Chhokar: Campbell report at a glance

The Justice of the Supreme Court of Northern Ireland, Sir Anthony Campbell, was asked to look at the way prosecution decisions were made in the Surjit Singh Chhokar case.

He was also asked to find out whether individual or institutional racism had affected how decisions were made in the case.

His conclusions were:

the Crown was wrong to proceed against Ronnie Coulter alone - Ronnie Coulter and Andrew Coulter should have been indicted together with David Montgomery as a witness;
• however, Sir Anthony said that even if this procedure had been followed it would not necessarily have resulted in a conviction;

• the internal systems of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service failed before the decision was made to indict Ronnie Coulter.

His recommendations included:

a review of the internal prosecution systems for High Court matters;
• a wider review, going beyond the internal systems of the Crown Office;

• the setting up of a satellite Crown Office High Court Unit near the High Court in Glasgow, to service cases there;

• efforts to ensure the continuity of responsibility for prosecution from the earliest stages of a case through to the trial;

• a need for more advocate deputes and legal staff.