In May 1997, David Asbury was convicted of the murder of Marion Ross. The prosecution case against him included fingerprint evidence.
In the course of the investigation into Miss Ross’s murder, a fingerprint was found on the doorframe of the bathroom in Miss Ross’s home. It was identified as belonging to Shirley McKie, a serving police officer involved in the murder investigation. That fingerprint became known as “Y7”. In the course of the trial of David Asbury, Shirley McKie denied that the fingerprint was hers.
After the murder trial, Shirley McKie was prosecuted for perjury (lying while giving evidence on oath) because of what she had said in her evidence at David Asbury’s trial. The evidence before the jury at Shirley McKie’s trial included evidence from defence fingerprint experts that Y7 was not her fingerprint. The jury, unanimously, found Shirley McKie not guilty of perjury.
The identification of Y7 was made, originally, by officers of the Scottish Criminal Record Office. Various fingerprint experts have expressed differing views as to whether Y7 is the fingerprint of Shirley McKie.
In August 2000 David Asbury was granted interim liberation pending an appeal against his conviction for murder. His conviction was quashed in August 2002. The Crown did not oppose his appeal.
Shirley McKie raised an action for damages arising from the identification of Y7 as her fingerprint. It was settled out of court by the Scottish Ministers, without admission of liability, in February 2006.
The steps taken to identify and verify Y7, and the measures that might be taken to avoid any shortcomings in the identification and verification of fingerprints in the future in Scotland have not previously been the subject of a public judicial inquiry.
The full Terms of Reference of the Inquiry can be found here.
The Chairman of the Inquiry is Sir Anthony Campbell, a retired appeal court judge from Northern Ireland. He is supported by an Inquiry Team, consisting of Gerry Moynihan QC, Senior Counsel to the Inquiry, Ailsa Carmichael, Junior Counsel to the Inquiry, Ann Nelson, Solicitor and Secretary to the Inquiry and other staff.
The Inquiry is ingathering relevant evidence. Any person who may be able to provide relevant information or evidence to the Inquiry or who has possession or knows of the existence of relevant documents, is requested to make contact with the Inquiry in Edinburgh as soon as possible.