High Court sittings could return to Dundee Sheriff Court this year in an effort to clear the backlog of cases.
The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) revealed the city’s court is being considered for hosting more serious trials as part of a court recovery programme.
Dundee has not hosted a sitting of the High Court since October 2013, when it was removed from the Scottish High Court “circuit” locations.
Some of the previous High Court cases heard in Dundee include Peter Tobin’s 2008 trial for the murder of Vicky Hamilton.
An SCTS spokesman said: “As part of the court recovery programme announced by SCTS to tackle backlogs caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a number of possible locations for High Court sittings are being considered, including Dundee.”
Court backlog
It is understood that the first sitting could be in September.
A court source revealed that the Justice of the Peace Court building or the civil annexe have been identified as possible venues in order to minimise disruption to Sheriff Court business.
They said: “It’s looking like September that the High Court sittings are going to come back. Hopefully it won’t interfere too much with day-to-day business, which is only going to get busier as we come out of lockdown.
“One of the courtrooms is fully kitted out for the remote jury centre, which is needed for sheriff and jury trials. They are looking at where else they could accommodate High Court business.”
Recent analysis showed that the backlog in solemn trials across Scotland would not be cleared until 2025.
Earlier this month, the SCTS revealed there would be four additional High Courts, two additional Sheriff Courts for solemn cases and up to ten more Sheriff Courts for summary cases.
Jim Caird, managing partner of city centre firm Caird Vaughan, said: “Under the current restrictions there are a limited number of effective courtrooms.
“So this would at least increase the number of courtrooms and help the backlog. The difficulty we’re having at the moment is with cases with multiple accused so we’ll see how that develops.”
