A Montrose dad seeking justice for his son, who he believes was murdered in Thailand, has vowed to keep on fighting despite almost being pushed to the brink while trying to secure protections for Scots living abroad.
Davy Cornock and his wife Margaret have been left without answers after their 37-year-old son David died in mysterious circumstances in May 2019.
David’s body was found in his own home but it was eight days before a post-mortem examination was done and, by this time, the cause of death could not be established.
Davy says an “extremely unconvincing” report was published by Thai police but he remains convinced his son was murdered – a claim backed by private investigations.
Now he is pushing the Scottish Government to close a legal loophole that means no fatal accident inquiries into the deaths of Scots abroad have been carried out since controversial legislation came into force in 2016.
What is the problem?
The Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths Act was designed so the Lord Advocate can call for investigations to be carried out.
However, it has been revealed the definition of residency used by the Scottish justice system has stopped that from happening and denied families closure.
Davy hopes a petition brought to the Scottish Parliament this week will lead to Scotland being brought in line with the rest of the UK.
He has been working with politicians such as the SNP’s Dave Doogan, who is the MP for Angus, and Labour MSP Michael Marra to highlight the issue.
But the 63-year-old believes Humza Yousaf, who was first minister, and other leading figures have questions to answer over why they did not act when the problem first came to light.
He explained the huge personal cost the fight has had on his life – but vowed to keep on going.
Davy said: “It feels like the system is designed to break you or ruin you financially. It’s taken a huge toll on our family and David’s family.
“I’m quite strong emotionally and physically but we took really bad Covid and I lost my job trying to keep David’s family afloat in Brazil.
“I’ll be honest, I even thought of killing myself a few times. I’m a very rational person but there were times I got out of bed and thought I just can’t do this anymore.
“It’s like battering your head against a brick wall. Particularly when you’re in bad health and you feel like you might not be able to see this fight through.
“We’ve spent about £30,000. I’ve taken money out of my pension and I’ll need to keep working for longer to keep this going.
“None of that should have had to happen but instead of sorting it out, they’ve just buried their heads in the sand.”
Former FM promised to intervene
Hundreds of Scots are believed to have died overseas since 2016 so politicians have asked how it can be right that no inquiries have taken place.
In February, Humza Yousaf – who was first minister at the time and also the justice secretary when David died – agreed the residency definition was the issue and promised to look again at the legislation.
Michael Marra, who brought the petition to Parliament on behalf of Davy, said: “The government know that there is a significant problem with the 2016 laws.
“They do not work and Ministers have admitted this is the case. The fact that there have been zero FAIs for Scots who have died abroad is cast iron proof.
“Despite promises to me in the Parliament chamber from Humza Yousaf, his government has failed to take any action.
“The new first minister should step forward and deal with the mistakes of the government he has been at the heart of for 17 years.”
The Scottish Government was approached for comment.
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