This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Criminal Cases Review Commission
30/06/2004
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission today announced the publication of its fifth annual report, covering the period up to March 31, 2004.
The Commission was established in April 1999 to review alleged miscarriages of justice in Scottish criminal convictions and sentences independently of Government and the Crown.
The Commission's Chairman, The Very Reverend Graham Forbes CBE, said:
"I am delighted to announce that the Commission has reviewed more cases than in any other reporting year bringing the overall total of concluded cases to 420 since the Commission's inception.
"During the past year the Commission has also concentrated on completing the reviews of the older cases within the system and on reducing the overall review time for cases without sacrificing thoroughness for speed.
"These achievements will allow the Commission to concentrate its efforts during the next year on clearing its backlog of cases and on further reducing the review time for most cases from date of acceptance of a case to date of conclusion to 12 months.
"This year has seen a number of high profile cases including the Appeal Court's determination of Campbell and Steel and the receipt of the application of Mr Al Megrahi, convicted of the Lockerbie bombing.
"The vast majority of our cases do not hit the headlines, yet each and every application is thoroughly and impartially investigated, irrespective of the amount of media interest.
"I pay warm tribute to Commissioners, the Chief Executive, Legal Officers and administration staff, who all display high levels of integrity and commitment in our common task - the thorough, impartial and independent investigation of alleged miscarriages of justice.
"The Board sees our people as our greatest asset and resource and I am very pleased that this has now been recognised by the award of IIP status to the Commission.
"As at March 31 the Commission had referred a total of 34 cases to the High Court in Edinburgh for determination. The Commission is a very important independent and impartial part of the Scottish criminal justice system, and I am confident that the workings of the Commission enhance the overall public confidence in the ability of the system to cure miscarriages of justice."
The report is available free of charge from the Commission at 5th floor Portland House, 17 Renfield Street, Glasgow, Tel: 0141 270 7030, Fax: 0141 270 7023/40. E-mail: info@sccrc.org.uk
Background
Under section 194 A to L of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (as inserted by section 25 of the Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Act 1997) the Commission can refer a case to the High Court if it believes that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred and that it is in the interests of justice that a reference should be made.
As at March 31, 2004 the Commission had received a total of 500 cases and had issued final decisions in 420 cases, 34 of which were referrals to the High Court.
As at the date of publication of the annual report (June 30, 2004) ten cases referred by the Commission had been determined by the High Court (Boncza-Tomaszewski v HMA 2000 SCCR 657, Crombie v Clark 2001 SCCR 231,Gibson v Heywood (12/6/01. Unreported), Dalton v HMA (3/5/01. Unreported), Ritchie v HMA, (10 July 2002), Docherty v HMA (3 May 2002), Ansari v HMA 2003 SCCR 34 and Campbell v HMA 2004 SCCR 220 (covers the cases of Campbell, Steele and Gray).
The Commission will issue a short press release after a case has been referred to the High Court. The press release will give notice of the fact that a named applicant's case has been referred and it will give details of the conviction and sentence. No further information in respect of the case will be disclosed by the Commission due to the statutory non-disclosure provisions under which the Commission operates.
The Commission operates with a Board of eight Members, one of whom is the Chairman, a Chief Executive, a Director of Administration, two Senior Legal Officers, 10 Legal Officers and admin support staff.