From news source:
A policeman convicted of hiding key evidence from prosecutors during a murder case has been jailed for five years.
Richard Munro, 53, withheld vital information from officials investigating the suspicious death of Andrew Forsyth 17 years ago.
Mr Forsyth’s body was discovered on November 9, 1995 and Munro decided that he had been murdered on November 3.
The bungling cop then changed statements given by witnesses who claimed to have seen Mr Forsyth alive after that date.
And he failed to inform prosecutors about the information being made available to staff and officers involved in the case.
Two men, Steven Johnston and Billy Allison, spent ten years behind bars after they were convicted of murder at their trial the following year.
They were only released when appeal court judges quashed their convictions because of the dodgy police investigation.
Munro, of Dunfermline, was found guilty of intent to defeat the ends of justice following a trial in Edinburgh in June.
He was jailed for five years at the High Court in Aberdeen on Wednesday.
Prosecutors revealed they had ordered a review of evidence gathered in connection with the murder case.
A Crown Office spokesman said: “Now that the Munro trial has concluded the Crown has instructed a review of the evidence relating to the death in the light of the appeal, the Carnegie Inquiry and the trial of Richard Munro.”
Detective inspector Munro led the investigation into the death of Mr Forsyth after his body was discovered in the living room of his home in November 1995.
The Fife Constabulary officer had just been promoted and had been put in charge of his first murder investigation.
But having made up his own mind about the case, he rejected information from witnesses that went against his own belief.
Officers were instructed not to make further enquiries of witnesses claiming to have seen the murder victim alive in the days after November 3.
The detective’s campaign of deception began to unfold when defence lawyers requested missing witness statements from the Crown Office.
Senior police questioned Munro about the missing evidence and he claimed that not all of the information from door-to-door enquiries had been retained. He also discredited information given by the witnesses in question as unreliable.
Munro was found guilty of witholding information from prosecutors that could have helped the two men’s defence case on June 22.
Miscarriages of Justice Scotland said it was the first time in history that a corrupt policeman had been convicted of wrongdoing in connection with a miscarriage of justice case.
Wrongful Convictions Blog 