FAQs

The Scottish Government set up the inquiry to fulfil its commitment to hold an independent, public, judicial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the Shirley McKie case. More details are available on About the Inquiry.

Yes. It has been set up under the Inquiries Act 2005. It is one of the first inquiries under that Act to use the Inquiries (Scotland) Rules 2007. More details are available on the Legislative Context page.

An “inquiry panel” which consists of a chairman alone or a chairman with one or more other members. In this Inquiry the Chairman will act alone.

Sir Anthony Campbell, formerly a judge of the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland.

For the purposes of the Inquiries Act 2005, the Inquiry was formally set up on 14 March 2008 as announced by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill. However, the Chairman remained focussed on his existing judicial duties in Northern Ireland until the end of August 2008 when he retired.

• To inquire into the steps that were taken to identify and verify the fingerprints associated with, and leading up to, the case of HM Advocate v. McKie in 1999
• to determine, in relation to the fingerprint designated Y7, the consequences of the steps taken, or not taken, and
• to report findings of fact and make recommendations as to what measures might now be introduced, beyond those that have already been introduced since 1999, to ensure that any shortcomings are avoided in the future.

To fulfil the requirements of the Inquiries Act 2005, Scottish Ministers agreed the terms of reference after consultation with the Chairman of the Inquiry.

At the Initial Hearing on Monday 20 October 2008, the Chairman, Sir Anthony Campbell announced the core participants in the Inquiry to date and asked for written submissions about how the Inquiry should operate.

A Procedural Hearing followed on Friday 21 November 2008 when the Chairman announced the broad issues within the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference which will be considered.  These were to be kept under review.

The Inquiry team then collected evidence - documents and witness statements - and prepared for the main hearings.

The main hearings began in Glasgow on 2 June 2009 with an introduction by the Chairman and an Opening Statement by Senior Counsel to the Inquiry which included a public presentation of the material that the Inquiry had collected.

Witnesses' statements to the Inquiry were taken as the basis of their evidence.  Various witnesses in addition gave oral evidence at the hearings, which concluded, after closing statements, on 27 November 2009.

The Chairman considered the evidence and prepared his report  which he delivered to Ministers and then published on 14 December 2011.

There were two initial hearings, in October and November 2008. The main hearings were held in two phases.

The first phase was held between 2 June and 10 July 2009. Oral evidence was taken from 37 witnesses including Scenes of Crime Officers, Fingerprint Officers and Police Officers.

The Inquiry hearings resumed on 22 September and continued until 27 November 2009. The initial focus for this phase was evidence concerning opinions about various fingermarks with which the Inquiry is concerned, and then evidence was given about fingerprint practices and procedures.

Preparation of the Inquiry Report involved a number of steps, as the chairman indicated in closing the oral hearings on 27 November 2009. The Chairman reviewed the evidence and prepared a draft. Then he gave anyone or any organisation who might be the subject of criticism in the Report an opportunity to respond to that - the warning letter process. Where he planned to make recommendations he gave organisations or persons likely to be affected directly by those recommendations an opportunity to comment on the recomendations in draft. Having given a reasonable time for responses he considered those and finalised his Report. The Report was then prepared for printing and publication.

Mr Gerry Moynihan QC is Senior Counsel to the Inquiry. Ms Ailsa Carmichael QC is Junior Counsel to the Inquiry. More information is available on the Inquiry Team page.

Mrs Ann Nelson.

A team of legal and administrative staff.

The Inquiry obtained evidence from a range of individuals and organisations. Some individuals or organisations were designated as core participants in the Inquiry.

Under the Inquiries (Scotland) Rules 2007, the Chairman may designate a person as a core participant at any time during the course of an inquiry – but only with the consent of that person.

The complete list of persons designated is on the Chairman's Decisions page.

The Inquiry is receiving good co-operation. Where appropriate the Inquiry has powers, under statute, in relation to the production of documents and the attendance of witnesses to give evidence.

Information about witnesses is provided on the website at the time their evidence is considered at the Inquiry. Their names are added to the list of witnesses in the witnesses section of the website. Each witness has a page on the website with links to his or her statement to the Inquiry and the documents referred to in that statement. If that witness gives oral evidence there is also a link to the transcript of proceedings for the relevant day or days.

No. If you are unsure whether you should ask to be designated as a core participant, please refer to the notes and form on the Procedures page.

Persons or organisations may be involved in the Inquiry in various capacities. Some may be core participants. Others may attend as witnesses or produce documents or other evidence.

A witness is someone who has information which relates to the Inquiry’s terms of reference. Witnesses will provide this evidence in writing or orally to the inquiry.

A core participant is a person or organisation who has an interest and has for example played a direct and significant role in the matters that the Inquiry is addressing.

A core participant is eligible to have a wider role in the Inquiry including advance access, for preparation purposes, to the evidence that will be given at a particular day’s hearing and opportunities to submit questions for witnesses.   Being designated as a core participant does not automatically mean that they will appear before the Inquiry or give evidence as a witness in the Inquiry.

No. Where a witness's evidence was non-controversial the Inquiry relied on that witness's written statement.

Yes, under section 21 of the Inquiries Act 2005.

The Chairman has various powers under the Act and there are a number of qualifications and conditions.  These include a Determination by Scottish Ministers about awards for legal representation.  You do not have to be a core participant to apply for an award for legal representation.  For more information, visit the Procedures page.

Before submitting information, please contact the inquiry team.

The Inquiry website is updated throughout the Inquiry. Among the information provided is a full transcript of the proceedings which is where you can read what people said in the hearings. The transcripts were normally on the website within a few hours of the end of a day’s proceedings.

During hearings there was normally a daily update to the progress page saying who had given evidence that day and who was expected to give evidence the following day.

Relevant evidence is also published on the website, concerning both documents and witnesses.

The Documents section is in two parts. One part has relevant pre-existing material which has been gathered in the course of the Inquiry's investigations. The other part has documents prepared for the Inquiry, such as witness statements, and specialist reports.

The Witnesses section lists the Inquiry witnesses and includes links to various other material such as relevant transcripts and documents. Witness statements were normally published on the website on the Monday of the week in which those witnesses were expected to give evidence.

The hearings are now over and the Chairman is preparing his report.

The hearings were held in the Maryhill Community Central Hall, 304 Maryhill Road, Glasgow, G20 7YE. For more detailed information about the hearings venue click here.

Please see the Hearings and Evidence  and Progress sections.  There were hearings from 2 June to 10 July and drom 22 September to 27 November 2009. In most weeks hearings were from Tuesday to Friday.  Hearings at first usually began at 10.30am, then at 10am and latterly at 9.30am. They usually ended about 4pm earlier on Fridays.

A rigorous site search was carried out by the Inquiry Team in conjunction with the Scottish Government’s estates team. The options considered included commercial premises, serviced vacant offices and publicly owned premises including community facilities. It was established that large conference venues, hotels and public halls in Glasgow and Edinburgh were unavailable due to high cost, unsuitability of accommodation or to lack of availability within the timescales required.

The Community Central Hall was selected following its successful use for the purposes of the ICL Inquiry. With its recent upgrading and refurbishment it was considered to be a viable and cost-effective location. While use of the Hall for the purposes of the Fingerprint Inquiry reduces the availability of some facilities in the building, this is on a temporary basis only and should not have a lasting effect on the public’s use of the premises.

Yes. All the hearings were in public.

Not usually. The Chairman permitted filming of his introduction on Tuesday 2 June 2009.

Yes. This is now in preparation.

That’s a matter for you but you might want to draw the organisation’s attention to the information on this website.