A trio of cases that collapsed at Dundee Sheriff Court last week because of failures to gather evidence have sparked an urgent report by the Crown Office, which is considering appeals.
The prosecuting authority has launched an urgent investigation after charges alleging assault, shoplifting and benefit fraud were deserted.
Police failures to obtain vital CCTV footage caused two of the cases to fall apart, while delays of almost two years at the Department for Work and Pensions resulted in the third case being thrown out.
A spokesman for the Crown Office said: “Crown counsel have asked for an urgent report in relation to these matters from the procurator fiscal at Dundee in order that they may consider an appeal.”
Sitting at Dundee Sheriff Court last week, Sheriff Alastair Brown criticised the procurator fiscal’s office for failing to secure the evidence needed to back up charges.
Following The Courier report on Wednesday of a case which collapsed because of a lack of CCTV evidence, the next day Sheriff Brown ruled that a man charged with assault was unable to get a fair trial for the same reason.
At the intermediate diet on Thursday a police memo revealed officers were still looking for it in January despite previous claims it was secured in August 2013.
Depute fiscal Susan Ruta told the court that when officers attempted to get another copy of the CCTV it was recorded wrongly, and on a third attempt the footage had expired.
Defence solicitor Jim Laverty said he was informed that CCTV was collected by police on August 25, but was never disclosed to the defence.
Sheriff Brown said he was not in a position to say whether the original CCTV had been lost and efforts to obtain a new copy had been fraught with errors, or the defence were provided with false papers, but either way it was a “profoundly unsatisfactory state of affairs”.
Another case alleging benefit fraud of just under £5,000 fell apart on Wednesday and Sheriff Brown slammed the Crown Office for failing to present its evidence for almost two years.
The case alleging a woman had falsely claimed income support had been continued without plea at every hearing since it was lodged in December last year, and the procurator fiscal revealed evidence from the Department for Work and Pensions had still not been obtained.
Throwing the case out, Sheriff Brown said it had been going on for far too long.
A DWP spokeswoman said they would not comment on the benefit fraud case.
A police spokeswoman said: “As the Crown are considering an appeal it would be inappropriate to comment at this stage.”