Katy Thorne KC unveils damning report by Westminster Commission on Forensic Science in House of Commons today
A three-year inquiry set up by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Miscarriages of Justice has found that the UK’s forensic science sector is in a “graveyard spiral”, leading to flawed police investigations, unsolved crimes, and wrongful convictions.
The Westminster Commission on Forensic Science, chaired by Professor Angela Gallop and Professor Lady Sue Black, today published its report exposing the deepening crisis in forensics. The report, written by Commissioners including Doughty Street Chambers’ Katy Thorne KC alongside Dr Philip Avenell, Professor Carole McCartney, Glyn Maddocks KC (Hon), Dr Jon Robins warns that cuts and misguided policies have eroded the sector’s integrity, with attempts to place forensic science under greater police control only worsening the situation.
The Commission makes 34 urgent recommendations, including halting the expansion of in-house police forensics, creating a National Forensic Institute, increasing access to legal aid for defence experts, and ensuring the CCRC employs staff with scientific expertise. It also calls for independent national evidence storage and a long-term strategy to remove forensic provision from police oversight.
The report criticises the CCRC’s complacency around forensic science and highlights the near-collapse of the forensic science market, now dominated by a shrinking number of providers. Commissioners gathered evidence from over 100 public responses, submissions from professionals, and oral sessions in Parliament, along with site visits to UK and international labs.
Katy said “The Commission were really shocked at what we found: forensic science provision in the courts is in terminal decline. It is so bad that it is preventing the police from properly investigating crime and I’ve no doubt it is causing new miscarriages of justice right now, more people like Andy Malkinson and Peter Sullivan wrongly convicted of crimes and incarcerated for long periods”
Read more and access the full report here.
