Law chief backs 'non-jury' trials for rape cases

Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain told MSPs she was deeply troubled by the impact of the backlog

Politicians are "morally obliged" to consider judge-led trials in rape cases in order to clear a growing backlog, Scotland's top prosecutor has said.

Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain said she was deeply troubled by the backlog of cases awaiting trial due to Covid.

Speaking at Holyrood's Criminal Justice Committee, Ms Bain said "radical" action needed to be taken.

She said she supported a review which suggested a pilot involving judge-led trials without juries in rape cases.

The lord advocate said cases of serious sexual violence make up 70% of the workload in the High Court, and 80% to 85% of cases that proceed to trial, meaning the backlog was "disproportionately" affecting women and girls.

Ms Bain was named as Scotland's new lord advocate in June and is both the head of the prosecution service and the Scottish government's chief legal adviser.

The lord advocate told MSPs: "The backlog of cases and timescale for recovery troubles me deeply."

She said the impact was felt across the board but her "acute concern" was for victims of serious gender-based violence, predominantly women and girls.

At the end of September there were 837 such cases awaiting trial before a high court jury jury, she said.

This was 57% higher than it was before the initial coronavirus lockdown.

Ms Bain said "radical" action needed to be taken to deal with this, saying she supported a recommendation that has been made for trials before a judge only, and without a jury, in a bid to speed up prosecutions.

• Specialist sex crime courts could be jury free

The Scottish government proposed moving to a system of judge-only trials at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but shelved plans after a backlash from the legal profession and opposition MSPs.

However, Ms Bain said if there was an alternative way of dealing with cases then politicians were "morally obliged" to consider this.

She told the committee: "I do consider we need to take a radical step."

Her comments came as MSPs heard that prior to the pandemic there were about 13,400 trials outstanding in Scotland's Sheriff Courts - with this having risen now to more than 32,400.

For those more serious matters, which are dealt with by a sheriff and jury, the number of cases awaiting trial has increased from around 1,330 pre-pandemic to in excess of 3,500.

But she said by moving to "non-jury trials" the period of time the trial would take "would be shorter, so the opportunity then to tackle the backlog would be there".