Latest news with #ForensicScienceService
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Miscarriages of justice more likely due to forensic science crisis, report finds
The forensic science sector is in a 'graveyard spiral', according to a parliamentary inquiry that has warned of biased criminal investigations, a rising risk of wrongful convictions, and murder and sexual offence cases collapsing due to missing evidence. The three-year inquiry set up by the all-party parliamentary group on miscarriages of justice has outlined how a series of 'reckless policy decisions' over the past decade have brought forensic science to a point of crisis. A near-monopoly in the commercial sector means there is now a dangerous single point of failure and the increasing reliance on in-house police laboratories risks compromising scientific impartiality, the inquiry found. 'Forensic science in England and Wales as currently configured isn't working for anyone – not for the police, not for the lawyers or for the courts, not for the scientists themselves, and not for the general public who get caught up in the criminal justice system,' said Prof Angela Gallop, co-chair of the Westminster Commission on Forensic Science. 'Like a plane hurtling downwards in what has become known as a 'graveyard spiral', with the pilot in desperation making increasingly erratic decisions, it can only be a short time now before it impacts the ground.' Since the closure of the Forensic Science Service in 2012, work has been divided between commercial providers and, increasingly, in-house police laboratories. However, the inquiry said there were now real concerns about bias due to the expanding types of investigations the police conduct, paired with inadequate legal aid funding for defence experts. The report recommends an immediate halt to the expansion of police in-house forensic provision and, in the long term, removing forensic science provision from police oversight. 'The increased risk of miscarriages of justice is self-evident and the potential for investigative failures leading to further injustices is continuing to grow,' said Gallop. The report also highlights the imminent collapse of the forensics market, which is heading toward a 'last man standing' monopoly after the UK's largest forensics provider, Eurofins, acquired the second largest provider, Cellmark, which was on the brink of insolvency last year. Eurofins now delivers more than 85% of external science provision, the report estimates, a proportion that could rise further, creating the risk of a single point of failure. Another concern raised is the police handling of crucial evidence used to prosecute the most serious crimes, with a growing number of cases dropped due to 'disappearing material' including DNA samples, CCTV footage, weapons, drugs and mobile phone data. Missing evidence was recorded as the reason for 30,552 prosecutions being dropped between October 2020 and September 2024, the report reveals. This included 70 homicides and 554 sexual offences, and represented just over 2% of all prosecutions nationally. The Metropolitan police had 4.6% of cases dropped because of missing evidence. Prof Carole McCartney, a criminologist at the University of Leicester, who helped compile the figures, said: 'The most obvious cause for alarm is that each of these cases is potentially a victim who will never see their perpetrator in court or see their case brought to justice. 'And if we're not retaining evidence, people who are victims of miscarriages of justice can't get out of prison and cold cases will stay unsolved if you lose the evidence. It's a fundamental part of the criminal justice process.' The inquiry adds to continuing criticism of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), after the cases of Andrew Malkinson, who spent 17 years in jail for a rape he did not commit, and Peter Sullivan, whose murder conviction was overturned last month after 38 years. The report describes a culture of 'complacency in respect of a lack of scientific knowledge and understanding' among CCRC staff and recommends the recruitment of permanent staff members with scientific backgrounds. Kim Johnson MP, the chair of the APPG on miscarriages of justice, said the Post Office Horizon scandal and the exonerations of Malkinson and Sullivan highlighted the need for urgent reform of forensic provision. 'These cases are not isolated incidents but symptoms of deep, systemic failings in our criminal justice system,' she said. 'We owe it to victims, their families, and the wider public to demand transparency, accountability, and meaningful reform. We must see the government act on this report without delay to restore trust and prevent future injustices.' A CCRC spokesperson said that in response to an independent review of its handling of the Malkinson case it had taken a number of steps to improve its forensics provision, including training sessions for staff. It said its Forensic Opportunities Programme, announced last year, was analysing pre-2016 convictions to assess whether advances in DNA technology could identify an offender and that it had recently recruited a full-time forensic science and evidence adviser. A government spokesperson said: 'We understand the importance of high-quality, timely forensic evidence for an effective criminal justice system that prevents crime, prosecutes suspects and gives victims the justice they deserve. 'In November 2024 at the NPCC/APCC summit, the home secretary acknowledged that the adoption of forensic science across the board has been uncoordinated. That's why we are appointing a national forensic science lead who will transform our approach by helping to create a new model of delivery with the police and forensic leaders to raise standards and improve efficiency, and ultimately build greater public confidence in our criminal justice system.'
The National
11 hours ago
- Politics
- The National
Farage's proposal is just the latest undermining of the Barnett system
This, according to senior criminologists and ex-police officers, is not just a failure of admin, it's the result of austerity-era cuts that stripped police forces of capacity, dismantled the state-run Forensic Science Service in 2012, and left fragmented, underfunded systems to cope with ballooning evidence demands. Austerity didn't just weaken institutions; it disassembled infrastructure. READ MORE: Nigel Farage could cut the Barnett Formula. Here's what devolution experts think of that While these failings may seem like an English and Welsh concern, they tell a broader UK-wide story. Because when public services are cut in England, the Barnett formula translates those cuts into reduced budget allocations for Holyrood, too. Scotland has long borne the dual burden of being denied full fiscal autonomy while also seeing its devolved budget squeezed by decisions made for entirely different priorities south of the Border. Cuts to police, criminal courts, housing, public health, and local government in England have systematically eroded the spending floor on which Scottish services rest. So when justice collapses in England, it affects Scotland financially – even if the governance is separate. And now, against this backdrop of UK-wide budgetary degradation, Nigel Farage has called for the scrapping of the Barnett formula entirely. It's a move that's politically convenient, historically illiterate, and economically reckless. But more than anything, it's a distillation of what's already happening by stealth. Successive UK governments have undermined the foundations of the Barnett system – and devolution itself – for more than a decade. READ MORE: Furious Anas Sarwar clashes with BBC journalist over Labour policies It's obvious to every Scot that Farage's view relies on a mischaracterisation of Barnett as a subsidy, when in fact it simply ensures Scotland receives a proportional share of changes to spending in England for devolved services. It doesn't calculate entitlement or need, it mirrors policy shifts at Westminster. If England increases education or health spending, Scotland sees a relative uplift. If England cuts deeply, Scotland's budget falls, even if demand remains or rises. This has led to an absurd and punitive dynamic where Scotland loses funding not by its own decisions, but because England spends less. And when Scotland chooses to maintain higher standards in public services, it must do so from a proportionately smaller pot. Perversely, it doesn't stop there, though. Since the 2016 Brexit vote, Westminster has begun bypassing devolved governments directly. Funds like the Levelling Up Fund and Shared Prosperity Fund are allocated by UK ministers to local authorities, often bypassing Holyrood entirely. Promises made in The Vow on the eve of the 2014 independence referendum to deliver near-federal powers and respect Scottish decision-making have unravelled. READ MORE: SNP must turn support for independence into 'real political action' The Internal Market Act has overridden devolved laws under the banner of market 'consistency'. Powers that returned from Brussels in areas like food standards, procurement, and agriculture were supposed to go to Holyrood, but in many cases they were retained by Westminster. The Sewel Convention, once a safeguard of devolved consent, has been treated as optional. Farage's proposal to scrap Barnett isn't an outlier, it's the natural conclusion of a decade-long pattern: cut services in England, shrink the Barnett allocation, bypass devolved institutions, and then blame the devolved nations for 'taking more than their share'. There's no consideration of fairness, or implementation of a needs-based analysis, it's a strategy of erosion; one that gouges out the Union from the centre while draping itself in the flag. The failures of justice in England, catastrophic as they are, expose a deeper injustice: the systematic unravelling of the constitutional promises made to Scotland. Ron Lumiere via email
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Four Midlands murder cases collapse over police evidence failures
Four murder cases in the West Midlands collapsed in the last few years because of lost, damaged or missing evidence as families were denied justice amid bungled investigations. New data has revealed how hundreds of criminal cases were unable to progress due to issues with evidence. In the West Midlands, this included four murder cases and 11 involving sexual offences. READ MORE: Midlands town named second 'most underrated' in country with cheap homes and great transport links Get our local newsletters like Black Country News, MySolihull and MySuttonColdfield straight to your inbox Get all the latest motoring news sent to your inbox by signing up to our new newsletter here An investigation by the BBC Shared Data Unit found it is a growing problem, with a higher proportion of cases failing to result in a conviction because of lost or missing evidence each year since 2020. Experts blamed a number of factors including: the closure of the Forensic Science Service in 2012; a lack of scrutiny over evidence retention; the growth in digital evidence and increasing demands on storage space; fears over police budgets and resources; and a wave of inexperienced police recruits resulting in more items being lost or mishandled at local forces. In our region, a total of 582 criminal cases collapsed in the two years to September 2024 for evidence-related reasons. Nationally, the figure was over 30,000. That included 70 murders and more than 550 sexual offences. London's Met has seen 16 murder cases collapse due to lost or missing evidence over the last two years - though it covers a much larger population than anywhere else. Another 79 sex offence probes in London were halted. Details of specific cases were not revealed. Investigations could have stalled due to failings over physical or digital evidence, witness statements or pathology reports, or mistakes at crime scenes. It meant some of the most serious cases could not proceed as families of victims were denied justice. The 2023 Casey review into the Met was damning of some of the force's evidence storage practices. It found forensic samples taken from rape cases were stored in fridges so full that three officers were required to close them and the evidence within them was ruined through contamination. It said an 'overworked and inexperienced workforce' lacked the 'infrastructure and specialism' for dealing with sexual offences, which existed before a specialist unit was disbanded in 2019. The review found: 'Instead of access to fast-track forensic services, officers have to contend with over-stuffed, dilapidated or broken fridges and freezers containing evidence including the rape kits of victims.' In Essex, a 2025 investigation found key evidence was destroyed at the start of an investigation into the deaths of six family members in a house fire in 2012, the BBC Shared Data Unit reports. In 2022, a retired police officer from a force in the north of England told BBC Radio 4 about the failure of forces to preserve key evidence. 'Exhibits are strewn all over the place, just left. It is endemic.' He described evidential items such as knives being left 'under the desks for years'. He also spoke of evidence deteriorating within an evidence chest freezer that had become a 'block of ice'. A spokesperson for the National Police Chiefs' Council said: 'Police and the CPS work together to ensure evidence is gathered and presented in a timely manner, bringing offenders to justice and ensuring victims are safeguarded. 'The E72 category refers to evidence that is either missing or unavailable when a defendant is going to trial following being charged. "For example, police may not be able to find an expert witness to give evidence or it may be that a required medical statement cannot be obtained. 'When evidential issues occur in a case, the CPS will raise this with police for any action deemed necessary and we will work together to ensure these are resolved wherever possible.'
