Privacy row as innocent Britons’ DNA to be stored on EU database

TENS of thousands of innocent Britons will have their DNA placed on a controversial EU database.

The Home Office has risked a privacy backlash after announcing it would share samples of those never charged with offences with European forces.

Currently the UK only puts the swabs of those convicted of wrongdoing on the Prum system. But in future the DNA of crime suspects will be added – even if they have been cleared.

It raises the prospect of a British citizen being wrongly caught up in an investigation because of a false match linking them to a serious crime overseas.

Home Office minister James Brokenshire

insisted the risks in exchanging suspects’ information would be outweighed by keeping the public safe.

But campaigners branded the move a ‘troubling’ privacy intrusion which significantly extended the reach of international police against British nationals.

The Home Office is acting despite a landmark ruling from European judges which says it is unlawful for police to store swabs from suspects later cleared of crimes.

The Prum Convention gives fast-track access to Europe’s DNA to identify foreign criminals and solve offences. The UK joined the scheme last July.

If there is a match for a crime scene sample, there will be a fast-track request system to get other personal details, such as name and date of birth.

The UK’s DNA database contains samples from five million people, of whom 100,000 are innocent of any crime.

Though the UK will receive access to other countries’ databases, they barely compare in scale. The Home Office said the chances of a DNA sample being falsely matched was one in a billion.

But Silkie Carlo, of Big Brother Watch, said of the database: ‘It’s not only a serious privacy intrusion but significantly widens the international policing Brits can be subject to.’

Ksenia Bakina, legal officer for Privacy International, said that including suspects’ DNA data ‘is very troubling’.

Mr Brokenshire said there were stringent safeguards in place to prevent miscarriages of justice.