ABSTRACT
Mr David Perry and Mr Duncan Penny for the Attorney-General; Mrs Rebecca Poulet, QC and Ms Roxanne Morrell for B. Lord Steyn said that in 1997 a woman had been assaulted and raped during a burglary at her home. The ordeal of the woman had been horrendous and the offence of rape had been of the utmost gravity. The victim had been medically examined and swabs taken. Semen was found on both swabs and the DNA profile obtained was placed on the national DNA database. In January 1998 B was arrested and charged with an unrelated offence of burglary and a saliva sample was lawfully taken from him without his consent. He was acquitted of the burglary offence and under section 64(1) the sample should have been destroyed. It was not destroyed and information derived from it, namely the DNA profile, remained on the DNA data base. A match was later made between the profile and that obtained from the swabs taken from the victim.
