Ex prisoner lost fight with court on human rights infringement Battle. Today an ex prisoner referred to in court as R lost the battle to refuse the Police of his DNA for a database.

Operation Nutmeg was set up by the police of England and Wales to collect genetic material of offenders and place it into a database for reference against past and future committed crimes. The case placed the 6,204 samples taken to date in jeopardy as well as any cases built on the taken samples. Operation Nutmeg has had a high success rate of 111 samples being matched to other crime scenes.

In March R was asked by the police for a DNA sample as he was a previous serious offender. However R refused under section 8 of the Human rights act stating he had a right to a private life. R was originally convicted of man slaughter in the 1980’s and has since said he has turned his life around. R stated in court “I have changed my life over the past 13 years and have earned the right not to come under suspicion”.

What do you think? Should he have the right to refuse the Police his DNA? Or was the court ruling to take his DNA in society’s best interest?

More information on your rights:

http://www.yourrights.org.uk/yourrights/privacy/fingerprints-and-photos.html

Written by Bubbles Putnam

Reading University Student

bubblesputnam@hotmail.co.uk