Detective in 'unusual' trial on perjury in murder case

A FORMER senior detective appeared in court yesterday accused of perjury and attempting to defeat the ends of justice in a murder case where two men served ten years in jail before winning an appeal.

Richard Munro, 51, was the officer in charge of the investigation into the death of Andrew Forsyth in his home in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1995.

The inquiry led to a trial of Steven Johnston and Billy Allison, who were both found guilty and given life sentences. In 2006, the convictions were overturned on appeal.

Munro is charged with having suppressed information during the original inquiry and lying in evidence to the Court of Criminal Appeal.

He appeared at a preliminary hearing in the High Court in Edinburgh, which was told that it was "an extremely complicated and highly unusual case" and that much more preparation would be required before a date for a trial could be fixed.

Munro, now living in the south of England, was a detective inspector at the time of the murder and rose to the rank of detective superintendent before leaving Fife Constabulary in 2004.

The badly-beaten body of Mr Forsyth, 34, was found in his home on 9 November, 1995. He had been punched and kicked and struck repeatedly on the head and body with pieces of wood. The house had been used as a drinking den by a number of people, including Mr Johnston, 46, and Mr Allison, 45, also both of Dunfermline.

At their trial, the Crown contended that Mr Johnston and Mr Allison had murdered Mr Forsyth on 3 November, and the date of his death became a critical issue, with defence witnesses speaking to seeing Mr Forsyth alive after 3 November.

The defence said there had been a minor fight, that Mr Forsyth suffered only a bleeding nose and that he was alive when Mr Johnston and Mr Allison left.

The jury convicted the pair, but they continued to protest their innocence and the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the case to the appeal court. In March 2006, Lord Gill, the Lord Justice-Clerk, sitting with Lords Osborne and Johnston, quashed the convictions.

In the indictment against Munro, it is alleged that, as the senior investigating officer, he deliberately failed to advise the procurator-fiscal and others within the Crown Office of information which was or may have been relevant to the murder, and submitted information which he knew was incorrect or misleading. It is claimed he altered or arranged to be altered witness statements.

The perjury charge alleges that in October 2005, during the hearing of evidence in the appeal, Munro made a number of false statements, including that apparent sightings by witnesses of Mr Forsyth after the late afternoon or early evening of 3 November had not been brought to his attention by officers under his command at briefings.