No-jury rape trials may clear jam

RAPE trials without juries should be considered in order to clear a growing court backlog, Scotland’s top prosecutor has said.

Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain said she was ‘troubled’ by the large number of cases awaiting trial due to Covid.

And she said MSPs were ‘morally obliged’ to look at ‘radical’ action including trials without juries to speed up the process.

The Scottish Government proposed moving to a system of judge-only trials at the start of the pandemic.

But ministers shelved the plans after a backlash from the legal profession and opposition MSPs. Last night Scottish Tory justice spokesman Jamie Greene said: ‘Sacrificing jury trials is not the way forward. Juries provide vital safeguards in our justice system, and instil fairness and public confidence in court cases.’

Miss Bain said she backed review findings suggesting a pilot involving judge-led trials without juries in rape cases.

The Lord Advocate said cases of serious sexual violence make up 70 per cent of the workload in the High Court, and 80 per cent to 85 per cent of cases that proceed to trial, meaning the backlog was ‘disproportionately’ affecting women and girls.

The Lord Advocate told the Scottish parliament’s criminal justice committee: ‘The backlog of cases and timescale for recovery troubles me deeply.’

She said the impact was felt across the board but her ‘acute concern’ was for victims of serious gender-based violence, predominantly women and girls.

Meanwhile, Miss Bain told MSPs her salary in public service, £127,765, is ‘probably’ only a quarter of what she earned as a top lawyer in a private practice.

She said she was ‘very fortunate’ to earn ‘significant sums of money’ in her career.