Judge rules Super Puma crash black box should be handed over

Four people died when the Super Puma crashed off Shetland

A bid by Scotland's top law officer to get air accident investigators to hand over the black box from a North Sea helicopter crash has been granted.

The cockpit voice recorder from the accident off Shetland in 2013, in which four people died, was recovered by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

Prosecutors had not been able to access vital data.

Judge Lord Jones said it was in the public interest and the interests of justice to make it available.

Prosecutors have been trying to establish whether anybody could be held criminally responsible for the crash.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has the right to initial access to the cockpit voice recorder but it routinely chooses not to hand over the material to other bodies - in this case the Crown prosecutors.

Rare move

The BBC Scotland news website revealed last year an order was being sought by Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC at the Court of Session to access the data.

It is a rare legal move.

Lord Jones said he was satisfied that disclosing the data would have no adverse impact on current or future crash investigations - but that it could only be disclosed to the Crown Office and Police Scotland.

The judge said: "In my judgement, there is no doubt that the Lord Advocate's investigation into the circumstances of the death of each of those who perished in this case is both in the public interest and in the interests of justice."

A Crown Office spokesperson said: "We note the decision of the court."

A total of 18 people were on board when the Super Puma crashed on its approach to Sumburgh.

Helicopter passengers Sarah Darnley from Elgin, Gary McCrossan, from Inverness, Duncan Munro, from Bishop Auckland, and George Allison, from Winchester, lost their lives.