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Former top judge expresses concern about corroboration changes

One of Scotland’s most respected judges has said that he will be “very sad” to see the requirement for corroboration in criminal cases abolished, reports the BBC.

Lord Hope, who was Lord Justice General of Scotland and Lord President of the Court of Session from 1989 to 1996, and retired from the UK’S Supreme Court earlier this year, made the comments during an interview with Holyrood Magazine earlier this week.

During the interview, he acknowledged the difficulties inherent in securing a conviction in the absence of any other witnesses, but felt that a more selective approach than that proposed by the Scottish Government might be preferable.

In particular, reports Holyrood Magazine, he was concerned about the possibility that an accused could be convicted solely on the basis of his/her confession, saying: “I just express concern that the proposal seems very far-reaching and, potentially, quite dangerous if you have a situation where somebody is at risk of being convicted on his own confession which I would have thought was absolutely fundamentally wrong in Scots law.”

The proposals to abolish the need for corroboration are contained in the Scottish Government's Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill, which also proposes increasing the number of votes required for conviction from a simple majority to two thirds of jurors.

The proposed changes are due to be debated by the Justice Committee later this month, reports the BBC.

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