Sheriff launches furious attack on 'soft-touch' early release system

Published on Thursday 9 September 2010 17:40

A SHERIFF launched a scathing attack on Scotland's justice system yesterday after branding prison sentences virtually meaningless.

Sheriff Robert McCreadie said sheriffs no longer knew how long criminals would actually serve behind bars because of the early release system.

His comments came just months after his frustrated colleague at Perth Sheriff Court said he felt like "putting out the lights and walking off" for the same reason.

Yesterday, Sheriff McCreadie said he and his colleagues had been made impotent because the sentences imposed from the bench bore no relation to the reality.

"Judges have been stripped of the authority to decide that when a person is jailed for a period then they will actually serve that period," he said.

"I do not know when that person will be released. Sometimes people come back before me when they have been sentenced for a far longer time.

"It is a very difficult position for a judge," he told the court while dealing with a string of cases against persistent shoplifter Gemma MacDonald, 29.

He told MacDonald she was "a common thief" and her behaviour was immoral, and after venting his frustration, he jailed her for a total of 16 months.

MacDonald, of East High Street, Crieff, was on bail on each of the six occasions she was caught shoplifting in Perth between May 2008 and August this year.

She stole items including televisions, perfume and clothes from stores including Marks & Spencer, Monsoon, Asda and TK Maxx, and further admitted having heroin in November last year.

In March this year, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis also hit out at early release of prisoners placed on home detention curfew.

Sheriff Foulis launched a scathing attack after discovering Pamela Scrimgeour had been freed to commit more crime just two months after he imposed a 25-month sentence upon her.

Scrimgeour, 23, Greyfriars Hostel, Perth, was jailed in May last year in connection with a total of 13 offences, including theft, housebreaking, misuse of drugs and breaching court orders.

She was released two months later on a tag - but within days was caught with a bag of heroin in Perth, on 20 July. She was subsequently fined 150.

Sheriff Foulis told Perth Sheriff Court: "We may as well put the lights out then and just walk off."

The sheriff had shaken his head in disbelief after realising the authorities had released Scrimgeour by July last year - even though she had been sentenced on 6 May.

Sheriff Foulis totted up the sentences imposed on 6 May last year and said: "Am I right in thinking she got 25 months in total? Then by 13 July she is out on a tag?"

He was told that as a result of some of the sentences being made concurrent, Scrimgeour had effectively been given a total of 21 months, backdated for a short period to when she was remanded in custody.

Sheriff Foulis said: "And that was for one, two, three breaches of bail; one, two, three, four offences committed whilst on bail; and a breach of probation.

"So we have got someone sentenced to effectively 21 months who has got a history, and indeed a recent history, of failing to comply with bail orders, offending whilst on bail.

"And yet she is out after a quarter of her sentence, and surprise, surprise, she breaches her tag. "

He added: "The backdated period couldn't be much more than three months, so she has served at most, five and a half months."