A court clerk’s error resulted in a man with a “lengthy” record of jail time being wrongfully imprisoned for a week, a sheriff has heard.
Duncan Welsh has been awarded £3325 for a mistake, which led to him being sent to HMP Barlinnie in Glasgow between December 6 and December 13, 2023.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard how Mr Welsh appeared in private before a sheriff in Glasgow on December 6, after being detained in connection with a “petition matter” - a legal expression given to alleged serious offences.
The court heard how the sheriff granted Mr Welsh bail but an official mistakenly recorded on court minutes that a bail request had been refused and he was remanded in custody.
This resulted in Mr Welsh being wrongfully detained in custody until other officials corrected the error.
This, in turn, prompted Mr Welsh to instruct lawyers to seek compensation for him at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Bosses at the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Services admitted making the error and breaching Mr Welsh’s human rights in how he was wrongfully detained.
Lawyers for both Mr Welsh and the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service addressed Sheriff Fergus Thomson at proceedings in Edinburgh Sheriff Court last year.
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The legal arguments centred around how much Mr Welsh should receive in compensation.
Lawyers for him believed he should receive £10,000, whilst court bosses argued that Mr Welsh should receive £1500.
In a written judgement published on Thursday, Sheriff Thomson said that Mr Welsh had a “lengthy record of periods of detention, both before and after the events of December 2023.”
He concluded that this should be reflected in how much he should receive in compensation.
Sheriff Thomson wrote: “The pursuer was wrongly detained for a period of seven days. It is accepted that he suffered no element of initial shock.
“He had not been wrongly arrested. His initial, short period of custody had not been unlawful. His circumstances were such that he was wholly familiar with the custodial setting.
"In detaining the pursuer, the defender acted unlawfully in a manner incompatible with a Convention right.
“The pursuer having suffered loss and damage, it is just and appropriate to award him damages and necessary to do so to afford just satisfaction.
“Having taken into account the principles applied by the European Court of Human Rights in relation to an award of compensation, an award of £3325 is appropriate.”
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