This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Highlands and Islands appointments
06/12/2002
A new District Procurator Fiscal for Inverness and an Area
Business Manager for the Highland and Islands Area of the Crown
Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) have been
appointed.
Criminal justice partners and MSPs were introduced to Andrew
Laing, District Procurator Fiscal and Gordon Ellis, Area
Business Manager, at an event in the Faculty Hall, Inverness
Sheriff Court, today.
A District Fiscal holds a commission for the local Sheriff
Court district and acts as the personal representative of the
Lord Advocate on a day-to-day basis in relation to the
investigation and prosecution of crime and the investigation of
sudden, suspicious and unexplained deaths.
Area business managers bring experience of administrative
management to complement the skills of legal managers.
Graeme Napier, Area Procurator Fiscal for the Highland &
Islands Area, said:
"I am delighted to introduce and formally welcome two new
members of the Crown team in the Highland and Islands Area.
"Andrew Laing graduated with a law degree from Edinburgh
University in 1990. He subsequently joined the COPFS where he
has worked in a variety of roles. Gordon Ellis brings with him
14 years experience of working in the Sheriff Courts and the
last 12 years in the Supreme Courts".
Commenting on his new post, Mr Laing said:
"This is an exciting time of change for the COPFS. I am
committed to playing my part in the department's objective of
continuing to modernise and improve the delivery of justice at
a local level. In particular I am keen to maintain and improve
where possible the excellent links that already exist between
the different aspects of the criminal justice system. Among
other things I hope, in due course, to improve the provision of
information to victims and witnesses".
Mr Ellis said:
"I am looking forward to addressing the unique challenges
facing this area, which covers one sixth of the landmass of
Great Britain. I hope very much to continue the considerable
progress which has been made by the COPFS, working with our
criminal justice partners in providing an ever better service
to the public of the Highlands and Islands."
Mr Napier added:
"The restructuring of the COPFS is to improve operational
effectiveness. This will include engaging more effectively with
our partners in the criminal justice system and engaging with
other stakeholders.
"There has been significant investment in modernising our
information systems and we have been provided with funds to
recruit more staff at all levels.
"Here in the Highland & Islands Area there are special
challenges associated with the geography and distribution of
the population, not to say the increases in population and
economic activity particularly in the inner Moray Firth and
increases in the number of cases reported to us.
"I am happy that I have a team of colleagues who are
committed to achieving professional excellence in all areas of
our work and to retaining our core values of impartiality,
integrity, thoroughness, sensitivity, co-operation and
professionalism."