Longest outstanding fatal accident inquiry is now more than eight years old

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP has today called on ministers to undertake immediate root and branch reform of fatal accident inquiries (FAI) as he revealed that the current longest outstanding wait is more than eight years.

A Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information investigation uncovered that:

• The longest FAI currently outstanding concerns a death from 2016/17. It has now been outstanding for more than 2,900 days.
• The longest FAI concluded in the last five years took 3,595 days, or almost ten years.
• In 2023/24, the number of FAIs completed fell to just 30.
• There are currently 149 outstanding FAIs for deaths in custody, including one which dates back as far as 2018/19. In 2023/24, just 17 were completed, while a further 58 were added to the list.
• The average FAI completed in 2024 took more than 1,200 days to complete - over three years.    

Scottish Liberal Democrats have repeatedly called for the SNP Government to remove such inquiries from the remit of the Crown Office and set a one-year timeline for them to commence. For cases which do not commence within 12 months, the investigating body would be required to report to the government and to relatives of the deceased outlining why this has occurred.      

Mr McArthur said:

“If your loved one were to die in tragic circumstances, the least you would expect is for the system charged with providing answers and learning lessons to come to its conclusions in less than a decade.

“For too many families, this is a system that leaves them with unresolved trauma and unanswered questions for far too long. In prisons in particular, new inquiries are being added far faster than older ones are being discharged.

“The SNP Government have had plenty of opportunities to reform fatal accident inquiries, but they have chosen to cling to a failed system. It’s clear that the system is not working.

“It’s time for ministers to urgently undertake root and branch reform. My party wants to see fatal accident inquiries removed from the remit of the Crown Office and handed to a new body charged with ensuring that inquiries begin with a year and that results are presented in a timely fashion, learning from the coroner system in England.”