6 hours Ago By [email protected] (Chris McCall)
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Police Scotland has been slammed by the country's top prosecutor over its seven-year investigation into butcher surgeon Sam Eljamel .
Dorothy Bain, the Lord Advocate , told a victim in a letter "on any view this investigation has simply not progressed as it should have". The comments were included in a letter to Jules Rose , who has led the campaign for an inquiry and police investigation into the rogue surgeon ’s actions. Police have so far failed to bring any charges in the investigation into Eljamel despite a probe - codenamed Operation Stringent - having dragged on for the best part of a decade.
Bain, who leads Scotland's prosecution service, said she had "been concerned for some time about the progress being made in investigating this matter" and had met with police in September 2023 to emphasise her concerns. Jules Rose told LBC that she hopes the letter will be a wake up call for Police Scotland. "I would now hope that the Chief Constable would place the utmost priority on Operation Stringent and finally agree to a meeting, which I've been requesting for significant months now, but I'm still met with radio silence.
," she said. "Also the focus should not just be on Eljamel. It's much bigger than that.
Police Scotland should be looking at anybody who enabled or covered up the surgeon to commit the butchery that he did. "We feel that Police Scotland is now playing catch up on the years of inaction - to have one senior investigation officer on the case for five years is just not good enough, and I have received no explanation as to why that was the case.” She added: “We feel as complainers that they've never believed us from the outset.
As victims, we feel ignored and the investigation’s been moving like molasses." Eljamel left hundreds of people with injuries and was ultimately suspended from NHS Tayside before fleeing to Libya. A public inquiry has now been agreed by the Scottish Government into the scandal - but the campaigners reported the issue to the police seven years ago.
Rose and others wrote to Bain to lay out their concerns about the time the police inquiry was taking. "It's good that she has acknowledged the failings in this investigation," Rose said. "For example, officers are abstracted to other investigations.
We've got no committed team on Operation Stringent. It took years for them to obtain a specialist neurosurgeon to give his independent clinical opinion, which, as we can gather, is a one size fits all for the vast range of surgeries that patients have endured. “I've got serious concerns that Police Scotland have been and still are cutting corners, which I've expressed and I'm still waiting on a reply.
" Three MSPs today issued a joint statement in response to Bain's letter. Labour's Michael Marra, Willie Rennie of the Lib Dems, and Tory MSP Liz Smith have all repeatedly called for answers on the case. They said: "This is a hugely significant intervention from the Lord Advocate.
"The Lord Advocate rightly acknowledges that victims have had to wait far too long for any progress on Operation Stringent, Police Scotland’s investigation into the actions of disgraced surgeon Sam Eljamel. "The Lord Advocate’s apology to victims is welcome, but Police Scotland must now take action. "As a cross-party group of MSPs, we have written to Police Scotland raising the unacceptably lengthy delays to this investigation.
"Following the Lord Advocate’s intervention we have received a much delayed response. Victims will find very little comfort in what it sets out. What victims want, need and deserve is real action.
"This lack of progress cannot continue. Police Scotland must now at long last get their act together." A Police Scotland spokesperson said the investigation was “complex and protracted” but is “being investigated by the Major Investigation Team to ensure it has the experience and specialist knowledge required.
” They also said that so far that two advice and guidance reports have been submitted to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service but that extensive enquiries remain ongoing." To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
