DNA database court challenge begins

The case being heard by Human Rights judges on Wednesday comes just days after the convictions of two killers in the UK thanks to chance DNA matches.

Suffolk serial murderer Steve Wright and Mark Dixie, who killed Sally Anne Bowman, were both caught because their DNA had been taken in connection with unrelated offences. But calls from a senior police officer for a compulsory DNA database including every UK resident have been dismissed by the Home Office as impractical.

The current DNA database in England and Wales already holds about 4.5 million DNA samples taken during criminal inquiries and retained even if the suspects are not prosecuted. In Scotland, however, most DNA samples taken after arrests must be destroyed if the person is not charged or convicted.

Now 45-year old Michael Marper and a teenager identified only as "S" are seeking a ruling in Strasbourg that keeping their DNA profiles and fingerprints on record is a breach of their human rights.

Mr Marper was arrested in 2001 and charged with harassing his partner, but the case was dropped after the couple's reconciliation. Also in 2001, S was arrested and charged with attempted robbery but was later acquitted.

In both cases, fingerprints and DNA samples were routinely taken and both men unsuccessfully requested that the information be destroyed. Their case was thrown out by the House of Lords, so they took the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Lawyers for the men, who are both from Sheffield and have no criminal record, argue that there are concerns about the possible future uses of samples kept on record, which are being used in ongoing criminal investigations. And they say that retaining the information casts suspicion on people who have been acquitted of crimes or had their cases dropped.

The judges are being asked to rule that such people should be treated in the same way as UK citizens who have not faced suspicion, and not be forced to have their DNA and fingerprints samples on record. To do so, say the lawyers, is a breach of the Human Rights Convention, which guarantees "respect for private life" and the "prohibition of discrimination".

After the one-day hearing, the Human Rights judges are expected to rule later this year on a case which could force the Home Office to scrap hundreds of thousands of DNA samples of people who currently have no convictions.