Outrage as police chiefs are secretly told to hang on to unlawful DNA

Police have secretly been told to continue with the unlawful 'Big Brother' policy of indefinitely storing DNA samples taken from entirely innocent people.

It is more than seven months since European judges ruled that DNA taken from 850,000 people who were not convicted of any crime could not be stored for life.

But a leaked letter by one of the country's most senior policing officials reveals that forces have been warned against starting to destroy the unlawful samples.



Chief constables have been 'strongly advised' they should stick to the old rules allowing blanket retention of DNA samples until at least 2010.'It is not up to police forces to ignore court judgments because they or their masters do not like them.'

In the meantime, officers are free to trawl through the records of innocent people in search of a possible DNA match.

Last night, MPs condemned the tactic. Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: 'It is unacceptable that new guidance won't be provided to police forces until 2010.

'In that time thousands more innocent people will have been added to the database, where they will remain for years.

'It is not up to police forces to ignore court judgments because they or their masters do not like them.'

Under current rules, DNA samples may be taken from anybody arrested for all but the most minor crimes. They can be stored indefinitely, even if the person is later cleared by a court or no charges are brought.

The sample will be removed only following a successful personal plea to a chief constable. The number destroyed in this way is tiny.

Last December, the European court ruled that the policy was unlawful and disproportionate. continues here

Civil liberties groups condemn 'Big Brother' plan to keep DNA of innocent people for 12 years

Innocent people will have to wait up to 12 years to have their DNA removed from the Government's 'Big Brother' database, under controversial new plans.

Even those cleared of the most minor offences will have to wait six years, while some innocent children will have their profiles stored long after they have turned 18.

The proposals, which require a change in the law, were last night slammed by civil liberties groups, who are threatening to sue the Home Office.

They accused Home Secretary Jacqui Smith of an ' undignified rearguard' action designed to do as little as possible to comply with a European Court of Human Rights' ruling that storing the DNA of innocents is unlawful.

UNDER THE NEW PLAN:
Profiles of adults and children arrested, but not convicted of serious crimes, will be kept for 12 years;
Profiles of those arrested but not convicted of minor offences stored for six years;
Youngsters convicted of only one minor offence will be deleted from the database when they turn 18;
Children convicted of serious crime to have their profile stored indefinitely.

There will also be a 'two strikes and you're out policy', whereby children accused twice of a minor offence must remain on the database for at least six years - even if they are cleared both times.

Campaigners had hoped that the samples of all 850,000 innocents stored on the database - the largest in the world - would be destroyed in the wake of last December's judgment.

Home Office officials admit what is being proposed may not even be acceptable to the European courts, but insist to go further would weaken the fight against crime. And they claim 4,500 more crimes will be solved each year. Currently, under laws introduced by Tony Blair, anyone accused but not convicted can have their profile stored for life.

The process of removing innocents already on the database will take two years. Officials estimate that, at most, only 500,000 samples will be removed.

The proposals remain far tougher than in Scotland, where DNA is kept for a maximum of five years, even for those accused of the most serious crimes.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: 'People in Britain should be innocent until proven guilty.

'Ministers are just trying to get away with as little as they possibly can instead of taking real action to remove innocent people from the DNA database. It's just not good enough.'

Tory police spokesman James Brokenshire uncovered figures showing that - despite the huge growth in profiles on the database from 2.1million in 2002 to 5.6million today - the number of detected crimes in which a DNA match was available has fallen, from 21,098 to 17,614 last year.

Civil liberties groups have threatened legal action over the plans, which they said would leave Britain 'massively out of step with the rest of the world'.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: 'With regret we shall be forced to see her (Miss Smith) in court once more.'

Police will also track down around 30,000 criminals who committed serious crimes before the database was built so their profiles can be added. All genetic material taken will be destroyed - at a cost of almost £60million. continues here

DNA of one-year-old baby held on national database

Jacqui Smith was embroiled in another row over the Big Brother state last night after admitting that a baby had its DNA recorded on the national database. 

The Home Secretary said the child was aged under one at the time its profile was taken by police and stored. 

Liberal Democrat spokesman Chris Huhne said: 'It is illegal, immoral and ineffective to keep the DNA of a baby on a national police database as if they had committed some felony.' 

The controversial database contains 4.5million samples, including more than 600,000 taken from innocent people. Normally, DNA is taken using a swab inside the mouth. 

Changes to the law forced through by Labour have allowed the police to take samples as soon as a person is arrested, then keep it permanently even if they are later cleared of wrongdoing. 

But, with the age of criminal responsibility set at ten in England and Wales, there are no circumstances in which this can have happened to a baby. 

The most likely explanation is that Jacqui Smith was embroiled in another row over the Big Brother state last night after admitting that a baby had its DNA recorded on the national database.

The Home Secretary said the child was aged under one at the time its profile was taken by police and stored.

Liberal Democrat spokesman Chris Huhne said: 'It is illegal, immoral and ineffective to keep the DNA of a baby on a national police database as if they had committed some felony.'

The controversial database contains 4.5million samples, including more than 600,000 taken from innocent people. Normally, DNA is taken using a swab inside the mouth.

Changes to the law forced through by Labour have allowed the police to take samples as soon as a person is arrested, then keep it permanently even if they are later cleared of wrongdoing.

But, with the age of criminal responsibility set at ten in England and Wales, there are no circumstances in which this can have happened to a baby.

The most likely explanation is thatthe sample was taken from the baby at a crime scene at which they were present, such as the family home, in order to avoid any confusion. Mr Huhne said it should have been immediately destroyed.


Miss Smith, revealing that the sample had been stored, said: 'As at November 26, 2008, the youngest person with a profile on the NDNAD was aged under one and the oldest was over 90.'

In December last year, the European Court of Human Rights condemned the system as excessive and disproportionate, claiming it 'could not be regarded as necessary in a democratic society'.

Following the judgment, Miss Smith announced major changes to the way the database operates. She said the Government would take 'immediate steps' to remove the profiles of children under ten.

Mr Huhne said: 'The sooner she implements the European Court's ruling that our DNA database contravenes the right to privacy, the better.

'It is ludicrous to be randomly adding DNA samples from individuals who can represent no conceivable criminal threat. Since the DNA database began, nearly 1.1million children have had their DNA stored without their permission. Children have become the soft target of a random DNA policy.'

Miss Smith said it was her intention to treat innocent people with 'greater flexibility and fairness' while bringing more serious offenders within the scope of the system. continues here

New law to allow police to collect DNA in secret from teacups

MI5 and the police may be allowed to secretly collect genetic samples from items such as cigarette butts and teacups under new laws that could massively expand the national DNA database.

The powers would allow investigators to break in to suspects’ homes to collect DNA which could then be shared with foreign governments to check for links to crime and terrorism.

The new law, being discussed by Parliament, would mean the ‘stolen’ samples – thousands of which have already been taken by the security services – would be admissible in court and at a stroke hugely expand the Government’s controversial DNA database.

But human rights activists fear the new powers could lead to more innocent people having their DNA stored and, due to cross-contamination, being wrongly accused of crimes or terrorism.

The proposals, which are contained in the Counter-Terrorism Bill, were outlined last week by Security Minister Lord West in the wake of Labour’s unsuccessful attempt to introduce legislation to hold terror suspects for 42 days without charge.

The move comes despite growing fears about the rapid expansion of the national database, which stores the details of 4.2million people, including 573,639 who have not been convicted, cautioned or reprimanded for any offence.

Lord West said: ‘During surveillance, a DNA sample may be obtained without a warrant. A good example might be where a person discards a cigarette or a drinks container. It can be collected covertly and a sample taken.

‘Or, should a covert human intelligence source be used, the person under surveillance could visit the source’s house and a sample could be taken from a teacup.

‘There is a real need to share this data internationally, especially where terrorism is concerned.’

But opponents say taking DNA samples without their being cross-contaminated is difficult, even for trained specialists.

Last night Dr Helen Wallace of watchdog group Genewatch said: ‘This kind of DNA collection leads to a real danger of cross-contamination or genetic samples being taken from a person who may prove to be innocent.’ continues here

Curse of the DNA register

One million innocent Britons 'criminalised', says damning report

A generation of young Britons is being criminalised for life by the relentless expansion of the national DNA database, ministers are warned today.

Alarm and hostility over the massive scale of the collection of DNA has been uncovered by groundbreaking research funded by the Home Office among panels of members of the public.

The Human Genetics Commission found there was widespread mistrust among people presented with evidence of the size of the database, which now contains the genetic records of more than four million people. It called for the database to be taken out of the control of the Home Office and police altogether, with one panel member warning that the database was a "first step towards a totalitarian state".

Britain now has by far the largest DNA database in the world. It includes an estimated one million people who have never been found guilty of any offence, some 100,000 of whom are children.

About 40 per cent of young black men have been forced to provide samples, compared with 13 per cent of Asian men and 9 per cent of white men.

Genetic material is now taken from all people arrested by police, regardless of whether they are subsequently charged or convicted, and remains on file for life.

Offences covered include begging, being drunk and disorderly, taking part in an illegal demonstration and minor acts of criminal damage caused by children kicking footballs or, in one instance, throwing a snowball.

Detailed consultation on the database by the commission, the Government's genetic watchdog, found the public believed samples provided by the innocent should be destroyed and those of people convicted of lesser offences removed after a few years.

The damning verdict was delivered by panels in Birmingham and Glasgow. After studying evidence about the database they called for an array of reforms designed to reassure the public that it would not be abused. They concluded that the records of children convicted of minor offences should be removed after a short period. Warning that adults are "criminalised" by having their DNA permanently on record, the panels said the length of time it stays on the database should be proportionate to their offence. "Currently no distinction is made between someone who has been arrested for breach of the peace and someone who has murdered somebody," the commission's report noted.

It registered alarm over the "very lax security" protecting the database and concerns over "who had access to samples and profiles and for what purpose". The panel members unanimously supported a nationwide publicity campaign to raise awareness of the database, using the internet, posters, leaflets and school visits.

The public backed control over the database being transferred to an independent body comprising ministers, police and civilians. Juries should be given better information about DNA in trials, they said, with independent scientists explaining the evidence, in addition to those hired by the prosecution and defence.

The proposed destruction of many DNA samples would be strongly opposed by ministers, who argue that they have proved vital to solving a succession of "cold cases". A Home Office spokesman said: "The national DNA database is a key information tool which has revolutionised the way the police can protect the public through identifying offenders and securing more convictions. It provides the police on average with almost 3,500 matches each month." He said there had been 41,717 crimes in 2006-07 which yielded DNA matches, including 452 homicides, 644 rapes, 222 other sex offences and more than 8,500 domestic burglaries. continues here