A Tayside couple have had their complaint rejected after they claimed they had been misled into providing statements to police investigating a case involving their daughter.
The couple complained to Tayside Police that they should have been told they were not obliged to give the information and the mother maintained she only realised two or three days afterwards that she had made a formal statement.
Her husband said he had been led to believe that speaking to the police would be in the best interests of their daughter but may have had second thoughts if he had realised that she was already under arrest.
However, the police complaints commissioner for Scotland, John McNeill, has rejected their complaints about the way the force handled the case.
In his report, which does not identify the family, Mr McNeill noted that the couple were interviewed at their home in April last year and gave statements but later made formal complaints about the way those statements had been obtained.
The father told a police superintendent: ”I am aggrieved that through my own ignorance I was not aware of my rights and the officers did not volunteer that information. I wish I had been made aware of the fact that (my daughter) had been arrested and that I was being interviewed in connection with this.
”I may not have given a statement had I known this. The fact that it had been put to me that it was in (my daughter’s) best interests, I believe in fact that this was the opposite of the case in that it wasn’t in her best interests.”
The detectives who took the statements denied saying that it would be in suspect’s best interests for her parents to speak to them.
A senior Tayside officer who investigated and rejected the couple’s complaints said it was not normal procedure to advise witnesses that they are not obliged to give statements, adding: ”If, however, a person adamantly refuses to give a statement (and) if the information known to be in the possession of the witness is of fundamental importance, it may be necessary, in exceptional cases, to secure the aid of the procurator fiscal who is empowered to compel the attendance of witnesses for precognition.”
The commissioner found the officers concerned had acted appropriately and the couple’s complaints had been dealt with by Tayside Police in a reasonable manner.