Shirley McKie receives apology for wrong accusation that she left fingerprint at murder scene

STV

Forensic service chiefs have apologised to a former police officer wrongly accused of leaving her fingerprint at a murder scene.

Shirley McKie was charged with perjury after denying that a fingerprint found on a doorframe at the scene of the murder of 51-year-old Marion Ross in 1997 was hers.

After being found not guilty of the charge, Ms McKie settled out of court for £750,000 with the then Scottish Executive, before the Fingerprint Inquiry into the case was established.

The findings of the Fingerprint Inquiry were released on Wednesday prompting the Scottish Police Services Authority to apologise to the former police officer and her family. The authority took over the running of the Fingerprint Bureau, which identified the print as that of Ms McKie, in December 2009.

Tom Nelson, director of forensic services at the authority, said: "As an organisation, we accept the findings of the Inquiry and we expect all of our staff members to do the same.

"We accept that Shirley McKie did not make the mark known as Y7. We have today apologised directly to the McKie family for the errors that took place in the late 1990s and for the subsequent pain that has caused them."

The inquiry, chaired by former Northern Ireland appeal court judge Sir Anthony Campbell, said there was "no conspiracy against Ms McKie in Strathclyde Police".

He said it was "human error" that fingerprint experts had identified the print as hers.

The former officer, from Troon in Ayrshire, and her father Iain said they wanted "closure" from the report.

After the announcement from the police services authority, Mr McKie said: "Its an extremely important apology because it's the first time I have ever heard anyone say sorry. This is the first real apology that has been made in 14 years. I feel I can move forward myself now."

'Find the killer'

Ms McKie, a former detective constable with Strathclyde Police, always denied leaving her fingerprint at Ms Ross's Kilmarnock home, as she was never at the house.

Her insistence on that during the trial of David Asbury, the man who was convicted then cleared of murdering Ms Ross, led to her being put on trial for perjury. But she was cleared of lying under oath and went on to receive £750,000 compensation.

While the case dominated her life and that of her father, Mr McKie said he now wanted Strathclyde Police to focus on finding Ms Ross's killer.

He continued: "A 51-year-old was brutally stabbed to death in 1997. I'm going to issue a challenge to Strathclyde Police to get this properly investigated. If there is one thing I want beyond our own drawing a line, it's for some peace to come to that woman's family."

He went on: "I don't know what is in the report but if it is critical of fingerprinting them something is going to have to be done. I'm looking at both the Government and the Crown office to accept the findings and recommendations of the report and that they are going to move forensics forward.

"It could be criticism that is valid across the world and I'm hoping it will aid forensics and justice throughout the world."

'Fundamental weaknesses'

The inquiry was ordered after a Scottish Parliament committee examined the case, with MSPs concluding there were "fundamental weaknesses" in Scotland's fingerprint services.

Ministers in the Labour-Liberal Democrat Scottish Executive resisted calls for a public inquiry into the affair. But the SNP pledged to set up an inquiry in its 2007 election manifesto and, after the nationalists won the Holyrood election, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said it would indeed take place.

Speaking when the inquiry was announced in 2008 Mr MacAskill said the McKie case had "cast a cloud of suspicion" over the criminal justice system for more than a decade.

After the findings of the inquiry were released on Wednesday, Mr McAskill said: "For well over a decade, the Shirley McKie case has cast a shadow of uncertainty and suspicion over the individuals involved and the wider Scottish criminal justice system. Though previous reviews had helped address some key issues, they had not resolved them all.

"This government was firmly of the view that as long as some matters remained unresolved, and public concern remained, that the right and proper action was to establish an independent public judicial inquiry into the case.

"Though there is a lot to digest in Sir Anthony's report, I believe that the Fingerprint Inquiry has brought to an end the many years of uncertainty surrounding the Shirley McKie case and has, I sincerely hope, brought welcome closure to those involved. We should all recognise that there have been significant advances in the delivery of Scotland's forensic services since the McKie case, and I am confident that the recommendations from this Inquiry will further enhance these services."

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