McKie fingerprint expert in new legal bid

Reporter

Tuesday 30 October 2012

A FINGERPRINT expert who was unfairly dismissed over the Shirley McKie scandal is launching another bid to get her old job back.

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Victoria Weldon

Fiona McBride is appealing against a decision which ruled she should not be reinstated by the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) because there could be "disastrous consequences". Her case will be heard in the Court of Session next month.

Ms McBride was one of six specialists at the former Scottish Criminal Records Office who identified a print taken from a murder scene in 1997 as belonging to policewoman Shirley McKie. When Ms McKie denied in court the print was hers, and that she had not been in the home of victim Marion Ross, she was tried for perjury.However, she was acquitted after an independent American fingerprint expert said the Scots specialists had misidentified the print. The verdict caused panic in the justice system, as it raised questions about the reliability of other fingerprint evidence.Ms McKie was awarded £750,000 in damages in 2006, and David Asbury, who was jailed for Ms Ross's murder, had his conviction quashed.Since then, an inquiry ruled the blunder was the result of human error.Ms McBride and the other fingerprint officers involved were suspended and, in 2007, the SPSA sacked her.However, in January 2009, an employment tribunal found she had been unfairly dismissed and ordered her reinstatement. It also awarded her £31,768.The SPSA accepted the unfair dismissal ruling, but appealed against reinstatement. A hearing was held before Lady Smith who highlighted the problems reinstatement would cause the SPSA. Lady Smith said: "The clear picture is that returning the claimant [McBride] to work ... would not work. [McBride and the SPSA] parted company against a background of considerable conflict. Far from being practicable, the impression presented was one of the reinstatement ... being liable to have disastrous consequences."

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McKie fingerprint expert in new legal bid

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