The Crown Office have lost or destroyed crucial papers relating to the indictment of Shirley Mckie, in details that have only emerged during the present inquiry.

Parts of the indicting file went "missing" four years ago.

Shirley McKie was acquitted of perjury in 1999 after police claimed she had left a thumb print at the home of a murder victim. She received £750,000 compensation in 2006.

In a witness statement read to the inquiry, procurator-fiscal depute Gillian Climie said the Crown Office High Court Unit indicting file is "missing".

No explanation is provided about how such a crucial piece of evidence in one of the most scandalous cases in Scots legal history was lost. 

"I understand that the Crown Office High Court Unit indicting file for Ms McKie is missing and has been missing since 2005 or earlier, this information was supplied to me by Crown Office when I inquired in March 2009," the statement said.

"And I'm very disappointed about that as well because it puts me in a very difficult position," she added. 

The file covers the six months leading up to McKie's prosecution in April 1999.

A Crown Office spokesman could offer no explanation for the disappearance of the file, but did say the fact that it was missing was "unfortunate".