Chris Grayling has stressed that innocent people should not have their DNA stored by the Government and announced plans to bring the practice to an immediate end.
The Shadow Home Secretary has written to Jacqui Smith to warn her that using the DNA database in this way is “now illegal following (a) recent ruling by the European Court”.
The national DNA database currently stores the data of five million people, many of whom were only tested in order to formally eliminate them from an inquiry. The database is reported to contain data from people in their nineties, and the data of tens of thousands of children.
Chris proposed an alternative system, based on the one already in place in Scotland, where Ministers could only order DNA from innocent people to be retained in cases involving some sexual and violent offences – and then for only up to five years rather than indefinitely.
In his letter to Mrs Smith, he stressed, “It is not acceptable for the Government to be continuing with the old regime when it has been ruled illegal. It is also contrary to the rules of natural justice in the UK, which have always been founded on the principle that you are innocent until proven guilty.”
And he made clear, “There can be no justification for treating the DNA of the innocent in the same way as the DNA of the guilty.”