JUDGES will sit next month to decide whether the families of victims of the bin lorry crash and another fatal collision can pursue private prosecutions against the drivers involved.
Lawyers for relatives of Jack and Lorraine Sweeney and their granddaughter, Erin McQuade, who died in the bin lorry crash in George Square in 2014, submitted a Bill for Criminal Letters last month. They want to take action against the driver, Harry Clarke.
The families of students Mhairi Convy, 18, and Laura Stewart, 20, who were walking in North Hanover Street, in December 2010, when a Range Rover apparently lost control, mounted the kerb and hit them, also lodged papers in relation to possible action against motorist William Payne.
The Crown Office had earlier confirmed it would not grant approval to the private prosecution plans as Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland declined to support the move.
Judges will now rule on whether it will go ahead, with a procedural hearing to be held on March 22.
The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service said, in a statement: "Regarding the Bill for Criminal Letters lodged on behalf of Matthew McQuade, Jacqueline McQuade and Yvonne Reilly against Henry Clarke and a Bill for Criminal Letters lodged on behalf of John Stewart, Linda Stewart, Alan Convey and Aileen Convey against William Payne, the court has assigned a three judge procedural hearing ... on Tuesday 22 March ... to determine further procedure."
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 here