Payout after cops refuse to give job back
Norman Silvester A sacked fingerprint expert has been awarded more than £400,000 in compensation after police chiefs refused to reinstate her.
Fiona McBride was dismissed by the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) in 2007 over her role in the infamous Shirley McKie case.
The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) – who replaced the SPSA – were last year ordered to give McBride her old job back by the Supreme Court in London.
But an employment tribunal last week awarded McBride – who earned £32,000 a year – the massive payout after the SPA ignored the ruling.
The three-person panel, led by Judge Lucy Wiseman, ruled that McBride should be paid £ 415,227 for 10 years of lost earnings and pension contributions.
It is thought to be one of the highest awards in a tribunal case.
They had planned to give her £599,563 in compensation – but the figure had to be capped at the lower sum because of employment tribunal rules.
In a damning written judgment, Tom Nelson, head of forensic services at the SPA, was heavily criticised.
He claimed it was not practical to rehire McBride citing various reasons, including the “significant costs” of retraining her.
But the tribunal rejected his evidence and accused the SPA of trying to keep McBride out at “any cost”.
Their judgmentt said: “We found Mr Nelson to bee a not entirely credible or reliableble witness for a number of reasons.ns.
“He promotedd a view of the claimant ( Fionaa McBride) for which there was no basis.
“We found the claimant to be a credible and reliableable witness.
“Mr Nelson accepted the proposition put too him that the respondent (SPA) had decided at any cost that the claimant was not going to return.
“There weree no issues regarding her competence or enthusiasm. The claimant loveslo the subject and science of fingerprinting and has a deeplyde held abiding interest in it. “She wou ld r e l i sh the opportunity for training and updating her sskills. “We found the explanation that it was not practical to reinstate thet claimant either lacked ccredibility or was not reliable.”reliab The t r ibuna l a l so slammedslamme the hundreds of thousandsthousa of pounds spent
She 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 result ing tr ial of workman David Asbury, 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.
She also received a further apology from the SPSA in 2011, after a public inquiry confirmed the fingerprint was not hers.
McBride – who maintains there was no mistake in her original fingerprint identification – lost her job in May 2007.
In 2009, an employment tribunal ruled she should be reinstated after finding her dismissal was unfair.
The SPSA took the case to an employment appeal tribunal, who ruled in their favour.
But last year the Supreme Court restored the 2009 tribunal’s original judgment and referred her case back to an employment tribunal in Glasgow.
The tribunal ruled she should go back to work on February 27 and her pay must be backdated to the day she was dismissed in 2007.
But staff refused to grant her access when she arrived at the SPA offices in Glasgow’s Pacific Quay.
Asbury was jailed for life in 1998 but his conviction was quashed on appeal in 2002 and he was freed.
McBride, of Clydebank, declined to comment. But a former colleague said: “She would have preferred to get her old job back.”
The SPA were set up in 2012 to oversee Police Scotland and they manage forensic services.
Ex-chairman Andrew Flanagan quit in June amid allegations of secrecy and bullying.
It is understood the SPA will not appeal the tribunal judgment. They said: “We are considering the judgment of the tribunal and will not comment further at this stage.”