End this agonising limbo for families of murder victims
THE families of murder victims forced to endure lengthy delays before arranging funerals for their loved ones are campaigning to change the law.
Funerals can be put on hold indefinitely if lawyers acting for an accused killer decide to organise a post-mortem examination of the victim’s body.
Relatives say such delays only compound their agony and claim the system puts the rights of accused murderers ahead of the rights of victims’ families.
Now, three families who lost loved ones to crime are joining with politicians to demand a time limit – so victims can be buried or cremated as soon as possible after their death.
Among them is the mother of schoolgirl Paige Doherty, who had to wait a month to hold her murdered child’s funeral, and a woman whose brother’s body spent two months in a mortuary.
A Bill to introduce the time limit is being considered by the Scottish parliament and the families have submitted accounts of their ordeals to the official consultation. They also shared their agony with the Scottish Mail on Sunday as part of their effort to demand changes.
When police believe a person has been murdered, an official post-mortem examination is carried out as quickly as possible to establish cause of death and gather potential evidence.
But once someone has been charged with murder, the suspect has the right to demand a second, independent, exam. There is no requirement for the suspect’s team to carry this out within any set time frame.
Pamela Munro, mother of Paige, was distraught when the funeral was delayed by a month after a second post-mortem was requested by the defence team of her killer, John Leathem.
He is serving a minimum of 23 years after being jailed for stabbing the 15-year-old 61 times, mainly in the head and neck, in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, in 2016. In her submission to the consultation, Mrs Munro stated: ‘We were told by the defence team we would wait as long as they decided, which could have been up to 110 days.
‘It was a month in the end but would probably have been longer had I not threatened legal action and press coverage. My daughter’s dignity was definitely not upheld in this matter.’
Tracy Mackenzie’s husband Scott was murdered in June 2016 in Shotts, Lanarkshire, and his killer is serving life in prison with a minimum 22 years.
She had been told there was such a backlog that a second post-mortem examination might take up to three months.
Mrs Mackenzie said it was ‘soul-destroying’ for her family when they could not see the body for a final time before the funeral because of deterioration.
She told the Scottish Mail on Sunday: ‘Our rights have to be equal to the rights of the accused. It’s all about them and very little to do with the person who has been murdered and their family. It really needs to change.’
The body of Kelly Martin’s younger brother Brian, 34, who was murdered in Glasgow in November 2016, spent two months in a mortuary while lawyers organised a second exam.
She said: ‘There was no respect shown for my brother.’
Nationalist MSP Gil Paterson is leading the campaign to change the law with his Post-Mortem Bill, which is expected to gain cross-party support.
He said: ‘What is happening to families is appalling.’
‘My daughter’s dignity was not upheld’