FMQs: Justice system "tilted in favour" of criminals

Nicola Sturgeon offered condolences to the victim's family

But the First Minister admitted there are currently 63 of prisoners "unlawfully" in the community having breached home detention curfews (HDC) - with roughly about 300 inmates on home release at any time.

Ms Sturgeon said: "This is an appalling case and he committed a dreadful crime and I want to take the opportunity to express my deepest sympathies to McClelland's family and to his friends."

Tory leader Ruth Davidson called for plans to extend the use of tagging in Scotland for prisoners on home release to be halted while a review is conducted in the system following the McClelland case.

"Scotland's justice system is tilted far too much in favour of those convicted of crime and too often turns a deaf ear to the victims of those crimes," the Tory leader said.

"It is long past time that we had action from this Government to correct that basic injustice."

She also called for an overhaul of the parole system which would give victims the right to speak at parole board hearings and to challenge decisions to "let criminals out on parole."

Ms Sturgeon insisted that the parole board is an independent body, but said discussions have been taking place about "future development" of its rules.

But she added: "It is not the case that our justice system is tilted towards criminals rather than victims. Scotland has one of the highest prison populations anywhere in Western Europe. "Part of the problem is that we know that prison is not the most effective sentence in terms of reducing re-offending for some of those who commit offences."