[1] On 11 April 2006, Downing Street announced that Colin Boyd would take a seat as a crossbench life peer;[2] however, he took the Labour whip after resigning as Lord Advocate.

[4] On the day SNP leader Alex Salmond was elected First Minister of Scotland (16 May 2007), it was reported that Boyd was quitting the Scottish Bar to become a part-time consultant with public law solicitors Dundas & Wilson.

Lord Boyd's title is taken from Duncansby Head in Caithness – a favourite spot for family outings when he was a child living in Wick.

Following the announcement on 11 April 2006 of Boyd's appointment to the House of Lords, his peerage nomination became a talking point in Scottish political circles.

[5] Boyd defended the appointment: I remain firmly committed to the full time role of Lord Advocate, leading the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, and seeing through the programme of reform I initiated four years ago.

McConnell said he was "disappointed" over what he regarded as a "normal and straightforward nomination" becoming caught up in Scotland Yard's cash for peerages investigation.

In February 2006, Boyd was drawn into the detective constable Shirley McKie fingerprint controversy, when she was awarded £750,000 compensation in an out-of-court settlement.

Mackay's interim report in August 2000 suggested that the evidence given in court by the four SCRO personnel amounted to 'collective manipulation and collective collusion'.

With the eyes of the world focused upon the Scottish judicial system, it could have undermined the Crown's case to have the SCRO scrutinized and its fingerprint experts prosecuted for covering up acts of criminality.