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No plans for universal DNA database, Home Office says

23/02/2008

Sally Anne Bowman's murderer, Dixie, and serial killer Wright were both captured using the current database after their DNA was taken for previous crimes.

Calls for everyone's DNA to be kept on file were made following the convictions.
But the Home Office said a mandatory database "would raise significant practical and ethical issues".

Steve Wright's DNA was on the system after being convicted for theft in 2003 and police were able to match his profile to evidence found on the bodies of some of his victims.

However Mark Dixie was not on the database when Sally Anne was killed.

It was only when he was arrested for assault after a fight in a bar that his DNA was taken and he was linked to the murder.

He was arrested within five hours.

Det Supt Stuart Cundy, who led the murder hunt, said: "It is my opinion that a national DNA register - with all its appropriate safeguards - could have identified Sally Anne's murderer within 24 hours.

"Instead it took nearly nine months before Mark Dixie was identified and almost two and a half years for justice to be done."

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) is also calling for a debate on the issue.