Rape

A legal request has been made to the Crown Office to reopen criminal proceedings against the footballer David Goodwillie. Mr Goodwillie, 34, was found to have raped a woman in a civil case in 2017. Criminal charges against him were dismissed, however, due to insufficient evidence. Denise Clair, the

The Crown is to appeal the sentence imposed on Sean Hogg for the rape of a 13-year-old girl on the grounds that it is ‘unduly lenient’. Hogg, 21, was convicted in the High Court on 7 March and was sentenced on 3 April 2023. He was ordered to carry out 270 hours of unpaid work. He wa

The rape victim whose attacker was given community service has received an apology from Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC over failures to inform her of the consequences of the conviction. The victim, who is now 18, was raped by Sean Hogg in Dalkeith Country Park, Midlothian, in 2018, when she was 13.

Free, independent legal representation is to be provided to sexual offence complainers, where applications are made to lead evidence of their sexual history in court. Currently there are safeguards, known as rape shield laws, which are intended to stop questioning about a complainer's sexual history

The UK Information Commissioner has called on the criminal justice sector to immediately stop collecting excessive amounts of personal information from complainants in rape and serious sexual assault cases. The call is published in a Commissioner’s Opinion which informs the sector how to use p

Complainants in rape cases will only have their phones taken by police for evidential purposes “when absolutely necessary”, the solicitor general is to say. Alex Chalk QC will say today that police will be ordered to retained detailed written explanations and justifications for when they

An advocate has endorsed an MSP's call for legal representation for complainers in sexual assault and rape cases. Scottish Labour's Katy Clark has lodged a motion at Holyrood that calls for complainers to be given their own lawyers.

The criminal justice system is failing rape complainants, and "widespread reform is needed to build trust and secure justice", a new report has found. A joint inspection by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI)

Thomas Ross QC writes about a proposed private prosecution of David Goodwillie and David Robertson that he and solicitor Melissa Rutherford are seeking for the rape of Denise Clair It is very difficult to read Lord Armstrong’s judgment in the civil case, without coming to t

Plans to exclude juries from rape trials have been rubbished by the Faculty of Advocates. In a submission to Holyrood's Criminal Justice Committee, the Faculty states that many within the legal profession had been accused of being conspiracy theorists when they suggested last year that there was "a

The handling of rape cases by police and prosecutors is to be scored for the first time under new plans to raise the number of rape cases reaching court. Ministers want the number of suspects being charged to return to 2016 levels and "scorecards" measuring “timeliness, quality and victim enga

New research suggests that while the public views sentencing for sexual assault and rape as lenient, their sentencing choices, when they are presented with case scenarios, are in line with actual sentences. The findings are in two new research reports from the Scottish Sentencing Coun

Rape complainants in Ireland questioned about their sexual history will have legal representation at trial, under new reforms announced by the country's Justice Minister, Helen McEntee. The measure is among changes meant to improve complainants' experience of the justice system detailed in the

A new campaign is seeking a change in the law that would confer anonymity on rape complainers. Led by Glasgow Caledonian University law lecturers Andrew Tickell and Seonaid Stevenson-McCabe, the Campaign for Complainer Anonymity aims to formulate legislative reforms which can be adopted by the Scott

The Equality and Human Rights Commission in Scotland has published new research into how sexual history and bad character evidence is used in sexual offences trials. The findings have led to a call by the commission for an urgent review on how courts and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Servic