McKie affair forensic expert wins unfair dismissal action.

For more than 12 years, Fiona McBride has had to live with the controversy of being one of the six forensic experts who identified former policewoman Shirley McKie's thumbprint at the scene of a murder in 1997.

A judgment yesterday by an employment tribunal calls for her to be reinstated but again draws public attention to the McKie debacle and the saga of one of Scotland's most senior police figures, who refuses to be disciplined by his own board.

Shirley McKie, from Troon, Ayrshire, was accused of leaving the print at the Kilmarnock home of murder victim Marion Ross when she was a police officer more than 11 years ago. She challenged fingerprint experts' findings and was later cleared of perjury.

After the perjury trial, Ms McBride and the five other experts were suspended for 18 months pending a criminal investigation. They were cleared and returned to work on the defence of Scottish ministers against the civil action of Ms McKie.

In February 2006, Ms McKie received a £750,000 out-of-court settlement from the Scottish Executive.

Then, in 2006 David Mulhern, the chief executive of the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA), who is embroiled in a legal battle with the authority, publicly labelled it a "misidentification" - contrary to the views of many.

Yesterday's 80-page judgment refers to him holding a meeting in which he said he wanted to "get rid of" the six experts. By then, the judgment states, "the McKie saga had mushroomed".

The tribunal concluded that Mr Mulhern wanted to get rid of the staff rather than "inherit a mess".

The judgement states: "We noted Mr Mulhern did not consult or warn the employees concerned prior to making his announcement Mr Mulhern did not speak to the claimant. Mr Mulhern explained he did not engage with any staff because he was not the employer.

"We considered that no other reasonable interim chief executive would have acted as Mr Mulhern acted."

It also found Mr Mulhern's failure to meet Ms McBride "wholly unsatisfactory". It describes him as "arrogant" and says he "inflamed an already difficult situation".

Robert McKenzie, Allan Dunbar, Hugh McPherson and Charlie Stewart took redundancy packages estimated at between £70,000 and £100,000 in April 2007, after being told they would lose their jobs once the new Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) took over the fingerprint service.

Ms McBride's remaining colleague, Tony McKenna, agreed to be redeployed to Strathclyde Police.

Ms McBride chose not to take redundancy and was effectively sacked a month later. Before being sacked she was offered work at Crimestoppers for £13,000 a year. Her salary was more than £31,000 as a fingerprint expert.

Yesterday Ms McBride said she was "absolutely ecstatic" on hearing the judgment. Unless the SPSA appeals, she is due to be reinstated on February 27. She is expected to work as a fingerprint expert but not to go to court.

"I was on the phone to my lawyer when all my colleagues started texting and phoning to congratulate me," she said. "The other question is what are the ramifications of this for the other five? Does it mean they can go back too?"

Where the judgment leaves the SPSA has also yet to be worked out.

The complaint Ms McKie lodged against Mr Mulhern in 2006 was to be the first of many complaints against the chief executive whose board is struggling to discipline him.

The judgment states: "We concluded that the decision had been taken arbitrarily by Mr Mulhern because he did not want the claimant to transfer to the new organisation."

What really happened is still in dispute. Ms McKie and one team of experts still claim the print was not hers, while other experts such as Ms McBride maintain they were telling the truth.