Shirley McKie: Scottish Government Apologises
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 2:11 pm
On behalf of Shirley and our family I am extremely pleased to announce that yesterday in the Scottish Parliament, Kenny MacAskill, the Secretary for Justice, and the Lord Advocate the Rt. Hon Frank Mulholland, met with Shirley and myself and apologised.
Mr MasAskill stated that he was, ‘sorry on behalf of the Scottish Government’, that she had been wrongly accused and that our family had been exposed to the trauma of the past 14 years. He hoped that the Fingerprint Inquiry Report and the action the Government would be taking would help ensure that this never happened to anyone again. The Lord Advocate was ‘sorry’ that Shirley had been prosecuted and hoped that if the same circumstances arose again the mistakes of the past would not be repeated. It was a particular pleasure for us that Alex Neil and Mike Russell, politicians who had stood shoulder to shoulder with Shirley for over a decade, were also present.
It is hard for us to truly express our feelings on hearing Government representatives saying that one simple word, ‘sorry’. While we wish it had been uttered in 1999 after Shirley was unanimously acquitted of perjury it never the less marks a watershed for us and we are now satisfied that it is time to let go of the past and move on.
Things do remain to be done and we hope that the fingerprint and forensic communities sit up and take notice of what is happening in Scotland without engaging in the fiction, ‘It could never happen here’.
Individual thanks are due to experts David Grieve, Pat Wertheim, Ed German, Arie Zeelenberg, Allan Bayle, Les Bush, Gary Dempster, John McGregor, John Dingwall and the hundreds of their colleagues at home and abroad who have stood by us over the years. You will not be forgotten.
That the government apologies should take place on the 25th January, the birth date of Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns, was particularly poignant as we had used his words to front our campaign.
‘There’s nane ever fear’d that the truth should be heard but they whom the truth would indite.’
Our heartfelt thanks to all those who supported Shirley and our family and we thought it would be appropriate to sign off with the thoughts of an American poet John Greenleaf Whittier who was heavily influenced by Burns – in the end all we are left with is forgiveness.
My heart was heavy, for its trust had been
Abused, its kindness answered with foul wrong;
So, turning gloomily from my fellow-men,
One summer Sabbath day I strolled among
The green mounds of the village burial-place;
Where, pondering how all human love and hate
Find one sad level; and how, soon or late,
Wronged and wrongdoer, each with meekened face,
And cold hands folded over a still heart,
Pass the green threshold of our common grave,
Whither all footsteps tend, whence none depart,
Awed for myself, and pitying my race,
Our common sorrow, like a mighty wave,
Swept all my pride away, and trembling I forgave!
Mr MasAskill stated that he was, ‘sorry on behalf of the Scottish Government’, that she had been wrongly accused and that our family had been exposed to the trauma of the past 14 years. He hoped that the Fingerprint Inquiry Report and the action the Government would be taking would help ensure that this never happened to anyone again. The Lord Advocate was ‘sorry’ that Shirley had been prosecuted and hoped that if the same circumstances arose again the mistakes of the past would not be repeated. It was a particular pleasure for us that Alex Neil and Mike Russell, politicians who had stood shoulder to shoulder with Shirley for over a decade, were also present.
It is hard for us to truly express our feelings on hearing Government representatives saying that one simple word, ‘sorry’. While we wish it had been uttered in 1999 after Shirley was unanimously acquitted of perjury it never the less marks a watershed for us and we are now satisfied that it is time to let go of the past and move on.
Things do remain to be done and we hope that the fingerprint and forensic communities sit up and take notice of what is happening in Scotland without engaging in the fiction, ‘It could never happen here’.
Individual thanks are due to experts David Grieve, Pat Wertheim, Ed German, Arie Zeelenberg, Allan Bayle, Les Bush, Gary Dempster, John McGregor, John Dingwall and the hundreds of their colleagues at home and abroad who have stood by us over the years. You will not be forgotten.
That the government apologies should take place on the 25th January, the birth date of Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns, was particularly poignant as we had used his words to front our campaign.
‘There’s nane ever fear’d that the truth should be heard but they whom the truth would indite.’
Our heartfelt thanks to all those who supported Shirley and our family and we thought it would be appropriate to sign off with the thoughts of an American poet John Greenleaf Whittier who was heavily influenced by Burns – in the end all we are left with is forgiveness.
My heart was heavy, for its trust had been
Abused, its kindness answered with foul wrong;
So, turning gloomily from my fellow-men,
One summer Sabbath day I strolled among
The green mounds of the village burial-place;
Where, pondering how all human love and hate
Find one sad level; and how, soon or late,
Wronged and wrongdoer, each with meekened face,
And cold hands folded over a still heart,
Pass the green threshold of our common grave,
Whither all footsteps tend, whence none depart,
Awed for myself, and pitying my race,
Our common sorrow, like a mighty wave,
Swept all my pride away, and trembling I forgave!
