Proposals that would allow the Crown to appeal against judicial rulings which bring trials to an end without the verdict of a jury were published for consultation yesterday.
Last year - following the collapse of the World's End case against serial sex killer Angus Sinclair, accused of raping and murdering 17-year-olds Helen Scott and Christine Eadie 30 years ago - the First Minister asked the Law Commission to consider the removal of double jeopardy and the possiblity of giving the Crown the right to appeal.
In the first of a series of papers published yesterday, the commission asked for views on whether to give the prosecution a right of appeal against judicial decisions to abandon trials.
Last September when the World's End case was abandoned, First Minister Alex Salmond called for a review of the law on this area and suggested it may be necessary to scrap principles such as the ancient double jeopardy rule, which prevents a person from being tried for the same crime twice.
The Law Commission has invited comments on the report by May 13 and aims to publish a report on it this summer. The commission's report on double jeopardy is expected in 2009.
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