Scotland’s most senior judge has savaged Scottish Government plans to scrap corroboration by saying it could result in fewer convictions.
Lord Gill, the Lord President of the Court of Session, said the rule, which requires evidence against an accused person to come from more than one source, was one of the “finest features” of the country’s justice system and warned more miscarriages of justice could be the result of its end.
He said only one judge in Scotland the Lord Justice Clerk Lord Carloway who recommended abolishing corroboration in his review of criminal law and practice supported getting rid of the rule and all other judges are opposed to the move.
The Scottish Government has put forward legislation that would end the requirement for corroboration in criminal proceedings.
Lord Gill told the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee: “I think there is a very serious risk there will be fewer convictions and I also think that if you make this change in isolation, without looking at the wider picture, there are consequences that at the moment are unknowable but could be very adverse to the system.”
However, Scotland’s top prosecutor, Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC, told the committee he backed the change, saying it could help provide “access to justice for the victims of domestic abuse, rape and sexual offending”.