A Scotsman accused of a string of offences in North and East Yorkshire has escaped justice - thanks to a Tartan legal loophole.

Timothy Foster at the pumps

The man was charged with making off without payment from the Fridaythorpe filling station at Fridaythorpe, near Driffield, and also from a Malton hotel.

He was accused of a similar offence against a Chester business, and also of two serious motoring offences: driving while disqualified and using a vehicle with no insurance.

After being arrested in Scotland, police from North Yorkshire travelled across the border to interview him - and it is understood he admitted all the offences.

But now Ryedale magistrates court proceedings against him have been abandoned because the Crown Prosecution Service believed he should not have been interviewed in Scotland - which has a different jurisdiction - but brought back to England to be questioned.

A CPS spokesman said that it could only use evidence presented to it by police, and unfortunately, the interview conducted in Scotland was considered inadmissible.

However, Inspector Neil Burnett of Malton police said that the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994, which came into force last year, had improved cross-border co-operation, making it possible in some cases for suspects to be interviewed in Scotland by English police.

He said the officer concerned had believed that the Act permitted him to question this particular suspect in Scotland, although the CPS lawyer involved had subsequently taken a different view.

He said there would now be discussions between the North Yorkshire force and the CPS about the future application of the Act. "We want to ensure this does not happen again. A lot of hard work was put into tracing the suspect."

Jim Benson, owner of the Fridaythorpe filling station, condemned the decision. "It's out of order," he said. "It's absolutely amazing."

He praised the work of police in the case.

Station manager Timothy Foster said that a woman accompanying the Scotsman had come to the till after he had filled up his tank and claimed that he had left his wallet at nearby Sledmere House.

She said they would go back to get the wallet and left her credit card as security. But they never came back and the account turned out to have been closed.

Ryedale MP John Greenway said today: "It seems ridiculous that someone facing such allegations can just walk away."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.