Networked Knowledge - Media Report

This version of the report has been prepared by: Dr Robert N Moles

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On 24 December 2007 Ronan O’Connell of the West Australian reported “Doubt over DNA conviction tool”.

It said that WA legal groups have called for an immediate review of a controversial forensic DNA test used to help convict outback killer Bradley John Murdoch after British police suspended their use of the technique amid serious doubts about its accuracy. Law Society president Maria Saraceni and Criminal Lawyers Association vice-president Philip Urquhart said they had grave concerns about the reliability of so-called low copy DNA tests, which allow the analysis of tiny particles a millionth the size of a grain of salt.

Civil libertarians are also pushing to reopen the case of Murdoch, the Broome man convicted of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio, after a Belfast High Court judge criticised the technique after it was used in a bid to convict an Omagh bomb suspect. The judge acquitted Sean Hoey due to lack of evidence, saying he thought low copy DNA analysis was unreliable and lacked validity. Mr Hoey was the only man charged with murder over the 1998 Northern Ireland blast which killed 29 people. The use of low copy DNA tests was subsequently suspended by police in Wales and England, where urgent reviews have been launched into thousands of criminal cases.

Police used the test — which is also employed in WA — in Murdoch’s Supreme Court trial to link him to the hand ties used to restrain Mr Falconio’s girlfriend, Joanne Lees, and to particles found in their Kombi van. WA Police spokesman Acting Insp. Brian Cowie said yesterday that police would not consider reviewing or suspending their use of the technique until they had “analysed the facts of the case in the UK and the reasoning for the technique being suspended”.

But Mr Urquhart said immediate action was necessary. “The use of this technique must be reviewed promptly,” he said. “Defence counsels have always been of the view that DNA analysis is not infallible but there is particular concern about its reliability in circumstances where the analysis is done on a very small sample. “This case in the UK highlights the fact that errors can be made and wrong conclusions drawn when using these sorts of DNA techniques.”

Ms Saraceni said: “There needs to be proper measured analysis done in regards to the reliability of this technique but given what has occurred in the UK, that needs to be done as a matter of urgency.” The president of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, Brisbane lawyer Terry O’Gorman, said Australia should follow the British lead. “There appears to be a strong case for a special grant of legal aid to be made to Murdoch, including substantial grant of aid for re-examination of forensic evidence used,” he said. “If the process used in the Falconio case is flawed . . . it should be considered by the Court of Appeal as to whether there should be a retrial.”

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