Nothing could be more traumatic for a woman than than going to police to report rape and then have to face your alleged attacker in court.

But if the teenage victim whose horrifying plight is highlighted in the Sunday Mail today is anything to go by, why would any women put herself through that ordeal?

A 17-year-old student had the courage to go to the police who charged her alleged attacker with a serious sex crime. But instead of a court testing the evidence he handed a “diversion from prosecution” because of his age.

After we revealed the shocking case Lord Advocate Dorothy Bail KC give the victim renewed hope by ordering a review of the entire policy.

But in a cruel blow the victim has now been told yet again that there will be no further action.

Instead of being a victim of crime once and then given access to justice she feels like she has been repeatedly abused by the system.

Rape is a horrible crime that can impact women’s lives forever and no rapist should be given a free pass.

Something has gone wrong when we are more concerned with giving the perpetrator therapy than the victim justice.

Spun out of control

Humza Yousaf’s government is engulfed in so many secrecy scandals it’s hard to keep up.

From dodgy ipad bills to missing Covid documents and deleted WhatsApp messages, the punch drunk First Minister is stumbling from one crisis to another.

Not all are of his own making but the damage is magnified by his government’s preference for secrecy and spin over truth and transparency.

Had Health Secretary Michael Matheson immediately admitted his error in running up an £11,000 data bill on his work device during a family holiday and paid up, the fallout would have been minimal.

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Instead he and Yousaf claimed it was all above board until things escalated into one of the most pitiful pantomime’s in Holyrood history. Matheson tearfully threw his sons under the bus for watching a football match that racked up the enormous bill.

If The First Minister would just admit he had told the Covid inquiry his WhatsApps were auto-deleted, but he would now hand them over, it would put that ongoing scandal to bed in relation to him at least.

And if the the Scottish government would be clear about whether key Covid documents have been handed over to the UK public inquiry it would end speculation on that front.

Spinning only ever ends with plates crashing to the ground and makes the SNP look no better than their Tory rivals at Westminster.

Creepy Farage

Nigel Farage has always been the grubbiest of politicians and now he’s likely going to be eating some grubs in the ITV jungle.

And nobody will enjoy seeing the Brexiteer squirm more than former mistress Trixy Sanderson who has personally volunteered to cover him in cockroaches.

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