£14m fund to support families of victims

THE mother of murdered Moira Jones has welcomed £14million funding for the creation of a service to help families of homicide victims.

Bea Jones said she hopes the cash will end a ‘hit and miss’ system which has seen some bereaved relatives fall through ‘gaps’ in services.

The Scottish Government has announced funding of £13.8million for Victim Support Scotland (VSS) over three years.

Of that, £1.2million will go towards a service led by VSS giving families of those murdered or killed access to a dedicated case worker.

Miss Jones, 40, pictured, was raped and murdered yards from her home in Glasgow’s Queen’s Park in May 2008 by Slovakian drifter Marek Harcar. He was later jailed for 25 years.

Mrs Jones, 76, has campaigned for the service in the past few years.

She said she and her family were ‘lucky’ to have the support of relatives, friends and the police in the ‘hellish’ period following Moira’s death, but said there were no specific homicide services available.

She added: ‘We are delighted and we had been hoping for this for quite some time.’

Announcing the funding, Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said: ‘I am aware that victims and their families often have to turn to multiple organisations to get information about the criminal justice process and find out what support they are entitled to receive.

‘I want to improve the situation and that is why I am announcing funding for VSS to work with criminal justice and victim support bodies to develop a new approach.’