Scotland’s court service has apologised to the family of a 93-year-old Fife man who was cited for jury duty despite dying over a year ago.
Former Strathkinness resident Henry Topping, known as Harry, died in February last year but a letter from officials seeking to fill spaces on a jury trial dropped through his wife’s letterbox.
The shock correspondence from Dundee Sheriff Court, which seemingly had no record of his death, left the family stunned.
Son’s anger over jury duty letter
Henry’s son, Andy, says the letter, which arrived on April 20, left him furious and said his mother would have been traumatised if she had seen it.
Andy, who is a driver with a golf tour operator in St Andrews, said: “I have power of attorney over her affairs so I opened the letter.
“If she had seen an envelope addressed to him, that would have really upset her.
“It would have been traumatic for her and it was also for us. My first reaction was anger really.”
The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) has apologised directly to the family and said citations are sent using information on those registered to vote.
But Andy said officials at Dundee Sheriff Court should have known about the late engineer’s death because he had already dealt with them as his father’s power of attorney.
The former taxi driver said: “His will was wound up by Dundee Sheriff Court and yet the very same body invites him to do jury service.”
Fears other families ‘traumatised’
He added: “I can’t believe a government-run body is incompetent to such a degree that they are sending out citations to deceased people.
“If that’s the case, is his postal vote form going to drop through the letterbox as well?”
He added: “It’s the most basic thing, keeping lists up-to-date.
“How many other families need to be traumatised?
“In the end, it was easily dealt with but it has made me angry because it’s just a lack of competence.
“They could easily have someone cross-matching records.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service said: “We obviously regret any upset this has caused the family of Henry Topping.
“Jury citations are sent directly, using information from the Electoral Register and therefore we would not be aware of an individual’s circumstances when citations are issued.”
