Anger over plan to text rape and murder accused

Critics round on reminders to turn up at court.

Scots facing serious charges including murder or rape could be sent text message reminders to make sure they turn up to court.

Witnesses in cases are already sent text messages in the days leading up to a trial as part of a bid to cut down on wasted court time.

But court bosses are now considering extending this to those accused of crimes.

However, the move has sparked anger with critics claiming the proposal is a damning indictment of the country’s “soft touch” justice system.

Tory chief whip John Lamont said: “I can’t believe it’s got to the stage where authorities have to text the culprits of very serious crimes to remind them to attend court.

“Surely their legal teams who are happy enough to spend hours picking holes in the prosecution’s cases have the wherewithal to get their man to the dock on time.

“Are criminals so complacent about Scotland’s soft-touch justice system that they have be politely texted just so they’ll turn up?”

Margaret Watson, of the Justice for Victims campaign group, added: “It says a lot about the mind-set of some accused people if we have to resort to this.

“You’d think the court date would be the first thing on their minds. It’s most important there’s a penalty if someone ignores the summons and a text reminder.

“The justice system is trying to stop court time being wasted by folk not turning up.”

Text messages are currently issued to non-police witnesses in summary cases at Sheriff and Justice of the Peace courts.

The move came on the back of a successful trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court where a survey showed 7% of witnesses would not have turned up if they had not received the reminder. But the scheme is set to be extended to serious crimes, known as solemn procedures, which appear in High Courts.

The Crown Office 2012/13 annual report says “text messages are now issued to all non-police summary witnesses in all courts and work is underway to review the scope of the functionality to potentially include solemn casework as well as provide the ability to issue text messages to accused persons”. Around 125,000 cases came to court in Scotland last year.

Earlier this year The Sunday Post revealed officials were forced to issue 14,313 warrants for accused persons who failed to attend. The no-shows meant many cases were effectively reduced to farce, causing added misery for victims and witnesses and piling extra costs on the taxpayer. Another 2,403 court sittings were postponed because the over-stretched system didn’t have enough time to hold them.

Overall the number of cases abandoned for these reasons has gone up by 30% over three years. Figures published earlier this showed that more than one in four people charged with murder are back on Scotland’s streets while they wait for trial.

The snapshot statistics, released following a Freedom of Information request, show that on September 26, 2012, alone, 30 of 108 people charged with murder were freed on bail.

Crown Office prosecutors opposed bail in 23 of the cases, but the courts decided to ignore their concerns. And of the 1,513 pending charges of knife crime, in at least 1,083 cases the accused was released awaiting a day in court.

The Sunday Post asked the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) for more details on issuing text messages to accused persons but the public body said it had no more to add. Instead a spokesman issued a statement about its witness texting scheme. It said: “The COPFS text reminder system was rolled out on October 9, 2012, as part of the Scottish Government Making Justice Work programme. Since that date more than 9,000 reminders have been issued to witnesses in summary cases.

“A COPFS project is currently under way to identify where this approach may be applied to provide helpful information to victims and witnesses in Summary and Solemn cases.”