PROSECUTORS have won a legal battle over their right to appeal in a case involving two nuns accused of abusing children.
The case involved six alleged victims who claimed they were abused by Anne Kenny and Agnes Reville at a care home in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, in the 1970s.
A sheriff at Paisley Sheriff Court dismissed the prosecution against the women in July last year because the passage of time, loss of records and deaths of potential witnesses posed a "grave" risk of prejudice to the accused.
However, the Crown launched an appeal against the decision at the Court of Appeal in Edinburgh in September. Defence lawyers acting for the nuns claimed the appeal process used by the Crown was "incompetent" and outdated and the appeal should therefore be dismissed.
But Judge Lord Clarke has now ruled the process, known as a Bill of Advocation, is competent and the appeal should proceed. A full hearing will be heard at the court at a later date.
Some of the complainers are claiming compensation for the alleged abuse from the Catholic Church and Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.
Solicitor Cameron Fyfe said: "I act for several clients who allege they were abused in this home when they were children. A successful prosecution would strengthen their claims for compensation."
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