Innocent British man spent FIVE MONTHS in prison after forensics mix-up meant he was falsely accused of rape

The guy should sue the pants off the negligent firm

An innocent man spent five months in jail falsely accused of rape following a DNA blunder.

Adam Scott, 20, was arrested after a plastic tray containing a sample of his saliva was re-used by a forensics company. It meant his saliva was wrongly linked to a violent attack on a woman in Manchester – carried out when he was hundreds of miles away in Plymouth.

Yesterday a report by the forensics watchdog found he was the ‘innocent victim of avoidable contamination’.

The Forensic Science Regulator said the lack of records meant it was impossible to work out which laboratory technician was behind the mistake – meaning they are likely to have kept their job.

The watchdog has allowed the firm, LGC Forensics, to keep its licence despite fears of other miscarriages of justice.

Mr Scott had been arrested and a saliva sample taken after a street fight. But the tray holding his DNA was re-used for the rape test and a positive match showed up.

He was arrested by Greater Manchester Police, despite never having been to the city. The only evidence was forensic but despite his denials he was charged and remanded into custody on October 23 last year. He was only released on May 7 when the case was withdrawn following an investigation. Phone records showed he was 300 miles away on the south coast when the rape took place.

Upon his release in May Mr Scott, from Exmouth, Devon, said he had endured a ‘living nightmare’. He said: ‘I am furious at the pain it put me and my family through.’ ‘They kept me in a segregation wing which was full of rapists and paedophiles. ‘I suffered lots of verbal abuse and other inmates spitting at us and shouting “paedos”.’

The blunder came despite the firm detecting an earlier, similar error. The real rapist has still not been caught.

Regulator Andrew Rennison said: ‘The contamination was the result of human error by a technician who failed to follow basic procedures for the disposal of plastic trays.

‘The procedures themselves were not adequate, leading to no records maintained by the technicians and nothing done to mark used trays. These errors were compounded by the failure at LGC to consider the possibility of contamination despite concerns expressed by the investigating officer.’

Ministers have been criticised over the decision to close the Government-funded Forensic Science Service and hand the work over to the private sector. Critics claim this will lead to more miscarriages of justice in future.

Mr Scott’s solicitor, Philippa Jefferies, of Rundle Walker Solicitors, said she was ‘dumb-struck that this could happen’. She told the BBC yesterday: ‘I’m sure [LGC] is very, very sorry it’s happened because it’s a black stain – a terrible fundamental error.

‘Being responsible for processing DNA material that may result in convicting or acquitting a defendant, it must be of paramount importance safeguarding issues [are taken seriously].’

LGC Forensics said it deeply regretted the incident.

Original report here



(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here