McKie's father welcomes fingerprint jobs cull

Published on Sunday 1 April 2007 01:13

THE departure of four fingerprint experts at the centre of the Shirley McKie case was a "necessary cull", her father said last night.

All have agreed to a secret severance package complete with a gagging order.

The news was greeted with dismay by one MSP, who described it as "shameful".

But Iain McKie, who has campaigned endlessly on behalf of his daughter, said there was no other option.

He believes the move will allow the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA), which takes charge of fingerprinting in the country from today, to flourish.

The four experts were among a group of six who had identified McKie, a serving police officer, as leaving her fingerprint at a murder scene in Ayrshire. She vehemently denied ever being in the house and after a near 10-year probe was exonerated.

The now-retired officer received a 750,000 compensation pay-off from the Executive last year.

Iain McKie said: "This was long overdue but much needed. It was a necessary cull. The Scottish Fingerprint Service would never have gained worldwide acceptance until this had happened.

"People say they have been sacked, but they were not sacked. They sacked themselves."

Commenting on the SPSA, McKie added: "This is an ideal opportunity to move on.

"It is a new dawn and a massive opportunity and I hope they [the SPSA] will grab it."

Late on Friday, it was announced that Robert McKenzie, Allan Dunbar, Hugh McPherson and Charlie Stewart were to leave their posts with the Scottish Fingerprint Service (SFS).

It is claimed they were told to go, otherwise they would lose their jobs when the SPSA took over the running of the SFS.

Their remaining colleagues, Tony McKenna and Fiona McBride, are expected to follow suit - with similar restrictions over discussing the terms.

Ken Macintosh, Labour MSP for Eastwood in Renfrewshire, said the group had "basically been made unemployable".

He added: "There has been no special deal for these people. This is them being sacked effectively. They have children at university and mortgages to pay. Their careers are totally blighted by what has happened.

"I find it a most shameful episode. It is a scandal."

A spokesman for Unison, the union representing the six, said: "We can confirm that four of the staff of the Fingerprint Service have accepted a severance package and left the service.

"These members had to suffer constant and unfair pressure for the past nine years and it is entirely understandable that they have taken the option to leave and get on with their lives."

The experts' departure comes just two days after Ian Todd quit his post as acting director of the Scottish Criminal Record Office - the agency which, until it became part of the SPSA, oversaw the SFS.

He was appointed years after the McKie affair emerged, but Todd was known to be a firm supporter of the staff at the centre of the row.

It was also rumoured that he did not see eye-to-eye with the SPSA chief executive and ex-British Transport Police assistant chief constable David Mulhern either.

Commenting on the new agency, Mulhern said: "This move will deliver a far more effective approach to supporting the Scottish Police Service in the investigation and detection of crime by delivering a seamless evidential capture and analysis from crime scene to courts."

Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson said: "By bringing the [police services] together under a single national authority, we can build on the strengths of the past and find new ways to improve the way we support frontline police officers."