Most cases affected were in Glasgow

The number of criminal cases being abandoned due to delays in the justice system doubled in the last year.

First Minister Jack McConnell denied that the increase, disclosed in figures from the Crown Office, showed his law and order reforms were not working.

The number of reported offences in which no proceedings were taken rose to more than 17,000 in 2002.

The Crown Office blamed "problems" at Strathclyde Police for the figures, including technology issues.

These cases were stale and therefore justice delayed is justice denied Eilish Angiolini Solicitor general

The Scottish Conservatives said Scotland was becoming a "law breakers' paradise", while the Scottish National Party said the issue must be tackled as a "matter of urgency".

The figures were disclosed by Solicitor General Eilish Angiolini in parliamentary answers to questions from SNP MSPs.

"These are not bungled cases, the prosecutor can only deal with cases that are received timeously," she said.

"These cases were stale and therefore justice delayed is justice denied."

In 1997 there were 1,661 reports to procurators fiscal which were marked "no proceedings" because of delays by the police or other reporting agencies.

Time-barred

A further 1,420 reports were dropped that year because they were time-barred.

By 2001 the figures had risen to 5,915 and 2,157 respectively.

Last year the number of cases dropped due to delays by police or other agencies soared to 14,563, while a further 2,531 were time-barred.

Glasgow accounted for almost half the Scottish total, with 1,147 cases time-barred and 6,776 abandoned because of delays.

Record detection rates year-on-year has led to more people than ever being reported to the procurator fiscal Strathclyde Police spokeswoman

Challenged in parliament over the figures by Scottish National Party leader John Swinney, Mr McConnell insisted that a new computer system would lead to swifter justice in the courts.

"It's already happening elsewhere in Scotland, and it will happen in Strathclyde when the problems in IT are finally worked through," he said.

He added that the new system was "vitally important" and would make "a huge difference" in Scotland to the speed of the criminal justice system, from arrest right through to trial.

Mr Swinney questioned remarks made by the first minister in January that criminal justice reforms were working.

"We all assumed that the situation was getting better," he said.

"In fact nearly 1,300 cases have been dropped due to delays in Hamilton, 2,500 in Airdrie, and 8,000 in Glasgow, because of the impact of his measures."

Jack McConnell said improvements would come

A Crown Office spokesman said that the figures varied from year to year and represented a "very small proportion" of the total number of cases reported.

He said more than 275,000 reports had been received by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in the year to March.

"While the overall proportion of cases marked no proceedings has remained steady, the proportion marked no proceedings because of delay in reporting by the police has increased since 2000-01, largely because of reporting problems in the Strathclyde area," said the spokesman.

"This is attributable by the police to a number of factors around an increase in detection rates, reporting policies, technology and resources.

"It is a temporary problem which has been identified and is being addressed by the police in partnership with the area procurators fiscal in Strathclyde.

"We are working closely with the police and reporting agencies to address the timeliness of reporting."

'Lawbreakers' paradise'

A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police said: "Record detection rates year-on-year has led to more people than ever being reported to the procurator fiscal.

"We are now working extremely closely with the Fiscals Service and the Crown Office to explore ways to streamline the process of reporting these cases."

Tory justice spokeswoman Annabel Goldie described the figures as "shameful".

"It suggests Scotland is becoming a law breakers' paradise," she said.

"We seem to be sending out a message that if you want to commit a crime, come to Scotland because the chances are you won't be brought to justice."

Mr McConnell dismissed the "law breakers' paradise" claim, branding it as"irresponsible rubbish".