Landmark DNA ruling has local man’s fingerprints
Saturday 6th December 2008, 9:30AM GMT.
A landmark human rights battle against the UK Government over DNA data has been won by a locally-born lawyer.
Former Grammar School student Peter Mahy, 37 (pictured), has won a case at the European Court of Human Rights, resulting in a ruling which some are calling the most important in a decade – that innocent people’s DNA data must be deleted from government records.
Speaking from his offices in Sheffield yesterday, Mr Mahy, who is the nephew of Guernsey’s Home Department minister Geoff Mahy, said the seven years of hard work he and his team had put in was now worth it.
‘This has become the most significant human rights case in the world, possibly one of the most important cases ever,’ he said.
The story has made the front page of national newspapers.
‘All European countries that signed up are going to have to comply with this ruling now and all over the globe, countries will be influenced by it,’ he said.
- To read Guernsey Press stories in full click here for subscription details. Individual editions are now available online.
Campaigns
Voice For Victims
Voice for Victims is a campaign aimed at promoting the rights of those affected by child sexual abuse.
This is Guernsey
Guernsey Press
Good for him a slap in the face for Fascism maybe they will spend more money now on Police patrols instead.
Report abuse
remember though that a lot of unsolved crimes have been cracked because of these records..if you have done nothing wrong then what have you to worry about..
Report abuse
If you are innocent you have nothing to worry about. Just because you have not committed a crime, does not mean you never will, or are immune to committing one.
Report abuse
If you dont commit crimes you have nothing to worry about ! Also say for instance that you died while away from home in a remote area and was not found for months/years it would help the police/emergency services to identify you so your loved ones could be informed without having to try and identify you from what is left,which must be a very upsetting experience.
Report abuse
somebody has been watching minority report.
Report abuse
Great result and congratulations to Mr Mahy for his 7 year hard slog.
Regards the “solving crime” issue despite DNA testing being available for a decade the police are solving less crime. Despite spy cameras on every main street in Britain police are solving less crime. There is no easy solution to solving crime other than better policing.
And regards DNA databases, fingerprint datatbases and planned ID Cards it is the criminals that know the system and the innocent citizen that will be abused. The amount of data losses from databses over the past few years should alert everyone that Govt cannot be trusted. That’s before even mentioning that Govt is made of people who also cannot be trusted.
The safest society is one where the individuals rights are more powerful than the States. Not the other way round. Big Government isn’t the solution, it’s part of the problem.
Report abuse
Peter Mahy
How about coming back to your homeland and making a real difference with regards to paternity rights then. I don’t wish to line extortianate lawyers pockets with my cash just to tell me that I have been wasting my time. The system is to blame?
Is it really?
I feel that many peoples attitudes are actually. The majority of these have something to gain!
I along with many others have no issues with those that are convicted with DNA evidence. If it is fairly judged I would wish to see these guilty culprits convicted and behind bars.
DNA can be and often is grafted from simple things. Tea and Coffee cups being the usual. How about doing something for our children please?
I desperately wish to see mine. However I haven’t even been given the right to reply. And this is in a land that won’t respect or even wish to grasp FOI. Our leaders cherish their not wanting to speak on individual cases attitude.
Why is this exactly?
If you can help me with my dilemma as well as my children then I will see your efforts well placed. As I’m sure many others will!
I don’t wish for the ones that I love to become another baby P statistic GOD REST HIS POOR SOUL!
We all need to demand alot more cos it doesn’t come naturally to our authorities ashamedely!
Is this just because it is not the most bitter pill that they havent been expected to swallow?
Report abuse
DNA should be taken at birth – this would cut out most unsolved crimes…
I would gladly go to the police station to give my DNA for their records…
Only the gulity need worry about this…
If you are a law abiding citizen then it makes no odds if police have your DNA does it?
Dont start with all of that human rights rubbish either… if you have not or do not intend to do a crime then you have nothing to worry about do you?!
Report abuse
What a disaster.
This man will ruin many peoples lives.
How many women get raped?
How many people get shot or stabbed?
He has obviously never been on the receiving end of anything remotely nasty otherwise he would not support such a stupid notion.
I also cannot believe that the ECHR have made this case law – who are these idiots?
DNA is the only way of physically tying the suspect to the scene or aggrieved.
Innocent people have nothing to worry about.
The Police and the CPS do not prosecute individuals just because their DNA appears on something, they also have corroborating evidence etc.
What a disaster for the law enforcement community and many victims of crime.
Report abuse
Why not datatag everyone at birth so their whereabouts are always known – coz if u got nuffin to ide wots de problem.
Do you really trust Governments that much?
Report abuse
andy…..why do you try to type in a strange manner? it is hard to understand and seems to undermine the gravity of this ruling.. this is a huge kick in the teeth for the common man…over 1400 “cold” cases were solved because the police had dna to match with dna held in their system. now that has gone. i hope somebody fights against this ruling and wins.
Report abuse
So are you ‘it’s a disaster’ posters in favour of a police state? DNA databases are an important weapon against the innocent. It is only innocent people we are talking about here. Why should their lives be potentially ruined in situations where police overstep the mark. Already anti-terror legislations are being used to lock people up for waving a placard about. What next? The discovery of a ‘crime’ gene?
What if the database was then sold to insurance companies? Or anyone?
DNA databases of the innocent are only a few small steps away from potential eugenic policies. Far, far too dangerous to be playing with.
Report abuse
Paul
Your post above explains a lot of the bitterness which tends to surface in almost every subject you comment on.Good luck in your future battles.Have you tried the Citizens Advice Bureau who will probably have helped many others in your apparant situation ?
Fast Robert
I don’t think anyone will ever be able to help you overcome your entrenched anti-everything to do with the finance industry ( and almost everything else for that matter ) attitude
Must stop now,my next appointment is in the waiting room.
Report abuse
Ray
I don’t think anyone will be able to help you overcome your ignorant smugness. Perhaps if you could read maybe that would be a start. I am not anti-finance industry. I am anti the ruling elite of monied individuals that think that by making the rules up to suit them and their vast wallets, by dressing those conditions up in political jargon, and by marketing them with their overwhelmingly superior resources they can get away with screwing the lives up for billions of people worldwide. The ‘finance industry’ is just a loose term for a necessary utility to facilitate the movement of capital and to provide banking services in the modern era. It should not be a vessel for the immoral to sail freely at others’ expense.
It’s called informed democracy.
Report abuse
Another couple of gems from Fast Robert. First, from this thread: “I am not anti-finance industry.” And from the neighbouring thread about the Pope: “The global finance industry has proved destructive to the world’s poor and middle class tax payers.” Er?
Report abuse
Again, Martyn, just because I denounce the use of wealth as a weapon against society doesn’t mean I don’t support business. There is a clear distinction between greed and good business. You tell me how good the financial meltdown of top-rated companies due to mismanagement and laissez faire attitudes to social concepts has been good for the general health of nation states, hmm? Nobody has any answers so the result is vacuous personal attacks.
I have not read one viable defence of personal greed that makes it a worthwhile policy to perpetuate. Democracy and public accountability are the things I argue for. Not the destruction of anything.
Your post is nonsense. The two edits you have quoted can sit quite happily side-by-side without contradiction. It’s called debate. You obviously have no clue.
Report abuse
It’s called having your cake and eating it!
Report abuse