Glasgow court faces delays after statements ruling
11 May 07
Magistrate rules Crown summaries not in line with human rights cases
Cases set down for trial in Glasgow District Court could suffer delays following a ruling by a stipendiary magistrate that the defence are entitled to see full versions of statements, police notebooks and witnesses' criminal records.
The magistrate, Alan Findlay, upheld a claim by defence solicitor Virgil Crawford that it was not enough to be provided with a summary of what was contained in the statements.
In most Scottish criminal cases it is now accepted procedure that Crown statements are provided to the defence, following rulings by the Privy Council in the cases of Holland and Sinclair in 2005 that this was necessary to comply with human rights law concerning the right to a fair trial. However in Glasgow District Court the practice of providing summaries has continued, to avoid time consuming work on minor cases.
Mr Crawford said that if other solicitors took the point, trials could be delayed by months until disclosure was made.
It is understood that the use of summaries was agreed by the Glasgow Bar Association folowing the 2005 decisions. The Crown were granted leave to appeal by Mr Findlay.