Axed McKie fingerprints expert to get her hands on £300,000
SPECIALIST TO RETURN TO FORMER JOB Victory after 10-year court battle
The fingerprint expert at the centre of the notorious Shirley McKie case is set for a £300,000 payout.
Fiona McBride was told last week by an employment tribunal that her former police employers must pay her 10 years of back pay and let her return to her old job next month.
McBride, who was one of the country’s leading f ingerprint experts, was sacked in 2007 by the Scottish Police Authority.
The 52-year-old took her fight to clear her name to the Supreme Court in London last February.
Five judges ordered McBride’s reinstatement and referred her case back to an employment tribunal in Glasgow, to decide her return date and amount of back pay.
Last week the tribunal ruled she should go back to work on February 27 and her pay must be backdated to the day she was dismissed.
At the time of her sacking, McBride was earning about £31,000 a year, meaning a potential payment of more than £ 300,000.
In a written judgment, the employment tribunal said McBride’s unpaid wages must be calculated from May 2007 to February this year.
If the two parties can’t agree a repayment figure, then the final amount will be set by the tribunal.
Should the SPA refuse to give McBride her job back, the tribunal can make them pay her additional compensation.
The tribunal said: “We were satisfied that the claimant, having been successful in her claim and at appeal, had a legitimate expectation of reinstatement, back pay for the period 2007 to 2017 or increased compensation.”
McBride, who was an expert witness in major criminal trials, said yesterday: “I’m delighted with this outcome, which justifies my decision to fight for reinstatement.
“I look forward to returning to my position within the Scottish Police Authority next month.
“This was never about money. It’s the job I loved doing. It was what I was good at. I just wanted it back.”
McBride was one of four experts who identified a thumbprint left in the home of murder victim Marion Ross in 1997 as Detective Constable McKie’s.
At the trial of David Asbury, who had his murder conviction quashed in 2002, McKie denied being in the house and was charged with perjury in 1998. She was cleared a year later after two independent experts said the thumbprint was not hers.
The then Scottish Executive paid the former policewoman £750,000 compensation in 2006.
McBride – who maintains there was no mistake in her identification – joined the fingerprint service in Glasgow in 1984 and qualified as an expert after five years’ training.
The Scottish Police Authority said: “We are considering the decision of the tribunal”.
Shirley McKie’s father Iain said: “The employment case was unrelated to my daughter’s case.”
It’s the job I loved. It’s what I was good at. I just wanted it back