History > 2006 > UK > Police

Cardiff Three get £500,000

but no apology from police

· Force settles case over malicious prosecution
· Men jailed for murder they did not commit

Thursday October 12, 2006
Guardian
Vikram Dodd

Police are to pay £500,000 in damages to two men who served more than a decade in prison after officers allegedly framed them for a murder they did not commit, the Guardian has learned.

Two of the so-called Cardiff Three - who were convicted and jailed for the 1987 murder of a newsagent - sued South Wales police, alleging officers had fabricated evidence against them and suppressed material that may have exonerated them.

The force has now agreed to the payouts for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution, which are believed to be the highest of their kind. Michael O'Brien received £300,000 and Ellis Sherwood £200,000. Mr O'Brien will also receive £480,000 from the Home Office for lost earnings and for the lost decade of his life, taking his total compensation to £780,000.

South Wales police is not planning to apologise or take disciplinary action against any of the 40 officers it says were involved in the case. Furthermore, despite more than £1m being paid out in compensation to two of the men for their ordeal, the force says it does not accept liability or any wrongdoing.

On October 12 1987 newsagent Philip Saunders, 52, was viciously battered with a spade outside his Cardiff home. The day's takings from his kiosk had been stolen, and five days later he died of his injuries.

The murder sparked a massive police hunt and 42 people were questioned including Mr O'Brien, Mr Sherwood and another man, Darren Hall. No forensic evidence linked them to the crime and they initially denied any involvement. Eventually Mr Hall gave a statement saying he had acted as the look-out man and that Mr O'Brien had held Mr Saunders down while he was hit. His statements to the police were rambling and often incoherent. At one stage, he said: "It's all bullshit".

According to court documents outlining Mr O'Brien's case against South Wales police, officers used Mr Hall's "vulnerability and malleability to secure a confession.

"They then dishonestly concocted and manipulated evidence in support of it against those he had named ... without regard to or concern for the truth of the same and out of a desire to obtain a conviction at all costs."

The men's murder convictions were quashed by the appeal court in 2000. In the case settled this week, lawyers said officers had "deliberately fabricated accounts of incriminating statements" against Mr O'Brien.

In a witness statement to the court, Mr O'Brien said: "I cannot begin to explain how I felt being sent to prison for a murder I knew I had not committed.

"It is very important for me to prove that my prosecution and conviction was not just an accident due to Darren Hall's strange personality but was the result of misconduct by police officers. I have a deep need for misconduct to be uncovered in public so that the officers will not 'get away with it' and everyone will know what really happened.

"This includes loss of liberty for 11 years 43 days and all the other hardships which arose from it including damage to my reputation through being branded a murderer and effects on my family life including divorce, separation from my son throughout most of his childhood, being in custody during the deaths of my daughter and my father and having to attend their funerals in handcuffs and effects on my relationships with other family members."

Recalling his repeated questioning by police Mr O'Brien said: "When I was in the corridor I would be handcuffed to a radiator at the bottom of the radiator so that I had to sit on the floor, I couldn't get up. The radiator was very hot. I asked officers if I could have a solicitor a few times but this was refused. I remember on one occasion an officer saying 'well you're not fucking having one, it's as simple as that.'"

He says he was taunted by police about an indecent assault he had suffered aged 17, when he was attacked by an older man, with one of the officers saying, "you enjoyed it didn't you?"

Mr O'Brien was 20 when he was arrested and says he is still suffering 19 years later: "Over the years I spent in prison I felt extremely depressed, suicidal at times. I also became very angry.

"I suffered from nightmares and was afraid to go out alone. I had panic attacks ... I found it very difficult to relate to my family and to my son after such a long separation."

Mr O'Brien's solicitor, Sara Riccah, said: "It is an absolute disgrace that Michael has not received an apology from South Wales police for all that he has suffered - and that, despite the massive sum Michael has received in compensation, not a single officer has faced disciplinary, let alone criminal charges."

In a statement David Francis, deputy chief constable of South Wales police, said: "We have consistently maintained our position that the officers who worked on the investigation into the murder of Philip Saunders did so in good faith and the force was not liable for malicious prosecution or misfeasance.

"Therefore, in accordance with counsel's advice, payment into court have been made in full and final settlement of the claims of Mr O'Brien and Mr Sherwood, without an apology.

"It is emphasised that this has been done without any admission of liability and in full and final settlement. Mr O'Brien and Mr Sherwood have chosen to accept the payments on that basis rather than going to trial."

Cardiff Three get £500,000 but no apology from police, G, 12.10.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1920149,00.html

DNA advances

lengthen long arm of the law

Forensic science developments
enable police to return to old, unsolved cases

Saturday September 9, 2006
Guardian
Ian Sample, science correspondent

British police forces are reviewing more than 450 unsolved crimes in a push to capitalise on dramatic advances in DNA forensic science.

The advent of new ways to collect DNA from items at crime scenes, coupled with powerful analytical tools, has made it possible to obtain DNA profiles of suspects from undetected crimes or cold cases committed nearly 20 years ago, according to a Home Office spokeswoman. The operation has already identified 42 suspects.

The reviews focus on serious, often sexual offences and encompass at least 451 crimes committed between 1989 and 1995. Forensic scientists are returning to items of evidence stored at the time, from scraps of clothing to microscope slides holding just a few cells obtained from victims.

This week, scientists at the Forensic Science Service, which manages the police national DNA database, used the pioneering technique of familial searching to help convict James Lloyd, a shoe fetishist who pleaded guilty to six sexual assaults at Sheffield crown court.

The conviction came after scientists recovered DNA from a 20-year-old sperm sample held on a micropscope slide. While the DNA did not match anyone on the DNA database, scientists searched again for similar DNA profiles and found a close match with his sister.

The high-profile success follows the first use of a new intelligence tool known as pendulum list searching (PLS) which led to the conviction last month of Duncan Turner for a sexual assault in Birmingham in August 2005. Scientists working on the case found a mixture of DNA from different people on a pair of sunglasses found at the crime scene. They used PLS to generate a list of theoretical DNA profiles that could make up the mix. Some 500 pairs of theoretical DNA fingerprints were entered into the database, and one matched Turner.

The FSS ploughed a further £6m into research last year and more powerful and precise techniques are in the pipeline.

Part of the push to review cold cases of sexual assaults comes from the development of a technique called Fish, or Fluorescent In Situ Hybridisation, which allows forensic experts to identify and pluck just a few male cells from a swab of female cells taken from the victim. The technique identifies male cells by dyeing green only those carrying the male Y chromosome. Once they are stained, another new tool, laser microdissection, is used to cut them out and collect them so a full profile can be obtained.

Jim Fraser, a forensic scientist who served as an expert witness in the case of Michael Stone, who was convicted of a double murder in Kent in 1996, said advances in DNA science had already led to suspects being identified beyond the grave and would continue to become more powerful. "The long arm of the law is getting considerably longer - there's really no hiding place now," he said.

According to Cathy Turner, a consultant forensic scientist at the FSS, the rapid advances in DNA technology have transformed the role of forensic scientists. "We've gone beyond corroborating allegations to using DNA and other techniques to provide fresh intelligence," she said. The swelling of the police national DNA database, which now holds profiles for 3.5m people, has in the last five years quadrupled the number of cases in which DNA is used. It provides police with some 3,000 matches to suspects every month.

The national DNA database has been criticised by privacy groups, who fear the privatised database could potentially be misused, but for police forces it is an invaluable resource, said Dr Fraser. "None of this evidence is infallible, irrefutable or unarguable. But it's pretty much the best evidence that'll ever be presented to the criminal justice system by some considerable way," he said.

Cracking the code

1984 Sir Alec Jeffreys invents technique for DNA fingerprinting at Leicester University

1988 Colin Pitchfork becomes first person to be convicted through DNA, for murders of teenagers Linda Mann and Dawn Ashworth

1995 World's first national criminal intelligence DNA database launched by Forensic Science Service

2001 Roy Whiting jailed for life for murder of eight-year-old Sarah Payne. DNA helped secure conviction

2002 Court of appeal rules there was evidence to show "beyond doubt" that James Hanratty was guilty of murder of Michael Gregsten, for which he was hanged in 1962. Decision relied on DNA from Hanratty's exhumed body

2004 Familial searching used to prosecute Craig Harma, 19, who killed lorry driver Michael Little by throwing a brick from bridge on M3.

2006 "Dearne Valley shoe rapist" jailed for life after evading justice for 20 years. James Lloyd identified through DNA from sister

    DNA advances lengthen long arm of the law, G, 9.9.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1868515,00.html

British Crack Case of Boy's 1967 Slaying

August 1, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:38 p.m. ET
The New York Times

LONDON (AP) -- Detectives using DNA evidence have arrested two men in the slaying of a 12-year-old boy who was stabbed with a kitchen knife and abandoned beside a bridle path in southern England nearly 40 years ago.

Police arrested a 55-year-old man from the northern city of Manchester and a 56-year-old man from the southern city of Brighton on suspicion of murder, Sue Heard, a Sussex police spokeswoman, said Tuesday.

The men were teenagers at the time 12-year-old Keith Lyon was killed.

Police also want to contact an English family who had a teenage son and that abruptly emigrated to Canada soon after the slaying, said Detective Inspector Tim Nunn.

''I believe there are people who know who committed this murder but have not had the confidence to speak to the police about it,'' Nunn said. ''Now is the time to do so, so that Keith's remaining family can finally understand what happened.''

The breakthrough in the investigation came when workmen stumbled on a locked storeroom at a Brighton police station and discovered key evidence and the knife used to kill the boy, Heard said. The evidence had been misplaced, he said.

The slaying caused shock across Britain -- in part because police quickly suspected that teenagers probably committed the crime. Police eventually took more than 5,000 fingerprints from youths.

Lyon left his home in Brighton to buy a geometry set on a Saturday afternoon in May 1967. He never returned.

He was found wearing his school uniform on a grass bank near a rural bridle path between the nearby villages of Ovingdean and Woodingdean, about 60 miles south of London. He had been stabbed 11 times in the chest, back and abdomen with a serrated kitchen knife.

Witnesses claimed there had been a scuffle between an older group of boys and Lyon, but no arrests were made. Police theorized that Lyon, a student at the posh Brighton and Hove Grammar school, was targeted by local youths because of his uniform.

Both suspects have been released under conditions that require them to return for more questioning on Nov. 14, police said. Neither man has been charged with any offense.

Lyon's brother, Peter, bemoaned the fact that his parents died before seeing anyone brought to justice.

''I have had to live my life with not knowing why my brother died for 39 years, but knowing that the person or persons who murdered him is living their life without being punished,'' he said in a statement.

    British Crack Case of Boy's 1967 Slaying, NYT, 1.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Britain-Boys-Murder.html

Police criticised by watchdog over child sex kidnap

· Ordeal of three-year-old 'was partly preventable'
· Officers in case said to have lost vital time

Thursday July 27, 2006
Guardian
Steven Morris

Police should have prevented part of the terrifying ordeal suffered by a three-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by the paedophile Craig Sweeney, a watchdog said yesterday.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission said officers lost vital time by treating the abduction of the girl as a kidnap for a ransom, though Sweeney was a convicted child sex attacker.

Delays meant Sweeney was able not only to assault the girl in his flat in south Wales but to prolong the horror by putting her in his car and driving her across the Severn bridge into England. He was only caught when he was spotted driving through a red light in Wiltshire and chased by local officers.

The IPCC's Wales commissioner, Tom Davies, concluded that while it could not be proved that the police should have stopped the girl being attacked at all, officers ought at least to have got to Sweeney before he fled.

Mr Davies made a series of recommendations about how South Wales police handled the incident and called for some of the systems used to monitor sex offenders nationally to be looked at again. It was also revealed that a superintendent and inspector will face a misconduct panel over the incident. A second superintendent who would have faced disciplinary action has retired.

Sweeney, 24, abducted the girl from her home in Cardiff shortly before 10.30pm on January 2. Immediately, members of her family dialled 999 and gave police Sweeney's name. At first police treated it as a "kidnap for gain" and lost valuable time. There were also a series of delays and confused actions as officers of various ranks attempted to pinpoint details of Sweeney's history.

He was able to flee at 12.10am from his flat in Newport to Wiltshire, where his car happened to be spotted going through a red light an hour later. During a high-speed chase he lost control of the vehicle, crashed and was caught at 1.28am.

Sweeney was jailed for life at Cardiff crown court in June, but was told he could apply for parole after five years and 108 days, a sentence which was criticised as lenient by many, including the home secretary, John Reid, and has prompted the government to look again at sentencing policy.

The three-year-old's father complained to the IPCC that police blundered in not getting to Sweeney before he assaulted his daughter.

Mr Davies said he partially upheld the complaint. "Had there been prompt and appropriate action ... there was a potential to prevent Child A being subjected to a ... terrifying ordeal when Sweeney was able to leave his home address and cross the Severn bridge into England."

The commissioner said the decision to treat the incident as a kidnap for gain was "arrived at incorrectly and followed by officers of increasing seniority during the early crucial part of the incident". He also flagged up "failings in the transmission of information, the interpretation of information and the scrutiny of information" which led to a delay in getting to Sweeney.

Mr Davies called for South Wales police to "sharpen and clarify" its procedures in dealing with such an incident and set up more live exercises. He also said police chiefs across the country should "revisit policies and monitoring of the systems dealing with registered sex offenders".

Sweeney had been convicted of sexually assaulting a six-year-old child when he snatched the girl. His licence period for the earlier attack had expired just days before he struck again. The IPCC report picked out failings in how details of his past offending was being held, and a further inquiry will look in detail at how he was being monitored at the time of the attack on the three-year-old.

In a statement last night the victim's family said they had decided to take legal action against South Wales police. "[The force] could, in our opinion, have prevented all of the attacks on our child."

They added that Sweeney should have been back in jail at the time of the assault as the IPPC report highlighted a "prior incident of concern" which happened after he was released from prison for an earlier attack on a child but before he abducted the three-year-old.

The family also claimed the probation service and the multi agency public protection arrangements - the system designed to monitor dangerous offenders after they are released from prison - "let our child down severely".

They added: "Through our solicitors, we are now pursuing a civil action against South Wales police for their failure to protect our child, against this known and dangerous child molester."

The South Wales police chief constable, Barbara Wilding, apologised to the family. "We let them down, and for this I am sorry," she said.

    Police criticised by watchdog over child sex kidnap, G, 27.7.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1831100,00.html

Met faces inquiry over Lawrence cover-up claims

· Detective alleged to have shielded killers
· New light cast on murder of black student in 1993

Wednesday July 26, 2006
Guardian
Vikram Dodd

The Metropolitan police is to face an investigation into allegations that it covered up testimony that the killers of Stephen Lawrence were shielded by a corrupt detective.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission's action has been triggered by a BBC programme tonight about the unsolved murder of the black student in April 1993 at a south-east London bus stop. Five white youths were named by locals as being responsible for the murder, including David Norris, whose father, Clifford, was a notorious gangster suspected of corrupt links with some police officers. In the programme a former officer, Neil Putnam, alleges that John Davidson, a senior detective in the first inquiry into Stephen's death, had a corrupt relationship with Clifford Norris. He alleges that when he told his bosses that corruption had been a factor behind the botched murder inquiry, it was covered up.

Mr Putnam says his information was kept from Sir William Macpherson's public inquiry into police failings. The Lawrence family had alleged officers corrupted by Clifford Norris had helped shield the prime suspects. Mr Putnam is described as a witness of truth by the Met, whose testimony gained corruption convictions against other Met detectives. Mr Putnam himself was convicted of corruption after confessing to offences.

The IPCC deputy chairman, John Wadham, said: "There are two serious allegations in this film and we will be asking the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to record the misconduct complaints. We would then expect the MPS to refer them back to the IPCC for us to decide how they are investigated."

Doreen Lawrence, Stephen's mother, said: "We are the ones, as the family, who have had to sit back and suffer all these years. I hope that the IPCC will prove that they are independent and will investigate the corruption."

Stephen's father, Neville, described the allegations made in the programme as "very disturbing", but added: "It shows that the issue of police corruption can no longer be ignored. It must now be investigated. We are ordinary people and thought there was corruption but could not prove it and we would not make such a claim unless it could be proved."

Richard Stone, adviser to the Macpherson inquiry, reacted with anger: "It is infuriating to be made aware, seven years after the inquiry ... an officer ... was asking to meet Sir William. [Putnam] was considered a reliable witness ... who convicted almost all those he named."

In a statement Scotland Yard denied covering up crucial information. It said that following his arrest Mr Putnam gave anti-corruption officers information about Mr Davidson being corrupt, but did not provide a link with Mr Norris. It said that during a corruption investigation there had been no evidence of ex-detective sergeant Davidson being involved in corrupt activity within the Lawrence inquiry "or doing anything to thwart the investigation". Mr Davidson, who now runs a bar in Spain, denies any wrongdoing and was never prosecuted for any alleged offence.

Timeline:

1993

April 22 Stephen Lawrence murdered in Eltham, south-east London

May 7-10 Neil and Jamie Acourt, Gary Dobson and David Norris arrested

May 13 Neil Acourt charged with murder

June 23 Luke Knight murder charge

July 29 CPS drops murder charges

August 15 Scotland Yard announces internal review of investigation

1994

April 15 CPS again declines to prosecute because of insufficient evidence

August Police second investigation

1995

April 22 Lawrence family private prosecution. Neil Acourt, Knight and Norris arrested. Jamie already in custody on attempted murder charge (later acquitted)

August 23 Case against Jamie Acourt and Norris dropped

August 29 Dobson charged with murder

September 11 Knight and Neil Acourt sent for trial. Dobson followed in December

1996

April 24 Trial at Old Bailey collapses

1997

February 10 Inquest reopens. Jury later returns unlawful killing verdict

December PCA reports "significant weaknesses and omissions during the first murder inquiry"

1998

March 24 Public inquiry opens

1999

February Scotland Yard launches reinvestigation into the murder

2004

May 5 CPS says five-year police reinvestigation has not produced a strong enough case to prosecute anyone for the murder

· The boys who killed Stephen Lawrence, BBC1, tonight, 9pm

    Met faces inquiry over Lawrence cover-up claims, G, 26.7.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1830208,00.html

New 'British FBI' will have more than 100 officers based abroad

Saturday April 1, 2006
Rosie Cowan, crime correspondent
Guardian

Up to 140 British crime fighters will be based abroad working for Britain's new equivalent of the FBI - the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) - which officially opens it doors on Monday morning.

The unprecedented scale of international collaboration is part of a drive to globalise the fight against organised crime, intercepting people traffickers and drug smugglers in the countries they pass through to reach Britain, the new chief of Soca, Sir Stephen Lander told the Guardian.

Some of Soca's staff overseas will be carrying out intelligence duties, others will work with local authorities in places like Afghanistan and Colombia, where heroin and cocaine production are rife. Others will be embedded in foreign law enforcement agencies, which will reciprocate with officers in the UK.

"We think we will have the second largest law enforcement overseas network in the world, second only to the US DEA [Drug Enforcement Agency]," the former M15 chief explained.

Many of the 140 being sent overseas will go to the US, where some are already with the DEA, others to eastern Europe, from where traffickers procure thousands of women each year to work in the sex trade around the world.

"We're doing a lot of work with the Balkans and eastern Europe as regards trafficked women and labourers and we want to work with the transit countries to see what we can do to stop them being moved through," said Bill Hughes, Soca's director, who previously headed the National Crime Squad. "Globalisation, the internet and cheap travel have made it so much easier to conduct the business of crime at one remove. We can't operate in isolation, we have to build up alliances in other countries."

The international strategy epitomises the new holistic approach to crime fighting by Soca, which will merge the National Crime Squad, National Criminal Intelligence Service, parts of Customs and Immigration, civilian computer and financial experts, and police officers seconded from forces throughout the UK. Crime cartels cost the UK £40bn a year. Soca will be able to use a range of methods, including asset stripping and other regulatory tools, as well as targeting crooked officers and lawyers.

"You can slice this any number of ways," said Sir Stephen. "Who are the kingpins and main profiteers? How do they do business? Do they rely on corrupt police officers or solicitors? We've constructed an organisation that allows us to cross-target a range of things and we've been doing a lot to ensure Soca is more than a sum of its parts."

Organised crime, he said, was all about making profit and combating it required a cool, corporate-minded approach. "It's about making the UK as unattractive a business proposition as possible for criminals, disrupting their activities, putting them out of business and reducing market opportunities."

"In the past, we tended to think the case ended when the cell door slammed shut," said Mr Hughes. "Of course it doesn't, it's about bringing down the whole structure. There will be people who will go to prison for a long time, but for others out there there may be a quicker way to put them out of business. In some cases, a stroke of the regulatory pen could avoid a criminal taskforce chasing its tail forever."

While Soca's work will be boosted by some new criminal justice measures, such as US-type informer plea bargains, Sir Stephen insisted: "We haven't got a load of new powers, we're simply an extra layer pulling together existing resources and levering others.

"We will consult as to how leads will be pursued, who is best placed to pursue them and in what type of operation, and if appropriate, hand cases over to other agencies." Mr Hughes quoted US president Harry Truman: "It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit."

    New 'British FBI' will have more than 100 officers based abroad, G, 1.4.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1744532,00.html

5.15pm update

'Serious neglect' in police custody death

Monday March 27, 2006
Press Association
Guardian Unlimited

Four police officers who were present when a black paratrooper choked to death in custody were guilty of the "most serious neglect of duty", the police watchdog said today.

Christopher Alder choked to death on the floor of a Hull police station on April 1 1998 as officers joked and chatted around him.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said the treatment of the 37-year-old amounted to "unwitting racism".

However, Nick Hardwick, the IPCC chairman, stopped short of saying the officers were responsible for Mr Alder's death. "I do not believe, as has been alleged by some, that any of these officers assaulted Mr Alder," he said in his report.

"Nor can it be said with certainty, such are the contradictions in the medical evidence, that their neglect of Mr Alder, as he lay dying on the custody suite floor, caused his death."

After the IPCC report was published, the chief constable of Humberside police, Tim Hollis, apologised to the Alder family "for our failure to treat Christopher with sufficient compassion and to the desired standard that night".

Alder's sister, Janet, said she was not satisfied with the apology. "It's not enough for me and it's not enough for the public at large," she told Sky News.

"For justice to be done, and for us to move on in a positive light to ensure that this is not going to happen again, there must be prosecutions".

Five officers were cleared of Alder's manslaughter and misconduct in 2002, even though an inquest had concluded he was unlawfully killed.

He had banged his head during a scuffle outside a hotel, and was then arrested for an alleged breach of the peace after being taken to Hull Royal Infirmary for treatment.

He choked to death on his own blood and vomit as he lay on the floor of Queens Gardens police station without moving for 11 minutes.

A Healthcare Commission report into Alder's treatment by medical staff was also published today.

It identified a series of "mistakes", including failure to relay information about the paratrooper's care and treatment between ambulance and A&E staff and the police.

In his 400-page report, Mr Hardwick said: "The most serious failings were by the four police officers who dealt with Mr Alder throughout his time in the custody suite. I believe they were guilty of the most serious neglect of duty.

"I believe the failure of the police officers concerned to assist Mr Alder effectively on the night he died were largely due to assumptions they made about him based on negative racial stereotypes."

Although Mr Hardwick said the officers' neglect was not responsible for the death, he added: "All the experts agreed that, at the very least, the officers' neglect undoubtedly did deny him the chance of life."

The four officers were Sergeant John Dunn, PC Matthew Barr, PC Neil Blakey and PC Nigel Dawson.

"In the case of Sergeant Dunn, the duty placed upon him as a custody officer was greater than that of his colleagues," the IPCC report said.

A fifth officer, Acting Sergeant Mark Ellerington, was also involved, but to a lesser extent than the others, it added.

Mr Hardwick said he was "disappointed" that the officers directly involved had refused to cooperate with the IPCC review.

He also emphasised the inappropriate behaviour of officers caught on CCTV tapes on the night of Mr Alder's death.

The footage shows the paratrooper dying with his trousers around his ankles. Monkey noises are heard being made at the beginning of the officers' shift and after Mr Alder's death.

"I do not think these noises were directed specifically at Mr Alder," Mr Hardwick said. However, he added: "If the racist connotation of these noises was not obvious to the officers, they should have been."

    'Serious neglect' in police custody death, G, 27.3.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1740816,00.html

DNA of 37% of black men held by police

Home Office denies racial bias

Thursday January 5, 2006
The Guardian
James Randerson, science correspondent

The DNA profiles of nearly four in 10 black men in the UK are on the police's national database - compared with fewer than one in 10 white men, according to figures compiled by the Guardian.

Civil liberties groups and representatives of the black community said this offered evidence that the database reinforced racial biases in the criminal justice system. The Home Office denied this, saying most of the DNA came from people who had been charged and convicted of crimes. Only about 113,000 people who had been arrested but not charged were on the database, a spokeswoman said.

The figures, compiled using Home Office statistics and census data, show that 37% of black men have their DNA profile on the database compared with 13% of Asian men and 9% of white men.

Keith Jarrett, president of the National Black Police Association described the figures as "very worrying". He said he would be recommending an investigation into how the database is compiled. "It raises some serious issues and needs to be looked at." He rejected the notion that the figures reflect the racial balance of people who commit crime. "In my exprience that is not so at all," he said. "This is an example of disproportionality in yet another part of the system. It's just going to alienate more black people from having any part in the judicial system."

Last night, Sue Mayer, the director of the campaign group GeneWatch, called for a debate on whose DNA samples were kept. "If you do have a skew towards certain ethnic minorities, there's a real danger that you could have another form of discrimination," she said.

The database, which now holds more than 3 million profiles, provides police with around 3,000 matches between suspects and samples taken from scenes of serious crimes a month. Often these provide leads in cold cases that have been on the books for several years.

Since April last year, police have had the power to take DNA from anyone arrested on suspicion of a recordable offence - one that would involve a custodial sentence - meaning the database is not simply a reflection of those convicted of crimes.

The "ethnic appearance" of each person placed on the database is recorded - 82% of male profiles are white and 7% black, according to the Home Office. The number of men in different racial categories can then be compared with the number in the country as recorded in the 2001 national census.

A Home Office spokeswoman accepted that black men were disproportionately represented, but said figures on race were recorded differently in each case. DNA database figures were "based on the operational judgment of the arresting officer", whereas census figures on race were self-recorded.

Dominic Bascombe, of the Voice, the black newspaper based in London, said the revelation exposed biases in the criminal justice system that began with ethnic minorities being more likely to be arrested. "It is simply presuming if you are black you are going to be guilty - if not now but in the future," he said.

He added that the over-representation of ethnic minorities on the database put them under increased "genetic surveillance". "We certainly don't think it reflects criminality," he said. Anyone on the database - and family members - can more easily be linked to a crime scene if their DNA is found there. This may be because they are a criminal, or because they visited the scene prior to the crime.

The UK's DNA database was set up in 1995. It is the largest internationally and has helped police match around 600,000 suspects to crime scenes.

    DNA of 37% of black men held by police, G, 5.1.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,16518,1678168,00.html