Death by Driving Committee

Remit and terms of reference

The Death by Driving Working Group Committee will support the Scottish Sentencing Council in its preparation of a sentencing guideline on death by driving offences.

The Committee will oversee all aspects of the development of the guideline until submission to the High Court and will give consideration thereafter to ongoing monitoring of the guideline. The Council will specify the expected lifetime of the committee. This may be reviewed and, if appropriate, amended by the Council during the committee’s lifetime. The Committee’s work will include, in particular:

 

  • making recommendations to the Council as to its scope, content and approach
  • identifying knowledge and information gaps relevant to the guideline’s development, submitting any proposals for research to the Research Committee
  • reviewing draft guidelines prepared by the Secretariat, providing advice and direction as required while having regard to any guideline methodology and           drafting style agreed by the Council
  • supporting engagement with relevant stakeholders at all stages of the guideline’s development
  • overseeing the judicial and public consultation process, including the preparation of consultation documents and impact assessments

 

The Committee will report regularly to the Council on the progress of guideline development, making recommendations and, where appropriate, referring significant or potentially controversial decisions to the Council.

Current Members

The Right Hon. Lord Matthews

Senator member

Lord Matthews will hold office until November 2025.

The Right Hon. Lord Matthews was appointed a judge of the Supreme Courts in 2007, having served as a temporary judge since February 2004. He graduated from the University of Glasgow LL.B (Hons), and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in July 1979. He was appointed as a Queen's Counsel in 1992 and practised at the Bar until his appointment as a sheriff in January 1997. He was Standing Junior Counsel to the Department of Employment in Scotland from June 1984 until March 1988, and served as an advocate depute from April 1988 until January 1993.

Sheriff Norman McFadyen

Advisor

Sheriff McFadyen was the Council's Sheriff member between 2015-2020. Sheriff McFadyen sits on the Death by Driving Committee as an advisor by invitation of the Council.

Sheriff Norman McFadyen was appointed as a Sheriff in South Strathclyde, Dumfries, and Galloway, Scotland in 2010 and transferred to Lothian and Borders at Edinburgh in 2015. He has extensive experience of criminal trials and sentencing. He studied law at the University of Glasgow and joined the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service as an apprentice solicitor in 1976, qualifying in 1978 and then undertaking a number of prosecution roles, rising to be Crown Agent and Chief Executive, the permanent head of the prosecution service in Scotland, in 2004. Sheriff McFadyen is a board member of the International Society for Reform of Criminal Law and was a member of the reference group for the Criminal Justice System Objectives Review and the policy groups for the Civil Courts Review, chaired by the Rt Hon Lord Gill and, more recently, the Post-Corroboration Safeguards Review, chaired by the Rt Hon Lord Bonomy. He has lectured to a wide variety of audiences on criminal justice themes, including sentencing, nationally and internationally.

Sheriff David Harvie

Advisor

Sheriff Harvie was Council's Prosecutor member between 2016-2021. David sits on the Death by Driving Committee as an advisor by invitation of the Council.

David is a Solicitor Advocate and joined the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, following a spell in private practice, in 1996. He worked as a Procurator Fiscal Depute in Paisley until 1999, when he was seconded to the Lockerbie criminal trial team until after the trial, when he was promoted to Principal Depute, Aberdeen. He was seconded to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office between 2001 and 2004, when he returned to Crown Office as Deputy, then Head of the National Casework Division with responsibility for Organised Crime, Financial Crime and Proceeds of Crime cases throughout Scotland. In 2008, David was promoted to District Procurator Fiscal, Edinburgh and East Lothian. In August 2010, he was appointed as Area Procurator Fiscal for Central. In May 2011, he was appointed Interim Head of East Federation. He was promoted to Director of Serious Casework and Procurator Fiscal North of Scotland in July 2011. He took up post as Procurator Fiscal for the West of Scotland in April 2014. He was promoted to Crown Agent in April 2016.