Mother of Sally Anne Bowman: Store everyone's DNA on a national database
THE mother of murdered London model Sally Anne Bowman today called for a DNA database of everyone in Britain to help police catch rapists and other serious criminals.
Linda Bowman, whose 18-year-old daughter's killer Mark Dixie was caught through the use of a DNA sample, said the reform could prevent dangerous offenders remaining free and stop miscarriages of justice.
Dixie, now 38, was convicted last year of Miss Bowman's murder during a sex attack in Croydon in September 2005. He was arrested after his DNA, taken following his arrest over a pub fight in 2006, was linked to the murder scene.
Mrs Bowman's call now comes after concerns over the bungled Met investigation into serial rapist Kirk Reid.
Reid, 44, was convicted last week after remaining free for years as detectives repeatedly failed to act on evidence linking him to sex crimes. His DNA was first left on one of his victims in 2001, seven years before his arrest.
Mrs Bowman, 46, said the case and that of her daughter highlighted the value of a universal database.
"It is the only deterrent that will stop serious crimes being committed. I am a mother of four and I have five grandchildren, I would not worry about any of their details being held on a computer and everyone in our family feels the same way," she said.
"I am sick to death of the people who complain about this idea. They have no idea what families like mine have been through." Mrs Bowman said that Dixie and other offenders such as John Worboys would have been caught earlier if a universal database existed. Taxi driver Worboys, 51, of Rotherhithe, is believed to have attacked up to 200 women. He was first arrested after a sex attack in July 2007, but police released him on bail and failed to proceed with the case. Worboys went on to attack about 30 more women before he was caught on 15 February last year. He was found guilty of 19 charges, including a rape.
Other supporters of a universal database include Conservative peer and former head of the Barbican, Baroness O'Cathain. She said: "A lot of women particularly would feel more secure and safe if everybody was on the DNA database, particularly in rape cases."
The existing database of more than 4.5million people - of whom about 80,000 have no convictions - records the DNA of convicts and also of those who have been arrested but not convicted.
Lord Justice Sedley has criticised the data, saying: "Where we are at the moment is indefensible. If you happen to have been in the hands of the police, then your DNA is on permanent record. If you haven't, it isn't.
"It also means that a great many people who are walking the streets, and whose DNA would show them guilty of crimes, go free."
* Plea: Linda Bowman believes sex attackers such as Kirk Reid, John Worboys and Mark Dixie, above, would have been caught earlier with a universal database
