Innocent people's DNA 'must not be kept on national database'

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics called for the law in Scotland - where samples from those found to be innocent are routinely destroyed - to be applied across the UK.

Allowing police to keep the DNA taken from anyone who had been arrested, even if cleared later, was unethical, it said. Such a decision smacked of a "police state", it added.

In Scotland, the only exceptions to samples being destroyed is for those accused of serious or violent sexual offences when DNA can be kept for up to five years.

Police in England and Wales can refuse to destroy the DNA not only of those arrested but also of victims or witnesses to a crime who give samples voluntarily.

In Scotland, volunteer samples are always destroyed upon a request to the police.

Council chairman Sir Bob Hepple QC said England and Wales must be brought into line with Scotland to give everyone equal rights and protect the innocent from excessive intrusion into their private lives.

According to Sir Bob, storing such DNA was "disproportionate and therefore unethical".

His colleague Dr Carole McCartney, described cases such as that of a seven-month-old girl having her DNA stored on the database as "scary".

"This is a police database and has the overtones of a police state," she added.

The council's report is the first study into the ethics of the DNA database - which has four million samples, the largest in the world.

It found only police in former Communist countries had more powers than British officers. Most EU countries routinely destroy the samples of innocent people.

Earlier this year, the Government outlined plans - backed by the police - to take DNA from those suspected of even the most minor crimes, including speeding and dropping litter.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "It is vital that criminals are put on the DNA database - but the Government's approach is totally arbitrary."

A Home Office spokesman said keeping the DNA of the innocent was justified by the "clear evidence showing the substantial public benefit in relation to the detection of serious crime".