A senior officer working for Police Scotland has been suspended following an investigation into criminal behaviour.

New research has found that the number of sexual cyber crimes which are recorded by police has increased dramatically over the last 3 years.

The Scottish Government has recently announced plans to introduce drug-driving limits and roadside testing in Scotland.

A new Scottish Sentencing Council has come into force as of today with the independent body being responsible for preparing guidelines to ensure a consistent approach to sentencing throughout the country.

Despite hiring more officers than ever, Police Scotland is solving fewer crimes, according to the latest criminal stats. 

On Tuesday 21^st October 2014 Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to five years in jail for manslaughter by Judge Thokozile Masipa in Pretoria’s High Court. The duration of this sentence and its putative effect has seen much discussion in the media.

Malcolm Webster, who murdered his first wife by staging a car accident and attempted to murder his second wife in the same way, is further appealing his life sentence claiming that he is the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

Glasgow Sheriff Court is under strain from the sheer number of domestic abuse cases coming through the courts. The ‘busiest court in Europe’ currently has a backlog of 1300 domestic abuse cases, with victims waiting up to 19 weeks to have their case heard. The Scottish Court Service however, belives this to be an improvement – it was previously 22 weeks.Domestic abuse cases currently represent around 25 percent of all summary cases coming through the court an din order to relieve the mounting number of cases, additional ‘daily trial courts’ will be held by senior prosecutors next month. 

The law which will allow police to disclose details as to whether an individual has a history of violence known as “Clare’s Law’ is to be introduced in Aberdeen and Ayrshire.

Former editor of the News of the World, Andy Coulson has formally been charged with three counts of perjury at a hearing in the High Court in Glasgow.

Police in County Durham  are currently searching for a man who left a fairytale calling card  on Sunday night after attempting to steal cider from a local shop.

Emergency legislation  which allows telecoms companies to retain customer information to be passed at Westminster raises substantial concerns, the Law Society of Scotland has said.

Earlier this week, confiscation orders totalling over £130,000 were made against offenders in three separate cases in one day.

A Fife man was recently sentenced at Glasgow Sheriff Court following his conviction for assault in October 2013.

At Martin Johnston & Socha we like to keep up-to-date with cases passing through the criminal courts, so we were interested to read that a 62 year old man was recently sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for sexually assaulting three women.