45
Harman had left his blood on the brick (having injured his hand before taking it), but did not at that point have a police record. Forensic experts at the FSS found a profi le with similar characteristics using the new techniques of familial searching through a relative whose profi le was on the database, and as a result, the police traced Harman. Familial searching has always been limited to the most serious of cases and requires approval from the DNA ACPO lead. However, the application of familial searching in this way will no longer be available to police forces as following the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 the UK has decided to destroy all ‘B’ samples (over six million samples), even if taken from convicted offenders.
Some rights of the suspect have been set aside when arrested or detained under certain sections of the Terrorism Act 2000, and specifi c rights apply to suspects under the age of majority i.e. 18 (
www.legislation.gov.uk).
Examination of footprints Credit: Andrew Brooks
Recent legislative changes will have a tangible impact on DNA identifi cations. The Nuffi eld Council on Bioethics published a report in September 2007 on “The forensic use of bioinformation: ethical issues” which recommended that proposals to extend police powers even further to include the taking of DNA for minor offences such as littering should not be implemented. In addition there has been a growing perception amongst civil liberties groups that the retention of samples on the NDNAD of individuals who were never convicted of an offence infringed the civil liberties of those whose DNA profi les were stored. The Appeals of ‘S’ and Marper particularly apply: both were arrested in 2001 in separate incidents, but both cases were dropped. On application to the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire, both were refused the right to have their samples destroyed. Between 2002 & 2004 they were refused a judicial review of the decision, and their appeal was rejected fi rst by the Court of Appeal and then by the House of Lords. However, in 2008 the European Court of Human Rights found in their favour, stating that the indefi nite retention of profi les on a database interferes with a right to a private life, and is particularly important for minors. Following consultation, this led to further amendments to PACE (1984) being promoted in the Crime and Security Act 2010 which passed into law, but which has not been enacted to date. The coalition government elected in 2010 has further revised provisions for the rights of the individual in the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, with far-reaching consequences for the NDNAD. The terms of the Act require that approximately one million records of people on the database in England and Wales, and the copies held elsewhere, must be removed. The law does not require the removal of records of adults who have been convicted or have accepted a caution from the police, and people arrested for (but not convicted of) a serious offence can have their records retained for three years in the fi rst instance, or a further two if there is the approval of a court (
www.genewatch.org/sub-539488).
To date it has been possible to carry out a Familial Search on the UK NDNAD. On arrest, two buccal swabs are routinely taken, one to be kept as a back-up in case the fi rst sample fails to yield a profi le. The ‘A’ sample is processed; the remaining ‘B’ sample is stored. When a crime scene sample has not given an immediate match on the database it has been possible to look for previously loaded profi les that show similarities. Geographical factors and known information about the suspect, such as age, are taken into account to narrow the number of near matches. Once a manageable number of matches are obtained, it is possible to profi le the ‘B’ sample looking only at Y-STRs (DNA information obtained only from the Y chromosome and so only paternally inherited). This information allows the formulation of family trees indicating the presence of a male relative who fi ts the criteria for the offender but who has never been arrested for a recordable offence. The fi rst successful prosecution relying on this procedure was in 2004 when Craig Harman was convicted of manslaughter for throwing a brick from a bridge which killed a lorry driver.
It is interesting to note that the Association of Chief Police Offi cers (ACPO) recently announced, before the actual implementation of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, a new operation to capture the DNA of individuals whose profi les are not currently held on the database. Using powers under the Crime and Security Act 2010, which became law last year, the aim of Operation “Nutmeg” is to gather DNA profi les from criminals who were convicted before 1995 (when the database was launched). Initially the operation will target 11,993 criminals convicted of serious offences such as murder, manslaughter and rape over the past 40 years. The success of the initiative is impossible to guess but there is obviously scope for further sampling, plus potential implications for the removal or retention of the samples currently targeted for destruction.
Checking DNA database for possible matches. Credit: Andrew Brookes
Persistence of DNA and Use in Historic Cases
Trace amounts of DNA can be recovered from bones as much as 5,500 years old, with opportunities within the forensic world for the identifi cation of the victims and perpetrators of crime. In 1992 DNA testing gave compelling evidence linking remains recovered in Brazil in 1985 with Nazi war criminal Dr Joseph Mengele who died in 1979 by comparing a sample taken from the femur of the skeleton with samples taken from his widow and his son, which indicated full parental inclusion. In 1991, skeletal remains found in a shallow grave in Yekaterinburg were identifi ed by Russian authorities as those of Tsar Nicholas II, the Tsarina Alexandra with three of their children. Remains discovered in a nearby smaller grave in 2007 were identifi ed as the remaining two children using mitochondrial DNA, in part using samples from the Duke of Edinburgh who shares the same maternal link. Improvements in technology have meant that DNA is a frequently employed technique in resolving “cold cases”, such as in the recent conviction in the UK of David Burgess for the murder of Yolande Waddington in 1966.
Thus the profi ling of DNA and the use of those profi les in criminal investigation and prosecution, whilst not being the cure-all suggested by modern media, is a valuable tool in maintaining the safety of the population of the UK.
*Article 1
DNA Technology: 150 years or Research and Development, by Tracy Alexander. ILM January 2014, Vol 39, Issue 1 Article 2
DNA: Collection and Interpretation, by Tracy Alexander, ILM March 2014, Vol 39 Issue 2
Tracy Alexander BA(Hons), MSc, Cold Case Review Manager, LGC HQ, Room A018, Teddington, Email:
Tracy.Alexander@
lgcforensics.com
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