The Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill has apologised on behalf of the Scottish Government to former policewoman Shirley McKie.

At a meeting on 25 January, the Lord Advocate, Frank Mulholland also personally apologised to Ms McKie.

“Mr MacAskill 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,” Ms McKie’s father Iain McKie said.

“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,” he added. 

“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,” Mr McKie said.

In December a long running inquiry into the affair concluded that Ms McKie’s fingerprint had been misidentified in 1997.