May 27 2009 by Our Correspondent, Western Mail

As the controversy over who should be included on a national DNA database continues, author Satish Sekar argues that a new EU ruling poses a threat to cracking unsolved crimes

Over 13 years ago – March 10, 1996 – the half-naked body of 34-year-old Karen Skipper was recovered from the River Ely in Cardiff.

Within five weeks, an innocent man – her estranged husband Philip – was charged with her murder and acquitted in 1997. He subsequently died in November 2004, the same year that crucial DNA profiles were obtained from crime scene samples.

Two years later, John Pope, the real murderer, was arrested on an unrelated matter for which he was not convicted.

His DNA profile was put on the National DNA Database and within a month the labourer, then 57, was identified as a prime suspect in the murder of Karen Skipper.

Last February, Pope was finally brought to justice for a crime that Mr Justice Davies described as “almost sadistic”. He was given a tariff – the minimum that he must serve before becoming eligible for release on licence – of 19 years.

Recently, the European Court of Human Rights unanimously decided that the DNA and profiles of people who had been arrested, but not convicted, cannot be retained on the National DNA Database any longer.

If the ECHR had its way earlier, Pope may never have been convicted and a serious miscarriage of justice would never have been corrected.

Despite not being convicted, Philip Skipper stood trial for a brutal crime that he did not commit, endured an unjustified whispering campaign against him and went to his grave without knowing who really killed his estranged wife – that is a miscarriage of justice.

He stood trial for her murder, but was acquitted in 1997.

Detective Superintendent Terry Ewington (now retired) headed the inquiry, which was reopened after Pope was identified as a prime suspect due to the hit from the database.

Pope was convicted of Karen Skipper’s murder in February 2009 and was described as “devious” by the judge.

If he had not been arrested on that unrelated matter, his DNA would not have been on the database and the murder of Karen Skipper would not have become the second inquiry in Wales to be vindicated after a miscarriage of justice – the fifth in Britain.

All of them have been solved through DNA testing through the DNA Database, although the Lynette White inquiry required an innovative approach.

Recently, the ECHR decided that the UK government should not retain the DNA or data of people who were not convicted of a criminal offence, which would have included Pope.

The Government has six months to comply, yet Home Secretary Jacqui Smith issued a consultation paper that is likely to land the Government in trouble again, as it wants to keep the profiles, but not the samples, despite acquittals.

The ECHR expects both samples and data of the innocent to be destroyed and quickly, but Smith’s proposal plans to keep the data for up to 12 years, depending on the seriousness of the offence, although all samples of people who have not been convicted will be destroyed within six months of arrest.

Smith plans for juveniles convicted of minor offences to have their profiles removed when they reach 18, if they are arrested for further offences but not convicted or after six years, whichever is first. Those under 10 have already had their data removed.

The criteria to remove data early will be set out in regulations, but the chief constable retains the right to make that decision and an independent advisory panel will review the regulations that would include the option to judicially review decisions by the chief constable. Her consultation paper includes provisions to ensure that those convicted of offences, including Britons abroad, are on the database.

It is unlikely that these measures will satisfy the ECHR and it should be remembered that the National DNA Database has helped to vindicate two sets of victims of shameful miscarriages of justice in Wales – Philip Skipper and the Cardiff Five – by helping to convict the truly guilty, at least one of which may not have happened if profiles of unconvicted people could not be stored on the database and the profile was not run against unsolved crimes in time.

The DNA testing system was available before 2004.

What would have happened if police had waited before having those tests conducted?

If the ECHR decision had been complied with before Pope’s arrest on the unrelated matter, or police had waited until afterwards to conduct those tests, as this was by then a cold case and they have other priorities, a devious killer would still be at liberty.

Satish Sekar is the author of Fitted In: The Cardiff 3 and the Lynette White Inquiry, which can be ordered through Fitted- In Project at www.fittedin.com