Vulnerable Scots pensioner missing as police launch search
A frantic search has been launched in an effort to trace a Scots pensioner.
Valerie Dyer, 81, was last seen around 2.30pm on Friday, June, 20 in the area of Dalnahaitnach Hill, Carrbridge, in the Highland.
Cops describe Valeria as white, 5 ft 6 in tall and is of slim build. She was wearing dark blue trousers, a light blue blouse and a white floppy hat when she was last seen.
Inspector Kay Macrae said: 'We are growing increasingly concerned for the welfare of Valerie and extensive searches are underway to trace her. 'I would ask anyone who who has been in the Dalnahaitnach Hill area today to let us know if they saw her today at any time.
'Anyone who knows where he is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident number 2030 of Friday, 20 June, 2025."
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Scotsman
41 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Hundreds of thousands of Scots 'excluded' from jury service due to 'bonkers' system woes
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Hundreds of thousands of people across Scotland are being denied the chance of serving on a jury due to problems with the current 'outdated' system used by the nation's courts service, which is compounding the widespread problems faced by the criminal justice system. Issues with the functionality of the system used by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) to look up postcodes means that approximately 400,000 potential jurors are not able to be cited at a time when courts across the nation are continuing to reckon with extensive trial backlogs. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The problems which prevent so many Scots from fulfilling a key civic duty is among a litany of failings with the current decades-old system, which the SCTS says is also resulting in the loss of court sitting days due to the 'inefficiencies' of ballot calls. Plans for a new 'effective and modern' system were paused last year as a result of Scottish Government funding cuts, but the SCTS said the work is now under way to ensure those people currently locked out of the system can potentially serve on juries. Systemic problems mean a significant minority of Scots are not being considered for jury duty. Picture: Keith Hunter/SCTS | Keith Hunter/SCTS In Scotland, jurors' names continue to be selected at random electronically from information supplied from the electoral registers, with around 700,000 members of the public receiving a jury citation every year. But the constraints of the existing SCTS system means many people living in new-build properties are not part of the selection pool. 'Element of exclusion' In an interview with Scotland on Sunday, David Fraser, executive director of court operations at the SCTS, pointed to the 'shortcomings' of a system that underpinned a 'cornerstone of the criminal justice system,' and stressed the importance of ensuring everyone eligible to serve on a jury can do so. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad While the random selection process means many Scots have never been cited for jury duty, Mr Fraser said it was not always simply down to chance. 'It's basically new housing developments which can't be allocated to our system due to the constraints we have,' he said. 'There's definitely an element of exclusion, because if those people have an address which cannot be ingested into our system, they are excluded. That's what we're trying to avoid, and make sure everyone has an opportunity to serve.' Without the attendance of jurors, solemn criminal business could not proceed in Scottish courts. Statistics prepared by the SCTS shows that a sizable minority of people do not respond to citations; out of more than 1,173,000 citations issued across 2021 and 2022, around 509,000 received no response. David Fraser, executive director of court operations at the SCTS. Picture: Stewart Atwood/SCTS | Stewart Attwood Amid wider issues with the existing SCTS software, significant time is required for the manual 'cleaning and updating' of the jury system on both a monthly and annual basis, with the repetitive work described as 'highly labour intensive,' according to the organisation. An equality impact assessment report for a new system also notes how at present, the way excusal requests are managed exerts 'considerable' demands on the time and resources of staff, with the process used by jurors to submit attendance records and expense claims deemed 'inefficient' and lacking user-friendliness. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Plans to replace 'outdated' system The SCTS was ready to push ahead with the plans for a new digital jury content management system as long ago as October 2023, going so far as to seek out potential suppliers to design and develop the end-to-end system. The procurement notice stated that the existing in-house system was 'outdated' and specified potential improvements, including the ability to send citations via email and group text services to replace the pre-ballot telephone call system, and the use of scanners at courts to record daily attendances. The SCTS held an in-person Q&A event with potential suppliers in Edinburgh in February 2024, and planned to publish full tender documents that May, but the project encountered delays before the SCTS advised suppliers it had placed the project on 'long term pause,' telling them in September that Scottish Government funding cuts had affected its budgetary plans. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Fraser told Scotland on Sunday that since then, the SCTS had been successful in applying for a public sector reform funding package from the Scottish Government, which he said had given it 'the opportunity, the commitment, and the reassurance that we can push ahead and deliver this project.' 'Totally bonkers' that new build residents are being excluded But Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary, Liam Kerr, said people would be 'dismayed' at how the government 'dragged its heels' over the court system reforms. He said: 'The haphazard process of juror selection is a big cause for concern. Jury trials are fundamental to our justice system and it's unacceptable that a huge bank of potential jurors are being overlooked.' Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson, Liam McArthur, said: 'I think to most reasonable onlookers it will seem totally bonkers that if you live in a new build development you're effectively excluded from jury duty because the computer system can't handle your address. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "It seems the SCTS would like to move with the times but a lack of funding is holding them back. Helping them to overcome hurdles like this needs to be right at the top of the justice secretary's in-tray. Scotland needs a true 21st century court system.' It is understood the development and implementation of the new system will cost around £1 million, but it is hoped it will deliver savings in the region of £230,000 per annum. Mr Fraser said it would also transform the way potential jurors interact with the SCTS, which is for many people, the only interaction they will ever have with Scotland's criminal justice system. He explained: 'At the moment, potential jurors get a citation six weeks before the date of a trial, and are asked to call a jury helpline the evening before to see if they are needed the following day or not. In this modern age, I think a lot of our potential jurors find it hard to believe that we are still operating with our current system. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'The service improvements we will deliver mean the public will see a very modern platform they can interact with and which delivers the service they expect.'
The National
2 hours ago
- The National
Police Scotland 'breaching human rights to subdue Palestine protests'
Moira McFarlane, an Edinburgh-based activist, said her home had been visited after midnight by three plain-clothes officers – despite the fact that she has never been arrested or charged with anything. 'I'm a 58-year-old yoga teacher. I'm really not a criminal,' she said. 'When they come in knocking on your door at midnight, it's a police state. It's crazy.' Another Palestine activist, Andrew Thomson, said he had been lifted from an Edinburgh street, kept in a police station for eight hours, and charged with terror offences two days after allegedly wearing a t-shirt outside Bute House. READ MORE: Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty dons 'Palestine Action' top at Fringe The t-shirt read 'Genocide in Palestine time to take action'. Other activists have also been charged for wearing clothes with the same or similar slogans as they were alleged to be in support of Palestine Action, a protest group which the Labour Government has proscribed as a terror organisation. The proscription has been condemned by Volker Türk, the UN's human rights chief, who said it puts the UK 'at odds' with international law and 'limits the rights of many people involved with and supportive of Palestine Action who have not themselves engaged in any underlying criminal activity but rather exercised their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association'. Earlier in August, the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) warned Police Scotland that its policing of pro-Palestine protesters risked breaching human rights. Police Scotland's Chief Constable Jo Farrell (Image: PA) Professor Angela O'Hagan, the commission's chair, said in a letter to the Chief Constable, Lord Advocate, and Justice Secretary that rights to free expression and freedom of assembly were guaranteed under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), adding: 'In general, only incitement to violence, the justification of terrorist acts, or the encouragement of violence towards specific people can be restricted. The expression of a political or moral viewpoint is protected.' Police Scotland insisted their actions are "appropriate", but Thomson said that Türk and O'Hagan's warnings are 'exactly what's happened'. 'The key thing is this is excessive and this is draconian policing,' he went on. 'They're conflating political and moral expression with terrorism, and they're doing it deliberately. 'The smear will bring about fear. And in my own understanding, this is what Keir Starmer's Britain is all about. Starmer's Britain requires fear. But for me, for many, many others, and the good people in Scotland, it's Palestine that commands courage.' READ MORE: Leaked document 'leaves Government's Palestine Action case in tatters' Thomson said he was arrested in the Cowgate area on Monday, July 21, after allegations that a t-shirt he had worn on July 19 had expressed support for a terrorist organisation. He then received 'bail checks', where Police Scotland officers turned up on his doorstep, four times in four days. 'I was really alarmed by the fact that the reason for the visits had zero plausibility,' he said, disputing that reaffirming his bail conditions could have been the force's true reason for the visits. 'It is about harassment. It's an intrusion into private family life. Who has signed the order for them to make those four visits? 'I guess what's happening to me just now would be one tactic that Police Scotland undertook to try and subdue protests against the genocide. That seems plausible to me, and definitely there's zero plausibility about reminding of your [bail] condition.' READ MORE: Arms firms lobbied for Palestine Action 'terrorists' label, files show Hours after the Sunday National spoke to Thomson, he received a letter from the Crown Office advising that his court date had been cancelled and bail conditions lifted, just days after SHRC chair O'Hagan's intervention. Both Thomson and McFarlane alleged that Police Scotland had infringed on their human rights. It comes after a third pro-Palestine activist, the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign's Mick Napier, 78, sent a legal letter to Police Scotland alleging intimidation after his address was visited by officers seven times in seven days. Mark Harrower, a senior criminal defence lawyer and former president of the Edinburgh Bar Association, suggested that claims of reminding of bail conditions were not credible and the 'only possible explanation for these repeated visits is to intimidate'. 'Not only is this a huge waste of police resources, it makes Scotland look like it is turning into a police state,' Harrower wrote. 'It is nothing short of harassment. I request that your officers stop harassing my client.' The National has also reported on the case of Kimberley Davidson, in the Scottish Borders, who also faced daily visits from police officers claiming to be there to remind her of bail conditions. A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "We carry out appropriate checks as required in line with conditions imposed by the courts." A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'The Scottish Government supports individuals' rights to freedom of expression. 'We live in a society where people have the democratic right to campaign and express views in a peaceful and lawful manner.'
Daily Record
2 hours ago
- Daily Record
Family of Jean Hanlon make desperate appeal to prosecutors as charges against suspect could be dropped
Jean Hanlon's body was found in Heraklion harbour in 2009. Her three sons have always believed Jean, 53, from Dumfries, was murdered. The family of a Scots mum who died on a Greek island have made a desperate appeal to prosecutors as charges against their prime suspect could be dropped. Jean Hanlon's body was found in Heraklion harbour in 2009. Her three sons have always believed Jean, 53, from Dumfries, was murdered. Last year, her family hired private investigator Haris Fluskounis who used details of her diary to identify a potential suspect, who was known to Jean, and passed his findings to Greek prosecutors. The 54-year-old suspect, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was charged with manslaughter in January. Earlier this month the family were dealt a bitter blow when they were told the case is unlikely to go to trial after the lead prosecutor said she considered there to be insufficient evidence. Last week, Jean's family submitted a appeal to the Cretan prosecution authorities asking them to reconsider. Jean's son Michael, 40, who lives and works in London, said: 'We have appealed the prosecutors proposal as she has completely discounted and has selectively evaluated the evidence provided. 'Reading the memorandum, it is impossible to even consider anyone else as a suspect. The evidence is so strong there is no doubt this man needs to be brought to trial. 'For 16 years we have fought for justice and for 16 years he has walked free. Mum needs justice, she needs peace and her voice needs to be heard. The dead cannot cry out for justice. It is a duty of the living to do so for them. I will continue to fight and push with everything I have, no matter what.' Jean moved to the village of Kato Gouves four years before her death to start a new life. She went missing on March 9, 2009, after a night out. In the hours before her death, she'd spoken to friends on the phone after meeting a man at a bar and later sent a final text to a pal saying 'help'. Four days later, her body was pulled from the harbour. An initial post-mortem examination ruled the mother of three had drowned but a new probe suggested her injuries had been caused by a struggle. Police decided to re-examine the case in 2019 when a documentary in Greece highlighted her sons' search for justice. But that investigation was wound down after no new evidence was found. Last year, investigator Haris was called in and he handed a dossier to prosecutors. From details in her diary, it's alleged the potential suspect had became possessive and began stalking Jean after the end of their brief association. Family lawyer Apostolos Xiritakis said: 'We hope and believe the council of judges, that will decide weather to send him to court or not, eventually will agree with us and send him to court.' Investigator Haris said: 'The Jean case is at a critical juncture.' The Sunday Mail contacted Greek authorities and police for comment.
