Prison terms cut due to appeals delay

Published on Tuesday 31 January 2012 00:12

A NUMBER of offenders have received cuts in their sentences, including two jail terms, because an appeal court led by Scotland’s second most senior judge took too long to decide their cases.

The four appeals were taken together for a major review of the system of allowing discounts on sentences for pleading guilty to a charge. Lord Gill, the Lord Justice-Clerk, and four fellow appeal judges took 18 months to produce their judgments.

Now, a different bench of the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh, chaired by Lord Hamilton, the Lord Justice-General, has ruled that it was an unreasonable length of time.

It was held that the human rights of four men had been breached by having to wait so long, and that they should receive reductions in their sentences as recompense. The men have already been given revised sentences under their appeals, but the precise periods in respect of the delay will be indicated in a written judgment.

Compensation for delays has been possible since the European Convention on Human Rights became part of Scots law.

Iain Paterson, solicitor-advocate, for one of the men, said: “It is an unusual situation that individuals [are] required to wait so long for a decision.”