McKie doubts are crippling justice

Published on Sunday 18 February 2007 00:05

WHAT will it take to make Jack McConnell and his ministerial colleagues see sense over the issues arising from the Shirley McKie case? The scandal of the mistaken attribution of a fingerprint found at a murder scene has already ruined the ex-policewoman's career and stained the reputation of the Scottish Executive.

Now, as if further proof was required, we have yet more evidence that the fallout from the affair is poisoning the whole atmosphere of our once proud legal system - and it has come from the esteemed men and women who are most closely involved with the intricacies of our courts.

Today, we reveal the evidence submitted by the Faculty of Advocates to the Scottish Parliament's Justice 1 Committee, which has spent the last year investigating the McKie case. The Faculty lays out in the starkest terms just how much damage has been done, warning that the evidence "suggests that the work of the SCRO is not only unprofessional, but unreasonable or unacceptable". The Faculty adds that it is "concerned at the continuing controversy and uncertainty resulting from these events".

In particular, the Faculty is concerned about the serious damage done to the reputation of Scottish justice, not only by the original errors, but, more recently, by the stubborn refusal of Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson and the rest of the Scottish Executive to take the necessary remedial action. They may have hoped the issue would go away if they paid McKie 750,000 in compensation; they must now realise that only a full public inquiry will restore faith in the system.

The Faculty concludes that "public confidence in the criminal justice system has been damaged and may continue to be so unless a public inquiry is held". That is precisely what this newspaper has been demanding for the past year. It is to the credit of the Justice 1 Committee that it has worked so painstakingly, producing the three-volume report it has just published. Its members have performed an important public service. But that does not alter the fact that the only adequate response to the crisis in the justice system is a full-scale, independent public probe under the authority of a judge.

The report by James Mackay, then Deputy Chief Constable of Tayside, into the McKie case found evidence of "cover-up and criminality", "manipulation" and "collective and cultural collusion" among SCRO staff. Yet, when we revealed these facts to our readers last year, the Lord Advocate, Lord Boyd of Duncansby, expressed more concern over the leak of a report the authorities wished to keep secret than over the startling allegations against the SCRO. That has been the indefensible attitude of the Lord Advocate and successive justice ministers throughout the McKie affair.

Scotland, which commands respect across the world in so many fields, is becoming an object of ridicule whenever the science of fingerprint identification and allied criminal justice issues are discussed. It is time, finally, to subject the whole shabby affair to the relentless transparency of an independent public inquiry.