Fred Mackintosh KC: A Requiem for the Twelve-Month Time-Bar
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Fred Mackintosh KC
In this case commentary, Terra Firma’s Fred Mackintosh KC considers the effect of the recently published decisions of the High Court of Justiciary in Barr v HM Advocate [2022] HCJAC 9 and BS v HM Advocate [2023] HCJAC 5.
The High Court has now published two decisions made on the summer of 2022 in respect of appeals against extensions of the 12-month time bar under section 65 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. Perhaps now is the time to note the passing of almost all remaining substance of that 12-month rule and wonder whether there are really any practical statutory protections against delay in solemn trials that safeguard or advance the rights of the citizen against the State.
Section 65(1) of the 1995 Act seems clear. An accused person shall not be tried on indictment for any offence unless the trial is commenced within the period of 12 months of the first appearance of the accused on petition. This aspiration has been a feature of Scotland’s criminal courts since 1980 and at times the speed of Scottish trials compared to that in the rest of the UK has been remarkable.
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