The UK government is to spend a further £350,000 to
review 4,000 "cold case" sex crimes using advanced DNA analysis
techniques.
The £1m Operation Advance project has already led to 30
convictions with a further seven cases awaiting trial. This came
from a review of 11,215 cases which led to re-examination of 423
cases and 116 matches against the
National DNA database (NDNAD).
"Almost all of the offenders convicted so far have proved to be
persistent and prolific violent criminals with offending histories
that stretch from the present day back over many years," a
government statement said.
However, the Home Office confirmed recently that 550,000
profiles in the NDNAD were incorrectly recorded, and 12% of the
more than four million profiles are "replicates". According to its
2005/6 annual report, the NDNAD also holds 150,000 children's
profiles, the profiles of some 200,300 "retained acquittals", and
139,000 profiles of people who have been neither charged nor
cautioned.
Lord Justice Sedley, an Appeals Court judge, went
on record last week saying it would be fairer and remove racial
bias in the NDNAD if everyone's DNA was profiled.
However,
Michael Marper is objecting in the European Court of Human
Rights that the NDNAD has retained his profile even though he has
not been convicted of a crime.