back to article Police reject Labour MP's call for Bristol-wide DNA test

Bristol police have pooh-poohed a Labour MP's call for all men living in Bristol to provide DNA samples in the hunt for the killer of Jo Yeates. Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP for Bristol East and Shadow Junior Minister for the Treasury, was reported in yesterday’s Sunday Express as calling for Bristolians to provide their DNA to …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    What a crazy idea to waste money

    First off each DNA test cost the police £50 so it will cost over £12000000 plus the cost of overtime for police to do DNA swabs. then the male may not turn up to have his DNA taken or in fact not even live in the area they chose to cover.

    1. Matt_V

      Logic...

      .... don't let it get in the way of jumping on a good band-wagon...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      wasting money?

      Screw the waste of money, as if that's all that matters. What about the shear ludicracy of the idea?

      Does the MP really think the killer is just going to turn up at the police station for "his" DNA test? No, so it would have to be by process of elimination, that means that the police would somehow have to force everyone to allow a DNA sample to be taken. Does the MP think that most people would comply with that? I fucking don't, what an idiot to even think of suggesting such a thing.

      1. It wasnt me
        Thumb Down

        This MP

        When it comes to being an absolutely dispiccable cretinous piece of scum this MP has form:

        http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/26/mp_police_caution/

        Its the people or Bristol I feel genuinely sorry for, until I remember that they _chose_ this pond-life to be their representative.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Process of elimination

        Not necessarily, genetic similarities in family members are enough to enable people to be identified.

        1. PatientOne

          @AC : Process of elimination

          which is all the more reason for this MP to be locked up for the good of everyone else. Oh, sorry, for sexual discrimination? Harassment of the male population? Well, for something! Please!

          She should have called for EVERYONE to be DNA tested and stepped up to be the first. After all, who said the killer was a man, or that they live in Bristol? And, as AC mentioned: If you DNA test the mother or sister or daughter, you'll get a close match which will help narrow down the search (as you would by testing a male relative)

          But MP's aren't interested in catching the criminal or helping the people: They just want to be seen to be doing something. Not leading by example, but making noise, much like a small stone rattling around in an otherwise empty can...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      But...

      Labour are particularly good at wasting public money...

    4. Jimbo 6
      Joke

      @ crazy idea to waste money

      Why don't they start by getting DNA samples from everyone in the country who works for Eddie Stobart Ltd. That ought to clear up several unsolved murders, rather than just one. They can move on to the rest of the population later.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You know what the headline SHOULD be.

    Labour MP Kerry McCarthy in Shameful Career Suicide Headline Grab.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Coat

      You mean in "shameful career advancement" do you?

      Career suicide? Labour MP? Suggesting a police state measure?

      Sounds more like career advancement to me.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    No thanks.

    Speaking as a man living in Bristol, with nothing to hide, nothing to fear, and knowing Avon and Somerset Police to be among the most corrupt in the country... I wouldn't voluntarily surrender personal information to them.

    Perhaps they should take DNA samples from every Labour politician and criminal in Bristol first?

    Avon and Somerset Police allowed Kerry McCarthy to escape with a caution (rather than the six months in prison or a £5,000 fine) for revealing postal vote figures on Twitter during the last election.

    1. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

      Oh yes,

      That Kerry McCarthy. The sooner she goes from our fair city the better, if you ask me. Her and Dawn Primarolo, she's a waste of cytoplasm too. The problem is that they'd just be replaced by other politicians, the only change possibly being the colour of their necktie/blouse.

  4. MinionZero
    Big Brother

    Labour MP needs to be fired

    Everyone wants the killer caught, but DNA testing the entire male population of an area isn't the answer!

    Labour get a fucking clue, how much will it take to get the message across to Labour, we don't want their Police State ideas!

    1. Intractable Potsherd

      Out of interest...

      ... has anyone definitively said that it *was* a man/men that committed the crime, or is it just an assumption? Since they don't seem to have a clue who did it, couldn't it conceivably be a woman? I know, it might be unusual, but can it be totally ruled out?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    No.

    No.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    That's Labour for your

    "how can we solve this problem, get rich in the process, AND degrade as many people as possible... though on balance we don't really care about the solving the problem part"

    1. Daniel 1

      Labour have spent more than a dacade offering such guilt-edged promises

      Begin by assuming guilt. Oblige the entire population to queue up, to prove their innocence. Hand over anyone who resists to DCI Gene Hunt. (We're all just sheep or nonces, after all.)

      I seem to remember the Labour Party being some sort of Socialist organisation. Nowadays, it's just Catholicism without the frocks.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        You are closer to the truth than you may think

        http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2007/jun/22/uk.religion1

  7. N2
    Coat

    Typical Labour

    Waste lots of money to achieve absolutely fuck all

    But it probably isnt obvious to them that their daft scheme relies on the murderer to provide a DNA sample.

    Coat, the one with 'Thank God Im leaving' on the back

  8. Pinkerton
    Big Brother

    Same old same old!

    Labour: They just can't help themselves, can they?

    In power or in opposition, they just have to keep on watching, collecting and cataloguing every last bit of information on or about us.

  9. Barely registers
    Black Helicopters

    Nothing to fear = nothing for them to gain

    Frankly, I would have something to lose - namely my rights to be left alone as a private individual.

    "They" would gain _nothing_ from having my DNA, except the overhead of storing it securely and sucking up CPU cycles on _every_ search.

    Lastly, just how does this MP actually know whether there is any DNA evidence to match against?

  10. Annihilator
    Thumb Down

    Well...

    I'm in the area they're discussing, about ½ a mile from the poor girls house. Regardless I wouldn't be submitting to this, as a) it's a massively unfeasible idea to execute, b) I've no faith in what they would do with it afterwards, c) they're presupposing that the culprit is both male and lives in the area, d) going forward the police reports would probably refer to all participants as potential suspects, with the rationale behind it lost, e) only the stupidist of criminals would submit to this.

    At first I was all set to condemn this McCarthy woman as an opportunistic publicity seeker, however her latest Tweet suggests she said no such thing, so who to believe... A tabloid newspaper or an MP. Tough choice.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Well

      Also don't forget that this check will be recorded on your CRB record as being a potential suspect in the murder of a female.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: on your CRB record

        Good point. Even if it doesn't forget to record "one out of every male in the city at that time", that's still going to be a nice phat indelible and not-to-ignore black in that book-o-rumours. Meaning that there will suddenly a curious shortage of teachers and babysitters and such there. Inevitably.

        I wonder if that'll be even mentioned in the predictably ensuing clamour for more teachers and child care personnel among the cries of "It's a scandal! The government must DO something!!1!"

        1. Daggersedge
          Flame

          The government will just bring in more foreigners

          That's why the government in the UK doesn't care about how many careers, how many lives, it destroys with CRB checks. If no British person can do the job because none of them can pass the checks, they'll just say that no British person *wants* to do the job and claim that's why they have to let more people into Britain.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          *Sigh* CRB FUD

          While I certainly don't disagree with many of the reasons for not giving a DNA sample in this case (mainly because as others have pointed out it would be a complete waste of time and money), the fact that it may show up on a CRB check is not one of them. There is so much rubbish spouted about CRB checks on these pages I feel I have to post to correct some of the myths. For the record I work within a youth service as a youth worker, I have been through the eCRB process and seen and consulted with other managers over other prospective youth workers and their eCRB checks.

          First all, just because you have entries on your CRB check that is by no means a barrier to employement with children or vulnerable adults. I've known youth workers with CRB checks as long as your arm (one I've seen stretched over several pages). A CRB check does not say 'do not employ this person' (unlike the now cancelled vetting and barring scheme) it merely lists the stuff held on your file. It is then up to the judgement of the employer to employ you or not, based on the contents of the CRB check.

          So for example, petty offences committed as a youth will be listed on the CRB check, but, as an example, if they were committed 10 years ago and the person has been well behaved since then they won't be seen as an issue. In fact, this in the youth service, this sort of life experience is very useful, especially if you may be working with young people who are currently getting into trouble with the law.

          Driving offences will also show up, but as long as they are relatively minor they will be no barrier at all - although you may not be able to drive the organisations minibus, for example - again, that is down to the judgement of the employer.

          If there's a record of you giving a DNA sample (I'm not even sure if this will appear on a CRB check) it might be querried ('Oh, it says you gave a DNA sample, what was that about', 'I volunteered when the police put a call out to help with their enquiries'), again, it won't be a barrier to any form of employment at all.

          Anything related to violent or sexual crimes will almost certainly be a barrier to employment, and quite rightly.

          The CRB system is not perfect - it's a pain in the arse having to be checked for every organisation you may work for and it can be expensive for the employers carrying out the checks, but it's by no means anything to be feared or paranoid about.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            RE: *Sigh* CRB FUD

            >> First all, just because you have entries on your CRB check that is by no means a barrier to employement with children or vulnerable adults.

            That's all very well until the first instance where **anything** at all happens to a child and it is found out that the person responsible 'failed' a CRB check. The Daily Wail and it's ilk will be setting up the gallows and wailing about how such a person should never have been employed, blah, blah, blah.

            It sounds like your organisation is enlightened. Sadly, in the majority of cases, people are/will be too scared of the possible repercussions to employ anyone who isn't 'clean'. Just like 'elf-n-safety' law doesn't preclude an awful lot of stuff that is being 'banned' in it's name, people are/will be unwilling or simply unable to perform a risk assessment and be prepared to stand up for common sense - instead they'll take the easy way out and simply "ban it".

            I can't comment on whether a voluntary DNA check would show up on a CRB check - but I find it hard to believe it wouldn't. Lets face it, by submitting to a check, even voluntarily, your name WILL be associated with an active police enquiry.

            So, given that many potential employers will see "DNA check" and think ahead to the possible Daily Wail inquisition (on the assumption that "DNA Check" == "must be a paedophile") and consider that the risk (public humiliation and trial by media) far outweigh the risk (you upset someone) of not employing that person.

            So yes, you are technically correct that having this on a CRB record isn't a bar to employment. I think in far too many cases it would be - but only because of the hysteria whipped up by the media and certain politicians over the last decade or so.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: RE: *Sigh* CRB FUD

              >I can't comment on whether a voluntary DNA check would show up on a CRB check

              It will. If they go down that road the police will need to have a record of who has and hasnt' been tested. Once on, try getting it taken off again. Even if the police gave an assurance that they wouldn't keep the test on file I wouldn't believe them.

              @Original FUD poster

              >I volunteered when the police put a call out to help with their enquiries

              So that's all you have to say to disperse any doubt as to why you've been tested? If you had two potential employees all other things being equal which would you employ, the one with a clean record or the one with a dubious excuse.

              If you think that reason is plausible then it negates the whole point of the worthless CRB check as it gives an excuse to everybody.

          2. Annihilator
            Unhappy

            re: *Sigh* CRB FUD

            "If there's a record of you giving a DNA sample (I'm not even sure if this will appear on a CRB check) it might be queried ('Oh, it says you gave a DNA sample, what was that about', 'I volunteered when the police put a call out to help with their enquiries'), again, it won't be a barrier to any form of employment at all."

            On an Enhanced Disclosure, it will be released as an "investigation not leading to prosecution". It won't say "came in as part of a voluntary 000's-wide campaign" - it will imply you were a suspect. You're relying on the person interviewing you to believe your story. Consider if you're interviewing candidates for a job where there are two strong contenders, practically equal but one has an "investigated as part of a murder case" on their Enhanced Disclosure, vs one without, who would you employ?

            "Anything related to violent or sexual crimes will almost certainly be a barrier to employment, and quite rightly."

            Shoot your argument in the foot why not? This *is* related to a very violent crime. Or at least after the mists of time have descended, it certainly will give that impression. I think you're being a bit naive and blasé with respect to what future governments, police forces or employers will do with this information if it's there. Unfortunately nobody trusts the police to remove your DNA sample afterwards, or to ensure it doesn't tarnish your CRB. Not to mention the thin end of the wedge wrt civil liberties.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      re: Well..

      "At first I was all set to condemn this McCarthy woman as an opportunistic publicity seeker, however her latest Tweet suggests she said no such thing,"

      Well, if she has tweeted then it must be true...

      As well as the Sunday Express, the direct quotes have been used by the Indy, BBC News and rather a lot of other news outlets. If she didn't say it, then I would expect her to issue a statement or seek a retraction - however, according to her Twitter feed, she says she's already explained what she meant and doesn't want to go over it again and if you want want she thinks it's all in the feed.

  11. David Simpson 1
    WTF?

    Idiots unite!

    Has the highly intelligent minister considered that the real killer could just leave Bristol while the DNA test is being done ?

    What a complete idiot.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    And the proof the person was male is?

    A guess?

    A Stereotype?

    A pubicity whore of a MP's perception of good idea?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      Call it a hunch

      ...but I'm not sure they'd be asking for DNA if they didn't have something to compare it to, and the (assumed) DNA from the crime scene would be easily identifiable as a male or female.

      Of course, that's not to say that the MP isn't a flaming, publicity whoring wanker - no disagreement there

      1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
        Boffin

        AC@16:07

        "...but I'm not sure they'd be asking for DNA if they didn't have something to compare it to,"

        From my reading of this report it is *not* the Police who are asking for this.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Par for the course for this MP.

    From TheyWorkForYou.Com

    http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/kerry_mccarthy/bristol_east#votingrecord

    Voted very strongly for a smoking ban.

    Voted very strongly for a stricter asylum system.

    Voted very strongly for allowing ministers to intervene in inquests.

    Voted very strongly for Labour's anti-terrorism laws.

    Voted very strongly for introducing ID cards.

    DNA testing the entire male population of a city is entirely in keeping with her voting record.

    1. Jonathan Richards 1 Silver badge

      Strongly?

      How do you vote *strongly* then? Commons votes are taken by members going into one of the lobbies of the chamber. Do you have to goose-step through the doorway to vote *strongly*? Is a strong vote worth as much as two weak, ambling sorts of votes? Interested citizens wish for clarification.

  14. My Alter Ego
    WTF?

    Not suprising

    This is the same stupid bint that decided it was ok to announce the postal ballot count before the election had even started. Apparently it was ok as she only got a caution:

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/26/mp_police_caution/

    What is surprising is the police coming out and saying that it's a stupid idea, that RAF Puma buzzing our office seems to have a pig flying in close formation.

  15. OffBeatMammal

    special offer on 23andMe :)

    they just need to do a deal with the Google backed 23andMe.com to offer a special deal for residents in the right post code(s) and people can submit (and pay for) their own :)

    especially good idea as it looks like funding cuts are going to close the UK Forensic Science Service - http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/savethefss

    1. John Murgatroyd

      they're

      not going to close it.

      It will be "privatised"

  16. Jim Morrow
    Flame

    we're doomed

    how the fuck is it possible for someone that stupid to get elected in this country?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      look at the electorate

      'nuff said

    2. John Murgatroyd

      Bright, and sane.....

      ......compared to Harriet Harperson.

      The question should really be:

      Why do the conservative women have all the balls, but the labour women are all bollocks ?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      How it is possible for someone that stupid to get elected.

      1) Stupid people vote for stupid people;

      2) In general the media don't ask intelligent well-considered questions and require good peer-reviewed evidence that substantiates opinionated conclusions before debating issues with politicians. This is because making a big deal out of interviewing fuckwits makes better TV than discussing boring (but pertinent) facts;

      3) A lot of people have just lost faith in our political system. Sure you get to choose which fuckwit to represent you every 5 years, but:

      a) What if you don't want a fuckwit to represent you? How do you make the fuckwits go away and be replaced by intelligent people?

      b) What if you don't want anyone to represent you because you'd rather do it yourself - y'know like you'd be able to in an actual democracy where it's "rule by the people", not "rule by the party-political representatives of the people"?

      c) Some people don't want to vote for a party candidate (because the party always comes first, no matter what the candidate (who wants your vote) tells you), and don't have the time or money to stand as an independent themselves.

      When people lose faith in the political system the worst people end up coming out best.

      4) Party politics forces a partisan mentality upon the electorate, just as the prosecutor/defendant legal system forces an adversarial mentality upon both the legal profession and those people unfortunate enough to be process by the legal system. The adverts don't tell you to vote for the person you consider best for the job (assuming there is one, of course - one bucket of sick is much like another as far as I can tell), they tell you that Labour is bad and Tories are good, that LibDems can save the world and TwoLegs Bad and FourLegs Good and fuck me our political system must be in bad shape if a novel written 65 years ago is still relevant today.

      Either that or shit floats to the top.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @ Anonymous Coward re: "How is it possible ..."?

        I just voted for you.

  17. mafoo
    FAIL

    Stupid

    Someone that demonstrably stupid really shouldn't be allowed near public office.

    Resign me thinks.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "happened to be female"?

    If the police already have a DNA sample from a suspect then they must already know whether that suspect is male or female. The question is, what else can they (in practice rather than in theory) work out from the DNA? Skin colour? Hair colour? Eye colour?

    To the list of ways it could turn out to be a complete waste of time and money: they manage to track down the "suspect", but he turns out to be unconnected to the case.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      AFAIK

      ...without something to compare it to - in which case it can be used to determine a suspect match or close familial relations - I think the only thing a single DNA match could tell you is the sex of the suspect and *maybe* certain severe (and rare) genetic disorders. I don't believe any physical characteristics, even race, can be determined in this manner.

    2. Anonymous John

      And if they have one

      It either matches Chris Jefferies or it doesn't. Yet he hasn't been detained again or formally cleared.

  19. Peter Gathercole Silver badge
    Dead Vulture

    "...or happened to be female"

    Presumably, if they already have a sample to compare with, they must already know that it was a man. It is quite simple to tell whether a suitable DNA sample comes from either a man or a woman by the presence or absence of a Y chromosome.

    Flame warning - Of course, if there was already a national DNA register......

    1. MnM
      Flame

      duly flamed

      if there *were* already...

      you and your fancy ideas are nicked

    2. Petrea Mitchell
      Boffin

      Not as simple as you think

      Y chromosomes can come from people classified as women, if they've undergone an official gender change, or have one of the various genetic diseases that can cause XYs to present as female (look up Swyer syndrome, for instance).

  20. Ally J
    Paris Hilton

    Far be it from me to throw stones, but....

    Ms McArthy has form for making mistakes. She claimed 'by accident' for a second bed in her one-bed flat - although she did repay the money during the expenses revelations. She is also the lucky recipient of a police caution for breaches of electoral law by revealing postal vote results too early.

    So she's not really the kind of person I'd see as being capable of forming a sensible plan.

    Of course, for the 'New Labour' fetish of gathering information on every citizen, this idea is a winner.

    Paris, because of her involvement in publicised DNA collection events.

    1. John Murgatroyd

      I'm rather more worried

      about the new-labour fetish of selecting women who are mentally retarded.

  21. Cameron Colley

    Why do people like Kerry McCarthy get away with this bollocks?

    Please, please, someone publicly humiliate this woman by picking holes in her idea so people who should know better keep their mouths shut rather than mislead the public into thinking they have a magic answer.

    1. My Alter Ego
      Alert

      Why?

      How can you humiliate somebody with no humility?

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A Labour production

    Just think for a minute, this is the party created a government that wanted all you details in a database. So no surprises that they want DNA samples of person.

  23. Someone Else Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    No, and no!

    "It is a massive task to do a DNA swab for the whole of the city but I think if it helps catch the killer it is the right thing to do and people will be happy to do this."

    No, it isn't, and no, they wouldn't.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yes it bloody well IS an invasion of privacy, and a spendy and gratuitous one.

    Yes, why not just squander the privacy of every male in the city on the assumption one of them must be the killer. That's all adults, of course. And what about all teenagers? Hm? Where did she intend to stop? I think she had to lie down a bit after thinking all that, so she didn't get to the thinking it through part. But no matter, she's labour, so no need for all that. Equality for all means no privacy for all, it's as simple as that and that's all there is to it.

    Of course, /she/ won't have to submit for her DNA to be taken and stored in some database and then kept until probably forever, unless the backups get lost on a bus or something. Happy to be a woman and vindicative about it, eh?

    1. Intractable Potsherd

      Vindictive women ...

      ... find the Labour Party very attractive, it seems. They seem to think red rosettes suit them.

  25. Andy Barker
    FAIL

    Stupid idea!

    So, they assume the guy lives in the area.

    Then they assume he hasn't moved away already.

    Then they assume he won't move away as soon as the public request for DNA is made.

    And they assume he would gladly give his DNA when asked nicely.

    Sounds like an MP looking for a little press coverage.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Surely they would just....

    get a massive sample of people which wouldn't actually help as only 'innocent'/'willing' people would come forward to help.

    Unless I'm missing something?

    Paris - She is confused too.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Surely they would just

      You might think you are innocent but if you happened to be walking past the victim and sneezed rather violently, let's say due to a bad cold, then went home alone to rest would be able to prove you didn't kill her. After all they now have your DNA on the victim so you must be guilty.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Felix Would Certainly Approve This

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Dzerzhinsky

    Flame burning Fiches.

    1. Anton Ivanov
      Thumb Down

      Felix - dunno, but Lavrentij Pavlovich - definitely

      Felix may have shot people by the thousands in the back of their heads in the basement on Lubjanka, but he never ever tried to keep tabs on the entire country and have a file on every living (and dead) person in USSR.

      You are mistaking him for the person who was the real driving force behind the pervasive control society we nowdays erroneously call "communism": Lavrentij Pavolovich Beria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beria). Compared to him Iron Felix is a boy-scout.

  28. Syntax Error
    FAIL

    What coppers think

    Who cares what the police think. They are there to serve not tell everyone else whether it is a good idea or not. Their opinion is irrelevant. We do not live in a police state.

    As for the MP he is just another one of those dumb idiots who wants everyone and everything that moves or breathes on a coppers database.

    He can get stuffed.

    1. Loyal Commenter Silver badge
      Headmaster

      Syntax error?

      Operand Type Mismatch more like. 'He' is a she.

    2. Jimbo 6
      FAIL

      @ We do not live in a police state

      According to all the evidence I've seen lately (& especial hanks to our beloved Reg hacks for their diligence in documenting much of it), WE DO. We may wish it weren't so, but that's the fact of the matter, so stop living in denial

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    As people said ...

    given the form plod have, without explicit guarantees, I would suspect they would simply add any volunteered samples to the NDNAD. Also, given UK plods quietly growing habit of using familial DNA matches (for christs sake, just hope no one in your family[1] commits a serious crime - you'll be harrassed from here to doomsday).

    [1]family you know of, that is. It could always be an illegitamate sibling your Dad never knew of.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Familial matching

      This means the killer is not a sex offender or related to any other criminal. 5 million people can be ruled out or most of the 16-34 year old male population.

      Therefore it is elementary the killer is a female aged over 34.

  30. Evil Auditor Silver badge
    Stop

    McCarthy

    Omen est nomen?! The new McCarthy era... You couldn't make it up, could you?

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Let's get this into perspective

    It's ONE murder

    Maybe one too many bit nonetheless it's still only one that's been hyped up out of all proportion by the press.

    Media wise this has many similarities with the US Lacey Peterson and Aruba Natalee Holloway cases in that a good looking young middle class white girl went missing. This sort of reporting doesn't happen for other victim types.

    At least while the press are obsessed with this we are safe from terrorist threats.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Perspective?

      Thought that hype came mostly from the government even if the press was and is more than a little accommodating, but I digress into clearly unimportant tangents here.

      So we'll just sacrifice Bristol's male population's dna profiles on the altar of yet another plod-run database to keep the press from hyping up terrorism? Is that it? My, I never... a labour MP girl coming up with an actual cunning plan!

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I've got a little list...

    I don't think recall of MPs is part of the legal system yet... but when the law is passed perhaps we will see fewer MPs making arses of themselves.

    Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP for Bristol East seems to have offended half her constituents already.

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    its been done before

    http://www.fpsociety.org.uk/news/JAD.html

    OK, fingerprints back then but this was still at bleeding edge of tech back then. Also note it was of people "Known" to have been in the area at the time not those there at the time of the test.

  34. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    MP For Bristol East, eh?

    Surely, as a resident of Bristol, she's aware that Clifton isn't even in her electoral ward, being in Bristol West. Perhaps she should just fuck off back to her side of the M32 and shut the fuck up?

  35. Matt Hawkins
    Megaphone

    Men

    Even out of Government Labour are still trying to build a national DNA database of everyone by the back door. Obviously we are all potential criminals.

    Except women.

    Clearly this MP knows who the murderer is because she only wants to DNA test men.

    Women never commit crime. Ever. They never murder people. Get in fights. Or molest children. So no need to consider anyone but men. Men, Men, Men.

    She either has an irrational hatred of men or isn't getting enough (votes)

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: Men

      I refer you to the more rational comments in this thread, and suggest that if you went to the cops with this angle they'd do you for wasting their time.

      Sexism does not exist everywhere and in all things. Please.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The Worm that Turned

        It may be statistically unlikely that a woman is the murderer, but it's also statistically very unlikely to be any given man in Bristol either.

        I thought we learnt about the perils of picking on and rounding up specific demographics over the last few centuries? Obviously not.

    2. John Murgatroyd

      Not an irrational hatred of men.

      maybe an unnatural love of women ?

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    As noted above

    Be a bit of a bugger if a woman had killed her wouldn't it? Unlikely, but these things do happen.

  37. Juillen 1
    Flame

    Police and politicians..

    Maybe the police have evidence that the killer was male. Does Ms McCarthy? Chances are she doesn't have a full brief in this, and isn't completely privy to the investigation.

    So, she makes the assumption it's male (chances are that it is, but hey, discounting women is sexist. You know, that thing that Labour keep chanting about being completely evil. Unless of course, it's used as a weapon against a man, in which case it's fine, because men are inherently evil).

    This hypocritical stance, with absolutely no idea of ethics, science, cost or anything remotely useful really just makes me wonder how on earth anyone like that gets elected.. Well, apart from the fact she's Labour, and in Bristol (I swear, you could get an amoeba voted in on the Labour ticket in some areas of Bristol, and I'd rather that than her).

  38. Rogerborg

    >how the fuck is it possible for someone that stupid to get elected in this country?

    She wasn't elected, she was selected by "Community Leaders" who deliver blocks of votes to whomever promises them the best housing deals for their cousins and wives (with lots of overlap) straight off the plane.

    Kerry has basically brought the democratic process of downtown Mogadishu to Bradford. Can't fault her for her cultural inclusivity.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Badgers

      Jo-Gravy.

      Bristol =/= Bradford.

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Catholic Church

    How about a compromise... I'll allow this Catholic Church person to take a sample of the sacred DNA God gave me, if they allow me to spill my seed 'unnecessarily' from time to time?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Catholic Church

      Oh, and cloak my bishop's staff in a latex frock whilst spilling it.

      Do we have a deal?

  40. Naughtyhorse
    WTF?

    on a related point....

    "A lot of people are worried about this person still being on the streets in Bristol and it is important they are caught as soon as possible.

    why what did THEY do?

    when i nod my head you hit it etc etc

  41. MnM
    Terminator

    You've been fired, you are not allowed back in the boardroom

    "A persistent history of foot-dragging or outright refusal by police to destroy samples that non-suspects were told would be removed at the end of an investigation... means that the chances of everyone meekly turning up at their local station to "help police with their inquiries" is now much diminished."

    Was it 30,000 volunteers for the Id Card? Which is what, about 0.05% of the population? On that basis you'd probably be looking at around 100+ Bristolian chumps ready to step forward and do their duty. Well it's a start...

  42. despairing citizen
    Happy

    There is Hope!

    Nice to see at least one police officer suggesting the use of common sense, rather than imediately leaping at the chance offered by the MP to fingerpint, DNA test, tag and monitor everybody in sight.

    Kind of renews my previously flagging faith in our police forces.

  43. Tigra 07
    Paris Hilton

    Erm, anyone else notice this bit...

    "Testing the best part of a quarter of a million suspects would be a massive investment of time and resources, and a complete waste of both if the perpetrator either lived just outside the target area or happened to be female."

    Since when are women not capable of murder?

    The police really are crap these days

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: Erm, anyone else notice this bit...

      *headdesk*

      *headdesk*

      *headdesk*

      *flatline*

      1. Tequila Joe

        *flatline*

        Paddles!

        Clear!

        Uh-oh.

        Run! Run, run, run away.

  44. James Micallef Silver badge
    Flame

    Related?

    "Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP for Bristol East "

    related to Senator McCarthy, by thought if not by blood.

    Presumably she has already submitted her own DNA?

  45. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Do the police even have a profile to work against?

    From what has been published they dont have much evidence to work on so you have to wonder if they have any DNA for comparison anyway?

    I suspect given this particular MP's track record (and criminal record!) that it was a knee jerk soundbite statement with little thought for the consequences.

    That said, people of Bristol, you voted for her, you can get rid of her.

  46. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Unhappy

    shock news. Police *decline* offer to get people to cough up their DNA.

    Sadly I'm not sure people would not turn up for this. the gullibility of the UK public remains pretty near bottomless.

  47. T J
    Big Brother

    So, you too?

    So, you in the UK also are stuck with two major pinstripe parties populated with .... I can't think of a good P word, I'll just say, utter morontards?

    We here in Oz have this problem, we are slowly pumping the blue suits to the gutter but its taking a lonnnng time.... but then any evolutionary process does.

    Blighty - PLEASE get rid of these idiots, PLEASE. And ring us when its safe to visit Britain again.

    Best Regards

    Austraya

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Prats?

      Prawns? Prannies? Penii? Peverse pompous pinheads? Pain-in-the-arse pisstakers?

      Help yourself.

    2. Vic

      Us, too.

      > I can't think of a good P word

      The noun you are looking for is obviously "pillocks".

      Vic.

  48. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    Here's an interesting thing:

    The murder was committed about half a mile away from my mother's house in Clifton and the body was dumped about half a mile up the road from where I used to live in Long Ashton.

    Clearly, given those facts, I should be DNA tested as a potential suspect even though I live around a hundred miles away from the scene of the crime!

    (AC for the obvious reasons!)

  49. Dagg Silver badge
    Big Brother

    This has been done before with DNA

    Leicestershire in the mid 80s, I was out of the country or else I would have been included. The DNA testing missed the guy as he got a friend to take the test instead. The caught him when the friend mouthed off. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Pitchfork.

    I'm interested with what they did with all the DNA specimens...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      DNA specimens

      "I'm interested with what they did with all the DNA specimens..."

      They keep them. Forever.

  50. mmiied
    Pint

    anyboady else

    ""It is a massive task to do a DNA swab for the whole of the city "

    anyboady else get a image of a gient cotten swab and hundruds of officers waving it round the streets or was it only me?

  51. Is it me?

    And you think any other MP would be different?

    Sorry, but the function of an MP is to get himself re-elected and score popularity points with his constituents, representing a constituency for what they actually need went out the window for most MPs a long time ago. Very few MPs understand reality.

    Talking of DNA, why just Bristol, the M5 wasn't far away, what's to say it was someone living locally. Also, the larger your DNA sample, the less use it is, and the more likely a false positive. It's better always to narrow your field and then home in, than take a large sample and then use DNA as the killer blow, so to speak. Some groups have high commonality of alleles, so again that degrades blanket testing. If you test the whole of Bristol, what happens to all the other crimes that need testing, or that one high probability sample that gets taken and then lost in the morass of others. You also need to be sure that you have some of the perps DNA, and not just some passing punter from the local pub.

    Yeah, the idea's nuts, but I can think of a few Lib Dems and Tories who would have made the same stupid suggestion, basically because they don't know any better.

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