By james art On October 30, a historic bench of nine judges upheld an appeal by Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain QC, who called for changes to corroboration laws after two sex offense trials resulted in majority convictions not proven.
The decision means that statements made by victims during or shortly after a crime can provide a second source of evidence that the crime has been committed and that the accused is responsible.
Before that, it was long established law that two statements by the same person could not be used to corroborate each other.
The Law Society of Scotland, which represents more than 13,000 Scottish lawyers, warned that the decision represented a “fundamental change” that would have “far-reaching consequences”.
Stuart Munro, convenor of the Law Society’s criminal law committee, said: “This decision by the Lord Chief Justice and his colleagues in the High Court is very important and will inevitably have far-reaching consequences.
“Although the basic rule that crimes must be proven by corroborative evidence has not changed, this decision and others like it show that the court’s view of what constitutes corroboration has changed significantly.”
“Many cases that were previously thought to lack sufficient evidence will now be able to be prosecuted.
“Confirmation has been painted by some as a unique feature of the Scottish criminal justice system, but we are also the only jurisdiction that allows simple majority convictions.
“We now have a fundamental change in our criminal justice system in an area where Parliament has contemplated change but thought about it.”
The Edinburgh court’s decision was earlier welcomed by the charity Rape Crisis Scotland, which supports victims of sexual abuse.
Sandy Brindley, chief executive of the charity, said: “This is a remarkable decision. Most reported rape cases never make it to court, and the most common reason is lack of confirmation.
“This ruling removes a barrier to justice in sex crime cases, meaning potentially more cases can go to court.”