By Aileen Robertson

THE MOTHER of a Dunfermline man who was found dead in his flat over 12 years ago has criticised the makers of a TV programme examining a miscarriage of justice which sent two men to prison for his murder.

Corrupt Cops: The Inconvenient Truths, being screened on BBC One Scotland next week, tells the story of the investigation into Drew Forsyth’s death and the subsequent conviction of Steven Johnston and Billy Allison.

The pair were freed in December 2005 after they took their case to the Appeal Court and their 10-year imprisonment is regarded as one of the most serious miscarriages of justice in Scottish legal history.

Appeal judge Lord Gill said there had been “inadequacies and irregularities” in the inquiry procedures and concluded that Fife Constabulary officers had “deliberately misled the Crown in a serious way.”

Mr Forsyth’s mother Marjory said that, despite the fact someone had yet to be convicted for her son’s murder, she still had not completely lost confidence in the police.

And she said the programme’s title Corrupt Cops was inappropriate.

She said, “We’re not talking about a whole police force. The programme that’s coming out suggests all police are corrupt.

“Surely to goodness in this country we must be aware that is simply not the case? If one person steals from you, you don’t assume the whole world is full of thieves.

“They have now spent a massive amount of money in attempting to right the wrongs that have been done already.

“It’s slow and it’s cumbersome but there is a will, I believe, for honest policing in this country.”

Mrs Forsyth (68) found her son’s body at his flat in Milton Green, Dunfermline, in November 1995.

She said seeing Mr Johnston and Mr Allison locked up had not given her any closure at the time.

“When you’ve got children there’s never a day in your life, even when they’re adults, that you don’t think about them, even after they die. The fact my child died a violent death will stay with me always.

“My son died 12 years ago and it’s still going on and on and there’s absolutely no end in sight. Also, there’s no great hope that the mystery will ever be solved.

“I decided to speak to the programme makers in the hope that people who knew anything would consider coming forward, that was my hope.”

Lothian and Borders Police have been called in by the Crown to investigate Fife’s handling of the case.

She said, “What we’ve got is an investigation into the investigation and then possibly, we don’t know yet, there might be a prosecution.

“But none of that is reinvestigating my son’s murder. It looks like there will be no respite.

“There are a lot of lessons that can be learned. There should be more adequate supervision of all police investigations by somebody not involved in the investigation.

“There should also be the possibility for officers who are involved at a lower level, and who are concerned about the way things are going, to be able to voice their concerns without any penalties or any impediment to their careers.

“I have to say, there is an 18-month investigation by Lothian and Borders Police into the Dunfermline investigation and I have every faith in the integrity of these officers.

“But I do think we should have a body, which is totally separate from the police, to investigate situations like this.”

Mr Johnston and Mr Allison, from Dunfermline, were sentenced to life in 1996 for battering and strangling Mr Forsyth.

They maintained their innocence but were convicted by jurors who did not hear evidence that Mr Forsyth had been seen alive days after the prosecution claimed he had been murdered.

Appeal Court judges said investigating officers had suppressed evidence, ignored witnesses and misled the prosecution.

A spokesman for Fife Constabulary said “Reporting standards and disclosure procedures, affecting both the police and the procurator fiscal, are now significantly different from those which applied in 1995 and a recurrence of similar circumstances is almost impossible to conceive.”