Copfs

Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC has announced the appointment of Lisa Gillespie KC as deputy principal crown counsel. Ms Gillespie was admitted to the bar in 2005 and has been a full-time advocate depute since February 2014. She took silk in 2020. Ms Gillespie will support principal crown counsel Ashl

The Crown Office a first notice to begin the court process for a fatal accident inquiry into the death of 49-year-old Victoria Teresa Black. Ms Black died on 11 January 2022 at the Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert. Ms Black had been an inmate within HMP Cornton Vale, Stirling when she was adm

A father and son who, over a number of years, illegally possessed and sold wild peregrine falcon chicks for large sums of money, have been ordered to carry out periods of unpaid work. Both men are also prohibited from possessing or having under their control any bird of prey for a period of five yea

A decision to give prison officers immunity from prosecution over one of Scotland's most high-profile custody deaths was "incorrect", new documents seen by the BBC show. Allan Marshall, 30, died in March 2015 at HMP Edinburgh after being restrained.

A serial rapist who terrorised six women in a long campaign of violent and sexual offending has be made subject to an order for lifelong restriction and will spend at least 10 years in prison. Unemployed Kevin Vivers, from Bathgate, West Lothian, was found guilty of 27 charges including nine rapes a

A breeder who illegally sold peregrine falcons for thousands of pounds has been fined £2,100. Gary MacFarlane, 62, was also ordered to forfeit £5,220 in cash seized from his home address after he pled guilty at Livingston Sheriff Court to a number of offences under wildlife legislation c

A number of recent investigations by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service into the sudden and unexpected deaths of babies has prompted Solicitor General Ruth Charteris KC to urge families to follow the advice available on safer sleeping. In the last year COPFS received reports of 74 deaths

A decision has been made to hold a fatal accident inquiry seven years after the death of baby Sophia Smith at the Royal Hospital for Children at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Campus, Glasgow. Crown Counsel have concluded, based on the available evidence, that there will be no criminal proc

The Crown Office has lodged first notices for fatal accident inquiries into the deaths of 66-year-old William Lothian at HMP Edinburgh in 2021 and of 77-year-old William Tucker at HMP Low Moss in 2022. Mr Lothian was found dead in his cell within HMP Edinburgh on the morning of 14 May

The Crown Office has lodged a first notice to begin the court process for a joint fatal accident inquiry into the deaths of Cailyn Newlands and Sonny Campbell. 23-month-old Cailyn, and 22-month-old Sonny, both died on 6 December 2016 at the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow.

A taxpayer-funded green scheme to replace a Crown Office boiler has been branded "absurd" after it emerged it would take almost a millennium for the costs to be recouped. The price of decarbonising Elgin’s Procurator Fiscal office has risen to £3.5 million.

Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC could be called to Holyrood to explain the Crown Office's actions during the Post Office Horizon scandal. Prosecutors were told of issues in 2013 – yet they continued to pursue cases until 2015.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has lodged a first notice to begin the court process for a fatal accident inquiry into the death of 50-year-old William Kirkwood. Mr Kirkwood was found dead in his cell within HMP Grampian in Peterhead on the afternoon of 29 April 2022.

A man who tried to escape justice after killing a relative has been jailed for six years and four months. Dean Ferguson, 30, was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow after pleading guilty to the culpable homicide of a man described as a childhood friend and his second cousin.

The joint fatal accident inquiry into the deaths of Leo Lamont, Ellie McCormick, and Mira-belle Bosch has commenced at Glasgow Sheriff Court. The purpose of an FAI includes determining the cause of death, the circumstances in which the death occurred, and to establish what reasonable precautions cou