Fingerprint expert in Shirley McKie case wins job back

Published on Thursday 29 January 2009 21:02

A FINGERPRINT expert who lost her job over the Shirley McKie affair has won her case for unfair dismissal.

Fiona McBride was one of four fingerprint officers who identified a mark left at a murder scene in 1997 as belonging to Ms McKie, who at the time was a Strathclyde Police detective.

Miss McBride, from Clydebank, took her case to an employment tribunal in Glasgow after being asked to leave her post with the Scottish Criminal Records Office (SCRO) in 2007 after almost 23 years.

The tribunal has now ordered her full reinstatement.

Miss McBride's solicitors, Turcan Connell, said she was "delighted" at the judgment.

A spokeswoman said: "Not only does the judgment vindicate her fully, it allows her to return to a profession which she loves and in which she has many years of experience."

Her solicitors said the judgment ordered that Miss McBride should be "treated in all respects as if she had not been dismissed".

In addition, a judge has ordered all her rights and privileges – including the pension to which she was entitled at the time of her dismissal – to be restored to her, said the lawyers.

The SCRO merged with other police bodies to form the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) in 2007.

Jo Brigham, interim chief executive of the SPSA, said: "We are disappointed that the tribunal has found against us on this occasion. We will be studying the details of the tribunal's judgment and its implications, including any grounds for appeal."

Ms McKie, of Troon, Ayrshire, was accused of leaving her fingerprint at the Kilmarnock home of murder victim Marion Ross in 1997.

But she challenged the findings of the fingerprint experts and was later cleared of perjury. In 2006, she was given 750,000 in an out-of-court settlement from the Scottish Executive.