Stalker trial cost ‘tens of thousands’

THE DECISION to let a man with mental health issues conduct the longest and most expensive trial in a court’s history has been blasted by legal figures.

The trial of stalker Jeronimo Bouceiro lasted more than a year and cost in excess of £50,000.

Bouceiro’s case was called over 36 separate court days and the total bill is understood to be by far the greatest racked up for a summary case in the 192year history of the court.

The Portuguese national was allowed a state-funded interpreter even though he conducted his own defence in near-perfect English.

Bouceiro was also able to exploit a loophole in the law to subject his victim to the ordeal of being interrogated directly by him for four days.

Leading QC Brian McConnachie called into question rules which let the 40-year-old conduct his own defence in the trial.

“I am of the view that an alleged victim of stalking ought not to be crossexamined by the person who is accused of the offence,” he said. “It offends against common sense.

“The daily cost of the sheriff ’s salary must be thousands of pounds so I doubt that it would be any exaggeration to suggest that overall it would be tens of thousands of pounds, including interpreter’s fees.”

Bouceiro was found guilty of secretly following his victim 2,000 miles during a period of harassment from 27 May 2011 and 23 March the following year.

He was freed after the sheriff imposed a threeyear supervision order, and banned from approaching Gillian Farnington and her son for 10 years.

Jeronimo Bouceiro.