The Judiciary of Scotland have announced via Twitter that the sentencing of David Gilroy, found guilty of the murder of Suzanne Pilley last month, is to be televised.

It is the first time sentencing in at the High Court has been filmed. In 2008 and 2009 the appeal advisings in the Luke Mitchell, Nat Fraser and Abdelbaset Al Megrahi cases were filmed for broadcast.

"Following an application by STV, permission has now been granted to film Lord Bracadale sentencing David Gilroy at the High Court in Edinburgh at 10.00am on 18 April 2012. This was approved by Lord Hamilton the Lord President and Lord Justice General." the Justiciary said in a statement.

"The camera will focus on the judge and no other person will feature in the footage except the Macer and the Clerk. The accused will not be filmed."

The Firm has campaigned for broadcasting of court proceedings to become routine, a position backed by the Sky broadcasting group.

"The days of fearing the eyes of the television passed half a century ago, and whilst the quality of much of what is offered up by television as entertainment can be challenged, the maturity of the medium itself, and its potential, are tried, tested and woefully under exploited," The Firm's Editor, Steven Raeburn said in 2010.

"The added dimension of near-universal digital access, a phenomenon only certain to expand as time passes, allows dedicated niche channels to broadcast any special area of interest without alienating the space available to the broad audience. They are capable of producing content that will not require editing, filtering, exposition or added filling to appeal to a common denominator.

"Newspapers and the press have traditionally been the eyes and ears of the wider world who cannot make it in person, but now that technology allows the courts to be accessed with desktop or even smartphone ease, there is no sustainable argument that can be advanced to prevent the public observing the courts through the medium of a screen and a microphone, rather than in person. Now is the time to take the opportunity to update our legal coverage and the laws attending it, and in doing so, perhaps some proper understanding of justice could be provided to those with the patience and interest to follow it, as well as those who hitherto did not."