The Sheriff and JP courts in Dumbarton and the Court of Session and High Court in Edinburgh.
By Bill Heaney
The number of criminal trials in Scotland’s ageing courts is growing steadily as the government struggles to deal with a £7.3 million maintenance and repairs backlog which often requires them to be closed for a period for maintenance work.
The Holyrood parliament heard this week that closures are adding to the already large number of outstanding criminal trials, which currently stands at an astonishing 28,000.
To add to this enormous problem the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service had its capital budget frozen in 2022-23, which has hindered its ability to tackle this astonishing backlog.
Now MSPs have asked the SNP Government how much of the current maintenance backlog will be tackled with the budget outlined for 2023-24, and how much will remain to be done after that. The problems are worst in the sheriff courts, where there is a backlog of nearly five times the pre-pandemic average.
Conservative MSP Liam Kerr, pictured left, said: “We all recognise that Covid caused huge disruption. However, the Government cannot deny that major backlogs existed prior to March 2020, and they happened on its watch.
“Those delays have a real human cost. Victim Support Scotland has said that court delays damage victims’ mental health and can further traumatise them. Witnesses are being forced to take long bus trips alongside defendants, and potentially dangerous people are being left to roam Scotland’s streets.”
His Conservative colleague, Jamie Greene, added: “We have heard some pretty horrific evidence that some victims of crime are dropping proceedings altogether; they are removing themselves from the process due to the lengthy delays and are being re-traumatised by those delays. Is that not a huge cause for concern?”
Liam Kerr said: “Of course, it is. When cases are finally called, victims are quite often being crammed into cramped, crumbling, and under-resourced courts, cheek by jowl with witnesses and even the accused.”
He added that Humza Yousaf, the new First Minister, had cut £10 million from the courts budget when he was Justice Secretary, almost half the amount previously allocated.
“That is a massive reduction in funding, given that, as of July 2022, there was a maintenance backlog in the court estate of around £7.3 million. That is why, when the SCTS said in October 2022 that closing three to four court buildings could save £4 million, the people of Scotland started to worry.
“Ten years ago, the Scottish National Party government looked to make savings that would save the Scottish Court Service about £1.3 million annually and £3 million as a one-off, so it closed 10 sheriff courts.”
However, it had to wait five years to get them off their books and in the interim “the SCTS had to pay for vandalism, alarms and general repairs anyway.
“The SCTS then sold those buildings on through community asset transfers, which yielded pennies. That led local solicitors to be sceptical that any money had been saved at all. To what end?”
In some areas, this led to victims of crime facing long journeys by car or public transport if it was available—which was by no means guaranteed—only to find that there was yet another delay because of the backlogs, which have rocketed from an already eye-watering start.
Mr Kerr said: “What is worrying folk is a history of closures; a massive repair bill to fix courts that already look like they are being run down; £7.3 million in repairs this year and a Government that has slashed the funding.”
He asked for an assurance that there would be no more court closures – “The justice budget is within the gift of the Scottish Government to decide as a spending priority. Scotland has a far smaller court footprint than other parts of the UK, especially after the purge that was started by the SNP in 2013.
“The court estate is crumbling so much under this Government that repairs across Scotland almost swallowed up the entire capital budget in 2022.
“For the certainty of victims, the people Scotland, and the morale and jobs of our court workers, I ask the minister in closing to reverse the SNP’s decision to put criminals first and to support our courts by stating, here and now, that there will be no court closures in Scotland in the lifetime of this session of Parliament.”
Labour’s Pauline McNeill, right, said: “Labour members have been very critical of the current situation. I took an interest in court delays in 2018, following a constituency case—a horrendous case of gang rape—that took three and a half years to come to court, after which there was an acquittal.
“I accept that Covid-19 has caused significant disruption to operation of the criminal justice system in Scotland and elsewhere. It has caused considerable strain in the system and has led to significant delays in processing of cases. However, the issue pre-existed Covid; I am clear about that.”
She said the delays cause uncertainty for the people who are caught up in our criminal justice system, including victims, witnesses and accused persons – “It is not justice if people have to wait years to be heard”.
Ms McNeill added: “Long before lockdown and the disruption to the criminal justice process, the challenges that victims and survivors faced as a result of delays in their case progression, poor communication of and uncertainty about trial dates, and last-minute changes to courts, were well established.
“However, the remoteness from the system that victims feel from not having communication through long delays is one of the reasons why I support advocacy for victims of sexual offences who are waiting for justice in court.
“There are a large number of outstanding criminal trials. The number currently stands at 30,588 trials across all criminal courts.
“The latest figures show that serious sexual offences constitute 70 per cent of High Court work—which is really quite astonishing—and 80 per cent to 85 per cent of cases that proceed to trial.
“That affects the thousands of women and children who are at the receiving end of such violence. I mention that because I have a specific interest in the issue, but those figures would necessitate an interest in any case, because a crucial dimension of systematic violence against women and girls is lack of access to justice and courts.
“The Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain, left, who previously served as a practitioner heading up the serious sexual violence unit, has previously commented on the extraordinary number of sexual violence cases that are caught up in the backlog, which she says ‘predominantly and disproportionately’ affects women and children.
“That is an issue that the Criminal Justice Committee, along with the Scottish Government, will scrutinise later this year.
“A year ago this month, as Parliament discussed the backlog of cases, the [then] Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans, Keith Brown, told us that the Government had allocated £53.2 million to tackle the backlog, including measures to provide 16 additional courts, which we have seen none of. Over time, we will have to look at what that £53.2 million amounts to, because that money must create results and get the delays down.
“We need to ascertain whether, as we head towards 2026, the delays will come down. At the moment, the delay in the High Court is an average of 49 weeks. The Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, which Parliament agreed to, provides for maximum numbers of days for the High Court of 110 days and 140 days.
“We did that because, in Scotland, we believe that justice includes having strict time limits. The country that previously had the best time limits in the world, apart from those in two countries, is probably now looking pretty poor, when compared with other countries.
“The 49-week delay amounts to 105 days more than the 140 days that are set out in the 1995 act. That is not good for survivors and victims, and it is not good for accused people.
“The Criminal Justice Committee has highlighted the issue of people on remand waiting for their cases to be heard. We have heard of people waiting on remand for two years or more and not knowing what priority is being given to their case. I have pleaded with the Crown Office about that. There must be transparency about delays, to give the accused in particular some idea of when their case will be heard.
“We must continue to return to the issue, because it is a really important one for our criminal justice system. We must get week-on-week progress in reducing the 49-week waiting time to what is set out in law, which is no more than 140 days on remand for High Court cases.”
Finally, the SNP’s Minister for Community Safety, Elena Whitham, said taking part in the debate had for her been “an opportunity to advise Parliament about an emerging, positive report of recovery and transformation in our justice system”.
She dismissed the prospect of court closures – “There are no plans to initiate further court closures. The current court model provides appropriate access to justice for Scotland’s communities. However, there is always more work to be done.”
How delays have affected the trial of three local people accused of the murder of Caroline Glachan…
CONCERN AS CAROLINE GLACHAN MURDER TRIAL IS DELAYED FOR 13 MONTHS
By Bill Heaney
There was widespread public dismay in West Dunbartonshire last night at the news that the trial of three people accused of the murder of Bonhill schoolgirl Caroline Glachan 25 years ago will be delayed until November next year.
The judge tasked with overseeing the trial of the three people accused of murdering schoolgirl Caroline Glachan has expressed “concerns” about proceedings having to take place late next year, most likely in November.
Lord Braid fixed a two week long diet to take place in November 2023 following a procedural hearing today, Friday, at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Prosecutors claim that Robert O’Brien, 44, Andrew Kelly, 43, and Donna Marie Brand, 43, murdered 14-year-old Caroline on August 25, 1996, close to her home in Bonhill. All three deny the allegations against them.
Lord Braid set the new November 2023 dates after being told that the trial couldn’t take place in September next year.
The judge was told that there was a lack of senior King’s Counsel and Advocates Depute available for Crown prosecution work during that time. He heard that a trial involving 11 accused was due to take place in September next year.
Lord Braid also heard that the first accused – O’Brien – had been on remand since November last year and would have spent two years in custody at the time of the start of his trial.
On Friday, Lord Braid asked Mr Duguid and Mr Kelly’s lawyer, Ronnie Renucci KC about the case.
Speaking about the prospect of a trial in November 2023, Lord Braid said: “I am uncomfortable about fixing a trial which I think is 13 months away when someone is in custody.
“One of the reasons that there were so many KCs admitted this year was to alleviate this very problem – was it not?”
Ronnie Renucci KC., the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, replied: “But there were only four appointed to the defence bench.
“Unfortunately all of those who were instructed have already got busy diaries. “In my respectful submission it is unlikely that the appointment of the new KCs is going to make any material difference.”
“Prosecutors claim that on various occasions between June 1, 1996, and August 25,1996, O’Brien, who is originally from Dumbarton, assaulted Caroline, pictured right, at locations in Dunbartonshire. These include Balloch Country Park and Renton, Vale of Leven and “elsewhere in Dunbartonshire.”
It is alleged that on those dates, O’Brien assaulted Caroline by punching, slapping her face and by placing his hands around her neck and compressing her throat.
Prosecutors claim that he pushed Caroline, a pupil of Our Lady and St Patrick’s High School in Dumbarton, against a wall before forcing her arm up her back. It is alleged that he then threatened her with violence.
It is alleged that on August 25 1996, at the towpath beside the River Leven between Renton and Bonhill, the three accused “whilst acting together” arranged to meet Caroline at a nearby bridge.
It’s also alleged that the three accused assaulted Caroline, shouted and swore at her and repeatedly punched and kicked her on the head and body.
The indictment further alleges that the trio threw bricks or “similar instruments” causing blunt force injuries to be inflicted to her head and body.
It is claimed that they caused Caroline to fall into undergrowth and rendered her unconscious before pushing her into into the river. Prosecutors claim the three accused murdered Caroline.
Defence lawyers for the three accused entered not guilty pleas to the charges. Special defences of alibi were lodged for the first and third accused. Both Kelly and Brand live in the Dumbarton area.
During proceedings on Friday, Lord Braid said he had “concerns” about fixing proceedings for later next year.
He asked Mr Duguid KC for the defence: “Mr Duguid, how long has your client been in custody for?”
Mr Duguid replied: “I was going to say that I understand your lordship’s concerns. He’s actually been in custody from November 25 so a trial on November 24 would be two years following his remand. It is probably an extraordinary duration to await trial.
“But the matter is a difficult one. I was thinking Mr Renucci had explained it in its entirety. For the first accused it’s a position he doesn’t wish to be in – sitting in custody for two years awaiting a trial.
“But equally there would be a decision as to whether I can continue to represent him. He may wish me to continue to represent him and a compromise is going to have to be accommodated somewhere along the line. I recognise that.”
Lord Braid arranged for another procedural case to take place for next year.
He added: “The court is in a very difficult position given what I have been told is the shortage of senior counsel for the dates in September.
“It’s a question of balance – whilst it is exceptional that someone is remanded for 24 months. On any view he’d be remanded for 22 if the trial is in September
“The fact that the accused are facing the most serious charge which is a charge of murder, I think the interests of justice point to the date in November.
“I will fix a trial for November 24 for 15 days, but that will be in Glasgow High Court.”
Court delays are a joke. The judicial system in Scotland is a rotten failure.
Inefficiency, fat pay packets all the old boys together are the hallmarks of Scotland’s justice system.
And don’t let a one kid you it’s all about old broken down buildings because it’s not!
Dumbarton Sheriff Court, as a example, is a brand new refurbishment completed only a few years ago.