Final SPA pay out totals over £740k in McBride case

28 Jul 2018

The total amount paid out by the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) in the Fiona McBride case was over £740,000, the Scottish Conservatives can reveal.

The SPA were forced to give the fingerprints expert £415,227 in compensation for ten years of lost earnings and pensions contributions when the Supreme Court ruled that she had been unfairly dismissed following her sacking after the Marion Ross murder case.

But information obtained through a Freedom of Information request revealed that in addition to this the SPA spent a total of £328,138 in relation to the court case and appeals.

This included £112,519 on legal expenses for the appeal at the Supreme Court, and the £80,000 they were ordered to pay of Fiona McBride’s legal fees.

Scottish Conservative MSP and convenor of the Justice Committee, Margaret Mitchell said:

“This is a staggering amount of money to be spent on one single court case.

“Nearly three quarters of a million pounds of taxpayers’ money has been wasted fighting this legal case, and it’s simply not good enough.

“Not only did the SPA wrongfully get rid of a competent and professional employee, they then spent huge amounts as they persisted to fight a losing battle in the courts.

“This was one of the most damning abuses of power in the long line of adverse stories regarding the management of the SPA.

“Public money cannot be allowed to be wasted in such an awful manner ever again.”
The FOI regarding the legal costs can be found here:
http://www.scottishconservatives.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/SPA-Fiona-McBride.pdf