The forensic science regulator is reviewing a series of sexual assault cases to examine whether poor evidence gathering at crime scenes may be compromising criminal justice in the UK, she has told the Guardian.

Dr Gill Tully, whose remit is to establish quality standards in forensic science and ensure compliance with them, said her review was prompted by a number of cases where she had been told that “the scientific opportunities don’t appear to have been maximised”. These included examples where scientific analysis was not carried out at all, she said.

“I am aiming to find out whether there are occasional examples of poor practice or whether there are more systematic issues,” Tully said.

The forensic review will look at decision-making at every stage of the investigation in a number of cases, from the crime scene through to any subsequent prosecution, in order to examine the quality of the forensic strategy. The review will focus on sexual assault cases because they are complex and often not well resourced, and is expected to take nine months.

Tully’s review comes as forensic scientists warn that Britain’s over-reliance on cheap DNA techniques and the country’s loss of expertise following privatisation of the Forensic Science Service (FSS) in 2012 may have already led to miscarriages of justice.

Spending on forensic examinations has shrunk by £20m over the past two years, according to a National Audit Office (NAO) study. In January, the NAO expressed concern that criminal trials could collapse because of problems in the forensic market after the government’s closure of the publicly-owned FSS.

Asked about concerns that spending cuts imposed on police evidence gathering in the wake of the closure of FSS was compromising investigation, she said her analysis would include looking at whether “any fragmentation of decision making and analysis is affecting the overall quality and effectiveness of forensic science in the end to end [crime scene to court] process”.

Stephen Lawrence’s killers were convicted when a re-examination of their clothing revealed a drop of his blood. Photograph: Family handout/PA

One forensic fibre expert told the Guardian that the killers of Stephen Lawrence, Sarah Payne and victims of the Suffolk strangler Steve Wright, all cases where fibre evidence helped secure conviction, might have escaped justice today because of pressure on forensic science providers to get quick results using cheaper DNA profiling. There are currently less than six full-time fibre experts in the UK, compared with 44 in 2008, according to Tiernan Coyle, chief scientist at Contact Traces.

“During the Wright case, the Forensic Science Service had five experts working full-time for 18 months in order to secure the fibre evidence,” said Coyle. “Even if you were to pool all the fibres expertise in England and Wales, you wouldn’t have enough skilled people to work on that case now.

The serial killer, convicted of killing five victims, was linked by DNA to only three, Paula Clennell, 24, Annette Nicholls, 29, and Anneli Alderton, 24. But fibre evidence linked Wright to Tania Nicol, 19, and Gemma Adams, 25 and he was convicted of killing all five.

“Without the fibre links would the CPS have proceeded to trial for those two victims?” asked Coyle.

Significant breakthroughs in the highly complex investigations into the murder of eight-year-old Sarah Payne in 2000 and the 1993 murder of Lawrence emerged after painstaking fibre work. Gary Dobson and David Norris were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012 after re-examination of Dobson’s coat fibres yielded a drop of Lawrence’s blood. Roy Whiting was convicted of Sarah’s murder after fibre evidence linked her shoe to a sweatshirt in his van, on which a strand of her hair was found.

Sarah Payne’s murderer was convicted after fibre evidence and a strand of hair linked him to the little girl. Photograph: PA

Coyle, a forensic scientist of 16-years experience who was involved in the Lawrence case, said the number of full-time experts in fibre evidence was “dangerously low”. His company, Contact Traces, was being forced to close due to a lack of demand for fibre evidence, he said. “It is inevitable we will have miscarriages of justice if it hasn’t already happened” Coyle said.

Asked about Coyle’s claims, Tully said: “If there’s suddenly a big increase in demand in fibres, then we could find people who specialise in other things as well as fibre. But you can’t make an expert overnight.”

Prof Peter Gill, an award-winning forensic expert and one of the pioneers of DNA analysis, echoed Coyle’s concerns about miscarriages of justice in Britain.

“With the Birmingham Six and Judith Ward [the M62 bomber whose conviction was quashed], there was very poor reporting by forensic science,” he said. “The problem is we’re in danger of revisiting that era.”

Gill, now professor of forensics at the university of Oslo, cited the case of Adam Scott, from Devon, who was falsely charged with rape in October 2011 because of a mistake at Britain’s largest private forensic science testing centre, LGC. The charge was dropped in March 2012 when it emerged that Scott’s DNA was mixed up during analysis of genetic material taken from a rape victim. A report by the forensic regulator found human error by technicians, as well as inadequate record keeping by LGC.

The testing centre was also criticised after a typing error led police to look for an unidentified suspect in the case of M16 operative Gareth Williams. It later emerged the DNA came from a police scientist. The forensic science regulator subsequently assessed LGC and in September 2012 reported that procedures and training at the company had since improved.

Gill said that the “purely market-driven” UK model was not used anywhere else in the world. “Most other jurisdictions fund forensic science services to allow tests that aren’t used very often to keep them up and running”.

Gill said he moved to Norway after the closure of the FSS, because of the lack of research capability in Britain. “In the UK, we’ve lost a lot of skills, within DNA profiling as well.”

Mike Penning, minister for policing and crime, disputed claims that forensic science had dropped in quality in the UK since the closure of FSS. “We continue to ensure forces have access to the best possible forensic services, while protecting taxpayers from the £2m losses that were made by the Forensic Science Service each month before its closure in 2012,” said Penning.

“We monitor the market closely to make sure it remains competitive and continues to provide forces with what they need.”



Tully reiterated that there was real danger about the future of forensic science in the UK. “We are in an era where everyone’s budget is under tremendous pressure,” she said. “But if there is a real skill shortage, that would obviously be a quality concern. I would be concerned if these evidence types were to die out completely.”