Bereavement abroad through homicide or culpable homicide - support: memorandum of understanding

5. Roles and Responsibilities

All participants named in the Memorandum acknowledge that each has a named responsibility as part of the process and that, with the exception of COPFS and Police Scotland, no participant can direct the other. COPFS may direct Police Scotland where it has the legal basis to do so.

Whilst the circumstances of each death will always need to be considered on an individual basis and will depend on the jurisdiction where the death has occurred, the participants to this MoU have collectively reached the understanding that they will as far as practicable:

• Establish points of contact for each participant;
• Clarify the participants’ respective roles and responsibilities in each particular case;
• Share relevant information as soon as practicable in line with any legal limits on scope or timing;
• Ensure that communication is commenced with bereaved families and establish with the family the manner in which communication will take place going forward and which organisations will hold responsibility for this;
• Refer bereaved families to appropriate support services and information on repatriation and post-mortem investigations;
• Where possible, provide the family with updates on criminal investigations and judicial proceedings; and
• Improve the flow of information between the participants, including about the likely progress of the overseas authority’s investigation and any domestic investigations.