Fingerprints blunder puts trials at risk

TRIALS could collapse and criminals walk free because the police have failed to meet strict new rules governing fingerprint evidence.

Every force in the UK was ordered by the forensics watchdog three years ago to ensure their laboratories met international standards for studying marks found at crime scenes.

But The Mail on Sunday has learned that just one in ten hit the deadline to gain accreditation from the watchdog, the Forensic Science Regulator, confirming they met these standards at the start of October.

Police from forces without this accreditation will now have to admit in court that they have missed the target before the start of trials where fingerprints are presented as evidence.

These could include rape and murder cases. Defence lawyers are also more likely to challenge fingerprint evidence presented by police from these forces and order their own tests.

Police chiefs have created an emergency group to make sure their labs gain accreditation as soon as possible.

Chief Constable James Vaughan, national lead for forensics, said: ‘We are treating delays in gaining accreditation as a critical incident.

‘If police labs do not have the appropriate accreditation, forces are open in providing declarations to courts and evidence of the activity undertaken to ensure high standards of work.

‘It is then for the court to test the veracity and admissibility of the evidence.’

A spokesman for Dr Gillian Tully, the Forensic Science Regulator, said last night: ‘The consistent failures to meet the Regulator’s quality standards are unacceptable.’

Dr Tully has led a drive for police-run laboratories to meet international standards. At a meeting in July, chief constables complained ‘about how high the bar was being set in terms of accreditation’.

But Dr Tully said ‘there would have been ample time to approach the process over a longer time period, had there been earlier action’.