News In Focus
1 September 2010
Early pleas ease pressure on victims: Mulholland
Victims and witnesses are being spared the need to give evidence, thanks to the earlier resolution of cases by the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service Health & Safety Division, the Solicitor General for Scotland said today.
Frank Mulholland QC announced that statistics from the division's first year of operation show that more than 20 cases were resolved without the need for trials, by securing early guilty pleas from the accused.
With dedicated units in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, the division is led by senior prosecutor Elaine Taylor with a total of 16 staff, who work closely with the Health and Safety Executive, local authorities and other agencies who report health and safety cases to COPFS. It is one of a growing number of specialist units within COPFS; others include the prosecution of rape and sexual offences, and wildlife and environmental crime.
Difference
Mr Mulholland said: “By building on our existing expertise and through enhanced working relationships with the HSE and other enforcing authorities, the Division has been more able to deal with the complex issues that can arise in health and safety investigations.
"This approach, using dedicated specialist prosecutors, has also enabled us to resolve a number of cases at an early stage, bringing benefits to victims and witnesses alike.”
Cases which have resulted in guilty pleas include the prosceutions of Marriott Hotels, after an employee was burned by liquid fuel warming a coffee urn; Dundee Leisure, for inadequate supervision of a wave pool at the city's Olympia Leisure Centre in which seven year old Luke Hutton died; and, just last month, Argyll & Bute Council, following the death of 75 year old Duncan MacGillivray, who accidentally drove over the unprotected edge of a Dunoon car park into the sea below.