Sheriff says court work being damaged because 'country is skint'
People accused of serious crimes in Dundee are having to be released from prison before trial ''because the country is skint,'' according to a senior city sheriff.
- By Maura Bowman
- Published in the Courier : 13.12.11
- Published online : 13.12.11 @ 04.29pm
Sheriff Richard Davidson has hit out at the lack of resources being provided to run jury trials in the city.
Cases tried before juries involve more serious crimes, including assaults to severe injury, drug dealing and other grave offences.
It is enshrined in Scottish law that the jury trial of anyone remanded in custody must start within 110 days, though the Crown can request an extension to the time limit in exceptional circumstances.
Pressure of business at Dundee Sheriff Court recently has led to cases being farmed out to other courts in the jurisdiction and has also forced the adjournment of a number of trials to future jury assizes.
In some cases the adjournment would take the case beyond the 110-day time bar and the Crown has been forced to seek an extension.
Refusing one such request on Friday, Sheriff Davidson released the two accused on bail pending their trial, and made it clear their rights could not be overlooked for the convenience of the courts.
He suggested that the problem was one of underfunding, which did not allow the court to make arrangements to provide extra facilities to ensure all cases were dealt with timeously.
The sheriff said: ''Accused people cannot be deprived of their rights just because the country is skint. The Scottish Government has to get the message that the under-resourcing of the Crown Office and procurator fiscal service and the court service is going to cause huge difficulty for the government and for the population of Scotland if things go the way they are going.''
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ''Resourcing and programming of Dundee Sheriff Court is a matter for the Crown Office and Scottish Court Service — not the Scottish Government.
''The Scottish Government is committed to strengthening and continually improving the performance of Scotland's justice system.''
12.38pm - 14.12.2011 J Dredd - Dundee, Scotland Report This
The Sheriff is clearly out of touch with the real world,for a start a 9am would help hime get through his 'workload' a bit quicker,also cutting back on lunchtime to 45 mins and working straight up to 5pm may just get him by.the court system is the first area the goverment should review.
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