Crown vowed it would never happen again

IN NOVEMBER 2013, Crown Office bosses apologised to Frances Carroll after admitting a serious blunder in the prosecution of a man accused of stalking her. They admitted they had been wrong to accept a not guilty plea from John Cabrelli at a court hearing earlier that year. The Crown Office promised they would no longer strike deals with accused stalkers. The far-reaching edict – which followed a long-running Daily Record campaign – should have meant that plea bargaining would no longer be accepted for Section 39 offences, which cover stalking. Procurator fiscals and their deputes were also told that all evidence in stalking trials must be heard and tested in court. A letter of apology was sent to Frances, from Dundee, after a full review into the case of Cabrelli, an obsessed bully who was initially charged with stalking and terrorising his former partner. Catherine Dyer, the then Crown Office chief executive, told Frances: “The review concluded that the amendments agreed by the procurator fiscal depute should not have included acceptance of a plea of not guilty in respect of the charge involving you. “All of our prosecutors presenting such cases in court have been told about the outcome of the review and reminded that pleas of not guilty in such circumstances should not be accepted without evidence being heard at trial.” Electrician Cabrelli originally faced two charges of stalking Frances and Ashley McCann. But after a plea bargain, the charge involving Frances was dropped, while that involving Ashley was lowered from a stalking charge to one of abusive and threatening behaviour.