Caithness jury trials may move to Inverness
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SERIOUS cases presently heard at Wick Sheriff Court may be moved to Inverness as part of plans by the Scottish Court Service to reduce its budget.
It has been reported that Wick has been chosen as one of 32 potential sheriff courts across Scotland to no longer hold jury trials. Under the proposals, jury trials would be transferred 103 miles south to Inverness. It has also been mooted that sheriff courts at Dornoch and Tain be closed as they are not busy enough, along with Dingwall, where the town is said not to be big enough for a sheriff court.
The Caithness Courier understands that Wick Sheriff Court has not been earmarked for closure and in future could take in cases from Sutherland.
News of the changes emerged this week after it was announced the Scottish Court Service is set to lose £52.3 million from its capital budgets over the next four years. If proposals go ahead there would be 14 centralised hubs across Scotland which would host jury trials to hear the most serious of cases.
Wick councillor Graeme Smith, who has strongly opposed the centralisation of police and fire services, said that the move would be another step towards taking responsibility away from the community.
“The Government’s fervour to secure a one Scotland is taking place at the expense of the individual communities which exist in the country,” he said. “I feel it would be a step against community justice as well as a step against the concept of community as a whole. I am bitterly opposed to it as it is not in the same category as heart surgery or neurosurgery where there is a logic to centralise services.”
He added: “Police officers would also be forced to go to Inverness to give evidence. If we can’t afford to do carry out jury trials locally, then we are not much of a society anyway.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Court Service said that it is too soon to speculate on the future of a particular court, but any proposal to close a court will require a full public consultation to be undertaken and for the Scottish Government to make the decision.
“The Scottish Court Service is facing a future where budget levels will reduce and there will be major service reforms arising from Lord Gill’s review of civil courts, Sheriff Principal Bowen’s review of sheriff and jury trials and recent recommendations announced in Lord Carloway’s report,” he said. “We have initiated a review which looks at what business should be done in different locations and an internal discussion document was prepared to promote this conversation with SCS staff and judicial members to help us discuss practical issues and to assist us to develop options for delivering the service in the future.
“As part of our fact finding we wanted to make sure we fully understood local issues and could take these into account along with other business analysis work we are undertaking. When this review work is complete it will be our intention to produce ideas for further discussion and at that stage we will want to involve a wide representation of interested groups and individuals to help us develop and improve our proposals.”
Proposed changes to North courts
1: North courts which would close: Dingwall, Dornoch and Tain.
2: North courts which could either close or merge or will no longer be able to hear jury trials: Fort William, Lochmaddy, Portree, Stornoway and Wick.
3: Courts which will retain full judicial role: Inverness.
