Scottish ministers have been ordered to appear before a Perth sheriff to explain why a woman with mental illness is being forced to languish in prison, despite an urgent need to have her assessed in hospital.
A row is brewing over 33-year-old Nicola Williamson, who is being held on remand at HMP Cornton Vale.
She is accused of multiple offences, including charges of assault at locations in and around Perth.
Williams has been declared unfit to attend court but has also been told there are no hospital beds in Scotland available for her.
When the case called in her absence at Perth Sheriff Court on Friday, she had spent 47 days in jail.
She is currently held in segregation and is refusing medical treatment.
The maximum period of detention in summary cases is 40 days.
Sheriff Paul Reid was told she posed a potential danger if released into the community but he has questioned whether it is even lawful for the court to keep her in custody.
He has ordained Scottish Ministers to be represented at a follow-up hearing on Tuesday.
An ‘unsatisfactory compromise’
The sheriff said: “I have real reservations about continuing to authorise her detention in custody, particularly in circumstances where she is being held in a segregation unit and is refusing to take her medication.”
He told the court Williamson had been deemed a danger to herself and there were concerns about her release into the community but extended her detention to Tuesday.
“A responsible medical officer will be ordained to appear, or be represented, so as to explain what would happen if Ms Williamson was to be released.
“The Scottish Ministers will be ordained to appear in light of the fact that a capability issue has arisen.
“This is in anticipation of a further motion to extend the period and the question arises whether a public authority – namely the court – would be acting unlawfully in granting that motion.”
He added: “This is an unsatisfactory compromise and hopefully we can find out on Tuesday what resources are available to support Ms Williamson.”
‘She is not where she should be’
During the brief hearing, fiscal depute David Currie told Sheriff Reid: “The key thing here is that everyone is in agreement that she is not where she should be.
“It is not my position that she should be in Cornton Vale – she clearly should be in a medical facility.”
He added: “The Crown has tried, to the best of its ability, to deal with these matters in an appropriate way.”
The court heard she could not be released to her mother’s address.
Sheriff Reid responded: “If she gets released from Cornton Vale, she shouldn’t be let to wander the streets because the state assessment is that she requires hospital-based treatment.
“I don’t understand how the state could release her from custody and then not do anything to address the mental health issues.”
He added: “We have a psychiatric report that says she’s not safe from her own perspective and not safe from the community’s perspective and I would have thought that was enough for her to be in a secure facility to be assessed and treated.”
Appearing for Williamson, defence counsel James McCrone said there was “hope” a hospital bed could be secured within weeks.
Williamson is accused of acting in a racially aggravated manner and assaulting a man by pulling him from a vehicle in Balhousie Street on August 28, 2021.
It is also alleged she assaulted a woman in Market Park, Crieff, on August 11, 2022.
In September, the Press and Journal reported that dangerous stalker Jon Coltart was unable to be sentenced because a hospital bed was unavailable for him to be assessed.
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