FRESH INDICTMENT SERVED IN RELATION TO ROSEPARK NURSING HOME
A new indictment has today 30 September 2008 been served in connection with the fire at Rosepark Nursing Home, Uddingston on 31st January 2004 which caused the death of 14 residents.
The indictment has been served on Thomas Balmer, Anne Balmer and Alan Balmer as the whole surviving partners of the now dissolved firm of Rosepark Care Home, which firm from the dates between 1st April 1996 and 28th February 2005 at 261 Viewpark, Uddingston, carried on the business or undertaking of a residential care home, and as such partners only.
This Indictment is directed against the whole surviving partners of the now dissolved firm. The whole surviving partners are indicted in their representative capacity only and not as individuals.
The Indictment has also been served on Croftbank House Limited, formerly Balmer Care Homes Limited, Campbell House, 126 Drymen Road, Bearsden, Glasgow which operates a care home at Croftbank House, Old Mill Road, Uddingston G71 7JB.
This Indictment is served following on the decision of the Appeal Court on 25th July 2008 that the Crown could not proceed further with the previous indictment against the now dissolved firm of Rosepark Care Home. In Scots Law, a firm is a separate legal person distinct from the partners of whom it is composed. The Appeal Court held that on dissolution of the firm there was a complete cessation of the persona of the partnership (that is the separate legal person) and that a dissolved firm did not retain a limited persona for the purposes of criminal prosecution which could be prosecuted in its own name.
The Indictment will call at a Preliminary Hearing at the High Court of Justiciary in Glasgow on the 30th October 2008.
