Copfs

The Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC has thanked David Harvie who has stepped down from his role as crown agent of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) as he becomes a sheriff. Mr Harvie joined COPFS in 1996 and worked his way up, serving as director of serious casework and procurator

A woman who brought a racial discrimination case against the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has settled out of court with the Scottish ministers. The case was settled after the Equality and Human Rights Commission funded the eight-day final hearing through its legal support schem

A man has been jailed for more than four years for the rape of a young woman who was walking home after a night out. Twenty-one-year-old Jeffery Oviasogie, from Aberdeen, attacked his victim as she took a short cut through public gardens in the early hours of the morning.

Scottish prosecutors staged a mock trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court to highlight racially aggravated hate crime. Equality representatives from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) helped organise the event to raise awareness of the legislation on race-related hate crimes and how thes

A rapist who beat and tortured several partners has been jailed indefinitely after posthumous testimony from two victims. Unemployed Alexander Thomson, 42, of Broxburn, West Lothian, was made the subject of an order for lifelong restriction at the High Court in Glasgow on Friday.

A rapist who was extradited from France to stand trial in Scotland has been jailed nine years after he absconded whilst on bail. In November 2013, Remus Covaciu failed to appear at the High Court in Edinburgh to face charges including the rape of a young woman outside a nightclub.

A serial abuser who raped women he met through online dating sites and social media has been jailed for 13 years. Ian Ramsay, a farmhand from Kelso in the Borders, subjected partners and ex-partners to serious sexual attacks and violence.

A 28-year-old man who kept and trained dogs for fighting has been sentenced to 210 days' imprisonment, banned from keeping animals for 15 years and fined £1,800 for firearms offences. Rhys Davies, a former gamekeeper at Millden Estate near Glenesk, was sentenced at Forfar Sheriff Court after p

The Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain QC will today visit a leading science research centre where the secrets of cold cases are unlocked and new techniques to prosecute crimes of the future are being developed. Ms Bain will meet with scientists at the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science at the

Social work students have been learning how to support crime victims and witnesses in an innovative pilot project at the heart of Scotland’s courts.

A forfeiture order has been made against a man for more than £52,700 due to his links with those involved in serious crime, including human trafficking, crimes of dishonesty and crimes of violence. The forfeiture order against William McPhee Junior was granted under the account forfeiture prov

A father and son have been sentenced to 300 hours of unpaid work for animal welfare offences, illegal puppy farming and a consumer protection offence involving multiple identities to sell puppies on Gumtree. At Elgin Sheriff Court yesterday, Samuel Ronald Hessin and his son Samuel Arthur Hessin were

Two men have been given community payback orders (CPO) for illegal metal detecting, damaging a historic monument and removing an artefact. Metal detectorists Andrejs Grisulis, 35 and Matthew Madden, 55 had previously pled guilty to heritage offences at Dunoon Sheriff Court.

Holyrood Secondary School have been hailed as winners of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) national schools public speaking competition held at Parliament House. Mairin Campbell-Thow and Rose Usher, both 13 and in S2 at the Glasgow school, teamed up to triumph in a keenly contes

An Edinburgh GP has been jailed for four years for the rape of a woman he met through an online dating site. Dr Manesh Gill, 39, was sentenced to four years imprisonment after being found guilty of sexually assaulting his victim when they met for the first time.