I will publish any further letters here below. The Functions of the Lord Advocate are set out here.
Mr Jonathan Wynne Evans
Sent by email –
Policy and Engagement Crown Office
25 Chambers Street Edinburgh EH1 1LA
Tel: 0300 020 3000
Text Relay prefix: 18001
Your ref:
Our ref: R-03451-22
2 March 2022
Dear Mr Wynne Evans
Thank you for your letter dated 3 February 2022.
In an earlier letter from you dated December 2021, you asked the Lord Advocate to issue a warning that anyone “promoting injectates that continued activity would open the real possibility of criminal prosecution”. As noted in my reply to you of
2 February 2022, the Lord Advocate is the head of the system of prosecutions in Scotland. In that role, which she exercises independently of all others, it is not for the Lord Advocate to issue a warning of this type to members of the public.
Such a warning, amounting to legal advice and in the absence of a police investigation, would not be consistent with the Lord Advocate’s role as the head of the system of prosecutions.
It is open to the Lord Advocate to provide advice to the Scottish Government. The Lord Advocate does that in her role as the principal legal advisor to the Scottish Government. The Lord Advocate’s advice to her fellow ministers and the Scottish Government is confidential.
Yours sincerely J Hamilton
Senior Procurator Fiscal Depute
3rd March 2021
Your reference R-03451-22
By email: policydivision@copfs.gov.uk
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your unsigned letter dated 3rd March, rehearsing what you said regarding my first letter to you.
You have entirely failed to answer the questions put to you in the second paragraph of my letter of 2nd February, and as you are a senior lawyer I must assume that you are aware of that. Do you say that the Lord Advocate is not expected to represent the public interest on matters that go directly to their protection from harm where advice from the Lord Advocate may influence the outcome?
You have also failed to confirm as I requested that the Lord Advocate has been made aware of the concerns underlying my correspondence with you. In particular I did not ask you to disclose confidential advice given by the Lord Advocate to the Scottish Parliament but simply to confirm the answers to my questions.
It is really dismaying to find that such a grave matter is apparently being obfuscated in this fashion. Serious concerns about prevention of criminal activity would normally I believe, before this remarkable episode of history, have found a more constructive approach. Perhaps you can suggest how the public interest may best be served in this regard.
Yours faithfully
The Office of the Lord Advocate
25 Chambers Street
Edinburgh EH1 1LA