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Theresa May has claimed Diane Abbott wants to wipe the DNA details of criminals off the police database - but that isn't true.

Speaking at the BBC Question Time election special in York , the Tory leader said Labour's Shadow Home Secretary has a plan which would make it harder to catch criminals.

Unfortunately that isn't what Dianne Abbott said.

Diane Abbott has campaigned for the DNA of innocent people to be taken off the DNA database - if they are not convicted for a crime.

But Ms Abbott has said that the DNA of people convicted of crimes should remain on the national police archive.

She told The Guardian in 2009 that the regulations around the DNA database should be changed so that innocent people - often black and ethnic minority teenagers - could have their details removed.

(Image: PA)

She wrote: "There is a clear racial disparity in those people who have their DNA held. In particular, one in four black children over the age of 10 have their DNA on the database.

"I dealt with the case of a 14-year-old black girl who happened to be a passenger in a car which was stopped by the police.

"She had her DNA taken without her parents being present or their permission sought. The car was not stolen and the driver had committed no crime.

"But it took months of argument before the police agree to remove her DNA.

"It seems that for the police, if you are a young black person of any gender, you are guilty until proved innocent and permanently under suspicion."

It seems like the PM isn't fact checking her allegations.