7 March 2023
A year ago we met with the Lord Advocate and asked her to review Allan’s case. The Crown has now spent a whole year reviewing all of the evidence and this includes new interviews and statements from all the witnesses to the violent restraint of Allan on 24th March 2015.
We as a family have always believed that the investigation into Allan’s death was a sham and was completely mishandled by the police and the Crown from the very beginning. Nearly eight years on, the Lord Advocate now agrees with us.
However, she has also told us it’s not legally possible to prosecute any individual officers for any part they may have played in Allan’s death because they were all given immunity before the Fatal Accident Inquiry. This is extremely disappointing for us, and we say that this gives officers a licence to kill.
The Crown is continuing its investigation and instructed Police Scotland to formally investigate corporate responsibility of the Scottish Prison Service for Allan’s death, including consideration of corporate homicide.
We are grateful that action is now being taken, but it shouldn’t have taken eight years, and it could still lead to a decision not to charge SPS for what happened to Allan. No other person should die like he did and no family should go through what we have.
We will continue to demand justice for the loss of Allan who was a much loved member of our family.
Justice for Allan Marshall 