The father of a man killed in Edinburgh has called for a victims' commissioner to be established to help people hit by crime as he held a meeting with Scotland's Justice Secretary.
Kevin Woodburn said he wants the post to be created so victims going through the legal system have somewhere they can turn to for help and advice.
He described his meeting with Scotland's Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf on Thursday as "very productive", saying: "I've come away with an open mind that it's still something that is on the table."
Mr Woodburn's son, father-of-one Shaun, 30, died after being attacked by a teenager outside Gladstone's pub in the Leith area of Edinburgh in the early hours of January 1 2017.
The teenager was sentenced to four years' detention after being convicted of culpable homicide.
Mr Woodburn said his experiences have led him to feel there was a lack of transparency within the overall legal system.
"There was nobody to actually speak to about anything," he said.
"There was nobody to actually turn to to understand the legalities of the situation that we found ourselves in."
He praised the work of victims' support groups but said their expertise is in emotional, rather than legal, issues.
"In our situation, our case, we had nobody to turn to for help, to ask for advice," he said.
READ MORE: Man cleared of murder refuses community service because of Ramadan
"I feel very strongly that a victims' commissioner role is required, particularly when you look at England, Wales, Northern Ireland. London has its own victims' commissioner, but we are lacking in that role.
"It was a very productive meeting. Nothing was out of bounds. I've come away with an open mind, going forward, that it's still something that is on the table and hasn't been taken off the table yet."
Labour MSP Kezia Dugdale, who has been supporting Mr Woodburn in his campaigns, also hailed the "positive" meeting with Mr Yousaf.
She said: "He sees a real role for the victims' taskforce in considering whether a victims' commissioner would be a helpful addition to it. I think he was quite persuaded by some of the arguments we offered."
She described the role as an "independent voice" to help victims and added: "I'm utterly compelled by the arguments as to why a Victims' Commissioner is long overdue."
Mr Yousaf said: "I was pleased to meet with Mr Woodburn this afternoon and I'm grateful to him for sharing his experiences.
"We are committed to improving the experience of victims in Scotland's justice system and the new Victims Taskforce will strengthen the support available to those affected by crime and ensure that their voices are heard."
Mr Woodburn has also welcomed recent changes to the rules surrounding post-mortems on the bodies of people who have been killed.
Earlier this year, Mr Woodburn hit out at "barbaric" and "medieval" post-mortem rules and told how the family's plans to hold a funeral for his son were delayed when the defence requested a second post-mortem examination.
The new protocol means examinations for the defence should only take place if absolutely necessary and the authorities should aim to hold a body for no longer than a month.
Mr Woodburn said: "Effectively you've now got a situation where second post-mortems are only ever going to be in exceptional cases.
"It's a major, major, major step forward. I cannot tell you how delighted I am that effective common sense has prevailed here."
Describing the new rules as Shaun's Law, he said it would be a "fantastic" legacy in his son's name.
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