Criminal data unchecked

They were investigating unsolved crimes, hunting potentially hundreds of people on the run, and so sent forensic evidence to the British authorities.

The idea was to cross check the national DNA database here to see if anyone was hiding in the UK.

The information was first sent to the Attorney General who passed it on to the Crown Prosecution Service. But that was in January 2007.

This morning the CPS refuses to say how many of the 2,000 have now been checked, nor how serious the original crimes involved were. Although it's thought there have been at least 15 matches in Britain, 11 of whom have since committed crimes here.

It is another embarrassment for the government - still reeling after Revenue and Customs lost CDs with 25 million personal details of child benefit claimants.

But perhaps this case is better compared to the government's failure to deport foreign criminals after their prison sentence. A scandal which highlighted consistent failures between departments to share data.

The opposition parties have demanded a statement from the Home Secretary but were turned down this morning, with the government eager to distance itself from this.

But the Prime Minister won't be able to escape questions this lunchtime.

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