Fife man acquitted of murder shares pain of 10 lost years

A man who served 10 years in prison for murder before being acquitted has spoken for the first time about the conviction of a corrupt policeman whose actions put him behind bars.

Writing exclusively for today’s Courier, Steven Johnston (48) says he takes no comfort in the fact that former detective inspector Richard Munro is facing jail for withholding evidence from prosecutors while investigating a killing in Fife 17 years ago.

Munro (53) was found guilty of attempting to defeat the ends of justice last month after a trial heard that he engineered the case which led to Steven Johnston and Billy Allison’s convictions for the murder of Andrew Forsyth in Dunfermline in November 1995.

In a considered column in today’s paper, Mr Johnston, from Oakley, who was released in 2006, says he almost feels sorry for the former police officer.

He writes: ”Everybody thinks I should be celebrating now, but I take no consolation in the fact that he’s going to jail. It’s something I don’t like to see. Because I’ve been there and I know what it’s like. And believe me, it’ll be much worse for him.”See more in Friday’s Courier