Tories on the attack over DNA database

DNA database is under fire

The Conservative Party have committed any future government they lead to scrapping the universal retention of the DNA of those not convicted of a crime, and have denounced the government for acting illegally by continuing to expand the DNA database and demanded the practice ends immediately.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said the government should adopt the practice in place in Scotland of retaining only the DNA of those who have been convicted and — for a period of up to five years — those involved in some cases involving sexual or violent offences.

"DNA data plays an important part in many modern criminal investigations. So it should be taken and used where needed,” he said in a statement.

"But I also believe in the fundamental principles of our nation — and one of the most important of those is that people are innocent until proven guilty. So if the system judges someone innocent, or if they are only peripherally involved in a case, there is no excuse for storing their DNA indefinitely."

Grayling sent a letter to home secretary Jacqui Smith urging her "to stop this practice immediately" following the disclosure that the number of records on the database has reached five million despite the European Court of Human Rights ruling last year against indiscriminate retention of DNA data.

A second statement from shadow Home Office minister Damian Green complained that Nottinghamshire Police had made it clear they would retain DNA data until the subject was 100 years of age. He denounced their intention as "laughable if it was not such a serious attack on the privacy of innocent people" and warned it would alienate respectable people from the police.

A Home Office spokesman said it would comply with the European Court ruling with an amendment to the Policing and Crime Bill with provision for regulations on the retention of DNA with "a key focus" on violent and sexual offences, which will be published "shortly".