The closure of the forensic science archive in England and Wales will lead to miscarriages of justice and hinder police investigations, senior politicians, scientists and lawyers have warned. The archive, which holds over 1.7 million case files, was shut down in March to save money, leaving each of the 43 police forces to arrange their own storage.
Alastair Logan, who helped overturn the convictions of the Guildford Four, called the closure an act of vandalism. 'They have destroyed a very valuable resource. They have put nothing in its place and miscarriages of justice will occur,' he said. He warned of a 'lottery' between the old centralised archive and new fragmented systems, making it difficult to link crimes across force areas.
Andrew Miller MP, chair of the science and technology select committee, said he feared for justice. 'This is a shallow decision, poorly thought out,' he said, adding that scientific advances would be set back. Dr Peter Bull from the University of Oxford described the £2 million annual funding for the old archive as 'ludicrous', saying it would not cover basic maintenance.
However, the Home Office insisted that proper access to forensic records would be maintained. A spokesman said the archive remains under Home Office guardianship, providing materials on request. But BBC News has learned that no new funding or facilities have been provided for police forces to set up future storage, leaving them to contract private providers or store records themselves.
