14-06-2025
Huge compensation sum paid to seven wrongfully jailed Scots prisoners revealed
Payouts are granted when new evidence shows 'beyond reasonable doubt' inmates were wrongly convicted
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MORE than £3million has been paid out to wrongfully jailed prisoners, we can reveal.
Figures show the compensation cash was handed to seven lags released due to miscarriages of justice in the last decade.
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More than £3million was paid out to seven lags who were wrongfully imprisoned
Credit: Alamy
Some £1.2million was split by five innocent cons between 2015 and 2020 while another two have shared £1.99million in the last five years.
Payouts are granted when new evidence shows 'beyond reasonable doubt' inmates were wrongly convicted — or there was a 'serious default' or error by cops or authorities.
Scottish Labour warned Nats ministers' 'neglect' of the system could lead to taxpayers stumping up for more payouts.
Justice spokeswoman Pauline McNeill said: 'One case of wrongful imprisonment is too many and every effort must be made to prevent these miscarriages of justice occurring.
'That is why it is extremely important to closely scrutinise any changes to the criminal justice system to ensure they do not risk creating miscarriages of justice.'
She added: 'There is a real risk that the pressure on our justice system caused by SNP neglect and the dwindling number of defence lawyers could contribute to this problem.
'First and foremost, we must try to prevent miscarriages of justice because of the human cost, but there are also millions being taken from frontline services to pay for these appalling mistakes.'
Scotland's most famous miscarriages of justice include Patrick Meehan who received a royal pardon after being wrongfully convicted of the 1969 murder of Rachael Ross in Ayr.
In 1973, Stuart Gair was wrongfully jailed for the murder of Margaret McLaughlin in Carluke.
And Joe Steele spent 18 years in jail for the Ice Cream War murders after being wrongly convicted of starting a fire which killed six members of the Doyle family in 1984.
First convicts leave Barlinnie after Scottish Government release 360 prisoners early due to overcrowding
Ministers across the UK have also been forced to apologise for the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of Post Office subpostmasters - some of whom served jail sentences.
