A FRAUDSTER avoided a prison sentence yesterday after a sheriff told him that there was no room left in Scotland's overcrowded jails.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis told George Munce, 46, he was lucky to escape jail, but made clear his decision was influenced by pressure not to increase prisoner numbers.
Instead, he ordered Munce to carry out 240 hours' community work for stealing nearl
y £10,000 in benefits cash.
The sheriff said: "We are told that prison populations are reaching crisis point and as a result – for a matter which I consider you well merit a custodial sentence – I am going to deal with it by way of the direct alternative."
He also ordered him to return the £9,500 he obtained fraudulently, but gave him 20 years to pay it back at £10 per week.
Perth Sheriff Court had heard how Munce, of Kincardine Road, Auchterarder, had been claiming benefits as a single man despite living with his partner, Donna Clements, for nearly a decade. He admitted that between April 2004 and July 2006 he fraudulently obtained income support.
In the past week, both the chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and the chief inspector of prisons have warned of a prisons crisis.
Mike Ewart, the head of the SPS, called for a cap on prison numbers after conceding they had reached "emergency" levels, with an all-time high last week of 8,137. Official capacity is only 6,625, while the safe limit is defined as 8,126.
Opposition politicians said the Munce case highlighted the malaise at the heart of the justice system.
Richard Baker, Labour's justice spokesman, said: "The crisis in the Scottish prison system lies at the door of (the justice secretary] Kenny MacAskill.
"His government's refusal to get on with the job of adding more capacity to the prison estate is at the heart of this crisis."
Bill Aitken, the Scottish Tory justice spokesman, described the decision not to jail Munce as "quite extraordinary".
He said: "If Sheriff Foulis thought prison was appropriate, then that is the sentence which he should have imposed. (Sheriffs] should deal with each case as it is presented to them and it is absolutely outrageous, and indeed dangerous, that a sheriff has to concede that sentencing policy is being influenced by lack of prison places."
Robert Brown, the Liberal Democrats justice spokesman, said: "Judges should never be put in the position of having to decide a sentence on the basis of space in prisons. The justice secretary must take urgent steps to make it clear to judges that it is not their job to worry about the number of criminals in prison. If they feel sending someone to prison is the right outcome, that is what they should do."
The full article contains 473 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
