Shirley McKie

Ayrshire policewoman Shirley McKie suffered the loss of her job, a trial for perjury, a breakdown in her health and had to undertake a nine-year campaign before she cleared her name and triumphed over a supposedly infallible science. Her crime - to speak the truth and refuse to accept the mis-identification of her fingerprint, allegedly found at a murder scene she should not have entered. During those nine years, her case became an international cause celebre during which she gained the support of the world fingerprint experts community and much of the world's press whilst at home being persecuted by government ministers, smeared by senior police officers and having her integrity traduced by Scottish forensic experts and Scottish politicians. Now, for the first time the true and authorized story of the Shirley McKie case is told by her father Iain - her strongest champion - and former MSP Michael Russell who has worked alongside the McKie family for over seven years.

Auteur

Iain McKie was a police officer for thirty years, rising to the rank of Superintendent.He has researched fingerprinting extensively, spoken at forensic conferences in the UK, Canada and America and is recognised as a campaigner who has not only secured justice for his family but has also brought about major changes in the forensic services in Scotland and in fingerprinting world wide. Michael Russell is a well-known author and commentator who was an MSP for the South of Scotland from 1999 to 2003. He met Iain and Shirley McKie in February 2000, was convinced by them, and agreed to take on Shirley's case as a parliamentarian. He has championed it in politics and the media ever since. He lives in Argyll.