In March 2020 the then Lord Advocate James Wolffe confirmed in a letter that in no other Fatal Accident Inquiry after a death in prison have ‘witnesses’ been given immunity from prosection.
The Lord Advocate had been asked to confirm prosecution decisions in prison FAIs by the Justice Committee, who wrote to him in October 2019. Several months later, he replied to say he had reviewed 135 Fatal Accident Inquiries after deaths in custody concluded between April 2014 and March 2019. Only one of them, Allan’s case, involved the decision not to prosecute.
The family responded to the Lord Advocate to ask: why was this decision made only in Allan’s case? They have never received a reply to their question. Lord Wolffe has since left his position.
Justice for Allan Marshall 