BRITISH DNA DATABASE HAS A HALF MILLION ERRORS

TELEGRAPH, UK - Civil liberties campaigners and MPs have raised doubts about the national DNA database after the Home Office confirmed it contained more than 500,000 false or wrongly recorded names. Suspects arrested over any imprisonable offence, including rape and murder, can have their DNA held even if they are not charged or are acquitted. But it has been dogged by problems. Statistics released by the Home Office show it contains around 550,000 files with wrong or misspelled names. . . It is understood that some of the errors have been caused by people deliberately giving someone else's name - or names of people who do not exist. The database, which police are determined to expand, also contains spelling errors and other inaccuracies.