Following the commencement of the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020, it is no longer necessary to extend 110 day, 140 day, 11 month or 12 month timebars when adjourning PH and CPHs to further dates in June and July 2020, as has been happening in the vast majority of cases over the past several weeks. With that in mind, there is no longer a requirement for the Crown and defence to enter into a Joint Minute in terms of section 75A of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.
With effect from Monday 20 April 2020, it is the court’s intention to instead administratively adjourn ex proprio motu ALL PH and CPHs fixed (on a week by week basis) using the provisions of section 75C of the 1995 Act.
My intention going forward is that early each week we will send to the sitting managers a list of all of the PH and CPHs we have for the following week. That can then be checked against the Crown list to ensure cases are not missed. I will include on that list the date to which we intend to continue the case. Next week’s list is attached (including only PHs not already adjourned). We will then issue an interlocutor adjourning each hearing individually.
Should the defence wish to move the court to grant bail, they should lodge a bail application, on which the court will fix a hearing. If a plea of guilty has been negotiated in a case and is to be accepted by the Crown, a section 75A application can be lodged to accelerate the hearing in that case to a suitable date.
For the avoidance of doubt, the above applies at this stage only to PH/CPHs and not to DFTs.