Innocent MP fingerprinted after his uncle's murder discovers his details are still on DNA database one year on

A Tory MP fingerprinted after the murder of his 80-year-old uncle claimed last night that he is an innocent victim of Labour’s ‘Big Brother’ surveillance state.

Police visited the Commons to take fingerprints and a DNA sample from London MP Greg Hands after the killing last year.

But Mr Hands, 42, is now demanding to know why, one year on and despite repeated requests, his details have not been removed from the national DNA database.

He said that he and hundreds of thousands of other innocent Britons were being ‘stigmatised’ by the database, which is estimated to contain the records of more than four million individuals, including about 900,000 not convicted of any crime.

‘I accept it is helping to solve crimes,’ Mr Hands added, ‘but it seems to me the Home Office and police are building up a national, universal DNA database by stealth. They are trying to get all 60million of us by hook or by crook on to it.

‘They are using every possible reason to collect data from
people like me whose links with crime in particular or general
are extremely tenuous. Parliament has never approved a universal DNA database.’

The body of the MP’s uncle, widower Les Ince, was discovered in February last year lying in an upstairs cupboard at his home in Walsall, West Midlands.

He had been stabbed in the neck with a barbecue meat skewer. No one has ever been arrested over the killing despite an extensive murder inquiry by police and an appeal by Mr Ince’s son Peter on BBC1’s Crimewatch.

Mr Hands – who believes the killing could have been ‘a burglary gone wrong or some kind of mistaken identity’ – said: ‘I wasn’t particularly close to him but Les was recovering from the death of his wife a few years earlier.

‘A few weeks after Les’s murder, West Midlands Police came to interview me at the House of Commons. I had never been
to my uncle’s home but they explained they were interviewing all family members to eliminate them from the inquiry.

‘They had the courtesy to tell me in advance that they intended to take a DNA sample and a complete set of fingerprints. But the two officers made no attempt to seek any information as to whether I might be the guilty party. They never asked where I was in the days around February 21, 2007 – the likely date of the murder.

‘Their main aim appeared to be to gain a DNA sample and the prints of all ten fingers, which they duly did.’

The MP, who also appealed for any new information about the murder, added: ‘They stated in writing that I would have my samples returned after the inquiry was completed. The police promised to return my samples but this was many weeks ago and I am still waiting. In my view, everyone eliminated from an inquiry in this way should be removed from the DNA national records.’

A spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said the MP’s protests would be looked into.

Mr Hands spoke out after a damning report by the Human Genetics Commission – the Government’s genetic watchdog – demanded new controls over the database.

As well as requiring suspects to give DNA, police can take samples from witnesses or anyone connected to the crime  scene but must ask permission.

Critics claim the records are rarely destroyed. The Home Office says the database is a ‘key police intelligence tool’ but insists ‘there are no plans to introduce a universal compulsory or voluntary DNA database’.

A £5,000 reward is offered for any information leading to an arrest or conviction in the Ince case. Call West Midlands Police on 0845 113 500.