Angela Constance

Justice Secretary Angela Constance told Lib Dem MSP Willie Rennie by letter that the government has “every confidence in the system that is in place for FAIs”.

Mr Rennie wrote to Ms Constance following the completion of the FAI into the deaths of Lamara Bell and John Yuill nine years after their car crashed off the M9.

The FAI made no recommendations for future actions as Police Scotland had already changed its procedure in the intervening nine years.

Mr Rennie said: “It’s incredibly disappointing that the Scottish government continues to stand by its broken fatal accident inquiry system.

“Between the deaths of Ms Bell and Mr Yuill and the completion of this FAI, nearly nine years have passed. In that time, we have had three lord advocates and three first ministers. It is simply unforgivable to leave families without answers for such an agonising length of time.

“These delays can seriously undermine the quality of the FAI itself. In this case, the time taken to complete the FAI prevented the sheriff from making recommendations. As a result of this decade-long exercise, no lessons have been learned.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats have been consistently calling for far-reaching reform of fatal accident inquiries. We want to see FAIs removed from the remit of the Crown Office and handed to a new body charged with ensuring that inquiries begin within a year and that results are presented in a timely fashion.”

A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said: “We recognise that the time taken for our investigation and criminal proceedings to conclude and to initiate the inquiry must have been enormously difficult for the families of Lamara Bell and John Yuill.

“This was a highly complex case which required detailed and lengthy investigation, involving complicated issues and a reliance on information and expert opinion from many different sources.

“Our investigation was conducted with the utmost thoroughness, giving those involved as much information as possible and ensuring that the families of Lamara Bell and John Yuill got the answers they deserve.

“COPFS has significantly reformed its processes in recent years to reduce the time taken to investigate deaths and bring fatal accident inquiries to court.

“Calls for change to the system of Fatal Accident Inquiries are a matter for the Scottish government and Parliament.”