THE fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Lochgelly man, Colin Marr, treated as a suicide by police, was a suspicious death and should have been investigated as such from the start.

That is the damning indictment of Fife Constabulary from former top detective David Swindle in a cold case review for the Crown Office.

Colin's family and MSPs are now calling for his death to be investigated by an external police force, having lost faith in Fife Constabulary's ability to do the job.

Colin died after a row with his fiancee at their home in Johnston Crescent, Lochgelly, in July 2007.

Fife Constabulary has already apologised to the family for the botched investigation following the death.

His family initially accepted the police theory that Colin had taken his own life but soon had serious doubts and have fought a long campaign to get to the truth.

A fatal accident inquiry proved inconclusive and last year the Crown Office Cold Case Review Unit asked former detective superintendent Swindle to conduct an inquiry.

He has now completed the review and wrote in his report, "As a former Senior CID Officer involved in managing complex investigations and having attended many scenes where a death had occurred in a house during argument between two persons with the survivor providing the only eye witness account, I have found it frustrating throughout this review to understand why such basic and serious failings took place. This was a suspicious death and should have been treated as such at the beginning.

"Nevertheless these failings did happen and things have to move on with Fife Constabulary and the Crown Office Procurator Fiscals Service, who have been very openly critical about their failings, apologising to the family and embarking on extensive investigations to obtain the truth of how Colin Marr died." The report went on, "Evidence of a disturbance at the scene, the lack of corroborative evidence of the partner's version of events and the nature of the injury should have provided sufficient reason at the time for the incident to be investigated as a suspicious death however the initial course pursued by the Police and Procurator Fiscal focussed on the suicide hypothesis." The report added, "The individuals who failed their organisations and the deceased's family regarding the initial investigations were very much aware of the processes and had received sufficient training to deal with the situation. For reasons unknown they did not adhere to these processes." Colin's mum and step-dad, Margaret and Stuart Graham, from Inverkeithing, were accompanied by MSPs Willie Rennie and John Park at a press conference on Monday when they made the review findings public.

Mrs Graham said, "It's five years almost to the day since my son Colin died at home from a stab wound to the chest. This report confirms the suspicious nature of his death".

A Crown Office spokesman said, "The investigation of the death of Colin Marr remains open. After initial unsatisfactory investigations Mr Marr's death had been subjected to a comprehensive re-investigation by COPFS, directed by Crown Counsel.

"No criminal proceedings were instructed but a Fatal Accident Inquiry took place. The investigation remained open following the FAI and was referred to the COPFS Cold Case Review Unit. David Swindle was commissioned by the Cold Case Unit to act as an independent reviewer.

"Mr Swindle confirmed that the re-investigation carried out by COPFS was comprehensive. The Crown Agent had arranged to meet with the family of Mr Marr earlier this month to discuss the findings of the Cold Case review. The family requested that the meeting be postponed and it will take place later this week.

"Any request for a meeting with the Lord Advocate will be considered on receipt." For more see the Times.