No place in today's Scotland for defence of 'provocation by sexual infidelity' in killings, says Highlands and Islands MSP

Newly-elected regional MSP Emma Roddick is calling for a change in the law to stop jealous killers getting away with murder.

She has called on the Scottish Government to use the opportunity presented by a Scottish Law Commission discussion paper to abolish the partial defence of "provocation by sexual infidelity" being used to reduce a murder charge to culpable homicide.

Ms Roddick, who asked a question in the Scottish Parliament, believes the defence has no place in modern Scotland.

Afterwards, she said: "The defence arose originally to enable a man who killed another man after discovering that man having sex with his wife to escape the gallows.

"Shockingly, it continues to exist despite the abolition of capital punishment and has even been expanded to apply in a much wider range of circumstances."

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