Fatal accident inquiries in Scotland are taking almost three years on average to complete, it has been revealed.

One investigation, related to the death of Croatian Pjero Kurida who was crushed between two vessels in the North Sea in 2012, took more than nine years to conclude.

It found that Mr Kurida’s death could have been avoided had appropriate safety precautions been taken.

FAIs are held to investigate deaths in industrial accidents, in prisons and for deaths where it is felt necessary to hold a public inquiry.

There are now proposals for a Victims’ Law to be introduced which would put in place a statutory time limit for inquiries to be completed.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request by the Scottish Conservatives has shown that over the last year, the average time taken to close an inquiry was 1,067 days.

It is an increase of 128 on the average time taken to complete an inquiry in the previous year.

Want to see why Scotland is better as part of the UK?