11 December 2003 Edition

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PSNI asked forensic lab to doctor evidence

BY LAURA FRIEL

British Army and PSNI interference with forensic material has called into question all convictions based upon forensic evidence over the last 30 years. This revelation followed the discovery by a Belfast defence lawyer that suggests the PSNI routinely request government forensic scientists to doctor the evidence and further revelations that the British Army was deliberately allowed to contaminate material gathered as evidence in a recent case.

The revelations followed the collapse of a case against two men accused of involvement in a dissident grouping. The men had been arrested following a major British Army and PSNI operation that intercepted two undercar boobytrap bombs on the Omeath Road last year.

The prosecution case against the two men collapsed after the court heard that the British Army had tampered with evidence and the PSNI had asked a scientist to "modify" his findings to protect an informer.

The manipulation of evidence came to light when a defence lawyer acting on behalf of the two men visited the forensic laboratory to assess the evidence. The solicitor came across a letter from one of the scientists in the case outlining a request he had received from a PSNI detective chief inspector. The scientist said that the PSNI chief had asked him to tamper with his report and omit specific sections.

According to the scientist, the PSNI officer submitted a copy of the original forensic report, with the sections he wanted falsified clearly marked, which would have omitted all references to traces of explosives connected to a third man, believed to have been acting as a Special Branch informer.

The solicitor also found a memo that said after the evidence had been collected but before forensic scientists examined it, the British Army had been allowed to examine the material. According to the memo a British Army 'search organisation' had opened bags of evidence at Newry PSNI station.

The British soldiers' examination included rubbing a gloved hand over the surface of items of clothing. Clearly such action suggests that the men's clothing was deliberately contaminated prior to being examined at the forensic laboratory.

This is not the first time the Forensic Science Laboratory has come under public scrutiny. Recently, a leading forensic expert told a court that scientists at the lab routinely come under pressure from the PSNI in relation to evidence.


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