David Harvie appointed prosecutor member of Scottish Sentencing Council

Crown agent David Harvie has been appointed as the Scottish Sentencing Council’s new prosecutor member.

He became head of Scotland’s prosecution service in April following the retirement of Catherine Dyer and will join the council for a five-year period.

Council chair Lady Dorrian, the Lord Justice Clerk, welcomed his appointment, saying: “The Crown Agent is a valuable addition to our membership. His extensive experience will bring significant expertise to our discussions as we prepare to publish our inaugural Business Plan this autumn.

“Alongside our judicial, lay and other legal members, his input will be essential as we take our next step to prepare the first sentencing guidelines in Scotland.”

The prosecutor member is nominated by the Lord Advocate and appointed by the Lord Justice General.

Mr Harvie is a solicitor advocate and joined the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, following a spell in private practice, in 1996. He worked as a procurator fiscal depute in Paisley until 1999, when he was seconded to the Lockerbie criminal trial team until after the trial, when he was promoted to principal depute, Aberdeen.

He was seconded to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office between 2001 and 2004, when he returned to Crown Office as deputy, then head of the National Casework Division with responsibility for organised crime, financial crime and proceeds of crime cases throughout Scotland.

In 2008, he was promoted to district procurator fiscal, Edinburgh and East Lothian. In August 2010 he was appointed as area procurator fiscal for Central. In May 2011, he was appointed interim head of East Federation.

He was promoted to director of serious casework and PF North of Scotland in July 2011. He took up post as PF for the West of Scotland in April 2014.

He was promoted to crown agent in April 2016.