Lecturers call for anonymity for rape complainers

Two law lecturers are leading a campaign for a change in the law that would confer anonymity on rape complainers.

Glasgow Caledonian Law lecturers Andrew Tickell and Seonaid Stevenson-McCabe are heading the Campaign for Complainer Anonymity, which aims to formulate legislative reforms which can be adopted by the Scottish Government and Parliament to update the law.

Writing in the Edinburgh Law Review, Dr Tickell said: “The prosecution of Alex Salmond… was always likely to stress-test aspects of our criminal justice system. The case represented the most high-profile sexual offences trial in modern Scottish legal history.

“The identities of the complainers were inevitably going to be the subject of intense curiosity. The legal limits surrounding what could be published were always likely to be tested.

“Legal protection of complainer anonymity in sexual offence prosecution in Scots law is nowhere near as robust as it should be. I argue that the Scottish Parliament should reform this as a matter of urgency.”

Anonymity in these kinds of cases is a legal right in England & Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland.