Scottish Family Law Shambles

Added: (Sun Jul 31 2005)

Pressbox (Press Release) - Press Release 31st July 2005

Scottish Family Law Shambles

The Scottish Executive has been consulting with various groups and charities in producing the new Family Law Bill.

Despite several meetings and oral evidence given to the justice 1 committee we are no further forward in dealing with people who refuse to comply with contact orders. “No answer to it” says Carol Duncan head of Family Law Division. These people being in contempt of court are openly flouting the law and getting away with it. As one of the consultees we at Grandparents Apart Self Help Group Scotland are disgusted by the failure of the Executive to address this injustice which in reality will render a lot of the reforms useless.

Again despite seeking the views of groups on the shop floor saying the law must be enforced nothing is changing regards flouting contact orders, if anyone else was brought up for contempt of court they would receive a stiff sentence and told the law must be obeyed. We the people must ask ourselves why this abominable situation is allowed to continue.

The answer is simple, enforce the laws that are already in existence.

The force of the law was used against parents who refused to send their children to school, when a parent was jailed, it went around the media like wildfire. It soon made people obey the law

Tommy Sheridan MSP highlighted another law shambles when he said one person got community service for attacking someone who later died of a heart attack, and someone else stole a small sum of money and got a years imprisonment.

In a national paper today a woman driver without insurance crashes into a tree in which her three passengers dies. Sentence £550!

What an utter shambles!!!

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Grandparents Apart Self Help Group Scotland
Jimmy Deuchars. 0141 882 5658
June Loudoun 01560 322 937
jimmy@grandparents.co.uk
www.grandparentsapart.co.uk