Call for DNA data blunder answers

Forces across the country have been mobilised to track down the suspects - all of whom are believed to have committed serious offences in the Netherlands.

Gordon Brown has announced an inquiry into why the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) failed to act after Dutch authorities sent them a disc containing DNA profiles of more than 2,000 individuals linked to serious crimes, including murderers and rapists.

Although the crucial information arrived in London in January last year, it apparently lay untouched on a desk until last month.

By that time, at least 11 of the individuals had committed crimes including assaults in this country.

Tory leader David Cameron called the events a "catastrophic failure", and accused the Government of doing "absolutely nothing" to protect the public.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) said it was "responding urgently" to co-ordinate the hunt after finally receiving the data from the CPS.

Answering questions in the Commons, the Prime Minister insisted "all details" of the incident would be examined, and said the CPS would carry out an inquiry.

He stressed that there would have been no possibility of identifying the suspects if the Government had not brought forward plans to share criminal DNA with other countries.

Mr Brown said the only offences discovered in the UK so far were "assault and non-payment of fines".