MORE than 70 cases of prisoners claiming that slopping out breached their human rights may have to be heard individually, it emerged yesterday.

The Court of Session also heard that Scottish ministers have agreed to hold compensation talks with prisoners suffering from a physical or mental problem which was made worse by slopping out.

Details of the 74 claims emerged as five of the cases, from Peterhead prison, were called and continued during a procedural hearing. No agreement has been reached on using a handful as test cases.