Fife police accused of a stitch-up in murder A FORMER senior Fife police officer has admitted misleading prosecutors in a Dunfermline murder case after a grilling frona top judge.Ex-Chief Superintendent Richan Munro (47) has been branded a liar in court after claiming not to know about evidence which defence lawyers claim could have cleared two Dunfermline men serving life term, for murder. Steven Johnston (41) and Bill Allison (40) have spent almost 10 years in jail after being convicted of the frenzied murder of drinking asso ciate Drew Forsyth in his Dunfermline council flat in 1995. But now former senior policeman Munro, who headed the case a detective inspector, has admitted that Fife Constabulary went against procedure and misled legal teams preparing for the original trial. Mr Munro, who has now left the police and runs a hotel, has faced three days of tough questioning at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh. Lord Gill, sitting with Lord Osborne and Johnston, heard how police failed to pass on details of 11 witnesses who claimed to see M Forsyth after 3rd November 1995, the date detectives said he died. Witness statements were no passed on to the fiscal who was preparing the case for trial and police "doctored" evidence, the court has heard. After Mr Munro denied suppressing the evidence Lord GUI, Scotlands second most senior judge, told him "Let's have some straight answers to some straight questions." The Lord Justice Clerk told Munro sightings after 3rd November 1995 were not passed over to prosecutors, he mentioned them to the procurator fiscal. However, former Dunfermline procurator fiscal Robert Hamilton told the court he didn't remember being told of the statements and said he would have considered them relevant to his case. Appeal judges were also told how a deputy chief constable within Fife Constabulary wrote a letter following a complaint which admitted evidence had been "sifted and weeded" but said this was "based on the experience of many years". However, the court heard that this was Mr Munro's first murder investigation as detective inspector. Other letters read out in court showed that police still failed to disclose all witnesses to the Crown Office following further requests and Mr Munro was accused, helping to hide witness statements during inquiries. Mr Munro denied this was the and when the former detective he had kept an open mind on the Mr Kerrigan asked him, "Do really think we came up the 'Forth in a banana boat?" "Mr Forsyth's badly 'beaten stabbed body was discovered by his mother in his Milton Green flat 9th November 1995' During the original trial the was directed that, if they thought Forsyth was alive after November 1995, they would have acquit Johnston and Allison. Their case was referred to the appeal court after a probe by Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates alleged miscarriages of Justice, uncovered a trail of evidence was never passed over by police, The appeal continues.' more..