A joint Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) process has begun for two men who died from Covid-19 while in custody.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has lodged a First Notice with Dumfries Sheriff Court to commence an inquiry into the deaths of prisoners Gordon Pinkerton and Francis Moore, who was known as Father Paul.
Gordon Pinkerton, 75, died on April 22 2020 and Francis Moore, 85, died on February 27 2021.
Both died in Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary after contracting the Covid-19 virus while in legal custody within HMP Dumfries.
A former RAF serviceman Pinkerton was found guilty of sexually abusing six young girls over almost half a century.
Pinkerton was jailed in 2013
He was jailed for 15 years in May 2013.
Pinkerton of Aberdeen, preyed on schoolchildren for most of his adult life, subjecting them to abuse at various houses across Scotland.
He raped two of the girls when they were just six years old.
Pinkerton was jailed at the High Court in Glasgow.
The abuse began in 1963 and continued until 2011.
In April 2018, Francis Moore was jailed for nine years at the High Court in Glasgow.
His sentence was later reduced to eight years.
The court heard how he abused one boy at a school, another at a leisure centre and a third on the beach at Irvine in the 1970s.
He was also found guilty of indecently assaulting a student priest in 1995.
While his offending had taken place in Ayrshire between 1977 and 1996, he stayed in a “treatment centre” in Canada before living at a church house at Fort Augustus Abbey in the Highlands.
A preliminary hearing will be held on December 9 2024 at Dumfries Sheriff Court.
The Fatal Accident Inquiry will be heard on December 19 2024.
The purpose of an FAI includes determining the cause of death, and the circumstances in which the deaths occurred.
It also hopes to establish what reasonable precautions could have been taken to minimise the risk of future deaths in similar circumstances.
FAI to proceed at Dumfries Sherrif Court
Unlike criminal proceedings, FAIs are used to establish facts rather than apportion blame.
The deaths were investigated by the Covid Deaths Investigation Team within the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS).
Procurator Fiscal Andy Shanks, who leads fatalities investigations for COPFS, said: ”The Lord Advocate considers that the deaths of Gordon Pinkerton and Francis Moore occurred in similar circumstances, both deaths being attributable to the COVID-19 virus contracted whilst in legal custody within HMP Dumfries and as such a Fatal Accident Inquiry is mandatory.
“The lodging of the First Notice enables FAI proceedings to commence under the direction of the Sheriff.”