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11 December 2008
Issue: 7349 / Categories: Features , Human rights
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Law reports Edited by the All England Law Reporters

Human Rights—Privacy—Retention of fingerprints and DNA samples
S and another v United Kingdom (App Nos 30562/04 and 30566/04)
European Court of Human Rights, 4 December 2008
The blanket and indiscriminate nature of the powers of retention of fingerprints, cellular samples and DNA profiles of persons suspected but not convicted of offences constitutes a violation of Art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights

The police lawfully took fingerprints and DNA samples from the applicants in two separate cases after each had been arrested and charged. Neither had previous convictions. One of the applicants was acquitted and proceedings against the other were discontinued.

Section 64(1A) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) authorised the police to retain such fingerprints or DNA samples after they had fulfilled the purposes for which they had been taken, and provided that they were not to be used “except for purposes related to the prevention or detection of crime, the investigation of an offence or the conduct of a prosecution”. The chief constable decided

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Chair of the Association of Pension Lawyers joins as partner

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Group names Shakespeare Martineau partner head of Sheffield office

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Four legal directors promoted to partner across UK offices

NEWS

The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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