A public inquiry into the Shirley McKie controversy took an unexpected twist yesterday when her legal team insisted that allegations she had a “romantic liaison” at a crime scene where a disputed print was found should now be fully explored by the hearings.

Gerry Moynihan, QC, counsel to the inquiry, referred to the claims during his opening statement on Tuesday. He said that Les Brown, a retired detective chief inspector with Strathclyde Police, had contacted the inquiry team with information he had gathered while conducting a private investigation into Ms McKie's case, including a claim by a journalist that it was “well known in media circles” that she had a “romantic liaison” in the house of the murder victim Marion Ross.

Mr Brown also said that he spoke to a police officer, Kerr Reid, who claimed that a colleague told him he had let Ms McKie in the house “because he fancied her”.

Andrew Smith, QC, for Ms McKie, said yesterday that the reporting of these claims had caused great distress to Ms McKie and her family. Consequently, he demanded that all those referred to by Mr Brown be called before the inquiry as witnesses, and said that Mr Brown himself should be required to give evidence.

Mr Smith said: “They should be called to either deny that they said what Mr Brown suggests or explain the evidence upon which they made those statements.

“What cannot happen is that the allegations are not fully investigated. If a ruling is made on this matter, without all so-called witnesses being called, the rumours will not go away.”

He said that Ms McKie denied the allegations, and described them as being of such a “serious and scurrilous nature” that they must be investigated publicly. Ms McKie, he added, “has nothing to fear from such an investigation”.

Ms McKie, a former police officer, was accused of leaving a fingerprint at Ms Ross's home in Kilmarnock, in January 1997. But when David Asbury stood trial for killing Ms Ross, 51, in May of that year, she denied that the mark was hers. After Mr Asbury was convicted, Ms McKie was charged with perjury. However, the jury acquitted her and she was awarded a £750,000 out-of-court settlement by the Labour-Lib Dem Scottish Executive at the time. In August 2002 Mr Asbury's conviction was overturned.

Mr Smith said yesterday that that some of Ms McKie's colleagues had been unwilling to accept her denial from the outset, subjecting her to a campaign of bullying and intimidation.

“Ever since on February 11, 1997, when Ms McKie first denied that she had been in the locus, she has been subjected to a campaign by certain colleagues and superiors to persuade her, to bully her and to intimidate her into admitting that she had been at that place.

“It appears that despite her acquittal, certain individuals remain unwilling or unable to accept that she was not there. They now resort to making those allegations that I have referred to, which at least shows a degree of consistency. However, no person seems willing to stand up in public, under oath, and state that they are true.”

He also pointed out that previous investigations, and Ms McKie's own perjury trial, had found “not one shred of evidence” that she was present at the home of Ms Ross.

The hearing, in front of Sir Anthony Campbell, continues.

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