Hull MP urges local people to give views on crime-busting DNA

Diana Johnson MP today encouraged Hull people to give their views in the Government's new consultation on the future of the national DNA database.

This follows the Home Office's launch of the consultation entitled Keeping the right people on the DNA database.

The Hull North Labour MP also defended the use of DNA is securing convictions for serious crimes, providing justice to victims of crime and, in some cases, to those who have been imprisoned in miscarriages of justice.

The UK is the world leader in developing the use of the national DNA database and catching criminals through reviews of "cold cases".

In 2006-07 alone there were 41,717 crimes with DNA matches. These included 452 homicides, 644 rapes, 222 other sex offences and 1,872 other violent crimes. There were also thousands of matches with less serious crimes, including more than 8,500 domestic burglaries.

New Government proposals to reform the DNA database deliver Labour's commitment to balance public protection from crime with the need to maintain the rights of the individual.

The Lib Dems want the Government to remove the DNA profiles of an estimated 925,000 people from the national DNA Database. The Tories also say that no DNA samples or profiles should be retained on adults where criminal proceedings initiated against them did not result in a conviction. Their only exception would be where the person was charged with a serious violent or sexual offence.

Adopting the Lib Dem and Tory policy would mean taking people off the database that could go on to commit serious other offences. For example, this would have meant that DNA would not have been collected in the following two cases:

Abdul Azad was arrested for violent disorder in his Birmingham home in February 2005. He had a DNA sample taken and was released without charge. In July 2005, a stranger rape occurred in Stafford, 25 miles away. There were no clues until skin from beneath the victim's fingernails was profiled and found to match the DNA taken from Azad. The Senior Investigating Officer commented 'we would never have caught him had his DNA not already been on the database he didn't even live locally so we had no intelligence leads either'. He was jailed for six years for sexual assault.

Kensley Larrier was arrested in May 2002 for the possession of an offensive weapon. His DNA was taken at this time and loaded to the DNA database in June 2002. The proceedings were discontinued in October 2002. Larrier's DNA was retained under the provisions of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001. In July 2004, a rape was committed in the north of England. DNA from this investigation was speculatively searched against the national DNA database and matched against the acquittal sample. The DNA match was the only evidence in the case. The suspect was arrested and charged with the offence in November 2004. The suspect appeared in the Crown Court in June 2005 where he was found guilty, received a five year custodial sentence and was entered on the sex offenders register for life.

Diana Johnson MP said: "It is crucial that we do all that we can to protect the public by preventing crime and bringing offenders to justice.

"The DNA database plays a vital role in helping us to put dangerous criminals behind bars - where they belong. This technology has also helped to free innocent people who were wrongfully imprisoned, such as the tragic case of Sean Hodgson.

"This progress is threatened by Lib Dem and Tory plans to undermine the national DNA database.

"I have real sympathy for all those victims of crime and their families who have concerns about moves that could undermine a system that helped convict murderers and rapists, such as Sally Anne Bowman's killer.

"The National DNA Database has revolutionised the way the police protect the public.

This sort of technology should be used for the public good, not just for commercial interests. Individual liberties are important in the balance to be struck, but we must also value the most basic right of the public to be protected from violent criminals.

"The Government's new proposals will help ensure that the right people are on the database, as well as considering who should come off. It would be great if Hull people could give their views on this issue and on whose rights they believe count most."