Criminal waste

Published on 06/02/2013 00:00

I am sure that many people were not the least surprised to read in recent reports that a hard core of ten younsters were charged by police with 307 crimes in Scotland over a period of two years.

One youth in central ­Scotland was accused of 47 separate crimes.

A senior judge told me recently that Legal Aid lawyers refer to these louts as their best clients.

Is it not about time we adopted the system used south of the ­Border whereby when an accused is found guilty, or pleads guilty at a court of law he or she is liable for “court expenses”?

This would be a win-win for the Scottish Government and could also stop the “Legal Aid gravy train” costing us more than £55 million annually.

This money could be put to better use.

Donald J Morrison

Haig Street

Buckie