Lord Advocate defends Crown Office against BBC bin lorry claims

The Lord Advocate and Crown Agent have strongly criticised BBC Scotland for a documentary alleging mishandling by the Crown Office of the aftermath of the Glasgow bin lorry crash.

In a statement posted to the Crown Office staff website and leaked to the media, Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC, and Crown Agent Catherine Dyer have flatly denied claims in the programme, entitled "Lies, Laws and the Bin Lorry Tragedy", that the decision not to prosecute driver Harry Clarke was made before significant incidents from Mr Clarke's driving record were known. 

It is equally strongly denied that at a meeting with bereaved families in March 2015, a Crown Office official referred to Mr Clarke as "a fat, uneducated west of Scotland man".

Mr Mulholland took the "unprecedented step" of phoning the controller of BBC Scotland in an attempt to persuade him not to broadcast "these defamatory statements".

The Crown Office has previously published a statement setting out the information on which it took its decision not to prosecute Mr Clarke, and its reasons for deciding that there was insufficient evidence on which to bring a prosecution (click here for report).

BBC Scotland has said it stands by its programme "which examined claims of systemic and human failings that were raised by relatives of victims of the tragedy".