THE father of a policewoman wrongly accused of leaving her fingerprint at a murder scene has spoken out about the presentation of expert evidence in Scottish Courts, saying "lessons are not being learned".

Iain McKie says more checks need to be done to ensure expert evidence can be relied upon in court, as even though defective testimony represents a small minority of cases, it puts at risk the reputation of the majority.

In a letter to The Herald, he said: "Although defective testimony represents a small minority of the total, tragically it can lead to the innocent being deemed guilty and the guilty remaining undetected and unpunished.

"Laissez-faire judges who will not or cannot act as 'gate- keepers' to expert evidence and provide guidance to uncomprehending juries only serve to compound matters."

His comments come after Kimberley Hainey, 38, was cleared of all her convictions connected with the death of her son, Declan, after appeal judge Lord Clarke suggested witnesses who gave evidence against her were not experts in the relevant field.

Lord Clarke called for more pre-trial hearings so judges could rule on the admissibility of such evidence, saying it was not right for "an obvious 'quack' doctor to speak to a subject in a supposed expert way".

Mr McKie added: "As the Kimberley Hainey case dramatically shows, the appeal judge's 'quack' comments can divert attention from these continuing system failures and unfairly put at risk the reputations of the many skilled and dedicated experts whose testimony can play a vital part in ascertaining guilt or innocence.

"The old checks, balances, systems and procedures for evaluation forensic evidence are no longer effective.

"We require to develop a consensus among those who manage our justice system that change is necessary and must be realistically funded.

"The Law Society, Faculty for Advocates, Crown Office, Judicial Institute and politicians all need to sit up, take notice and implement training programmes and procedure reviews aimed at ensuring that in Scotland expert evidence can be relied upon to deliver justice for all concerned."

Mr McKie's daughter, former detective Shirley McKie, was tried for perjury in 1998 after insisting that a fingerprint found in the home of murder victim Marion Ross in 1997 was not hers.

In 1999, she was cleared after a jury accepted her claim the fingerprint was not hers. In 2006, she was given £750,000 by the then Scottish Executive in an out-of-court settlement.