Eminent QCs Gordon Jackson and Jock Thomson have challenged the Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini over a failed murder prosecution, which they described as a "witch hunt" driven by the victim's family.

The accusation is remarkable as Thomson represented the Crown in the prosecution of the case.

The pair rounded on both the police and the Crown Office for their pursuit of the case, which Thomson described as "a catalogue of wrongs and a witch hunt" and have written to Angiolini arguing Nicola McMillan should not have been charged.  MacMillan was acquitted of murdering her partner.

Jackson and Thomson have accused the Crown of allowing the deceased's family to pressure the Crown into pressing on with the case.

Thomson said corrupt police used "every trick in the book" to force a confession from MacMillan, and claimed that evidence suggesting the victim may have killed himself was ignored.

He said  the victim's family appeared to have been "permitted, if not actively encouraged, to demand justice in a situation where there had been no injustice to begin with". 

"It seems to have proceeded on an erroneous view of the law, a biased distortion of the facts and a seeming determination that Nicola should be prosecuted for a murder which it could never be proved she committed. In a proper and understandable climate of concern for victims, it may be said Nicola was the main victim in this case.

"Her treatment at the hands of the police in the immediate aftermath of the death of her partner was shocking. They lied to her about the deceased's defensive injuries - there were none according to the Crown's forensic pathologists."

MacMillan was cleared of murder at the High Court in Kilmarnock in January.

Gordon Jackson QC added that he concluded the decision to continue with the prosecution was "at least greatly influenced by the views and attitudes of the deceased's family."

The Firm asked the Lord Advocate to comment but Ms Angiolini has declined. The Crown Office issued a statement confirming that she has received correspondence from Jock Thomson and Gordon Jackson, and that the accused's family met with the procurator fiscal to discuss their concerns and met separately with Crown counsel.