 judges, 36 sheriffs and two temporary judges led to 85 successful appeals against conviction between 1998 and 2002. Six judges and one sheriff had three or more appeals upheld over the same period — Dawson, Lord Johnston (five), Lord Philip (four), Lord Cowie (three), Lord Cameron of Lochbroom (three), Lord Wheatley (three) and Sheriff Maciver (three).
The figures raise concerns about the lack of scrutiny of judges, who are virtually impossible to discipline or sack. No Court of Session judge has ever been removed from office and only twice in the past 30 years has a sheriff been dismissed.
“Judges should not be immune from scrutiny,” said Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP’s justice spokeswoman.
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“One of the ways to scrutinise judges is to monitor successful appeals against them because that will show up a persistent problem with a judge. This kind of information should be public and made available regularly.”
The Sunday Times requested information about the performance of judges from the Scottish executive in January. It was referred to the Scottish Court Service, which twice refused to release the statistics, prompting an appeal to the Scottish information commissioner who ruled that information should be handed over under the code of practice on access to Scottish executive information.
“I am pleased to have been able to effect a settlement between The Sunday Times and the Scottish Courts Service,” said Dunion. “As a result, information of public interest has been revealed that would have remained undisclosed. Surprisingly, this is the first complaint under the procedures for accessing government information in Scotland.”
David Goldberg, the co-convenor of the Scottish Campaign for Freedom of Information, said: “Independence does not mean freedom from accountability. It is one thing to say the judges should be free of political interference — that doesn’t mean everything they do should be immune from public scrutiny. Hiding behind principles of independence or privacy is an abuse of those principles.”
Dawson, 55, said he tried about 30 cases a year and insisted that his record was sound.
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“I would have thought that nine successful appeals over five years is not bad,” he said. “As far as sentences are concerned there are a huge number of appeals. Almost everybody has a go at it because there is nothing to lose.”