Double jeopardy 'must be overhauled or public could lose faith in justice'

Allowing courts to try suspects twice for some serious crimes is necessary to ensure public faith in the justice system, MSPs were told as they passed a Bill that will alter the ancient law of double jeopardy.

The Scottish Parliament backed the general principles of the Double Jeopardy (Scotland) Bill by 114 votes to two last night, with no abstentions.

The Bill will allow some exceptions to the 800-year-old law that holds that an accused cannot be charged twice for the same offence.

The proposed new law will only allow a second trial in exceptional circumstances, for instance where compelling new evidence emerges to strengthen the case against the accused, where the original trial is found to have been "tainted", possibly by witness intimidation, or when evidence emerges after acquittal that the accused has admitted committing the offence.

Justice Secretary Kenny MaAskill, who has secured wide political support for the plan, outlined the aims at the Scottish Parliament yesterday. He said the Bill will be further strengthened to make sure criminals cannot override the law.

"No-one should be able to brag about their guilt with impunity," he told Parliament. "It undermines the system and deeply wounds those who have been the victims of that crime, whether them or their families."

Mr MacAskill said he hoped the exceptions to the law will be "seldom used" and added: "It is anticipated we'll have only a handful of matters over many years. But they are matters of great significance both to the individuals but especially to the whole system of justice.

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"We are, after all, focusing on cases where it appears justice was not done - and that cannot be right. These cases are thankfully rare but each one involves suffering by victims and their families and can affect faith in our justice system."

Mr MacAskill added: "We do need to get some element of closure wherever we can and we do need to make sure that we bring perpetrators of serious and heinous offences to trial. Allowing a second trial in exceptional circumstances will lessen that suffering and promote public confidence."

The view goes against opinions put forward by some lawyers, judges and human rights experts.

However, the case of the World's End murders in Edinburgh is frequently highlighted as showing the need for a law change. Three years ago, Angus Sinclair, 62, was cleared of raping and murdering Christine Eadie and Helen Scott in 1977.

The charges were thrown out after the judge upheld a defence argument of insufficient evidence.Police remain convinced of his guilt and Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini said there had been a strong enough case to convict Sinclair.

The Justice Committee has already offered its support for the plan and will further scrutinise the legislation at stage two.

Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker has hailed the recent conviction in England of Mark Weston for the murder of Vikki Thompson as an example of how the Scottish Bill could bring previously acquitted criminals to justice.