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23.9.04 - 21.12.05

30.12.05 - 28.5.08

28.5.08 - 1.7.10

1.7.10 - 30.7.13

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STOP PRESS:

Recommendations to the Inquiry

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4 June 2015

This site is being revamped. Sorry for any inconvenience. The forum continues and contact can be made via e-mail.

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6 February 2015

Lockerbie: Time to stop

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28 January 2015

Court chaos

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24 January 2015

Dear Mummer.....

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23 January 2015

Lockerbie appeal

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1 January 2015

'Happy New Year'

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26 December 2014

Forensic folly

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20 December 2014

Lockerbie furore 1

Lockerbie furore 2

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12 December 2014

Gunshot residue reliability

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20 November 2014

Forensic fragility

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11 November 2014

Dangers of expert evidence

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16 October 2014

Legal shake-up?

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15 October 2014

Apologies for being offline due to programming problems. Normal service now resumed.

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16 September 2014

End vested interests

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9 September 2014

Independence and justice

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2 September 2014

Police enquiry continues

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28 August 2014

Lockerbie suspect assassinated?

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23 August 2014

Law development

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19 August 2014

Judicial transparency

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9 August 2014

Printless

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24 July 2014

Ukrainian tragedy

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23 July 2014

''Unco fu ..'

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10 July 2014

Blushing with shame

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16 June 2014

Forensics furore

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14 June 2014

Proving innocence

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6 June 2014

Dishonest response

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14 May 2014

Buried report?

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7 May 2014

Lockerbie appeal

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1 May 2014

Lockerbie update

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25 April 2014

Corroboration argument

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23 April 2014

Reprieve for corroboration

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31 March 2014

Police accountability

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27 March 2014

Court shambles

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22 March 2014

Food for thought

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19 March 2014

Lockerbie update

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16 March 2014

Corroboration issues

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15 March 2014

Adequately explained by stupidity

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14 March 2014

Court reform

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12 March 2014

Libyan was framed

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11 March 2014

Lockerbie: The Iran connection

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8 March 2014

Al Jazeera preview

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6 March 2014

Lockerbie: What really happened

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26 February 2014

Police fail to investigate allegtions

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25 February 2014

Truth will out

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20 February 2014

Lockerbie update

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14 February 2014

Lockerbie updates

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5 February 2014

No conspiracy

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30 January 2014

'Positive' Libya visit

Mangled logic

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21 January 2014

Judicial power

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18 January 2014

Police power

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16 January 2014

Prosecutor's mindset

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14 January 2014

Out of touch sentencing

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9 January 2014

Lockerbie updates

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23 December 2013

Shaky conviction

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18 December 2013

Megrahi appeal?

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15 December 2013

Lockerbie latest

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14 December 2013

Megrahi vindicted

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4 December 2013

Fingerprint regulations

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3 December 2013

Lockerbie documentary

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2 Decembere 2013

Spy chief holds clues?

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28 November 2013

Lockerbie lies

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27 November 2013

Lockerbie logic

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26 November 2013

Corroboration poll

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17 November 2013

Susan May memorial

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15 November 2013

Slavery, Terrorism, Law and Justice

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14 November 2013

Another fig leave

Lockerbie doubts

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13 November 2013

Unlocking Lockerbie

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5 November 2013

Vancouver Sun: letter

'The Lockerbie Bomber'

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4 November 2013

Canadian error: CLPEX forum

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1 November 2013

Canadian print error

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27 October 2013

American bugging?

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22 October 2013

The Maltese connection

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16 October 2013

Forensics for dummies

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14 October 2013

Susan May: Her fight for justice

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12 October 2013

Malta: The Lockerbie Bomber

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4 October 2013

Scotland's Shame

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25 September 2013

Lockerbie Inquiry problems

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17 September 2013

Justice Committee

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15 September 2013

Scotland's shame

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12 September 2013

Bob Black's Lockerbie blog

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8 September 2013

Crown Office blocks enquiry

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2 September 2013

Lockerbie probe shelved

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8 August 2013

'The Lockerbie Bomber'- latest review

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6 August 2013

'The Lockerbie Bomber' - latest review

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2 August 2013

The Lockerbie Bomber

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30 July 2013

In search of the

truth

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23.9.04 - 21.12.05

30.12.05 - 28.5.08

28.5.08 - 1.7.10

1.7.10 - 30.7.13

 

                                            Dedication

This site is dedicated to the memory of Marion Ross who was murdered in her home in January 1997 and who has often been forgotten in the wake of the extraordinary chain of events that followed from her death.

It is also dedicated to the hundreds of fingerprint experts and members of the public from across the world who have supported and sustained Shirley in her battle for the truth. ©  Iain McKie

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                     JUSTICE IN SCOTLAND LINKS                     

                    JUSTICE FORUM                 LOCKERBIE BLOG

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EXPERT EVIDENCE: RELIABILITY AND RELEVANCE

Iain A J McKie

 

The ‘Fingerprint Inquiry Scotland’, which reported in December 2011, completely vindicated Shirley McKie’s fight  against experts who wrongly identified a fingerprint as hers in 1997.  Since then her father Iain McKie has campaigned for better expert evidence in our courts. Part of his campaign is a paper entitled ‘Expert Evidence: Reliability and Relevance’ in which he argues that that forensic and other expert evidence is not always being effectively processed in our courts. This brings with it the danger of miscarriages of justice.

 

The full paper can be accessed at:

 

 http://www.shirleymckie.com/documents/ExpertEvidencefinaldraft15812.pdf

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                    FINGERPRINT INQUIRY LINKS

 

INQUIRY WEBSITE       INQUIRY REPORT

 

FINAL SUBMISSION ON BEHALF OF SHIRLEY AND IAIN MCKIE

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                                    Megrahi: You Are My Jury

              'This book will blow the lid off Lockerbie'

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    Book info .. Book index .. Buy book ..  Events

   FORUM - 'HAVE YOUR SAY'

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  A PERSONAL THANK YOU MESSAGE FROM SHIRLEY

(Windows Media Player)

Picture of Shirley McKie with large fingerprint image in the background.

 Foreword by Michael Russell

The case of Shirley McKie raises some very serious questions about the criminal justice system in Scotland.

As one of Shirley’s local members of the Scottish Parliament, I first became involved in this case as a result of the BBC Frontline Scotland documentary and at the request of Shirley and her family.

There can now be no doubt at all that the evidence offered against Shirley by the authorities at the time of her trial was false. There were no possible grounds for believing that the fingerprint at the crime scene was hers. That has been attested to by finger print experts from across the world and I know how grateful Shirley is, in particular to London based expert Allan Bayle and to American experts Pat Wertheim and David Grieve. They have described her case to me as “the talk of the whole international fingerprint community”. Their determination to bring forward the truth has been of great importance in the whole case.

Over recent months and years both Shirley’s father, Iain, and myself have written on many occasions to the Lord Advocate (Scotland’s Chief Prosecutor) and to the Scottish Justice Minister . We both became increasingly frustrated at the total lack of response to our enquiries.

Throughout this case, it has become obvious that political pressure coupled with media attention, are the most effective weapons when democratic institutions become arrogant or defensive.

I am still concerned that the oppressive and unjustified police behaviour against Shirley at the time of her arrest and subsequently has not yet been explained, still less apologised for. Responses to me from Strathclyde Police have been evasive and unsatisfactory.

There is also little sign that the question of possible perjury by witnesses at the trial is being seriously addressed. Nor is there any official willingness to acknowledge that Ms McKie suffered unjust treatment at the hands of the Scottish Criminal Records Office. Without an apology there can be no real acknowledgement of what has actually happened, nor any real possibility of moving forward.

In addition there must be substantial concern, given what has discovered over the past months and years, that there may be other cases in which SCRO has dealt with tainted evidence.

Shirley has shown a great deal of dignity throughout her ordeal. That ordeal has resulted in the loss of her career, endless personal suffering and real persecution. Her courage and fortitude have been remarkable. The Police, the Prosecution Service, SCRO and the government owe her an apology, recompense and a promise that her suffering will not be inflicted on others. They must also change their procedures and, if necessary, their personnel so that there can never be another case like this.

None of us will rest until justice has been done and seen to be done, and that will require much more in the way of action from the public agencies and public officials.

None the less I am confident that her persistence will be rewarded soon. I am proud to have been able to work with her and her father and family, though I regret that such work has been required in a modern nation that is supposed to be based on the rule of law.