The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), working with the
Forensic Services Regulator (FSR), the Crown Prosecution
Service (CPS), the Home Office and the Association of Police
and Crime Commissioners (APCC), has identified more than 10,500
cases across 42 force areas that may have been affected by
manipulation.
The alleged manipulation came to light in January 2017 when
RTS, during an internal investigation, uncovered irregularities
and reported the details to Greater Manchester Police and the
appropriate regulatory authorities. A criminal
investigation was subsequently launched and as a result two men
– a 47-year-old and a 31-year-old - were arrested on suspicion
of perverting the course of justice. They have been re-bailed
until 10 January 2019. Six more people, two women and four men,
have also been interviewed under caution, although all but one
of those have since been eliminated from enquiries.
Of the 10,500 cases identified, nearly 4000 have been retested
or submitted for retesting and 2300 cases have been struck from
the retesting process as they have been deemed unlikely to
result in a change to the criminal justice outcome.
Of the highest priority cases, nearly 90 per cent (approx. 800)
of cases have been retested, with the rest to be completed by
April 2019.
Of the 2700 cases which have been fully revisited,
approximately three per cent (a minimum of 90) of outcomes were
affected. All 90 are road traffic cases, of which 50 were
discontinued by the CPS and 40 had a conviction overturned
following the case being reopened under s.142 of the
Magistrates Courts Act, which gives Magistrates’ Courts a power
to reopen cases to rectify mistakes.
Four additional road traffic cases have been taken to the Court
of Appeal, with one case being overturned, one resulting in a
reduced sentence, one appeal being unsuccessful and the fourth
still to be decided.
The NPCC has employed an independent expert to analyse the
retest results, with more than 1000 cases already being closely
examined to ensure the quality and accuracy of the retesting
work.
National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Forensics,
Chief Constable James Vaughan, said:
“The integrity of forensic science is a fundamental part of our
criminal justice system and we are working tirelessly to
minimise the impact of this serious breach of standards.
“Managing the process for retesting over 10,500 potentially
affected cases has been a major national police
operation. We will continue this process until we can
assure the public that we have retested samples in every case
where it is necessary and possible.
“We’ve retested nearly 90 per cent of the highest priority
cases. Of the cases retested three per cent have resulted
in different outcome and a further four cases referred to the
court of appeal - these are all road traffic cases.
“Unfortunately, the retesting process has been slower than we
had either hoped or anticipated, as a result of the limited
specialist and independent capacity within the forensic
marketplace.
“Alongside the APCC and the Home Office, the NPCC are leading
the work to bring other independent forensic testing suppliers
into the supply chain to speed up the process.
“We have requested that local forces and coroners review the
relevancy of toxicology to each affected case, so we can
concentrate our efforts where they are most needed.
“This has succeeded in reducing the number of high priority
cases, and has also led to around 2300 cases (approx. 22 per
cent) being struck from the retesting process as they have been
deemed unlikely to result in a change to the criminal justice
outcome.
“I expect this re-evaluation process to reduce the timescales
for completing the retesting programme, but our conservative
estimates are that all relevant road traffic cases will be
complete by mid-2019, and all other cases where toxicology was
pivotal will be done by December 2019.”
