Decision not to prosecute under scrutiny

SCOTLAND’S most senior prosecutors were last night considering the decision not to prosecute bin lorry driver Harry Clarke after damning evidence was heard in court.

Sheriff John Beckett QC yesterday invited Solicitor General Lesley Thomson to look at all the evidence again and consider whether to prosecute the driver after the evidence.

The Crown Office has previously said that Clarke will not be prosecuted because there is no evidence that he had broken the law.

But evidence at the fatal accident inquiry has revealed he failed to tell his employers at Glasgow City Council about his health problems, including previous blackouts. Mrs Thomson last night confirmed to the sheriff that she would look again at the case.

The inquiry has heard the driver may have lied to the DVLA about a blackout in 2010, while evidence showed he failed to disclose a collapse at the wheel of a bus three times while applying for posts at Glasgow City Council.

Now legal experts believe new EU legal guidelines which became law last month could provide a way forward in future.

In an entirely separate case, lawyer Fraser Simpson represents the families of Mhairi Convy, 18, and Laura Stewart, 20, who were killed by an unconscious driver in Glasgow in 2010.

The Crown Office dropped the charges against the driver, William Payne, meaning he could never be prosecuted.

But at the fatal accident inquiry which took place four years after the tragedy, it emerged that Payne had suffered previous blackouts while driving.

Mr Simpson, a partner with law firm Digby Brown, said the Witnesses (Scotland) Act 201 which came into effect on July 1 could mean that Payne faces prosecution.

It gives victims of incidents, including their families, the right to a review of any Crown decision not to prosecute, but it is not retrospective, making a successful challenge unlikely.

Mr Simpson has now managed to get a reassurance from Mrs Thomson that she will look again at the case, although he is not hopeful of a prosecution.

He said: ‘I hesitate to comment on the bin lorry case, but the decision by the Crown not to prosecute was made remarkably early.’

The Crown Office has previously insisted that at it was aware of all the evidence which has become public at the fatal accident inquiry.