Plans to allow Fatal Accident Inquiries to examine the deaths of Scots overseas are a welcome addition to the modernising of the inquiry system.
Fatal Accident Inquiries serve two main purposes. The first is to reveal, so far as is possible, the reasons why a death occurred, and prevent something similar happening again. The second is usually to provide some measure of explanation to family members or loved ones about what happened to the person who lost their life.
FAIs into deaths of Scots while abroad are more geared to to achieving the second outcome. It is impossible not to sympathise with families such as the parents of Blair Jordan, who have been unable to establish with any clarity what happened to their 17 year old son when he died while working at sea off the coast of Japan.
Julie Love petitioned Holyrood calling for FAIs into overseas deaths after the her son Colin, was drowned by strong currents while swimming in South America in 2009. Like Blair Jordan's family, she had faced an agonising search for the truth with the Venezuelan authorities unable to answer key questions.
Extending the law to allow an inquiry into the death abroad of someone ordinarily resident in Scotland was proposed in the review of FAI law written by Lord Cullen and published in 2009. His report acknowledged the potential hurdles. An FAI into an overseas death would not be able to compel witnesses to attend, while holding such inquiries might be seen as disrespectful to the judicial system of a foreign power.
However in circumstances where that system has failed to establish the truth, or where the country involved is incapable of investigating matters properly, there is a strong case for giving the courts power to do so here.
One of the main reasons the law is being revisited is the delays which have beset the system. A long wait for answers can cause unnecessary suffering to families, who sometimes remain in limbo for years. But delays also compromise the chance of finding answers as memories fade and key witnesses can move on.
This problem cannot be allowed to affect overseas FOIs.
It is right that decisions to hold an inquiry should be at the discretion of the Lord Advocate, who will have to determine whether there is a real prospect of establishing the truth. But this raises immediate concerns about potential delay.
Postponing an FAI until any criminal proceedings have concluded may also raise concerns about delay. It is not clear whether this would be less of an issue with FAIs into overseas deaths, or whether respect for other countries' judicial processes might mean similar waits for families.
Community Safety Minister Paul Wheelhouse says the move, to be introduced in the Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths (Scotland) Bill could be hugely important in providing answers for families.
It has the potential to be just that. But the devil is in the detail, regarding how decisions are taken on whether or not to hold such inquiries, and how long those decisions take.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article