[Gordon]

Very true.

[Gordon]

From the Sunday Herald 9th Nov 2003

Quote

Millionairess Ann Gloag pleads for public money for estate’s upkeep

Stagecoach boss in £10,000 bid to improve her Highland home
By Alan Crawford

Ann Gloag, the co-founder of the Stagecoach bus empire and one of the richest women in Scotland, has applied for thousands of pounds of public money to spend on the upkeep of her Highland estate, the Sunday Herald has learned.
Gloag, who last week won a legal dispute with tenants on her Beaufort Castle estate, near Beauly, had her application for up to £10,000 turned down by Highland Council last month. The money was to have been used to improve the condition of houses on her 19,500-acre estate.

It is understood that this is not the first time Gloag has applied for a housing improvement grant through the council, although she has not to date been successful.

Garry Coutts, councillor for Beauly and Strathglass, which includes part of Gloag’s estate, confirmed: “Certainly during the time I have been a councillor, over the past six or seven years, I am aware that there have been several applications for improvement grant funding for properties owned by Mrs Gloag.

“She is free to do that in exactly the same way as everyone else is and the applications are dealt with entirely on the merit of the application made. My understanding is that none have been granted.”

He added: “It’s not untypical of estate owners the length and breadth of the Highlands over the generations – for lots of people who perhaps could buy and sell the vast majority of us – to apply.”

Gloag bought the 23-bedroom Beaufort Castle, its contents and the surrounding estate, for around £3.5 million in 1995. Since then her estate managers have applied for housing improvement grants for items such as central heating or roof repairs to the many estate cottages, some of which are rented out to tenants.

The latest application is understood to have been refused at a meeting of the council last month. The recent introduction of the Housing Act means that an applicant’s income is now taken into consideration, however Gloag’s application was not considered since it was on a waiting list which had to be closed due to the number of applicants.

One insider claimed last night that Gloag had displayed “some brass neck” in applying.

And politicians reacted with anger when told of the millionairess’s application for public money.

“It scunners me but it doesn’t surprise me,” said Scottish Socialist Party MSP Rosie Kane. “People like Ann Gloag are always going to be using these sorts of manoeuvres to try and feather their own nest out of the public purse. People like that just do – shame on the lot of them.

“It’s about time they started paying their way. If she was paying her fair share of council tax it probably shouldn’t be so bad, if she stood in line with the other pensioners.

“I just hope the council are on the ball enough to see through these people. If she can’t take care of the properties, hand them over to the public sector.”

Labour MP Brian Wilson, a long-standing campaigner for land reform, said: “The whole Stagecoach fortune is based on public subsidy, so why change the habits of a lifetime?”

A sheriff last week ordered a couple to pay Gloag’s legal expenses after finding in favour of the estate owner over her dispute with Ian and Pat Hamilton, who are her tenants.

The Hamiltons claim they have already spent £10,000 on the case and will be paying for the dispute for the rest of their lives.

Gloag was granted an interdict preventing the Hamiltons from using land and buildings not included in their lease for the estate’s Coach House, where they have lived for 12 years.

Sheriff Donald Booker-Milburn ordered equipment stored in the buildings to be removed and ordered the Hamiltons to pay expenses, although not the costs of junior counsel.

In a statement following the verdict, Gloag, who is in the US receiving the Philanthropy Organisation’s award for her humanitarian work, said she had been vindicated in taking legal action.

“I hope this brings this unhappy saga to an end. We have been trying to resolve this issue for nearly three years but, sadly, every effort was rejected by the tenants.

“It is a great pity it had to end up in court.

“That was the very last resort as far as I was concerned but I was left with no choice.

“There are many tenants living on the Beaufort estate and I take my responsibilities as owner of the estate very seriously. It is extremely important for us to have good relations with our tenants.”

Ann Gloag was not available for comment last night.

09 November 2003

[Gordon]

The Guardian April 1 2001;

Quote

Tragic tycoon seeks solace with Aids victims

After a family suicide, Britain's second richest woman is joining a hospital ship in West Africa

John Arlidge
Sunday April 1, 2001


She is the nurse who became Britain's richest businesswoman, turning a £25,000 redundancy payment into a £1 billion international empire.
When she left her council house and moved into a £3 million castle, Stagecoach boss Ann Gloag had it all. But two years ago her life was devastated when her 28-year-old son, Jonathan, hanged himself in a forest near her home. Bewildered and distraught, Gloag disappeared from public life and quit the company she founded.

Now she is going back to her roots. She is swapping her Highland estate for a hospital in one of the world's poorest countries where she will treat Aids and cancer patients.

Ann Gloag, 58, arrived yesterday in Benin to start working for Mercy Ships, a charity that provides ship-based hospitals offering free medical and dental care to some of the world's poorest people. She decided to take the unpaid job on the 12,000-tonne SS Anastasis, moored off Cotonou, after a visit to West Africa last year.

Friends say she wants to 'start a new chapter' after 20 gruelling years which made her Britain's second-richest woman - only the Queen is wealthier - but which have cost her her marriage and, some say, the life of her son.

'She is still deeply traumatised by Jonathan's death, but getting back to work is her way of getting on with life,' one said. 'It is her way, perhaps, of acknowledging what has happened and of starting again and showing that some benefit can come out of it all.'

As she prepared to treat her first patient since she quit her job as a theatre nurse in Bridge of Earn hospital, near Perth, 20 years ago, Gloag said: 'I've been very fortunate in many ways. I enjoyed my years as a nurse. I enjoyed my years in business. Maybe if I can do something for these charities for a few years, it wouldn't be a bad idea.'

She has donated £4m of her fortune to buy a new hospital ship, the African Mercy, moored at Newcastle upon Tyne. She wants to raise £15m to refit and equip the ship. 'For me it's quite a big challenge to buy this ship and see the conversion through. I think I'll get a real buzz the day they launch it.'

It is more than a quarter of a century since Gloag began her nursing career at Glasgow's Royal Hospital for Sick Children. Her qualifications are now out of date, so she will spend this week carrying out basic duties, such as sterilising equipment or feeding undernourished babies so they are strong enough for surgery.

Conditions on the boat could not be more different from life in 24-bedroom Beaufort Castle, the baronial seat of the Clan Fraser, which Gloag bought 10 years ago. Temperatures can reach 35C, with near 100 per cent humidity. Food and water on board are strictly rationed.

During the day Gloag will treat Aids and cancer victims. Chronic eye infections, cataracts and cleft lips and palates are common. The ship has four operating theatres and beds for 100 patients. At night she will sleep in a bunk in quarters that also hold 400 doctors, nurses and crew. 'I am a terrible sailor, but I should be OK while the boat is moored,' she said.

Her return to the wards is the latest chapter in the remarkable life of a woman born in poverty in Perth. She left Perth High School with no qualifications, but enrolled as a trainee nurse and rose to become a sister. She quit her job in 1980 and used her bus driver father's £25,000 redundancy money to set up Stagecoach with her brother, Brian Souter.

They exploited Tory legislation deregulating the bus industry to undercut rivals. As Stagecoach began expanding rapidly, she let nothing stand in her way - not even her husband. Robin Gloag was on the Stagecoach board when the company was set up, but she and Souter voted him off after repeated clashes. The couple later divorced.

Gloag's ruthlessness earned her a £200m personal fortune which she spent lavishly. She holidayed with Richard Branson on his Caribbean island and drank Bollinger with Rupert Murdoch at his Christmas parties. She bought her yellow Bentley - registration 1Ann - from the Princess Royal.

But the good life came to a tragic end on the night of 18 September 1999 when her son left his Perthshire home, walked a few miles towards his mother's home, tied a rope to a tree and hanged himself. The suicide of a young man with a wife, three sons and the prospect of a vast inheritance all but destroyed Gloag. As she put it on the wreath of white lilies she laid at his funeral: 'From your heartbroken mum, I loved you so much. Till the day dawns and the shadows flee away.'

Afterwards she shunned all publicity. Friends say she was haunted by the thought that she could have prevented his death. 'She knew her son believed he could not live up to her success and she knew he had been badly affected by the divorce,' one said. 'She had all that money at her disposal, and was able to help complete strangers with her charitable instincts, but not Jonathan.

'She is a driven woman. Even when her business tactics were being criticised, she was convinced she had done no wrong. But after Jonathan's death I think she felt - for the first time - as if she might have made a terrible mistake.'

Last year she announced that she had had enough of big business and was quitting as executive director of Stagecoach. She was seen only a few times in public before she announced last week that she was going to Africa.

The Anastasis will remain off the coast of Benin until May. During that time doctors hope to carry out more than 1,000 operations and provide dental treatment for 3,000 people.

[AJR]

From the Glasgow Sunday Mail, 8th October 2006

Queen Ann’s Court - Tycoon asks judge to hear rambler case in her castle

Bus tycoon Ann Gloag wants a Scots court to sit in the garden of her £4million castle. The bid is part of a move to ban ramblers from her property. Stagecoach millionairess Gloag is demanding a sheriff, legal teams, court officials and witnesses convene at Kinfauns Castle, overlooking the River Tay in Perthshire.

Her plea was made at Perth Sheriff Court, where the Ramblers Association are claiming the public should have access to some of her grounds. Gloag's QC Mike Jones asked the court to make a site visit. He said her head of security could explain why she wants a greater area closed off than that proposed by Perth and Kinross Council, who are backed by the Ramblers Association.

He said: "What we have here are two demarcation lines. It is for the court to decide which line to impose. It is not possible to understand the two competing demarcation lines without seeing them on the ground." The Ramblers Association claim that if Gloag wins the right to keep her estate closed off it will set a dangerous precedent.

They hope to raise £20,000 from members to fight the case. Gloag claims to want to ban ramblers from entering her estate because she fears being kidnapped.

Sheriff Michael Fletcher is set to rule on the landmark bid this week

[Gordon]

The court visited today.
http://www.stv.tv/ne...wArticle9101770

[Gordon]

The Scotsman

Quote

Sheriff visits Gloag's land in access row
JUDE SHEERIN

Stagecoach co-founder Ann Gloag goes to court to stop access to her land Ramblers challenging Ms Gloag under right-to-roam laws Ms Gloag erected a 7ft high barbed-wire fence without permission Key quote "Is it not somewhat disingenuous, given your experience and background in the newspaper industry, to suggest that a high-profile businesswoman like Ann Gloag would not merit the attention and interest of journalists?" - Ms Wilson, for the council, to Jack Irvine, representing Ms Gloag

Story in full WEARING wellington boots, a sheriff yesterday left his courtroom to visit the £4 million estate of one of Scotland's richest women who is battling to stop public access to her land.

Sheriff Michael Fletcher trudged round the garden of Ann Gloag, the Stagecoach co-founder, who is one of the first landowners in Scotland to go to court to try to keep ramblers off her property.

He was viewing a fence which is at the centre of a legal dispute. Mrs Gloag erected the 7ft-high perimeter barrier, topped with barbed wire, around part of the 23-acre Kinfauns Castle estate in Perthshire without planning permission.

Retrospective approval was granted by Perth and Kinross Council, but the local authority and the Ramblers Association of Scotland now want a stretch of the one-mile fence moved.

Ramblers are challenging her attempt to be exempted from right-to-roam legislation and want access to a wooded area that they say contains trees of interest, such as swamped cypress, giant redwood and coast redwood.

Sheriff Fletcher saw the trees, and was then asked if he wanted to enter the castle to view the fence from inside, but said it would not be necessary.

After examining the fence in the morning - Mrs Gloag was not at home at the time - he returned to Perth Sheriff Court to hear the case.

An independent security adviser, who was paid by Mrs Gloag last year to assess the vulnerability of Kinfauns Castle, told the sheriff that, in his opinion, the fence in its current position was the minimum security measure that he would have advised.

Keith Fleming, 52, a former superintendent with Grampian Police, said: "She does possess valuable artefacts and jewellery, some of which are displayed at the castle."

Reading from his report, he said: "This quality of fence is the minimum perimeter security measure that I would recommend for a property such as Kinfauns Castle."

The court then heard from Jack Irvine, the chairman of Media House, a public relations firm that represents Mrs Gloag.

Mr Irvine, 57, an ex-editor of the Scottish Sun and former managing director of News International in Scotland, said his client had been the victim of "gross intrusion" that had been "really quite disgusting". He told the court: "It's really quite extraordinary the amount of attention she gets, the volume of inquiries by media and the interest in her private life.

"There just seems to be this insatiable interest by the media in everything she does."

Mr Irvine said he had had to approach the Press Complaints Commission several times because of stories about Mrs Gloag written by newspapers, including one by The Sun.

Ms Wilson, for the council, asked Mr Irvine: "Is it not somewhat disingenuous, given your experience and background in the newspaper industry, to suggest that a high-profile businesswoman like Ann Gloag would not merit the attention and interest of journalists?"

Mr Irvine replied: "I am a reformed character. I'm not a journalist any more."

The case resumes on Monday.

Big names and high fences
ANN Gloag is not the only landowner trying to outflank the Scottish Executive's right-to-roam legislation.

Since the introduction of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, there have been several high-profile cases.

Last month, it was revealed that millionaire businessman and Labour Party donor Euan Snowie had asked a court to exempt his entire 70-acre estate from the legislation. He had claimed ramblers would invade his privacy if they were allowed access to his land at the Boquhan Estate, Kippen, west Stirlingshire.

The property tycoon Kevin Doyle came into conflict with the legislation earlier this year, when he had 6ft fences erected on stretches of Yellowstone Beach, next to Archerfield golf course in East Lothian. The fencing was intended as part of a £55 million gated community with restricted access. The local council ordered him to remove the fences, but Mr Doyle has appealed the move.

The owner of Rangers FC, David Murray, faced an investigation by Perth and Kinross Council in June after he built a gated barrier around his retreat in Bridge of Earn without council permission. Following complaints by the Ramblers' Association Scotland, local council officers were asked to examine whether he had acted illegally.

Related topic

Land reform
http://news.scotsman...ics.cfm?tid=694
This article: http://news.scotsman...m?id=1571182006

Last updated: 23-Oct-06 00:57 BST

The Herald

Quote

Sheriff goes roaming in Gloag estate

DAMIEN HENDERSON October 24 2006


A sheriff put on wellington boots and a raincoat to trudge round the £4m estate of one of Scotland's richest women yesterday to decide whether she should be the first private individual to be exempted from right-to-roam legislation.
With an entourage of lawyers, council officers, ramblers and journalists in his wake, Sheriff Michael Fletcher spent nearly an hour inspecting Kinfauns Castle in Perthshire, which Ann Gloag, the Stagecoach founder, purchased last year.
The millionaire has provoked the ire of council officials and ramblers by erecting a 7ft perimeter fence, topped with barbed wire, around part of the 23-acre estate, which her legal team says is essential to prevent intrusion by the media and protect her family from the threat of kidnap or robbery.
Although it was initially built without planning permission, it was given retrospective approval. However, the Ramblers Association, which says the estate contains trees of interest, and Perth and Kinross Council are appealing to have part of the one-mile fence removed to allow public access.
With the decorum and serenity usually reserved for courthouse appearances, Sheriff Fletcher spent 10 minutes inspecting the castle, where the fence runs down an embankment. He said little and made no notes during his walkabout.
Back in Perth Sheriff Court, he said: "Wouldn't it be nice if we could have a bracing stroll in the country before every session of court?"
The court then heard why the fence was necessary to protect Mrs Gloag and her family.
Keith Fleming, a security adviser who was paid by Mrs Gloag last year to assess the vulnerability of Kinfauns Castle, said the alternative to the fence would expose the premises to "unnecessary risk".
He said the fence was "wholly appropriate", given that Mrs Gloag was a wealthy businesswoman who had valuable artefacts and jewellery in her possession, and that it would mean that any unwelcome visitors would be exposed without giving them easy hiding places.
Reading from his report, he said: "This quality of fence is the minimum perimeter security measure that I would recommend for a property such as Kinfauns Castle."
Under cross-examination from advocate Ailsa Wilson, for the council, Mr Fleming agreed that the location of children's play equipment in relation to the fence potentially left Mrs Gloag's grandchildren vulnerable to abduction.
The advocate also asked him: "Do you accept if there was a group of organised criminals intent on (breaking in) this fence would not be sufficient to deter access?" He replied: "No, it would not."
John Campbell, QC, for the Ramblers Association, put it to Mr Fleming that Kinfauns Castle, which is two miles east of Perth and close to the A90 Aberdeen-Perth dual carriageway, was not ideally situated for someone who wanted to maintain their privacy.
He said: "If it were Mrs Gloag's preoccupation to protect . . . herself and her grandchildren from possible abduction, then this property is not an obvious choice is it?" Mr Fleming said: "No, it is not."
The court then heard from Jack Irvine, chairman of Media House, the public relations firm which represents the businesswoman. Mr Irvine, 57, a former editor of the Scottish Sun and ex-managing director of News International in Scotland, said his client had been the victim of "gross intrusion", including stories about the death of her son Jonathan, 28, in 1999.
Mr Irvine said journalists and photographers had been caught trespassing on several occasions at Mrs Gloag's holiday home in Beauly, Inverness-shire, and her former home at Balcraig House in Perth.
Ms Wilson, for the council, asked Mr Irvine: "Is it not somewhat disingenuous, given your experience and background in the newspaper industry, to suggest that Ann Gloag would not merit the attention and interest of journalists?" He replied: "I'm not a journalist any more." Asked if during his time at The Sun he would have expected his reporters to come up with stories about the death of the businesswoman's son, he replied: "Probably, yes."
The case was adjourned until next Monday.

[AJR]

From the BBC Website, 3rd January 2007

Tycoon 'ignored' access law claim

Millionaire Ann Gloag ignored the law by erecting a fence at her Perthshire estate, a court has heard. The claims came during the Stagecoach tycoon's bid to ban public access to part of her land at Kinfauns Castle.

Council access officer David Stubbs told the hearing at Perth Sheriff Court that Mrs Gloag's solicitor was aware of Scotland's right to roam laws. Mrs Gloag is seeking to have part of her estate exempt from the legislation because of security concerns. Mr Stubbs, who works for Perth and Kinross Council, told the hearing that a member of public raised concerns when they saw the fence being erected in 2005.

Access code

He said: "I thought they had put up the fence and were not aware the law had changed. That was my impression. But in discussion with (Mrs Gloag's solicitor) Peter Watson, it was clear he was aware of the access code. That was my recollection."

Mr Stubbs said he had made efforts to resolve the situation without "having a row".
"My view, even at that stage, was that some of the land within the planned fence, was access land," he added.

The council, backed by the Ramblers Association Scotland, has contested the action and has sought to move part of the fence. However Mrs Gloag, one of Scotland's richest women, has cited fears of intrusion and thieves on her estate and that her high-profile guests needed privacy.

The court hearing, before Sheriff Michael Fletcher, continues.

[AJR]

From The Scotsman, 5th January 2007

Stagecoach founder Gloag 'wants stricter privacy than Queen'

The Stagecoach bus tycoon Ann Gloag wants more privacy and protection from the public than the Queen, a court was told yesterday. Mrs. Gloag has gone to court to seek a ban on ramblers walking through swathes of her estate at Kinfauns Castle, near Perth.

In evidence yesterday, Dave Morris, director of the Ramblers Association, said Mrs. Gloag was seeking more protection than the Queen demands at Balmoral. He told Perth Sheriff Court the Queen freely roamed Balmoral Estate. She occasionally met ramblers and was happy to exchange pleasantries with them. Mr. Morris said there were almost no restrictions on the movement of walkers around the Royal estate and held it up as a good example of responsible landowning.

He said that ramblers who wished to walk around Kinfauns Estate in a similar manner posed no threat to the safety or security of Mrs. Gloag and her family.

"There is a long tradition at Balmoral of accepting public access," he told the hearing. "We used that in discussions as an example of how someone in the position of the Royal Family is able to accept the right of access on their land."

Asked if the situation changed when the Queen was in residence, Mr. Morris said: "Access continues as it always has done. There may be security officers or police present to persuade people to take this route or that route. As the Royal Family go out and about they may come into contact with members of the public. I went to Balmoral to talk to the factor about security arrangements. He gave an example of the Queen riding her horse along a track, encountering hillwalkers and having a straightforward exchange. There were personnel nearby in a vehicle who would have been able to take action if there had been any difficulty. I don't see anything we have been doing in the Ramblers Association to be threatening to Mrs Gloag or anyone on the estate. Ultimately, if Mrs. Gloag or her family feel threatened in some way in any of the grounds, the only way of protecting them is by having the appropriate personnel nearby."

Mrs. Gloag has gone to court to try to ban the public from her estate because she fears being robbed or kidnapped. Mr. Morris, 60, told the hearing that when he carried out a site visit to the £4 million castle, the police were called.

Mrs. Gloag is the first landowner in Scotland to try to exempt part of her property from right-to-roam legislation and has gone to court to try to keep walkers off her land. Perth and Kinross Council, backed by the Ramblers Association, is fighting the action and seeks to move the boundary fence closer to the castle.
The council believes access rights apply to part of the woodland area enclosed by the fence, including several old paths. Evidence concluded yesterday and submissions will be made in writing at a later date.

[AJR]

From the Scotland Courier, 12th March 2007

Claim tycoon showed ‘lack of respect’

Stagecoach tycoon Ann Gloag illustrated her lack of respect for court proceedings when she failed to give evidence in person, a leading QC has claimed.

John Campbell QC, who represents the Ramblers’ Association in what could be a landmark right to roam hearing, said her reasons for not attending the case she herself had brought to court were “derisory.” He described the multi-millionaire’s actions as “misconceived” and led by “self-interest.”

The comments came in written submissions made to Perth Sheriff Court as part of a bid by Mrs. Gloag to bypass right to roam legislation on part of her Kinfauns Castle estate. She claims the public should not have the right to walk within a one-mile perimeter at the castle, set in a 28-acre estate two miles from Perth, which she bought as a private residence over two years ago. She also wants to keep the immediate grounds around the £4 million castle private so she can entertain guests outside the public eye.

Mrs. Gloag believes that if she was forced to move a two-metre high fence closer to her home it would open the estate to raids by organised gangs and expose her family to kidnap attempts. Detailed evidence was led on her behalf at Perth Sheriff Court, though Mrs. Gloag herself did not give evidence.

Mike Jones QC, for Mrs. Gloag, said a decision against his client would “constitute a chilling exercise of the arbitrary application of state power.”

Perth and Kinross Council and the Ramblers’ Association, however, believe that a principle is at stake and that there should not be one rule for Mrs. Gloag and another rule for everyone else. The local authority’s QC Ailsa Wilson writes in her submissions to Sheriff Michael Fletcher that the proceedings have greater significance than simply resolving Mrs. Gloag’s right to prevent access to the grounds of Kinfauns Castle.

“There is a much wider public interest at the heart of these proceedings that should not be allowed to be masked by an excess of evidence on Mrs. Gloag’s fears. We are concerned at the precedent which may be established from this judicial determination regarding policy grounds attached to substantial country dwellings. Mr. McCleary (David McCleary, Mrs. Gloag’s husband) confirmed that on the day he attended court to give evidence the pursuer was in fact at home at Kinfauns Castle. Whilst a number of reasons were given to explain her non-attendance in court, it is at the very least a matter of comment that a pursuer who seeks to claim her human rights are being infringed does not attend court to explain her position.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Campbell QC writes, “The pursuer chose not to appear...as it was inconvenient. It is nothing short of extraordinary that a pursuer seeking the ‘exceptional’ remedy of total exclusion articulated by her husband and who also alleges infringement of her human rights, should fail to attend court, particularly when her husband acknowledged she was at Kinfauns Castle that day. Understandably, but incorrectly in my submission, she has approached the issue from her own self- interested point of view. Her approach is misconceived.”

Mrs. Gloag’s QC Mr. Jones is, however, seeking to persuade the sheriff that his client should be entitled to take measures to exclude strangers from land in her ownership.

“To respect her private life and home it is necessary to have regard to her personal circumstances, including her choices and aspirations in respect of her privacy, her family life and home,” he writes. “It is submitted that it is clear on the evidence that the risk of unlawful intrusion at Kinfauns is sufficient to require security measures being taken.”

It is now left to Sheriff Fletcher to make his determination on the issue.

[AJR]

From the Scotland Courier, 12th March 2007

Claim tycoon showed ‘lack of respect’

Stagecoach tycoon Ann Gloag illustrated her lack of respect for court proceedings when she failed to give evidence in person, a leading QC has claimed.

John Campbell QC, who represents the Ramblers’ Association in what could be a landmark right to roam hearing, said her reasons for not attending the case she herself had brought to court were “derisory.” He described the multi-millionaire’s actions as “misconceived” and led by “self-interest.”

The comments came in written submissions made to Perth Sheriff Court as part of a bid by Mrs. Gloag to bypass right to roam legislation on part of her Kinfauns Castle estate. She claims the public should not have the right to walk within a one-mile perimeter at the castle, set in a 28-acre estate two miles from Perth, which she bought as a private residence over two years ago. She also wants to keep the immediate grounds around the £4 million castle private so she can entertain guests outside the public eye.

Mrs. Gloag believes that if she was forced to move a two-metre high fence closer to her home it would open the estate to raids by organised gangs and expose her family to kidnap attempts. Detailed evidence was led on her behalf at Perth Sheriff Court, though Mrs. Gloag herself did not give evidence.

Mike Jones QC, for Mrs. Gloag, said a decision against his client would “constitute a chilling exercise of the arbitrary application of state power.”

Perth and Kinross Council and the Ramblers’ Association, however, believe that a principle is at stake and that there should not be one rule for Mrs. Gloag and another rule for everyone else. The local authority’s QC Ailsa Wilson writes in her submissions to Sheriff Michael Fletcher that the proceedings have greater significance than simply resolving Mrs. Gloag’s right to prevent access to the grounds of Kinfauns Castle.

“There is a much wider public interest at the heart of these proceedings that should not be allowed to be masked by an excess of evidence on Mrs. Gloag’s fears. We are concerned at the precedent which may be established from this judicial determination regarding policy grounds attached to substantial country dwellings. Mr. McCleary (David McCleary, Mrs. Gloag’s husband) confirmed that on the day he attended court to give evidence the pursuer was in fact at home at Kinfauns Castle. Whilst a number of reasons were given to explain her non-attendance in court, it is at the very least a matter of comment that a pursuer who seeks to claim her human rights are being infringed does not attend court to explain her position.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Campbell QC writes, “The pursuer chose not to appear...as it was inconvenient. It is nothing short of extraordinary that a pursuer seeking the ‘exceptional’ remedy of total exclusion articulated by her husband and who also alleges infringement of her human rights, should fail to attend court, particularly when her husband acknowledged she was at Kinfauns Castle that day. Understandably, but incorrectly in my submission, she has approached the issue from her own self- interested point of view. Her approach is misconceived.”

Mrs. Gloag’s QC Mr. Jones is, however, seeking to persuade the sheriff that his client should be entitled to take measures to exclude strangers from land in her ownership.

“To respect her private life and home it is necessary to have regard to her personal circumstances, including her choices and aspirations in respect of her privacy, her family life and home,” he writes. “It is submitted that it is clear on the evidence that the risk of unlawful intrusion at Kinfauns is sufficient to require security measures being taken.”

It is now left to Sheriff Fletcher to make his determination on the issue.