By Nick Heath, 5 December 2008 13:27
NEWS
Nearly one million innocent people's DNA records could be wiped from the national database after the EU ruled it breached human rights.
The European Court of Human Rights decision means that the DNA details and possibly fingerprints of about 850,000 people suspected of a crime, but later cleared, could be removed.
The court found that in keeping the DNA details of people suspected of a crime the "state had overstepped any acceptable margin of appreciation".
The case was brought by two Britons, Michael Marper and "S", who were cleared of crimes and challenged the government over their details being kept on the 4.5 million-strong police database.
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A Home Office spokesman said the government had until next March before it has to take any action on the back of the ruling.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith expressed dissatisfaction with the verdict, saying in a statement: "DNA and fingerprinting is vital to the fight against crime, providing the police with more than 3,500 matches a month, and I am disappointed by the European Court of Human Rights' decision.
"The existing law will remain in place while we carefully consider the judgement."
Privacy pressure group NO2ID welcomed the decision with the organisation's national co-ordinator Phil Booth describing it as a victory for liberty and privacy.
Comments
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1. Radical Meldrew
Will the government agree to this or simply choose to ignore the verdict? They been adept at hiding behind unpopular decisions in the past and laid the blame squarely on compliance with EU directives. These unelected courts preside and make judgements over us regularly but, on this occasion, I applaud their decision. It will be interesting to see what action Miss Smith will take over something which is now one of our basic human rights according to EU law.
2. Drew Stephenson
i suspect they will lodge an appeal and then do everything they can to find some kind of loophole. Failing that, they'll just ignore it. As someone who has data on that file but no criminal record or convictions, i'm personally a bit narked...
3. Karen Challinor
has there been any progress towards removing this data or is the government still stalling in the hope of an appeal