Bid for law in honour of Paige fails
ABID to introduce a law in honour of murder victim Paige Doherty has failed. The Post-Mortems Examinations (Defence Time Limit) Bill calls on a 14-day cap to be put in place for defence counsel to call for a second post-mortem of the bodies of people who die in suspicious circumstances.
Gil Paterson MSP, who brought the proposed legislation to Scottish Parliament for debate yesterday, insisted the time limit – which would begin at the moment defence teams are given a full findings report from the initial Crown post-mortem – would reduce the suffering of families like that of the 15-year-old.
The teen was killed in a Clydebank deli by John Leathem on March 19, 2016, however, the defence post-mortem did not take place until April 15 – despite her killer being arrested within a week of her death. This meant the schoolgirl’s body could not be returned to her family until April 18 – 30 days after her murder.
Mr Paterson said: “There was no transparency in the procedure and this caused a great deal of distress to her family, who lost the chance to properly say goodbye to Paige.
“The anguish and pain experienced by Paige’s family is, thankfully, unimaginable to most of us.
“However, it is my belief, there is no reason any family should have to live with such uncertainty as to when the body of a loved one will be released following a murder.”
While the SNP politician’s parliamentary colleagues praised the “well intentions” of the bill, it was ultimately voted down.
Many MSPs claimed a lack of proper scrutiny from the Justice Committee – which said it did not have sufficient time to examine the bill due to time constraints as a result of the pandemic – as the reason for refusing to give it their backing.
Critics also suggested the lack of pathologists in Scotland was to blame for any delays, despite, Mr Paterson insisting this was not a problem which could be resolved through legislation.
In 2018, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) revealed it had introduced a new policy – whereby Crown and defence counsel to consult on whether a second post-mortem is truly necessary – in a bid to shorten waiting times for grieving families.
Cabinet Secretary for Justice Humza Yousaf said Paige’s family had been through an “unimaginably awful” experience, but insisted the COPFS policy had been “extremely successful” in reducing the number of secondary post-mortems.
Mr Yousaf said the most recent figures from the Crown Office stated there had been no calls for a defence post-mortem since July 2019, despite around 100 homicides occurring in that time period, suggesting the issue was not widespread.
In a final plea to MSPs, Mr Paterson became emotional as he said all families of victims were asking is for assistance in having the bodies of their children released to them and he maintained pushing his bill forward was the best way to ensure waiting times were minimised.
Ultimately, the decision was made not to carry the bill forward to the next stage by 90 votes to 26.