8 years ago
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Innocent man spent FIVE MONTHS in prison after forensics mix-up meant he was falsely accused of rape
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| Adam Scott |
An innocent man spent five months in jail falsely accused of rape following a DNA blunder.
Adam Scott, 20, was arrested after a plastic tray containing a sample of his saliva was re-used by a forensics company.
It meant his saliva was wrongly linked to a violent attack on a woman in Manchester carried out when he was hundreds of miles away in Plymouth.
Yesterday a report by the forensics watchdog found he was the ‘innocent victim of avoidable contamination’.
The Forensic Science Regulator said that the lack of records meant it was impossible to work out which lab technician was behind the mistake - meaning they are likely to have kept their job.
It has allowed the firm which carried out the test, LGC Forensics, to keep its licence despite fears of other miscarriages of justice.
Mr Scott was arrested and a saliva sample taken after a street fight. But the tray holding his DNA was re-used for the rape test and a positive match showed up.
He was arrested by Greater Manchester Police, despite never having been to the city.
The only evidence was forensic but despite his denials he was charged and remanded into custody on October 23 last year.
He was only released on May 7 when the case was withdrawn following an investigation. Police analysis of phone records showed he was 300 miles away on the south coast when the attack took place.
On his release from prison in May Mr Scott, from Exmouth, Devon, said he had endured a ‘living nightmare’.
He said: ‘How do you prove you are not a rapist when DNA says you are? I am furious at the pain it had put me and my family through.’
He said: ‘They kept me in a segregation wing which was full of rapists and paedophiles.
I suffered lots of verbal abuse and other inmates spitting at us and shouting paedos.’
The blunder came despite the firm detecting an earlier, similar error. The rapist has still not been caught.
Forensic science regulator Andrew Rennison said: ‘The contamination was the result of human error by a technician who failed to follow basic procedures for the disposal of plastic trays used as part of a validated DNA extraction process.
‘The procedures themselves were not adequate, leading to no records maintained by the technicians and nothing done to mark used trays as such.’
'How do you prove you are not a rapist when DNA says you are?'
‘These errors were compounded by the failure at LGC to consider the possibility of contamination despite concerns expressed by the investigating officer about the reliability of the DNA profile.’
Ministers have been criticised over the decision to close the Government-funded Forensic Science Service and hand the work over to the private sector. Critics have claimed it will lead to more miscarriages of justice in future.
Mr Scott’s solicitor, Philippa Jefferies of Rundle Walker Solicitors, said it had left her “dumb-struck that this could happen’.
She told the BBC yesterday: ‘I’m sure [LGC] are very, very sorry it’s happened because it’s a black stain - a terrible fundamental error.
“Being responsible for processing DNA material that may result in convicting or acquitting a defendant, it must be of paramount importance that safeguarding issues and risk assessments [are taken seriously].’
A spokesman for LGC Forensics said it deeply regretted the incident.
The Forensic Regulator and the United Kingdom Accreditation Service have expressed their satisfaction with our investigation into the incident, the corrective actions and LGC’s overall contamination avoidance and checking processes.
‘LGC treats incidents like this with utmost seriousness and we look forward to continuing to provide excellent forensic services to the Criminal Justice System.’
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