{"id":4271,"date":"2008-08-05T21:20:19","date_gmt":"2008-08-05T20:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=4271"},"modified":"2008-08-05T21:20:19","modified_gmt":"2008-08-05T20:20:19","slug":"mp-accuses-government-of-building-dna-database-by-stealth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/surveillance-big-brother\/mp-accuses-government-of-building-dna-database-by-stealth\/","title":{"rendered":"MP accuses Government of building DNA database by stealth"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Shahid Naqvi<\/a> | A Tory MP whose Black Country uncle was murdered more than a year ago has accused the Government of creating a \u201cDNA database by stealth\u201d after police failed to return his genetic details taken during the investigation.<\/p>\n

Greg Hands, MP for Hammersmith and Fulham, allowed detectives with West Midlands Police to take his fingerprints and swabs after widower Les Ince was found\u00a0stabbed to death with a barbecue meat skewer in February 2007.<\/p>\n

The father-of-two claims he is one of a million innocent people whose DNA is being held by the state without permission and despite no law being passed by Parliament to allow such information to be held.<\/p>\n

West Midlands Police has promised to return his details but Mr Hands accused the force of dragging its heels due to a reluctance to let go of the information.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not attacking West Midlands Police in anyway,\u201d said the MP. \u201cWhat I am saying is the Government needs to establish a set of proper procedures for keeping people\u2019s DNA. Parliament has never approved there being a national database. We have a situation where a million people\u2019s DNA has been taken and put on this database even if they have no connection with crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Government are building a national database by stealth. They are finding whatever means they can to get your DNA sample. I think that is wrong without it being properly debated in Parliament and without proper safeguards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Hands said recent history had demonstrated Government offices could not be trusted to hold on to data in the wake of a series of high-profile security lapses with data.<\/p>\n

Though accepting there may be good arguments for creating a national DNA database, he insisted the authorities had no powers to hold genetic information against people\u2019s will.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not necessarily against it. I would listen very carefully to the arguments. I would look at what safeguards are in place and who can access the information. But until we have a debate in Parliament it remains a grey area.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy case has had a certain amount of publicity. But there are one million people like me who have never been charged with any crime whose DNA is being held.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pensioner Mr Ince, aged 80, was brutally attacked at his home in Walsall on February 21, 2007. He was found injured in an under-stairs cupboard and later died in hospital. An X-ray showed the skewer had penetrated his body.<\/p>\n

Police believe he may have been attacked a few days before he was discovered.<\/p>\n

Despite a \u00a35,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of his attackers, police have so far made no arrests in connection with the crime.<\/p>\n

Mr Hands said: \u201cIt is one of those murders that I think will be quite hard to solve because there is no apparent motive. My uncle as far as we are aware had no enemies in life. He was an 80-year-old man living on his own and wasn\u2019t well off. My best guess is it was a burglary gone wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Hands said \u201cironically\u201d DNA samples taken at the scene of the crime could end up holding the key to solving the crime.<\/p>\n

West Midlands Police said Mr Hands was sent a letter in June confirming his DNA samples will be removed from the national DNA database and his fingerprints returned.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has received correspondence saying this request will be honoured,\u201d said a spokeswoman for the force.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shahid Naqvi | A Tory MP whose Black Country uncle was murdered more than a year ago has accused the Government of creating a \u201cDNA database by stealth\u201d after police failed to return his genetic details taken during the investigation. Greg Hands, MP for Hammersmith and Fulham, allowed detectives with West Midlands Police to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1614],"tags":[45],"class_list":{"0":"post-4271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-surveillance-big-brother","7":"tag-database-state"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4271\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}