'Waste of time' – Anger as football fans told they will still face court..

[ian1964 10,720]

despite repeal of anti-bigotry law

 

FOOTBALL fans who had been charged under a "discredited" anti-bigotry law are still facing court - despite the legislation being scrapped earlier this year, the Sunday Herald can reveal.

 

Exclusive by Paul Hutcheon Investigations Editor, Sunday Herald
The Crown Office has “converted” over half of the charges under the repealed Offensive Behaviour at Football Act and is instead using an eight-year old law to continue the cases.

The move will be uncomfortable for the Government because campaigners had insisted there was no need for the introduction of a football act when existing legislation could be used to tackle wrongdoing.

But campaigners will also be angered by the move, as many believed football fans were being unfairly targeted by legislation and hoped the OBFA repeal would effectively end the Government crackdown.

Leading QC Brian McConachie said the revelation showed that the law had never been necessary.

"There has always been adequate legislation to cover crimes at football matches," he said. "The the Act was a complete waste of time and a hobby horse for the Government to jump on. It was just introducing legislation because it looked good.

“The problem with the Football Act is it targeted a particular group of people, and the police seemed to pick out targets."

The original legislation was introduced in 2012 under Alex Salmond’s administration, in an attempt to clamp down on sectarianism and football-related offences.

Critics believed the law singled out fans for special treatment and was badly drafted. In one famous case, Sheriff Richard Davidson derided the law as “mince”.

Earlier this year, Labour MSP James Kelly steered through legislation to scrap what he described as a “discredited” law.

However, despite the Act being banished to history, a row has broken out on the charges that were outstanding at the time of repeal.


During consideration of the repeal legislation, an amendment was passed which allowed for a person charged under the 2012 Act to be convicted of a different statutory offence.

One option for the Crown was to re-raise a case as a breach of section 38 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, which relates to threatening and abusive behaviour.

At the time, the then SNP Minister Annabelle Ewing responded to a query by an MSP on whether such cases would be limited.

She said: “I imagine that the member is correct to say that the number of cases will be limited, but amendment 4 seeks to ensure that an option is available.”

However, as of June 28, 44 of the 86 charges under the original legislation had been converted.

Solicitor Paul Kavanagh, who represents clients in this area and had been handling around 48 of the outstanding cases, confirmed that many cases had been re-raised as a different offence.

“I don’t know if there is a policy being operated by the Crown Office, but an inference could be drawn that there is. In some of these cases, there is no public interest to prosecute.”

Another lawyer, Tony Callahan, said: “My understanding of the spirit of the Repeal Act is that changing the charge would apply to only the most serious of cases, rather than every case. It seems to be verging more towards that.”

The figures also appear to back up analysis by the Law Society of Scotland last year which claimed that fans charged with offensive behaviour could have been dealt with under existing laws.

Kelly said: “Policing attitudes were definitely changed when the Football Act was brought in, subjecting a great number of fans to the justice system completely unnecessarily. Now those caught up in the system under a law recognised as being completely dysfunctional will be prosecuted using different legislation.

"The legislation was completely overbearing and fundamentally unjust. A blanket transferring of cases captured under this broken law does not seem like a fair way of going forward.

"The best thing to do would be to allow a full review of these cases, including questioning if the often farcical circumstances around these cases would have been picked up before the Football Act."

Jeanette Findlay, spokesperson for Fans Against Criminalisation, a group that opposed the original legislation, said: “It was clear from the debate in Parliament that MSPs expected that unconcluded Offensive Behaviour charges would be changed to S38s in only a very few cases. The fact that such a large proportion of outstanding cases are now being prosecuted as s38 charges suggests that this is a policy. We would very much like to know who instructed the COPFS to adopt that policy.”

A Crown Office spokesperson said: “All remaining cases involving charges under the 2012 Act have been reviewed and, where appropriate, alternative charges have been or will be prosecuted utilising the powers available to amend or substitute charges including the power expressly provided in the Repeal Act itself.

“A number of cases involving these charges are ongoing. People being prosecuted for these offences, or their legal representatives, have the opportunity to raise any relevant challenge in the individual circumstances of their case.”

 

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/16325588.waste-of-time-anger-as-football-fans-told-they-will-still-face-court-despite-repeal-of-anti-bigotry-law/

[Gonzo79 15,225]

3 minutes ago, ian1964 said:

There has always been adequate legislation to cover crimes at football matches," he said. "The the Act was a complete waste of time and a hobby horse for the Government to jump on. It was just introducing legislation because it looked good.

The QC is spot on.