Report and Recommendations - Scottish Government

Pre-interview briefing6.2.62 Prior to interview, and indeed at the point of any arrest or detention, the policerequire to advise a suspect of the nature of the offence of which he/she issuspected. The Review does not consider that there should be anyrequirement to provide further information about the case or to give anyadvance notice of the questions to be asked. The police should retain adiscretion as to what information should be provided and, if information is tobe provided, when it should be provided. Of course, the lack of informationmay result in legal advice not to answer further questions. That must beregarded as an entirely legitimate stance for a suspect to take 57 . It may be thatany resistance on the part of the police to the provision of information will beovercome by that consideration, especially in serious cases. As anyquestioning must be conducted in the context of a fair trial, any deception onthe part of the police relative to what evidence exists, especially one designedto encourage an admission, would be liable to render any answers inadmissible.Implications for Judicial Examination6.2.63 There is an existing statutory exception to the general rule relative to pre trialquestioning. This relates to judicial examination; an antiquated process 58 intowhich the Thomson Committee tried to breathe new life 59 . It was intended toprovide an accused with an opportunity of stating his/her position or, putanother way, to allow the procurator fiscal to elicit the nature of any defence 60 .In practical terms, judicial examination, which occurs at the stage of an57 see Chapter 7.5 Adverse Inference58 see Renton & Brown para 12.01 et seq, referring to the original process in Alison ii 137, 1995 Act ss35-3959 paras 8.01 et seq60 McEwan v HM Advocate 1990 SCCR 401199