By CATRIONA STEWART

THE mother of murder victim Moira Jones says the Scottish Government should be giving more financial support to families bereaved by murder.

Bea Jones wrote to the Scottish Government to complain her charity, the Moira Fund, was having to “prop up” Victim Support Scotland’s (VSS) victim fund.

The Moira Fund gave £10,000 to be ringfenced to help families of murder victims but this money was quickly depleted.

In a letter to Holyrood’s Justice Committee, Bea said: ‘’I want things to be better for Scottish victims. They are the poor relations in the justice system and this is not right.’’

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson has now pledged £10,000 for the VSS fund and said he plans to have members of his department meet Bea to discuss support for bereaved families.

She said: “Mr Matheson talks about improvements and changes for victims and witnesses in Scotland.

“However, these improvements are only as far as the court is concerned and I feel there are more improvements to be made.

“It’s not just court, it’s how people get on with their lives.

“All the grief, all the trauma, you are dealing with the physical and emotional impact of what has happened but you are also dealing with the financial impact.

“It’s not the main thing if you have the resources but a lot of people do not and they find themselves getting in to debt to pay for a funeral and a head stone.

“If you have family who want to support you at trial then it’s accommodation costs.

“You end up in a terrible spiral of financial loss, as well as all the other loss.”

Mr Matheson told the Justice Committee in a letter the Scottish Government had given £70,000 to the victim fund since it was set up in 2009.

However, Bea said: “This sounds like a lot of money but is actually £10,000 a year.

“There are around 70 to 75 murders a year - that becomes a very small sum very quickly.”

Bea’s daughter Moira was murdered in Glasgow’s Queen’s Park in 2008 and The Moira Fund was set up in her memory.