MSP issues call for review of outstanding Football Act cases
A REVIEW of cases where fans were arrested under the scrapped Offensive Behaviour at Football Act but who have yet to come to court has been called for.
It emerged that fans charged under the OBFA but yet to come to trial are being charged under different existing laws instead.
Dozens of cases are outstanding and lawyers have said many have been re-raised as a different offence.
Paul Kavanagh, a solicitor who was handling 48 outstanding cases said: “There is no public interest to prosecute.”
A Crown Office spokesman said: “All remaining cases involving charges under the 2012 Act have been reviewed and, where appropriate, alternative charges have been, or will be prosecuted utilising the powers available to amend or substitute charges including the power expressly provided in the Repeal Act itself.”
Glasgow Labour MSP James Kelly, who introduced the bill which scrapped the act, said a blanket transfer of cases was not the way forward.
He said “Policing attitudes were definitely changed when the Football Act was brought in, subjecting a great number of fans to the justice system completely unnecessarily.
“Now those caught up in the system under a law recognised as being completely dysfunctional will be prosecuted using different legislation.
“It is clear that football fans were being targeted for an entirely different approach by police and prosecutors.
“This even extended to creation of specially appointed football prosecutors.
“The legislation was completely overbearing and fundamentally unjust.
“A blanket transferring cases captured under this broken law does not seem like a fair way of going forward.”
Instead he called for a full review of all cases.
He said there needs to be a “questioning if the often farcical circumstances around these cases would have been picked up before the Football Act.”
The Crown Office is using an eight year old law to continue with cases.
One leading lawyer said the move by the Crown Office shows there was no need for the Act in the first place.
Brian McConnachie QC said: “There has always been adequate legislation to cover crimes at matches.
“The act was a complete waste of time and a hobby horse for the government to jump on.”