By DAVID LEASK

SCOTS law chiefs left three families of crash victims in legal limbo as they refused their bids for private prosecutions against death drivers.

As reported in later editions of last night’s Evening Times, Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland refused to back a private prosecution of Harry Clarke, 58, who killed six people and injured 15 more in Christmas 2014.

He also refused a request for a private prosecution of motorist William Payne who killed Mhairi Convy, 18, and Laura Stewart, 20, in December 2010, in North Hanover Street, Glasgow.

Like Mr Clarke, Mr Payne had lost consciousness at the wheel.

The Crown has always argued that there was not enough evidence to show that a crime was committed by Mr Clarke.

A Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) held last year heard that Mr Clarke lost consciousness at the wheel and that he had a history of health issues - including a previous blackout in 2010 when at the wheel of a stationary bus - but had not disclosed his medical background to his employers or the DVLA.

Solicitors representing the relatives of three of the six bin lorry victims - Erin McQuade, 18, and her grandparents Jack and Lorraine Sweeney - will still ask for a court to allow a private criminal case against Mr Clarke.

But their chances of securing the right to do so - the first since 1984 - are thought to be slim after Mr Mulholland withheld support.

A spokesman for the Crown Office said: “The Lord Advocate has declined to grant concurrence to the bill for criminal letters seeking a private prosecution of the driver of the bin lorry involved in the George Square fatalities on December 22, 2014.

“The original decision not to take criminal proceedings was made on the basis that there was insufficient evidence in law to prove that a crime had been committed and that position remains unchanged.”

The families of Ms Convy and Ms Stewart have consistently called for Mr Payne to face a criminal trial and a Bill for Criminal Letters was sent to the Lord Advocate last week in the wake of the move by the families of the bin lorry crash victims.

Relatives of Ms Convy and Ms Stewart attended part of the bin lorry crash FAI last year in support of the victims’ families.

A Crown Office spokesman said: “The Lord Advocate has declined to grant concurrence to the Bill for Criminal Letters seeking a private prosecution of the driver of vehicle involved in the North Hanover Street fatalities on December 17 2010.

“The original decision not to take criminal proceedings was made on the basis that there was insufficient evidence in law to prove that a crime had been committed and that position remains unchanged.”

Permission may now be sought from High Court judges.

Meanwhile, former First Minister Alex Salmond backed a private prosecution of Harry Clarke.

But Mr Salmond also supported Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, who on Wednesday refused to back a private prosecution of Mr Clarke and another motorist who killed pedestrians after blacking out at the wheel.

Asked about Mr Mulholland’s decision on his weekly radio show, Mr Salmond said: “If there is a reason for him not being able to take forward a prosecution in terms of law, it will be a good one.

“Whether the law is right or wrong is another matter.”

Quizzed about private prosecutions, he said: “I think the family have the absolute right to do it.

“In my own opinion, yes, go for the private prosecution.”

A spokesman for Digby Brown, the firm which represents the families of Ms Convy and Ms Stewart, said he was not surprised by the Lord Advocate’s ruling.

He added: “It is the families’ intention to go forward to a high court hearing and ruling on the issue.

“Our hope is this would be held in the same timescale as the bin lorry question as many of the legal issues and questions about the crown’s decision making across the two are similar.”

Digby Brown also represents the family of bin lorry victim Jacqueline Morton, who also support a private prosecution of Mr Clarke.

Private prosecutions are very rare in Scotland. There were only two staged in the entire 20th century, including the notorious Glasgow rape case. That 1984 prosecution - which was not opposed by the Crown, ended in jail for the perpetrators.

The Crown had been unable to mount its own prosecution because the victim, Carole X, had not, initially, been fit to stand trial.

James Chalmers, regius professor of law at Glasgow University, said he did not expect the private prosecution bids to be successful. “A private prosecution should be an exception remedy for exceptional circumstances,” he said.