Father petitions for court power to review jury acquittals

A bereaved father appeared before Holyrood's Public Petitions Committee yesterday to argue that appeal judges should have the power to review "irrational, unsupported or unbelievable" jury verdicts of acquittal.

Alan McLean, whose son Barry died in a knife incident in 2011, was speaking to a petition begun following the acquittal of the man accused of his murder. He also called for a suitability test for jurors, claiming that the present selection system was a "lottery".

Replying to MSPs' concerns that his petition would undermine the Scottish justice system, Mr McLean said his proposal, which he described as a "safety net", was highly restricted and should only apply in the most serious cases, such as those involving killing.

The committee agreed to seek views from legal representative bodies including the Law Society of Scotland, and also to write to the Scottish Government to ask whether it would undertake research into jury reasoning and decision making, as recently proposed by former judge Lord Bonomy.

Convener John Pentland MSP commented: "A thorough investigation into the jury system is a crucial first step in establishing whether there are fundamental flaws in our current jury system which should be addressed."