STORY: "Rape accused was 'innocent victim," published by the Jersey Evening Post on October 1, 2012;
SUB-HEADING: "A man wrongly acccused and charged with raping a woman was the 'innocent victim' of an avoidable mistake, the forensics watchdog has said;
GIST: "Adam Scott was arrested and held in custody for months after a plastic tray containing a sample of his DNA was re-used in the analysis of a swab from a rape victim in Manchester by private firm LGC Forensics. Forensic science regulator Andrew Rennison said Mr Scott, from Devon, was an “innocent victim of avoidable contamination”. “The contamination was the result of human error by a technician who failed to follow basic procedures for the disposal of plastic trays used as part of a validated DNA extraction process,” he said. “The procedures themselves were not adequate, leading to no records maintained by the technicians and nothing done to mark used trays as such.” Mr Scott was charged on October 23 2011 over the rape of the woman in Plant Hill Park, Blackley, and remanded in custody until the case was withdrawn on March 7 this year, the regulator’s report said. It also emerged that the same error happened at least once before, on October 12 last year, the report added. That alone “should have triggered a more comprehensive response than that undertaken”, Mr Rennison said. “These errors were compounded by the failure at LGC to consider the possibility of contamination despite concerns expressed by the investigating officer about the reliability of the DNA profile.” He went on: “It is unlikely that the case against Mr Scott would ever have proceeded to trial and, in the absence of any further evidence, the case would probably have been discontinued. However, this is of little comfort to Mr Scott who was charged on October 23 2011 and remanded in custody on this case until it was withdrawn on March 7 2012.”
The entire story can be found at:
SUB-HEADING: "A man wrongly acccused and charged with raping a woman was the 'innocent victim' of an avoidable mistake, the forensics watchdog has said;
GIST: "Adam Scott was arrested and held in custody for months after a plastic tray containing a sample of his DNA was re-used in the analysis of a swab from a rape victim in Manchester by private firm LGC Forensics. Forensic science regulator Andrew Rennison said Mr Scott, from Devon, was an “innocent victim of avoidable contamination”. “The contamination was the result of human error by a technician who failed to follow basic procedures for the disposal of plastic trays used as part of a validated DNA extraction process,” he said. “The procedures themselves were not adequate, leading to no records maintained by the technicians and nothing done to mark used trays as such.” Mr Scott was charged on October 23 2011 over the rape of the woman in Plant Hill Park, Blackley, and remanded in custody until the case was withdrawn on March 7 this year, the regulator’s report said. It also emerged that the same error happened at least once before, on October 12 last year, the report added. That alone “should have triggered a more comprehensive response than that undertaken”, Mr Rennison said. “These errors were compounded by the failure at LGC to consider the possibility of contamination despite concerns expressed by the investigating officer about the reliability of the DNA profile.” He went on: “It is unlikely that the case against Mr Scott would ever have proceeded to trial and, in the absence of any further evidence, the case would probably have been discontinued. However, this is of little comfort to Mr Scott who was charged on October 23 2011 and remanded in custody on this case until it was withdrawn on March 7 2012.”
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.thisisjersey.com/news/uk-news/2012/10/01/rape-accused-was-innocent-victim/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I am monitoring this case. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
