Courts face crisis over 500 ‘fixed’ forensic tests
Thousands may appeal against drink, drug and child custody verdicts after scientists accused of doctoring samples
‘Families may have been torn apart’ ‘Quality of these results affects people’s lives’
ROGUE scientists are feared to have doctored the forensic test results of hundreds of innocent people, sparking a massive miscarriage of justice inquiry.
Parents may have had children taken into care or been turned down for adoption as a result of the decade-long scandal, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Others could have lost driving licences or been jailed for drink or drug-driving offences because blood and hair samples taken by police were allegedly tampered with.
As part of their inquiries, police are investigating whether disaffected lab workers at health company Randox added alcohol to drink-drive tests to turn negative results into positive ones.
Sources said the company handles as many as 80,000 cases in a single year – any number of which may now be challenged as a result of the alleged tampering.
This could lead to the courts having to hear thousands of appeals against a huge range of convictions and family court judgments.
The motivation behind the alleged doctoring is unknown, but one source claimed it might have been carried out to hit performance targets.
Lyn Brown, Labour’s policing spokesman, said: ‘It is very disturbing to think about the scale of this miscarriage of justice and it raises serious questions about the privatisation of the Forensic Science Service under this government.’
Tory MP Tim Loughton, who sits on the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: ‘Serious questions need to be asked about how this was able to happen, and what checks and balances are in place to scrutinise the quality of results that affect people’s lives.’
The revelations could spark a crisis in the criminal justice system with hundreds of cases thrown out and a flood of appeals and compensation claims costing millions.
Last week two men were arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice as top police chiefs and prosecutors held crisis talks about the alleged ‘quality failure’ at the leading science firm.
Randox, which pays former Tory Cabinet Minister Owen Paterson £4,166 a month as a consultant, has been used by every single police force in the UK.
Forces will now write to at least 500 people whose criminal and civil cases may have been wrongly decided on the basis of compromised results provided to the courts by the lab.
The inquiry comes weeks after a watchdog, Forensic Science Regulator Gillian Tully, warned that the integrity of the criminal justice system was at risk from poor-quality testing.
Last night a source said: ‘Potentially a lot of people will have been prosecuted and lost their driving licences who shouldn’t have done, and families will have been torn apart because the scientists worked on social services and adoption cases.
‘I’ve never come across [claims of] deliberate manipulation of samples like this – it’s unprecedented.’
National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Forensic Science, Chief Constable Debbie Simpson, said: ‘We have been made aware of a quality failure with Randox Testing Services (RTS), which is currently being investigated and a criminal inquiry has been launched by Greater Manchester Police. Randox has provided each force with a list of cases that could have been affected.
‘Working in partnership with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), we have provided guidance to forces so they are able to review each case to determine if compromised data played a part in prosecution and the CPS will then take appropriate action in any cases identified.’
The compromising of the test results is said to have happened at a site in Manchester run by Randox. The Northern Ireland-based health firm had a turnover of £92million last year and will sponsor the Grand National for the first time in April.
As an approved Home Office supplier, its scientists analyse samples of blood, saliva and hair for traces of drugs and alcohol on behalf of police forces around the country as well as family courts that decide custody and adoption cases.
The two unnamed men who have been arrested are believed to have worked since 2006 at the Randox lab. It was previously run by the nowdefunct Trimega and Ingemino.
One insider suggested the men might have been unhappy at the way their company was being run.
Randox became aware of an anomaly in one case which led to a full internal investigation in January, and it then called the police in. It has dismissed one employee and is investigating another. Initially it was feared that results were altered in as many as 5,000 cases but the firm is now said to have narrowed it down to 484.
Randox Testing Services said in a statement: ‘We are working round the clock to address the issues that resulted from this investigation.’
Greater Manchester Police said: ‘Two men, a 47-year-old and a 31-year-old, have been arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice and released on bail until March 6.’
Former police leader Lord Paddick, the Lib Dems’ spokesman on home affairs, said: ‘Whenever you farm out forensic testing to private companies, it becomes increasingly difficult to ensure quality control.’