Randox review reverses 40 convictions... and counting
(Posted on 07/12/18)
Share:A review of the Manchester forensic lab Randox Testing Services involving 10,500 cases has so far resulted in the quashing of 40 drug-driving convictions. 50 further cases have already been dropped.
Two employees have been arrested by Greater Manchester Police on
suspicion of perverting the course of justice and six others interviewed under
caution.
"This
is a national scandal which has had a devastating impact on the lives of the
many people we are representing,†said Andrew Petherbridge of Hudgell
Solicitors. "People have lost their driving licences, and as a result lost
their employment, struggled to pay bills such as mortgages and rents, and some
have been unable to travel to see their families and children."
"It
was devastating to me," explained Luke Pearson, whose wrongful conviction was
overturned in February. "I needed to travel to sites as part of my job as
a scaffolder as we worked across the country, so as a result of me being banned
I lost my job. I'd even been offered a job as a foreman for a company and they
were prepared to give me a company car to travel around sites, but of course
that opportunity was lost when I was banned."
On top of
the £2.5m the data manipulation is likely to cost Randox for re-testing of
samples by other laboratories, the affair has eroded public trust in the police
and possibly in forensic science itself.
Chief Constable
James Vaughan, National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead on forensics, said the
re-testing was taking longer than expected thanks to a "chronic
shortage" of scientific expertise and accredited laboratories, with
resultant knock-on delays in unrelated sexual assault cases.
This
was clearly foreseen by the Forensic Science Regulator Gillian Tully who wrote a
year ago that the re-testing process would be lengthy because of a limited
number of skilled experts. Forensic toxicology expertise has been lost since
the closure of the Forensic Science Service in 2012.
The
review, begun in January 2017, is likely to take 3 years to complete.
