RAPE Crisis Scotland welcomed a judge’s ruling that victims of abuse should receive legal aid to oppose applications to access their medical records or other sensitive information.

Senior judge Lord Glennie, who examined the case, ruled that the human rights of the woman at the centre of the case had been breached and she was entitled to legal aid which had previously been refused by Scottish government ministers.

Rape Crisis Scotland national co-ordinator Sandy Brindley called the ruling a “very significant step,” adding that her organisation had “serious concerns about the use of complainers’ medical records in sexual offence trials.”