Weekly roundup of Scots law in the headlines including legal aid consultation launch — Monday July 27

Your weekly roundup of Scots law in the headlines including the launch of a consultation into legal aid reform.

Legal Aid Bill consultation an important step in addressing access to justice crisis

Consultation for new legislation to reform legal aid is an important step in addressing the causes of the access to justice crisis with viable and sustainable solutions, according to the Law Society of Scotland.

The Scottish Government has today launched a consultation paper on a new Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill to modernise the system.

The Government says core principles will underpin the consultation, including that legal aid should continue to be broadly available, demand-led, delivered by publicly funded private solicitors and targeted towards those who are least able to pay.

• Legal Aid Bill consultation an important step in addressing access to justice crisis (Law Society of Scotland)

• Government begins consultation process over legal aid reform (Deadline News)

• Law Society: Legal Aid Bill consultation an important step in addressing access to justice crisis (Scottish Legal News)

• [£] Legal Aid in Scotland must work in reality, not just in theory (Herald)

• [£] Peter Murrell’s lawyers claim legal aid despite his £50k villa sale (Telegraph)

Police officer was violent rapist who attacked women over 14 years

A police officer who took his own life in May was a violent rapist who carried out a spate of sexual attacks and attempted murders of women over at least 14 years, the BBC has revealed.

PC Alan Greer's first known victim was a woman he raped in her home in Glasgow in 2012 after she had called the police to report being the victim of a crime.

The woman reported the sex attack by Greer late last year, sparking one of Police Scotland's biggest ever anti-corruption inquiries.

• Police officer was violent rapist who attacked women over 14 years (BBC)

• Police officer who killed himself was violent rapist who tried to murder women (STV)

• Scottish police officer was rapist who attacked women over 14 years (Guardian)

And in other news

Legal headlines from across the UK and beyond:

• Burnham says he will review early prisoner release scheme (BBC)

• Burnham stirs up political row with review of release plans for violent criminals (Guardian)

• Mahmood and Streeting accused of making ‘cheap jokes’ about prisoner early release scheme (Guardian)

• Scotland's former top law chief applied to be a judge months before she quit (Daily Mail)

• Man charged after death of aesthetician found with 'serious injuries' at house (STV)

• Eleven guilty in £40m cocaine smuggling plot (BBC)

• Teacher 'told pupil she looked older and kissed her in his house' (STV)

• [£] Applications by 20 sex offenders 'tip of iceberg' (Herald)

• [£] New justice secretary walks straight into jury trial dilemma (Times)

• How Sainsbury's won the battle for its first store in Dumfries (BBC)

• HMRC make unannounced visits to high street shops amid crackdown (STV)

• UK-Swiss Free Trade Agreement to benefit Scottish solicitors (Law Society of Scotland)

• Trump ordered by judge to reveal financial records in BBC defamation case (STV)

• Baker McKenzie boosts NQ lawyer pay to £150k, matching Magic Circle (Legal Cheek)

• [£] Report puts miscarriage of justice watchdog failings in spotlight (Times)

• Letters: Will a cohabitation law be bad for couples? (Guardian)

• Opinion: A company in the UK offering rape testing kits faces widespread criticism – but shouldn’t we ask why it exists at all? (Guardian)

• [£] Lawyer of the Week: Katy Colton acted to obtain a posthumous pardon for Ruth Ellis (Times)

• Andrew Tate charged with possessing child abuse images (Telegraph)

• Ex-Southern Water boss charged over alleged plan to manipulate water tests (BBC)

• UK surrogacy law ‘creaking at seams’ as demand rises sharply (Guardian)

• Debevoise analyst posed as firm lawyer in tenancy row (Legal Cheek)

• Linklaters defends hiring process after unknowingly awarding TC to one of its top boss’s children (Legal Cheek)