Lawyers warn on calls to scrap legal principal of corroboration

JACK MCGREGOR

considered”. He said: “I still think it would be a mistake to abolish corroboration, but an even bigger mistake to do it in isolation.

“If that change is to be made, it will require, as I think the Scottish Government now knows, a number of other changes.”

The Government delayed scrapping corroboration in 2015 to allow more time to consider a report by Lord Bonomy which looked at legal safeguards.

Mr Wolffe previously said: “Inevitably, as a prosecutor I’m very conscious of the role corroboration plays in the system and the impact it has on decision making in individual cases. That inevitably, is part of the context in which I could see us coming back to look again to see whether the system has the right checks and balances.”

He added: “Lord Bonomy has reported and the Government is doing some further work. Once that work’s been done there’s potential for the issue to come back. It wouldn’t be right for me to commit the government on a particular position.

“The issue has not gone away. I think the question we will return to is, in light of all the work Lord Bonomy has done, there’s a package of measures that would improve the criminal justice system.

“The key point is these are sensitive, difficult and challenging cases to prosecute.

Lord Bonomy’s report recommendations include requirements that police film all interviews with suspects, and that the practice of dock identification – when the accused is identified as the perptrator in court – should end.