Law Weblog

DNA retention lawful – High Court ignores ECtHR

Sunday 23 January 2011 at 9:53 am | In News | Post Comment Northern Ireland’s High Court of Justice has ruled that police retention of a 14 year old boy’s DNA was not illegal, despite a European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling that the blanket data retention policy conflicts with human rights law.

The Court said that it could not follow the ruling from the ECtHR because an earlier ruling by the House of Lords conflicted with it. The Northern Irish Court said that the ruling of the ECtHR is not binding.

“By virtue of the doctrine of precedent, it is incumbent on this court to give effect to the decision of the House of Lords … ”

S and Michael Marper in 2004 involved the arrest of a boy who was not charged with the crime and his data was due to be kept by police for seven years with possible extensions for longer.

Following S and Marper, the Government planned to allow the retention of DNA data for 12 years but in 2009 said that it would change that in many cases to six years.

The Supreme Court is to rule on a similar case which would clarify the law on the issue soon.

The case highlights a clear judicial tension between the approach of the UK courts and the ECtHR.

Judgment here ruling.