FERGUSSON QUESTIONS FISCAL’S DETERMINATION TO COMBAT RURAL CRIME
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22 January 2010
FERGUSSON QUESTIONS FISCAL’S DETERMINATION TO COMBAT RURAL CRIME
Following the receipt of a letter from the Solicitor General for Scotland in relation to a constituency issue which he had raised regarding rural crime, Galloway and Upper Nithsdale MSP Alex Fergusson has questioned the role played by the Procurator Fiscal’s office. Speaking from his constituency office Mr Fergusson said:-
“The bare facts of the case are very simple. In May 2009, 3 individuals stole a farm quad bike. They were caught by the Police and duly charged. They appeared in court and were granted bail by the Sheriff with a trial set for 26th August. Quite properly, the case next came to court in July for an intermediate diet, but this stage was adjourned because of ‘difficulties with Legal Aid’. This inevitably delayed the August trial date. When the case did come to court on several occasions, it was unable to be progressed because one of the accused failed to appear. Eventually it was confirmed that that particular accused person was serving a prison sentence of over 2 years in England for an unrelated matter.
“On that basis, the Procurator Fiscal decided to end the criminal proceedings at Stranraer Sheriff Court, apparently ‘in the public interest’.
I find it almost unbelievable that a decision was taken to end those proceedings in relation to the individual already serving a sentence, but it is surely unacceptable that the charges were simply dropped against the other two co-accused. There is no doubt that the Procurator Fiscal was entitled to take this action, but he/she could equally have continued the prosecution against them. It is hard to see how the decision can have done anything to deter rural crime, and while I am under no illusions that the Solicitor General has taken a pretty dim view of this whole matter, I have written back to him to state my disbelief at the local Procurator Fiscal’s actions, and the message that this sends to local criminals. The justice system should be cracking down on this type of criminal activity, rather than allowing guilty parties to get away Scot free.”
