McKie anger as SNP breaks pledge on fingerprint probe

Published on Saturday 15 December 2007 19:21

THE father of Shirley McKie has condemned SNP ministers for breaking their high-profile pre-election promise to hold an inquiry into the fingerprint scandal.

The Nationalists said in March the need for a judicial inquiry was "overwhelming" and pledged to begin the process within 100 days of coming to office. That deadline passed on August 24 and officials have admitted there will be no announcement about an inquiry this year.

Iain McKie, and other campaigners for an inquiry, fear it has been delayed because former opposition politicians fear the damage it will cause to the judicial system and the Government they now run.

Campaigners have been told privately for weeks the announcement is "ready to go", but are still none the wiser to when they might see any progress.

McKie last night lost patience with the SNP, comparing them to the previous Labour Executive, who steadfastly refused to order an inquiry.

He said: "We are totally fed up with this. This administration are showing themselves to be the same as the lot before and we are getting the same old delays. Now here we are with another Christmas arriving and we are once again left in the dark about what is happening. It feels like here we go again. Enough is enough."

He added: "It doesn't seem to me to be the hardest thing in the world to do, simply to announce what is going to happen. They have been in power for eight months."

The McKie case has plagued the Crown Office for nearly a decade after the former policewoman was wrongly accused of having unauthorised access to a murder scene in 1997 after a print found near the body was mistakenly identified as hers.

She was subsequently charged with committing perjury after denying in court that the print was hers. Last year, after being acquitted, she was awarded 750,000 in damages by ministers, who claimed there had been an "honest mistake".

However, the affair snowballed after Scotland on Sunday revealed a secret police report stating there had been "criminality" and a "cover-up" in the handling of the case by the Scottish Criminal Records Office (SCRO), the body which originally identified McKie.

McKie's attack is particularly embarrassing for the SNP Government, as his campaign was championed by Environment Minister Mike Russell. The pair recently wrote a book together on the affair, and Russell has been a long-time campaigner for an immediate inquiry.

In March, the SNP published a document setting out their plans for their first 100 days in power, and vowed to hold a "full judicial inquiry into the Shirley McKie fingerprints affair".

During the election campaign, Salmond also singled out the inquiry as one of the first issues he would address upon becoming First Minister.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill promised in September the inquiry was being prepared. Last month, he then told Parliament that the inquiry would be announced "in a few weeks' time".

McKie said last night that he still expected the inquiry to happen, even if it was delayed. "The trouble is that the longer the delay, the less the impact will be," he said.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The Cabinet Secretary for Justice has confirmed that there will be an inquiry. Work is progressing on delivering that. We will make a formal announcement to Parliament on the details as soon as possible."

Labour MSP Des McNulty, who has campaigned for the SCRO officials in the case, said: "They are backing out of their commitment, apparently because they realise that an inquiry would be embarrassing for SNP politicians."