MP in DNA fury

Date published: 11 November 2009

MORE than 4,400 innocent people in Greater Manchester have been added to the national DNA database since a court ruled the Government’s policy was in breach of human rights, it has been claimed.

Research from the Liberal Democrats shows almost 21,000 profiles have been put on to the database by Greater Manchester Police since the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights last December and only 16 have been removed.

In a landmark judgement, the European Court ruled that two British men should not have had their DNA retained as neither had been convicted of an offence.

But Liberal Democrat spokeswoman Jenny Willott MP said that since then a further 433,000 samples had been added nationally, including 20,973 in Greater Manchester.

The Government estimates almost 21 per cent of those on the database are innocent, which suggests 90,000 of the new DNA profiles, including 4,404 in Greater Manchester, are from people not guilty of any offence.

The figures came after it emerged there are now more than 5.5 million profiles of adults and children on the national database, which is the largest in the world.

Ms Willott said it was appalling that total number of innocent people now on the database was over a million, including an estimated 51,000 in Greater Manchester.

A Home Office spokesman said: “The DNA is a vital crime-fighting tool, identifying 390,000 crimes with DNA matches between April, 1998, and September, 2008, and providing the police with a lead on the possible identity of the offender.

“We have now completed a public consultation on proposals to ensure the right people are on the database as well as considering when people should come off.”