Report and Recommendations - Scottish Government

the degree of suspicion, and to advise him/her of his/her general right to seeklegal advice. This is likely to be the case where the range of suspects narrowsto those occupying a carriage on the train and certainly if it were confined to asingle old style compartment.The suspect6.2.7 Where there are reasonable grounds for suspicion, the police have the powerto detain a suspect and to question him/her in custody 3 . Even for the detainedsuspect, however, the purpose of police questioning is not expressed in statute,at common law or in the European Convention. It is defined indirectly by theterms of section 14 of the 1995 Act, which states that detention is:“to facilitate investigations into the offence and whether criminalproceedings should be instigated against the detainee”.6.2.8 The European Court has held that 4 :“The object of questioning during detention under sub-paragraph (c) ofArticle 5 para. 1 (art. 5-1-c) is to further the criminal investigation byway of confirming or dispelling the concrete suspicion grounding thearrest. Thus, facts which raise a suspicion need not be of the samelevel as those necessary to justify a conviction or even the bringing ofa charge, which comes at the next stage of the process of criminalinvestigation”.It is thus legitimate for the police to question a detained suspect, against whomthey have a reasonable suspicion, for the purpose of obtaining evidence which3 1995 Act s 14 detention4 Murray v United Kingdom (1994) 19 EHRR 193, see Chapter 5.1 – Arrest and Detention172