The President of the Law Society and former Procurator Fiscal Cameron Ritchie issued a statement in support of retaining corroboration as an important safeguard in prosecutions, in response to the Carloway Review.  The statement from Mr Ritchie reads as follows:

“We feel the requirement for corroboration should remain. It is a vital safeguard of Scots law which ensures that people cannot be convicted on the word of just one person.

“It is, of course, a different case in England and Wales where the evidence from a single witness does not require to be corroborated, but a Judge can, at his or her discretion, decide if a jury should be warned on relying on this evidence. Additionally, Courts in England and Wales can form the view that evidence should not be placed before the jury – this is alien to Scots Criminal Procedure.

“In all circumstances, we feel any change to the law in Scotland with regard to corroboration, should form part of a full scale review of Scottish criminal procedure and should not, under any circumstances, be contemplated in isolation.

“We are still concerned about the increased length of detention time now provided for in the Act, which has increased from six hours to 12 hours and even 24 hours for a small number of cases. We are also concerned that this section of the Act does not contain any provision for children or vulnerable adults. We continue to have reservations about the facilities available at police stations for the purposes of holding suspects for increased lengths of time. We voiced this view to the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee in March and we hope these concerns will be addressed.

”The Society also restated its view that a full audit of Scots criminal procedural law is needed to ensure total compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). 

"We respectfully suggest that a wider review extending beyond the scope of Lord Carloway’s remit should be considered. We feel a review taking into account all aspects of Scottish Criminal procedure is imperative, to ensure compatibility with ECHR.

“It is particularly important that we ensure Scots law is compatible with ECHR, given the fact that in Scotland an accused can be convicted by a jury on a bare majority of eight to seven Jurors.

“We called for this review in our manifesto for 2011 and we will ensure we keep campaigning for it.

“We look forward to reading Lord Carloway’s concluding report and recommendations later in the year and would welcome the chance to offer further assistance.”