SNP’S ‘GET OUT
Bail shake-up branded reckless ++ Ministers ‘will get power to empty jails’ ++ Plan is ‘an insult to victims’
NEW ‘soft touch’ legislation will pave the way for a huge rise in suspected criminals being granted bail in a bid to empty crowded prisons, it was warned last night.
A ‘reckless’ Bill published by the SNP Government aims to restrict the power of sheriffs to refuse bail, meaning more alleged offenders will be out on the streets.
Ministers also want to give themselves power to release long-term prisoners even when a parole board recommends against doing so, fuelling fears that more dangerous criminals will be freed early.
The Government would also get sweeping powers to order the mass release of prisoners in the event of a public emergency, such as another pandemic.
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Jamie Greene said: ‘This reckless Bill is designed to empty Scotland’s prisons at a time when violent and serious crime is rising.
‘It risks endangering public safety and is an insult to victims of crime. As well as giving SNP ministers sweeping powers to release prisoners early without parliamentary scrutiny, a blanket move to increase the number given bail is complete madness.
‘In the past three years, more than 30,000 crimes were committed by offenders on bail – that’s one in eight of all crimes, including 29 murders or culpable homicides.’
The Scottish Government’s Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill outlines curbs on the ability of sheriffs to refuse bail. They will be required to show their decision to refuse bail satisfies the public interest, making it harder for them to remand a suspected criminal.
Ministers also want to give themselves wider powers to release prisoners early for a range of reasons, including ‘an incidence or spread of infection’, an event which has rendered part of a prison ‘unusable’, or ‘any event which is reasonably considered by Scottish ministers to place at risk…[the] good order of a prison… or the health, safety and welfare of prisoners’.
Writing in today’s Scottish Daily Mail, former sheriff Douglas Cusine says: ‘This is almost totalitarian behaviour from a control-freak government determined to meddle in every aspect of our lives – and it should be strongly resisted.’
Ministers also want powers to release long-term prisoners, even though this ‘has not been recommended by the parole board’.
Between 2017-18 and 2019-20, the latest Scottish Government data available, 31,211 crimes were committed by criminals who were on bail at the time. In 2017-18, 11,346 crimes were committed followed by 10,222 in 2018-19 and 9,643 in 2019-20, including 29 murders or homicides.
In 2017-18, 11 murders or culpable homicides were committed, compared to seven in 2018-19, and increasing to 11 in 2019-20. There were 236,470 crimes for which a criminal was convicted between 2017-18 and 2019-20, with 82,716 in 2017-18, 78,503 in 2018-19 and 75,251 in 2019-20.
Some 31,211 crimes were committed by individuals on bail during those years. This suggests that more than one in eight crimes in Scotland are committed by individuals on bail.
Earlier this year, the Mail revealed some suspected criminals held on remand were planning to sue over the length of time they had been in prison awaiting trial. Lockdowns created court hold-ups which some experts say will take up to a decade to clear.
Yesterday, Justice Secretary Keith Brown, who has previously claimed that continuing to lock up criminals is ‘puerile’, said the proposed changes are intended to limit ‘damaging effects’ for those kept on remand, which he described as a ‘cost to society’. He added: ‘We want to make sure we can limit that damage where possible but it will be done consistently with public protection, as the courts have always done.
‘If somebody doesn’t present a danger to the public, if they don’t present a danger to the justice system... then
court after telling a sheriff he did not want to go to prison.
Nathan Taylor, 31, stole the Perth pensioner’s wedding ring and wrestled with her and a friend as they tried to stop him escaping.
MICHAEL GIBSON
GIBSON, 37, was granted bail after being caught with crack cocaine worth nearly £20,000 as he transported it to Dundee.
A few weeks later his home was raided and large quantities of drugs were discovered.
In April, Perth Sheriff Court was told that after ‘losing’ the first shipment, a London-based gang put pressure on Gibson, of Dundee, to resume the illicit drug run.
RODERICK BEAUMONT
BAILED sex offender Beaumont spent nearly three years on the run after duping border patrol staff in Edinburgh into letting him leave the country.
The former teacher fled Scotland for Mexico while awaiting sentence for a child grooming offence and spent time on the run in Amsterdam, Rome and Albania.
Beaumont, 65, skipped bail in 2016. He was jailed last year at Dundee Sheriff Court for a year for fleeing the country.