Thousands of serious crime trials ‘backlogged’ in Scots courts after lockdown

● Crime levels back to ‘normal’ after drop in April ● High Court cases awaiting trial surge since end of March

Scotland’s courts have a backlog of more than 2,000 cases of the most serious crimes, including homicide and sexual offences, after months of Coronavirus lockdown.

There are currently 717 cases awaiting trial in the country’s High Courts and 1,584 sheriff and jury cases awaiting trial, Crown Office chiefs revealed today. This compares with 390 High Court cases awaiting trial going into the crisis at the end of March and 460 cases in the sheriff and jury system.

And after a fall in crime across Scotland during lockdown in April, this returned to “normal” last month, MSPS heard today.

The coronanvirus lockdown has meant that no trials have been able to take place in Scotland, although plans have been unveiled to restart them in July.

And Lord Advocate James Wolffe, who heads up the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, today told Holyrood’s justice committee that caseloads are mounting

“The backlog has been increasing during this period,” the Lord Advocate said today.

“It also follows for such period as the court is unable to process cases at or about its normal capacity that backlog is going to continue to increase.”

Among the High Court cases, 49 are homicides, 465 are serious sexual offence cases and 182 are major crime.

The Lord Advocate added: “The Crown is continuing to process its existing caseload, it’s continuing to receive reports of crime and to deal with this.

“It’s continuing to indict cases into the solemn courts and continuing to service summary complaints.”

Mr Wolffe said he is “acutely conscious of the consequences” of the coronavirus lockdown on the justice system, as well as the “human impact, both for accused persons and for victims of crime”.

He explained summary trials are set to resume, as well as preliminary hearings in the high court this week, while two models of jury trials will be tested next month.

There are also 238 High Court cases outstanding where at least one person is being held on remand, MSPS were told, with about 300 on remand in relation to Sheriff and jury cases.

Reported crime in Scotland saw a dip of more than 2,000 in April to 10,063 cases, compared with 12,540 the month before.

But Crown Agent David Harvie told MSPS today: “By May it was back up to 12,436.

“So there was a dip in April, but we’re pretty much back up to normal levels throughout May.”

This is likely to mean in an extra 300 High Court and 300 Sheriff and jury case from those three months, he added.

Less serious crime which is heard in the Sheriff and Justice of the Peace Courts stood at 17,900 at the end of the March, but since then an extra 21,000 cases have been served, although not all of these will go to trial.

Mr Wolfe also revealed approximately 1,500 laptops and 800 smartphones have been issued to staff in the court system, enabling an estimated 90 per cent to work from home during lockdown.

Mr Harvie said there is currently an absence rate of 1.6 per cent of the workforce, with just 0.17 per cent off for coronavirus-related reasons.

“We have been able to continue to mark cases, continue to deal with every court appearance whether that is an appearance physically at the court, whether that’s an administrative hearing or whether that’s a virtual hearing,” he said.

“Separately, we have been able to progress the preparation and investigation of cases that lead to indictment.”

It emerged last month that the first trials since lockdown will get underway in Glasgow and Edinburgh in July, after a Working Group with representatives from across the justice sector, led by the Lord Justice Clerk, Lady Dorrian, reported on the issue.

Lady Dorrian, who is Scotland’s second most senior judge, said the challenges of holding 15-person jury trials in line with social distancing rules “cannot be underestimated.”

It is anticipated that three courts will be used in the High Court in Glasgow, with the jury using the public gallery in the trial courtroom. In Edinburgh, two courts will be used, allowing the jury to view the trial remotely from a separate courtroom.

It comes after a major political row in March when the Scottish Government proposed temporarily axing jury trials in order to deal with a backlog of cases in Scotland’s court’s. It met with a backlash from MSPS in Parliament who branded it an attack on a cornerstone on Scotland’s centuries old judicial system.

“The Crown is continuing to process its existing caseload, it’s continuing to receive reports of crime and to deal with this.”

JAMES WOLFFE

Lord Advocate