“Lawyers for Shrien Dewani, the honeymoon murder suspect, are to ask British prosecutors to consider bringing a case against him in a dramatic attempt to avoid a trial in South Africa.”
The Guardian, 21st September 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“In December 2010 the government announced plans to close the Forensic Science Service (FSS). The FSS was the primary source of forensic expertise to prosecution authorities, and a major provider of expertise to defence lawyers – demonstrating a world class position as provider of impartial evidence to the criminal justice system. Whilst at the time of closure there was already an increasing move to outsourcing services to private forensic providers, the bulk of market share was taken by the FSS, meaning that private providers had little commercial clout. Since the demise of the FSS the position has shifted and power is split between the buyers of services (primarily the police) and the private providers. One matter of grave concern at the moment is in relation to accessing forensic material.”
CrimeLine, 9th September 2013
Source: www.crimeline.info
“Major crimes could go unsolved unless the government does more to support forensic science, MPs have warned.”
BBC News, 25th July 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“A man wrongfully convicted of possessing ammunition after forensics staff mixed
up his £3 keyring and a live bullet is suing the government.”
BBC News, 7th June 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“In an ideal world, experts would be brought into a case to help ascertain what has happened, use objective instruments that quantify and interpret the evidence, and provide the court with an unbiased view. However, the reality is that often experts are recruited to help make a case for an existing theory of what has happened, and they rely on subjective judgments and interpretations. Can we expect experts to be objective? Is it realistic that without specific cognitive measures experts can be impartial?”
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 21st May 2013
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
“A man who was wrongly charged with rape was the ‘innocent victim of an avoidable contamination’ at a private forensics laboratory, an official report concludes.”
The Guardian, 1st October 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A man and a woman from Birmingham have been found guilty of manslaughter after a 40-year-old Leicester man died following an explosion at a kebab shop.”
BBC News, 26th September 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Four of the terrorists convicted for the 21 July 2005 bomb plot will launch an attempt to have their sentences quashed following claims by a former senior government scientist that key forensic evidence used to jail the attackers was flawed.”
The Guardian, 19th September 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The Freddy Patel case shows how market forces inevitably lead to creeping deregulation if applied to the legal system.”
The Guardian, 29th August 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The closure of the forensic science archive in England and Wales will cause miscarriages of justice and stop police solving crimes, senior politicians, scientists and lawyers have warned.”
BBC News, 18th July 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“At the Guardian’s Open Weekend, Michael Mansfield QC warns against imagining that miscarriages of justice are something that have declined since famous confession-based cases of the 1980s. In today’s world, where faulty forensic evidence is more likely to be the problem, he worries about access to justice, pointing the finger at the emasculation of the legal aid system by successive governments and a renewed attempt to erode the right to trial by jury.”
The Guardian, 2nd April 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A convicted killer has started a new High Court challenge to access forensic evidence that his lawyers claim could clear his name.”
BBC News, 21st March 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Scores of convictions for serious crimes may have to be reviewed after a serious blunder by a leading private forensics firm led to a suspected rapist being acquitted, the Guardian has learned. The company, LGC Forensics, has admitted that a sample at one of its laboratories became so contaminated it could not be offered in evidence.”
The Guardian, 8th March 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Closing the Forensic Science Service will make miscarriages of justice more likely.”
The Guardian, 16th February 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Conviction of David Bryant for child sex assault will be pioneering forensics team’s last success.”
The Guardian, 12th February 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Two men have been convicted of the racist murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence, 18 years after he was stabbed to death at a south London bus stop. Gary Dobson and David Norris were found guilty by an Old Bailey jury after a trial based on forensic evidence.”
BBC News, 3rd January 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Rape already arouses serious anxiety because so few attacks are reported to the police, conviction rates are low, and victims are subject to intrusive questioning in court. But now concerns are growing that rapists are escaping justice because doctors are failing to properly examine victims or record their injuries, depriving police of crucial forensic evidence. In other words, senior doctors fear that some forensic medical examiners (FMEs) are simply not up to the job.”
The Guardian, 3rd October 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The demise of the Forensic Science Service comes as police forces shift towards a more streamlined approach to the use of forensics in criminal cases. Instead of courts being presented with extensive forensic reports that cover all the evidence recovered in police investigations, only short reports with the initial and key findings will be submitted. Prior to the trial, prosecutors will present the defence with evidence incrementally and order additional forensic tests only when the case requires them.”
The Guardian, 8th September 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A Lancashire man has been jailed for life for a rape in Canterbury more than 20 years ago after latest scientific techniques helped to find a DNA match.”
BBC News, 14th April 2011
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Miscarriages of justice will not be corrected and public confidence in the criminal justice system will be damaged if proposed changes to the forensic science service go ahead, according to Richard Foster, chairman of the criminal cases review commission.”
The Guardian, 30th March 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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