Robert Green OBE, a forensic science lecturer at the University of Greenwich at Medway, says database would increase the chance of solving crimes
A FORENSICS expert is calling for every new born baby to be routinely swabbed for a DNA sample to create a new super-database in the fight against crime.
Robert Green OBE, a forensic science lecturer at the University of Greenwich at Medway, says it would increase the chance of solving crimes.
DNA is a genetic code we all carry where the chances of a match between two unrelated people is one in a billion. It has become a valuable weapon for police and in solving cold case crimes.
But the call has been fiercely criticised by civil liberties groups, who say it treats “every child as a suspect”.
Mr Green has been involved in many major Kent cases over the decades, including the sinking of the cross-Channel ferry the Herald of Free Enterprise at Zeebrugge, which killed 193 passengers and crew; the terror bombing of Deal barracks in 1989 killing 11 men; and the high-profile ‘road-rage’ murder of Stephen Cameron by notorious criminal Kenneth Noye on the M25 in 1996.
Mr Green explained: “I would support swabbing from birth. The more samples you have on the database, the more chance you have of getting a result.”
He said such huge advances have been made from the early days of DNA, that comparing new samples and old samples is similar to trying to make a vinyl record work in a CD player.
But after converting samples there have been some major success. He said: “I put together a program where we re-analysed them, expecting to make a few matches. But we were amazed to get matches in about one in three cases. It has led to many convictions for serious rapes and sexual assaults.”
Among these was the 2006 life sentence handed to Paul Collings for two rapes and an indecent assault of students in Kent and Sussex committed in 1989; and David Kirby getting 13 years in 2005 for the 1989 rape of a woman aged 18 in a Tunbridge Wells car park.
Mr Green is also keen to explore the science of linking the DNA of family members. One big success of this procedure was the capture of the so-called Shoe Rapist in Sheffield who was traced after his sister was swabbed for a drink-driving case.
But Big Brother Watch said there was “no justification” for swabbing from birth.
Emma Carr, its deputy director, said: “DNA is not the infallible evidence it is often made out to be and is still only critical evidence in a fraction of cases.
“There is simply no justification to collect such personal information from newborn babies on the basis that they may commit crimes in the future.
“It treats every child as a suspect and at a time when the Government is supposed to be removing details of innocent people from the DNA database thoughts should certainly not be turning to how to increase its size.”
The Association of Chief Police Officers fully backs the use of DNA, but falls short of demanding every Brit is swabbed, saying the pool of samples needs to be “reasonable and proportionate”.
Mr Green is a senior lecturer in forensic science and has worked in a number of high-profile positions, including several at government level, and has managed many serious and notable crime scenes. His role before joining Greenwich in 2011 was head of the forensic science and technology section within the Home Office’s police and crime standards unit. Earlier in his career he worked as a senior crime scene manager with Kent Police.
Chris Murphy, Kent News