CALLS have been made to remove jokes about paedophilia and the murder of a child from a ruling on the judiciary's official website after they were deemed too offensive for the public
The Scottish Court Service has been urged to delete details of a hearing which centred on whether an accused, Liam Rodgerson, should have been placed on the sex offenders register for posting distasteful jokes on Facebook.
The gags were published despite being considered so offensive the public were asked to leave the hearing when they were read out.
But the "bizarre" decision to publish on the court service website sparked questions from the legal profession over why, if they were serious enough to attract prosecution, they were repeated so publicly.
The Scottish Conservatives have now urged the court service to consider removing them.
The party's chief whip John Lamont said: "It seems bizarre for the courts to jail a man for posting sick jokes online, only to publish the remarks themselves.
"People will be perplexed as to why this was done.
"The Scottish Courts Service should explain this move and consider removing them from the official website."
The sheriff who sentenced Liam Rodgerson for the crime, an offence under the Communications Act, placed him on the register, but appeal court judges overruled the decision claiming that posting sick jokes does not make someone a danger to the public.
Appeal Judge Lord Bracadale said: "The appellant and the co-accused exchanged sick jokes in the worst possible taste. They were, however, clearly jokes; they reflected the format of jokes.
"In our view it was not open to the sheriff to conclude that the appellant was a person who constituted a continuing danger to others such that registration was required to protect the public from him."
Legal experts said the appeal court decision was logical but questioned why the jokes were repeated on the court website.
Law Professor James Chalmers, of Glasgow University, said: "If the court's happy to publish the comments itself, you've really got to wonder about the decision to prosecute."
While leading QC and former prosecutor Brian McConnachie added that the decision "doesn't make a lot of sense".
Rodgerson, along with his co-accused John Tallis, was convicted of the offence at Alloa Sheriff Court in December 2014 and sentenced to a community payback order.
Sheriff David Mackie placed them both on the sex offenders register.
A spokesman for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service said: "Judgments of the Supreme Courts are published at the request of the appeal court judges to explain the reasons for reaching a particular decision.
"Where necessary the opinion will include reference to material placed before the court, in order to ensure that the facts and circumstances are read in their context and fully understood."
The judiciary declined to comment.
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