Running scared? Crown sources warn prosecutors are dodging big cases as judicial inquiry looms into Ibrox scandal
Douglas Ross said yesterday: “We have a Crown Office in crisis and the buck stops with ministers. Concerns about the Crown Office are serious and deep- rooted. Something is badly wrong with government when the country’s prosecution service is able to preside over so many debacles. The SNP needs to get a grip and Scotland must rebuild a prosecution service fit for the modern age and which the public can have confidence in.”
Scottish Labour justice spokeswoman Rhoda Grant said: “The cost to the taxpayer and to the budgets of public services for the failings of the Crown Office is unacceptable. The admission of malicious prosecution is the latest in a series of scandals the Crown Office has had to deal with. It is time for the justice secretary to lead from the front to ensure the mistakes of the past are not repeated.”
Lib Dem justice spokesperson Liam Mcarthur said the problems were summed up in the long waits endured by grieving families waiting for fatal accident inquiries. He said: “The
Crown Office needs a radical overhaul. It should not take more than 12 months to begin fatal accident inquiries to ensure lessons that can save lives are learned. If COPFS is not capable of meeting this standard, responsibility should be transferred elsewhere.
“We also need a judge- led inquiry into the handling of the Rangers case to ensure money better spent on health or education is not wasted again on malicious prosecutions.”
The Crown Office said: “The Lord Advocate addressed the Scottish Parliament twice this week ( regarding the Rangers cases) and made clear his commitment to supporting parliamentary and public accountability once related legal proceedings are completed.” It added that “changes were already in place” to prevent a repeat of malicious prosecutions and to aid “the investigation of deaths through a modernisation project and a focus on clearing older cases”.
Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC said last week he was “proud of the work of Scotland’s public prosecutors”. He said: “They prosecute cases of every description, including murders, sexual offences, serious organised crime, financial crime and crimes of violence and dishonesty. By the work they do, and the way that they do it, Scotland’s public prosecutors have earned and deserve continuing confidence.”