Lord Advocate welcomes release of COPFS Review 2006-07

27 November 2007

LORD ADVOCATE WELCOMES PUBLICATION OF CROWN OFFICE

AND PROCURATOR FISCAL SERVICE REVIEW

The Lord Advocate, The Rt. Hon. Elish Angiolini QC, today welcomed the publication of the COPFS Review 2006-2007, which reports on departmental performance and progress from April 2006 to March 2007.

The new publication will be made available in all Procurator Fiscal offices across the country and on the department's website. It will also be sent to stakeholders in the criminal justice system and to elected representatives.

Mrs Angiolini said:

"This has been another challenging year for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. From tackling serious and organised crime through the criminal courts and proceeds of crime legislation, to taking a tough line on bail where people are caught carrying or using a knife on Scotland's streets, the prosecution service is at the forefront of efforts to respond to crime.

"I am proud to have led the service through this time, and look forward to another year of challenges and achievements as we work with other criminal justice agencies to successfully implement reforms to the Sheriff and District courts system."

COPFS performance and progress in 2006-2007 included:

  • A total of £15.5m recovered from those profiting from criminal activity since 2003, including in excess of £6.1m recovered in the year 2006-2007 alone.
  • New guidance introducing a presumption against bail for those caught carrying knives and a new presumption of prosecution on indictment for a second or subsequent knife crime offence. These changes saw the number of accused remanded in custody for carrying a knife more than double, and the average sentence passed for knife crime, in cases that would have previously been dealt with on summary complaint, rise to 10 months.
  • 121,661 completed prosecutions in the summary courts, 4,224 completed prosecutions in the Sheriff and Jury courts and 839 completed prosecutions in the High Court including convictions for the murders of Kriss Donald and Alex McKinnon, and the convictions of Alexander Donnelly and David Martindale for their involvement in a major criminal enterprise supplying cocaine.
  • Publication and implementation of the recommendations from the review of the way in which the Service investigates and prosecutes rape and serious sexual offences
  • Operation Folklore resulted in five males sentenced to a total of 53 years imprisonment for a variety of drugs and money laundering offences. Operation Folklore is a trans-national SDEA led operation targeting major international drug smuggling.

Note to editors:

An
electronic version of the COPFS Review 2006-2007 is available online at
www.copfs.gov.uk

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