Ministers slammed over DNA ‘database disgrace’

THE Government has been accused of breaking a pledge to delete the DNA profiles of more than a million innocent people after it emerged details could still be kept in forensic science labs.

The Home Office denied there had been a U-turn, insisting that innocent profiles would be removed from the DNA database.

But a spokesman admitted the information could be kept by local laboratories and, although anonymised, would still have a barcode which could be matched up with the original personal data.

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Civil rights groups described the revelations as “disgraceful” said simply destroying the physical sample is pointless if the records are still retained elsewhere.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Our position remains the same – we will take and retain the DNA of the guilty and remove innocent people from the database.

“Our proposals will see all profiles of innocent people removed from the DNA database.

“Police will not be able to access any profiles given by innocent people and any attempt to do so would be a criminal offence.”

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He said the samples of innocent people would be kept by forensic laboratories because they are stored in “batches” with the DNA of guilty people making destruction of them difficult.

In a letter to a committee of MPs Home Office Minister James Brokenshire confirmed that DNA profiles of those arrested but never charged or found guilty of a crime could still be retained.

Profiles would “be considered to have been deleted even though the DNA profile record, minus the identification information, will still exist,” the letter says.

“Members of the committee will be aware that most DNA record will include the original barcode, which is used by both the police and the Forensic Science Service to track the sample and resulting profile through the system,” the letter said.

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“It is therefore theoretically possible that a laboratory could identify an individual’s profile from the barcode, but only in conjunction with the force which took the original sample, by giving details of the barcode of the force and asking for the individual’s name.”

Daniel Hamilton, director of the civil liberties group Big Brother Watch said the Government had betrayed a commitment in the Coalition Agreement.

“James Brokenshire’s letter confirms that the details of more than a million innocent people will remain on the national DNA database,” he said.

“This is a disgraceful u-turn on the part of the Government.

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“It represents a betrayal of an explicit commitment made in the Coalition Agreement and stands in contravention of a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights banning the retention of innocent people’s DNA. Destroying physical DNA samples is a pointless gesture if the computer records are to be retained.

“Despite paying lip service to freedom and civil liberties, this government is fast proving itself to be every bit as illiberal as its predecessor”.

In Scotland, the DNA of convicted serious criminals is held indefinitely. Adults not convicted of a serious crime have their DNA retained for three years, with a possible two-year extension - but samples are not retained of innocent people or those convicted of minor crimes.

In last year’s coalition agreement, the government pledged to “adopt the protections of the Scottish model for the DNA database”.

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At the moment, the DNA of anyone who has been arrested in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is held indefinitely on a national database.

Under the coalition’s Protection of Freedoms Bill, any adult convicted of a crime, or child convicted of a serious crime, will still have their DNA profile stored indefinitely in the national database.

And police will have the power to retain the DNA samples of anyone arrested for any offence, even if there is no conviction, where the individual is suspected of involvement in terrorism.

The Government has said it will create a new watchdog, the Commissioner for the Retention and Use of Biometric Material, to oversee and possibly reject applications to retain DNA profiles on national security grounds.

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Former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis – a long-standing campaigner for innocent people’s DNA to be destroyed – is understood to be “sceptical” about the Government’s claim that the DNA records of the innocent have to be retained in order to keep the records of the guilty.

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