The father of a murdered teenager has told MSPs his family have "serious reservations" about plans to allow single judges to preside over rape trials.

Joe Duffy welcomed other aspects of the Scottish Government's wide-ranging proposals to give more protection to victims and strongly backed its plans to scrap the not proven verdict.

However, he raised concerns about measures to bring in juryless trials for serious sex offences and said he did not back plans for a victims' commissioner.

"We have serious reservations on the removal of a jury," Mr Duffy told MSPs in his family's submission to Holyrood's justice committee which is about to examine the government's legislation.

READ MORE: Senior judges oppose plans for sex crimes juryless trials

But he went on to support a proposal for a pilot scheme to be run in which single judges would preside in trials for rape and other serious sexual offences. The plan follows concerns that convictions for sexual offences are considerably lower than for other crimes.

Mr Duffy's daughter Amanda was killed after going missing in the early hours of May 30, 1992, after a night out with friends.

Her body was found by passers-by that evening in an area of waste ground near to a car park in Miller Street, in Hamilton.

The Herald: Amanda Duffy's father Joe Duffy.

Francis Auld, 20, was tried for the student’s murder after witnesses said they had seen them together.

However, jurors found the murder charge against him not proven by majority verdict.

In 1995, Amanda’s family launched a civil case against Mr Auld, with a judge awarding them £50,000 in damages after finding him responsible for her death.

In 2015, the Crown asked the High Court to allow Mr Auld to be re-tried for the murder. However, he died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 45 in July 2017.

Mr Duffy and his wife Kate have campaigned for the end of the not proven verdict since Mr Auld's acquittal and in their submission to the justice committee, Mr Duffy told MSPs Scotland "should change to a two-verdict system" in line with other countries around the world.

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"The Scottish legal system is recognised as the only legal system in the world with three verdicts. This is an outmoded, outdated and unnecessary system," he said.

The Herald: Francis Auld, pictured above, was acquitted of Amanda Duffy's murder when the jury returned a not proven verdict.

"What is required is a legal system, which correctly finds guilty those who are guilty of an offence and acquits those who are not guilty... The two verdicts should be guilty and not guilty.

"These two verdicts are universally understood, universally accepted as the acceptable outcome."

MSPs wil start hearing oral evidence on the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform Bill today with justice secretary Angela Constance to be quizzed this morning.

In addition to ending the not proven verdict and a pilot for juryless trials for serious sex crimes, the bill also proposes reducing the size of Scottish juries from 15 to 12, establishing a victim's commissioner, setting up a specialised sexual offences court and giving lifelong anonymity to victims of sex crimes.

Mr Duffy told MSPs his family were also opposed to a victims' commissioner saying the money to set up such an office could lead to less money available for existing services.

"We do not support the creation of a victims’ commissioner," said Mr Duffy.

"The creation of this post will create yet another level of unnecessary bureaucracy within the criminal justice process. There are limited funding and resources currently within criminal justice Scotland and we believe this appointment would adversely impact resources and that the funding ring fenced for this appointment would be better directed at providing additional support services to victims and victims’ services."

He added: "In discussion with other victims and witnesses of crime, including individuals bereaved by crime we feel there should be a greater emphasis on the voices of victims and witnesses within the Scottish criminal justice system.

"Improvements to the service provision from all the existing agencies within the criminal justice process would be of more benefit.

"The funding allocation for this role would be better utilised within the proposed trauma informed practice to ensure relevant training is provided to ensure statutory agencies have a clearer understanding of the trauma affecting victims and witnesses of crime, particularly those bereaved by crime."

Audrey Nicoll MSP, convener of the criminal justice committee said: “This bill is a major piece of legislation containing a number of significant provisions and as a committee, we will take time to scrutinise it in a balanced and thorough manner. 

“We want to ensure that all sides of the arguments have a chance to give their views and debate the merits of the bill.

“We also want to ensure that all aspects of the bill are given proper scrutiny, so we have decided to take a phased approach, over several months, to ensure that ample time is devoted to each part of this bill.”