The Simon San case comes a decade after the authorities were criticised over the investigation into the murder of an Asian waiter from Lanarkshire.

Surjit Chhokar was stabbed to death outside his Overtown home in November 1998 but no- one was convicted of the murder – despite two High Court trials.

The prosecutors were criticised for failing to properly examine racial motivation.

Ronnie Coulter, 32, from Wishaw, walked free from the first murder trial after he blamed his cousin, Andrew Coulter, 23, and David Montgomery, 19, from Motherwell, for the killing.

Andrew Coulter and Mr Montgomery stood trial the following year, but claimed Ronnie Coulter was responsible, and were also acquitted of murder.

An inquiry into the police investigation and prosecution of the case revealed officials did not properly consider racist motivation despite repeated requests from Mr Chhokar’s family. The report also indicated that institutional racism was evident within Strathclyde Police and the Crown Office.

The then Lord Advocate Colin Boyd later apologised to the Chhokar family and admitted that his office had failed them.

Earlier this year, it was also revealed that the killers of an Indian man would have been given a substantially longer sentence if the Crown had not dropped the allegations that the murder was racially motivated.

Nachhatar Singh Bola was kicked to death by teenagers Dillon Cherrie, 16, Dean Logan, 15, and Stewart Patterson, 19, as he walked to get a takeaway in Renfrew.

They were convicted of the attack and Cherrie and Logan were ordered to serve at least nine years before being eligible for parole, while Patterson was told he had to serve a minimum of 10-and-a-half years.

In 2004, Kriss Donald was kid-napped, tortured and murdered in Glasgow by a gang of Asian men in another prominent racial murder. Daanish Zahid, Imran Shahid, Zeeshan Shahid and Mohammed Faisal Mustaq were all found guilty of his murder.

In 1998, Imran Khan died after being stabbed in Glasgow during a street fight between Asian boys and four white youths. Colin Gilmour was sentenced to seven years for his attempted murder.