Double jeoprady bill: second chance to get justice

Published on Thursday 9 September 2010 01:26

THE bill will scrap the ancient rule of double jeopardy, which holds that an accused cannot be charged twice for the same offence.

The proposed new law will allow a second trial where the original trial is found to have been tainted (by intimidation, for example), or where evidence emerges after acquittal that the accused has admitted committing the offence.

Furthermore, in the most serious cases - murder, rape, culpable homicide and serious sexual offences - a fresh trial will be allowed where "compelling" new evidence emerges.

It will also permit the prosecution of a person on a more serious charge, such as culpable homicide, where the victim has died after a conviction or an acquittal for a lesser offence at the first trial.

The move was prompted after ministers decided that the ancient rule was not flexible enough to take account of individual cases. Legal experts said it risked a loss of public confidence in the justice system.

Those fears came to a head over the World's End murders case. The bodies of Helen Scott and her friend Christine Eadie, both 17, were found six miles apart in East Lothian in October 1977. Both women had been beaten, raped and strangled.

It took 30 years before convicted killer Angus Sinclair was finally put on trial in the case, which promptly collapse due to insufficient evidence. Even Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini was moved to express her "disappointment" with the outcome.

Sinclair is expected to be among the first people to stand trial again as a result of yesterday's proposed changes to the law.

Will it be passed? Yes. Has cross-party support from across the chamber and will be swiftly enacted into law.