Terror suspects' DNA records deleted on a technicality

Fingerprints and DNA files identifying as many as 800 people suspected of terror offences have been allowed to expire due to a bureaucratic error.

The files, containing valuable information on potential terrorists, were thrown out because the correct paperwork had not been submitted, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Under the current system, forensic profiles of suspects who have not been convicted of a crime automatically expire after six months. However, if the information is considered important to national security, senior police officers can apply for a national security determination to keep the data on file indefinitely.

In this case, as this paperwork was not submitted in time, the files were deleted.

The situation was first reported two months ago by biometrics commissioner Alastair MacGregor, who said that 450 records had been lost. But in an updated report released today, he said he believed the true figure could be as high as 810.

Of these, at least 108 would have been approved in the interests of national security, he told the BBC.

"It is obviously very important that steps quickly be taken to establish whether – and, if so, how – replacement material should be obtained from those individuals," he said.

The destruction of the records means that one in ten of the 8,000 suspected extremists on the government's counter-terrorism watchlist can no longer be identified by their DNA and fingerprints.

MacGregor stressed he was "broadly satisfied" that steps had been taken to correct the problem, which he blamed on delays by the police in transferring the DNA and further delays by the intelligence services in compiling assessments of suspects.

However, MPs appeared far from reassured. Labour's Keith Vaz, who chairs the home affairs committee, urged the Home Office to "get a grip" on data management before national security was compromised.

Fellow committee member Tim Loughton added that it was "quite appalling" that potentially dangerous people had fallen off the radar on a "technicality".