QC warns legal system is in meltdown

A TOP lawyer has warned Scotland's legal system is in meltdown - and NOBODY is doing anything to stop it.

Advocate Paul McBride QC claims that both the courts and the police are powerless to stop the rising tide of crime that is engulfing Scotland.

The 44-year-old blames politicians for passing "useless" policies that don't stop rampaging neds.

He says a combination of soft-touch sentencing, ignorance about immigration and political correctness has given crooks free rein to cause havoc in our communities.

Speaking exclusively to the News of the World, McBride insisted that urgent action MUST be taken to tackle the problem. Backing our Save Our Streets campaign, the QC offered five solutions to help combating lawlessness. He wants to see:

TOUGH and effective punishment plus an end to soft-touch sentencing

FOREIGN offenders identified by their own countries before they have a chance to enter the UK

SEX beasts tracked permanently with state- of-the-art technology

COMPULSORY jail time for neds caught carrying a knife, and

STRICT enforcement of the law on rogue shops that sell alcohol to teens.

Last night, McBride - who has represented some of Scotland's most notorious criminals - stormed: "I feel duty bound to speak out. It's gone too far. I've been practising law for most of my life and I've NEVER known morale among judges, lawyers and police officers to be so low.

"People feel as if they're banging the heads off a big brick wall. The only folk who are benefiting from the legal system are the crooks.

"We've landed in this mess because the people in charge - the politicians - are completely ignorant about what needs to be done.

"These issues need to be addressed as soon as humanly possible. We need to stop the rot. And we need to do it quickly."

McBride criticised a recent Scottish Government directive to sheriffs forbidding them from handing out a jail sentence of less than six months.

He added: "We are encouraged not to give anybody a three-month prison term. Instead we are supposed to give them community service.

"But the concept of community service in this country is a joke. It more often than not involves people being sent to their local council's social work office where they're told to sit in the corner with a cup of tea."

McBride also wants an overhaul of sentencing procedures to ensure that thugs serve the time they deserve.

He added: "If a person is guilty of committing an assault, it would be fair to say they should serve six to eight months in prison. However, under existing arrangements, they can be back out on the streets within weeks. It's farcical."

McBride is also calling for a clampdown on foreign criminals who, at the moment, can freely enter the UK.

He represented Lithuanian brute Vitas Plytnykas, 41, who along with Aleksandras Skirda, 20, butchered tragic factory worker Jolanta Bledaite, 35, in Brechin last year.

The QC also defended Slovakian Marek Harcar, 33 - the fiend who raped and murdered businesswoman Moira Jones, 40, in Glasgow's Queen's Park in May 2008.

Plytnykas had a previous conviction after he killed a man in a knife attack in Germany in 2000.

And evil Harcar had already been convicted of a string of violent offences outside the UK, with two committed in the Czech Republic and the rest in Slovakia. Yet because of EU laws, both were allowed into the UK to kill again.

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McBride said: "People from European countries can turn up at Prestwick Airport and be waved right through into Britain.

"These folk can go anywhere in Scotland. Marek Harcar and the men who killed Jolanta benefited from this state of affairs - and they went on to commit shocking crimes.

"We have to change this to ensure that more serious criminals can't come into Scotland.

"The law allows us to forbid entry to people who may pose a threat to public safety. But now we need a European-wide database of offenders that can be accessed by officials at our airports and ports.

"All this is achievable. The only thing missing is the political will."

McBride - who has announced he's ditching his lifelong support for Labour in favour of the Tories - wants tougher monitoring of sex predators.

He fumed: "The sex offenders' register isn't enough. It doesn't stop the problem that really dangerous folk can go missing, go off the radar and commit more crimes.

"The Conservatives have spoken to me about using satellite navigation technology to track rapists.

"And I think setting up a website with the details of offenders who've gone missing is a good idea. The public MUST be kept informed."

The QC also wants compulsory jail terms set for thugs with blades.

McBride added: "Knife crime is one of the major public safety issues in Scotland today.

"We should ensure that neds who carry them get jail time.

"We need people to know that they will receive a serious punishment for carrying a knife."

And he also called for tougher measures on teen boozing. He added: "We could cut crime at a stroke if police had enough resources to take action against off-licences that sell booze to under-18s."

He added: "Your paper must be congratulated for its Save Our Streets campaign. We all need to take action to stop the rot. Otherwise, we will continue down the road to lawlessness."

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