An SFA staff member at the centre of the Pope email scandal has lost his job, The Herald can reveal.

Tim Berridge, who used to be a video analysis expert for the national team, is believed to have agreed a confidentiality clause as part of his redundancy deal.

Labour MSP Michael McMahon said the SFA had "a duty" to explain the reasons for Mr Berridge's post being axed.

Five SFA employees were sacked last year after being accused of forwarding an email which suggested the Pontiff was involved with child abuse.

The image contained in the email was of a road-crossing sign with an adult holding a child's hand, next to the message: "CAUTION: The Pope is coming."

The most high-profile sacking was Hugh Dallas, at that point the SFA's head of referee development, who lost his job after the Catholic Church intervened in the row.

One of the staffers, mailroom manager Bob Bryan, did not appeal his dismissal.

However, the three others who were initially sacked – Mr Berridge, secretary Amanda Macdonald, and administration assistant Marco McIntyre – got their jobs back after successfully contesting the decision.

It is understood trade union representatives for the trio provided evidence of other spoof emails sent around the SFA, including one on so-called paedophile priests.

Harry Donaldson, a GMB official, said at the time: "The outcome of the appeal was clearly based on the belief that the decision was too harsh and severe under the circumstances."

Speaking in January, Mr Donaldson said the three individuals would return to their posts at the end of the month.

However, it has now emerged Mr Berridge left the SFA last month after he was made redundant.

The Herald understands that three posts have been axed in recent months.

Of the 140 or so individuals employed by the SFA, the redundancies amount to around 2% of the workforce.

It is believed the football governing body is making structural changes to bring the organisation into the digital age.

A former audio-visual technician at Dundee University, Mr Berridge joined the SFA in 2005.

He was responsible for video production for the national team, the football development department, and for the communications and referee development teams.

One of his tasks had been to record and edit games for Scotland boss Craig Levein.

His Linkedin profile states that he is now a freelance cameraman and editor.

Brian Johnstone, Mr Berridge's union representative, said: "Tim left as part of a compromise agreement."

Mr McMahon said he believed the initial email had been "in-appropriate" but not a sacking offence.

He said the SFA had questions to answer about Mr Berridge's subsequent departure:

"If it was just about cost-cutting and reducing staff numbers, the SFA could have done this through voluntary redundancy," he said.

"Was that option considered, or were they looking specifically to get rid of particular posts, and his just happened to be one of them?

"The SFA has a duty and a responsibility to talk to the trade unions and justify why these posts are being made redundant."

Mr Berridge said: "I've got no comment to make."

A spokesman for the SFA said: "We've got no comment."