McConnell is accused over McKie case claim

Published on Sunday 2 April 2006 00:50

A GOVERNMENT forensic expert at the centre of the Shirley McKie fingerprint scandal has lodged an official complaint against First Minister Jack McConnell over his notorious "honest mistake" claim to parliament.

Lawyers acting for Fiona McBride, who ministers now say was wrong to identify McKie, have demanded McConnell be investigated by Scotland's public services ombudsman, the body which examines complaints of maladministration in the public sector.

McConnell told MSPs in February that "all concerned" in the affair had accepted the experts had acted wrongly. "All sides have accepted that," he added.

However, McBride and three other experts who are accused of making a mistake, continue to maintain they were right in their actions, and claim McConnell wilfully misrepresented their position.

McKie's print was identified by the experts at a murder scene in 1997. The former police officer denied having set foot in the area, triggering a nine-year battle to clear her name. The row turned into a major scandal in 2000 when police alleged evidence of "criminality" within the Scottish Criminal Records Office (SCRO) over the matter.

McKie was finally awarded 750,000 by ministers last month, but the affair has continued to bedevil amid near unanimous calls for a full public inquiry.

McBride has insisted all along that she was correct to identify McKie. SCRO officials say they were shocked when McConnell suddenly announced last month that there had been an "honest mistake".

Her lawyer, David Russell, now claims that McBride had been effectively "gagged" by the SCRO under threat of disciplinary action.

Russell told Scotland on Sunday: "We first issued a complaint to the Office of the First Minister that he had misled parliament. But they have ignored that complaint, so we have decided to take our complaint to the Public Services Ombudsman."

A spokeswoman for the Public Services Ombudsman said it would not comment on individual cases until investigations had been concluded.

A Scottish Executive spokesman said: "Scottish ministers have always made clear that they believed settling with Ms McKie was the right thing to do. The McKies chose to settle out of court rather than take their case forward in a court."

The spokesman added: "Ministers are now focused on what they see as the real priority here - building on the work done to improve the fingerprint service in Scotland over the past five years to establish a truly world-class service."