Commentary on Sections Part 1 – Criminal Proceedings Section 271M – Giving evidence in chief in the form of a prior statement
40.Subsections (1) and (2) allow for a previous statement made by a vulnerable witness and which has been reliably recorded on video or in some other way to be used as their main evidence without the need for the witness having to adopt the statement.
41.Section 260 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 Act already allows prior statements to be admitted as evidence in criminal proceedings, but subsection (2) of section 260 requires that during the course of the proceedings the witness must confirm in court that the statement was made by him or herself and is adopted as evidence.
42.Subsection (3) of section 271M enables the provisions already contained in section 260 of the 1995 Act to also apply to statements lodged in evidence under this section, by making some minor modifications to section 260, principally to ensure that the witness does not have to adopt the statement.