Police want to delete criminal records after as little as six years

CRIMINALS could have their police records wiped after just six years under a secret plan that has caused fury inside the justice system.

Under controversial proposals that risk miscarriages of justice, chief constables want to axe the current rule that keeps conviction details on file until offenders turn 100.

Instead, those found guilty of offences such as shoplifting or drug possession would be removed from the huge Police National Computer (PNC) database after six years.

More serious crimes, including assault or harassment, would be held for 30 years while murderers and rapists would be kept on the system until they reach 120.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council proposed the radical move, in a report obtained by this newspaper, in the wake of stricter data protection laws and human rights challenges to the 100-year rule.

The council said it recognised that it is ‘unlawful to retain personal data unless it is necessary and proportionate’.

But the proposals have caused outrage among some of the most senior figures in the criminal justice system. Top judges have ‘grave concerns’, according to internal Ministry of Justice documents.

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett of Maldon – head of the judiciary in England and Wales – has written directly to the police chiefs to set out his opposition to the plans.

And Director of Public Prosecutions Max Hill QC is ‘firmly of the view that records should be kept for at least 100 years’.

Their fear is that early deletion could lead to dangerous criminals being let off with light sentences or even cleared by juries because courts would not know about their previous convictions. Career burglars or muggers could be spared jail, for instance, if judges wrongly thought they were first-time offenders.

And jurors might give defendants the benefit of the doubt if prosecutors were unable to cite ‘bad character’ evidence of their criminal past.

Last night, leading criminal barrister Matthew Scott said it was ‘unwise’ to dispose of records at a time when so many people are being prosecuted for historical allegations. ‘I have a lot of sympathy with the idea that people should be able to put their criminal past behind them, and that old and spent convictions should generally not affect their lives, but that’s a different issue from whether the records should be retained at all,’ he said.

In a private consultation on the proposals, Chief Constable Lee Freeman described the millions of records stored on the PNC as the ‘backbone’ of the criminal justice system.

Set up in 1974, it holds comprehensive details accessible to all UK police forces, including data on arrests, summons, court outcomes, firearms licences, drivers’ licences and alerts for wanted suspects and missing persons.

But the National Police Chiefs’ Council has reviewed the system in recent months to ensure it is ‘fair’ and could be defended ‘should a case go to judicial review and in particular with regard to the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Human Rights Act 1998’.

Last night an NPCC spokesman said: ‘The review panel are assessing and reflecting on the feedback received. There will be further meetings with the review panel, police and criminal justice partners in the coming weeks.’

‘Burglars could be spared jail’