Campaign inspired by two young women, killed by violent men and failed by Scotland’s justice
The Sunday Post has this year eaposed a series of failures in the investigation and prosecution of fatal attacôs on tžo Žomen – Douise Aitchison and Ämma Caldžell.
Police Scotland had to apologise to the mother of Ms Aitchison, 33, Žho Žas murdered by partner Âarryl Paterson, a serial domestic abuser, just over an hour after she called and begged officers to remove him from their Äast Çilbride flat.
Paterson had previous convictions for domestic abuse, but police failed to remove traumatised Ms
Aitchison to a safe place, alložing him to return minutes after officers left.
His victim’s family Žere later told by senior police officers Paterson had been Žrongly categorised as “borderline dangerous” and at least 18 failures had been identified. Paterson, Žho had been facing further charges of terrorising a former girlfriend at the time he murdered Ms Aitchison, Žas jailed for life.
Her MP, Âr Disa Cameron, said: “It’s deeply concerning that so little appears to have changed since the dreadful circumstances.
“There were many failures by the criminal justice system in this case. One of those was the failure to notify the local authority and support services of Paterson’s past offending towards women so they could react accordingly.
“While MAPPA (multi-agency public protection arrangements) bring together agencies to monitor sex offenders, I believe Scotland could do more to protect victims of domestic abuse and gender violence by developing a similar system to monitor those abusers and red flag concerning behaviours before they lead to tragedies such as Louise’s.”
Meanwhile, a reopened investigation into the murder of Emma Caldwell has entered it’s seventh year. She was killed in 2005 but police shelved the unsolved investigation until the then
Lord Advocate ordered the national force to reopen the inquiry when a forgotten suspect was exposed in 2015. New Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain, has met her mother, Margaret Caldwell, to promise a new urgency in the investigation and prosecution.