Sturgeon in denial over justice shambles

BAD enough that obtaining figures on softtouch home detention curfews from the Scottish Government is like extracting teeth. Worse is the First Minister’s refusal to countenance a halt to the expansion of the flawed curfew system.

The issue is centre stage after details of the horrific murder of family man Craig McClelland emerged.

He was stabbed to death by a thug who ought to have been in jail but who had instead been cocking a snook at so-called ‘armchair detention’ by prowling the streets for six months.

Now it emerges that 60 other convicted criminals are similarly at large having simply ignored curfews.

Clearly, Nicola Sturgeon grasps the scale of the horror that befell Mr McClelland and is deeply sympathetic to the subsequent suffering of his family and friends. Nevertheless, she said the tragedy ‘did not mean the whole system was not working.’

What, though, of the McClelland tragedy plus a further 60 breaches?

That is 60 criminals out on the streets, moving among the law-abiding population like wolves among sheep.

The justice system is broken – and broken because the SNP frets more about criminals than it does about victims.

Miss Sturgeon demonstrated that again in Holyrood by spouting statistics on the prison population, underscoring again the party’s apparent desire to empty our jails and make it nigh-on impossible for a criminal to wind up in detention.

Theresa May this week pointed out the SNP is out of touch with the Scottish public over the independence.

The party is every bit as out of touch with the public on justice, with complacent Justice Secretary Michael Matheson thinking most Scots never experience crime, as we are asked to swallow the idea that home curfews are working.

Justice in this country is in dire straits and public safety will remain in peril while the SNP continues to peddle its soft-touch agenda.

Victims, not criminals, must be put first.