Teenager finds sperm donor dad on internet

Using nothing more than a swab of saliva and the internet, a 15-year-old boy has tracked down his anonymous sperm donor father, according to details released today.

By sending a swab taken from the inside of his cheek for genetic testing, the teenager was able to use genealogy websites to trace his father by looking for men with a matching Y-chromosome, which is passed down the male line.

The genetic detective work has major implications for men who have donated sperm under condition of anonymity and expect their identity to remain secret for ever. The news is expected to lead to a surge of other donor children attempting to find their genetic fathers, according to experts. But the implications stretch beyond the ethical issues surrounding children hunting for their genetic fathers. The boy's ability to use publicly available genetic tests and internet searches suggests that police forces could do the same and obtain the surnames of potential suspects with DNA samples gathered from crime scenes.

The boy took the saliva sample late last year and sent it off to an online genealogy DNA-testing service called Family Tree DNA. For a fee of $289 (£163) the boy had his genetic code available for other members of the site to search.

Although the boy's genetic father had never supplied his DNA to the site, after nine months the boy was contacted by two men who were on the database and whose Y-chromosome matched his own. The two men did not know each other, but shared a surname, albeit with a different spelling, and the genetic similarity of their Y-chromosomes suggested there was a 50% chance that the two men and the boy shared the same father, grandfather or great-grandfather.

The surname was the clue the boy needed. His mother had been told his father's date and place of birth and his degree subject, even though his name remained a secret. With the growing pile of information, the boy turned to another internet service, Omnitrace.com, which he used to buy information on everyone born in the same place and on the same date as his father.

Only one man had the surname he had obtained earlier, and within 10 days the teenager had made contact, amicably, with his genetic father, according to today's issue of New Scientist magazine.

"This is the first time that I know of it being done," said Bryan Sykes, a geneticist at Oxford University and chairman of OxfordAncestors.com, a company that offers genetic testing for ancestry research. "Fifteen years ago, when the father donated his sperm, nobody in the world could have known this would be possible." The news is likely to be unsettling for men who have donated sperm in countries where anonymity is still commonplace, such as the US.

"Sperm banks are recruiting donors and promising them anonymity. I don't think that's a valid promise any more," said Wendy Kramer, founder of Donor Sibling Registry a web-based service that matches donor children with their siblings. Dr Sykes added that his own company was now considering allowing its own databases to be used by children seeking their donor fathers.

By Ian Sample posted 4 November 05

FamilyTreeDNA.com

OxfordAncestors.com

DonorSiblingRegistry.com

Related:

Bone marrow donors risk DNA identity mix-up
IT SOUNDS like an open-and-shut case: a clear DNA match is made between semen from a serious sexual assault and a blood sample from a known criminal. Yet in a recent case from Alaska, the criminal in question was in jail when the assault took place. And forensic scientists had already matched the crime sample to the DNA profile of another person who was their prime suspect. It was only after careful detective work that the mystery was solved: the jailed man had received bone marrow from the suspect many years earlier.

Corrupt police planting DNA evidence at crime scenes
"Covert collection of DNA material may provide opportunities for improper use of samples, potential for substitution and unauthorised disseminations," one document says. Others have raised concerns about corrupt police planting DNA evidence at crime scenes.

DNA database fears
UK: IN the relatively short period of time since it was discovered, DNA fingerprinting has become one of the most powerful weapons in the armoury of the police.

The ABC for good or evil?
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Worries over DNA and racial profiling
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Lab's Errors Force Review of 150 Virginia DNA Cases
US: WASHINGTON, - A sharply critical independent audit found that Virginia's nationally recognized central crime laboratory had botched DNA tests in a leading capital murder case. The findings prompted Gov. Mark Warner to order a review of the lab's handling of testing in 150 other cases as well.

Witch-hunt targets scientists
QLD: SCIENTISTS at the John Tonge Centre are being threatened with jail in the wake of a government hunt for the source of leaks highlighting serious problems in the forensic laboratories.

Fresh swipe at DNA labs
Scientist Kris Bentley, whose departure yesterday follows that of forensic biologist Deanna Belzer after concerns about "inaccurate" DNA results and unvalidated equipment, issued a scathing resignation letter leaked to The Courier-Mail.

DNA leads 'CSI' cold-case squad to first arrest?
Frozen case? I don't really know what to say about them until they come up with their case. They say it involves DNA evidence but that's the only stuff we know.

Criminal's DNA filed under relative's name
The New South Wales Opposition is calling for an investigation into claims that police have entered DNA data for serious offenders under incorrect names.

DNA fingerprinting 'no longer foolproof'...
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THE BUTLER DIDN'T DO IT!
PROFESSOR BARRY BOETTCHER: Now, there should be a law enacted within Queensland so that when cases come up like this they can be brought to attention and if an appropriate authority such as a judge of your Supreme Court considers that it merits further inquiry, an inquiry be ordered.

'Rape' officer clears his name
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A new police unit has been established to investigate more than 360 unsolved deaths in New South Wales, with many of the deaths dating back more than 30 years.

Prisoner's bid for review denied
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QLD Prisoners DNA Bid THE curious case of Queensland's "cat lady" murder is set to test the state's legal authorities again, with the man convicted of the killing asking the Attorney-General to take the unprecedented step of releasing blood samples for DNA retesting.

Database clears up crimes?
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A Question of Innocence
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Weak Carr Government suspends Innocence Panel
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Abolition of double jeopardy law a political stunt: NSW Opp
Why draconian laws? What about the re-trial by media that goes along with it? Twice shy?

ARE YOU INNOCENT?
The NSW government has finally appointed somebody (Justice John Nader) to head up its Innocence Panel and has produced leaflets and forms for people convicted of serious crimes (eg murder) to apply for DNA testing if they believe it may help prove their innocence. You can get the info by phoning 1300 881 717 or writing to the panel at GPO Box 45 Sydney NSW 2001.

Is the Westminster System flawed?
Most people would say Lady Di got the boot and NSW has so much trouble getting the Innocence Panel moving. I said hey, what's going on!

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Prisoners can prove innocence for $20
Les Kennedy Daily Telegraph reported today that" Prisoners who believe that DNA will prove they were wrongly convicted will have the chance to prove their innocence for a mere $20 administration fee. The move comes 20 months after NSW inmates were asked to provide DNA for comparison with a databank of DNA from unsolved crime scenes for possible convictions.

DNA yours or mine?
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DNA = Do Not Assume - DNA Controversies!
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DNA Evidence of Bipartisanship
Last week the U.S. Congress passed the Justice for All Act, which includes provisions of the Innocence Protection Act. As of this posting, the legislation has not yet been signed by President Bush. Attached is an analysis of the legislation prepared by the Justice Project.

Bush bird flu plan includes windfall for pharmaceuticals giants

US: President George W. Bush's announcement Tuesday of a $7.1 billion plan to combat the threat of an avian influenza pandemic has drawn criticism from scientific experts and the state and local authorities mandated to implement much of the program.

It is also being exposed as a thinly disguised gift to US pharmaceutical companies that stand to profit handsomely from the production of vaccines and treatments for the bird flu under the administration's plan, while avoiding liability for damages resulting from their operations.

Bush unveiled the "National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza" in a speech Tuesday to doctors, scientists and members of Congress at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Utilizing the phraseology common since the 9/11 terror attacks, Bush described the threat of the bird flu as "a danger to our homeland," and urged Congress to fund his proposal.

The threat of a worldwide outbreak of avian flu is genuine. The H5N1 strain of the virus has already infected 122 people and killed 62 in four countries--Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia--and has contaminated poultry flocks across wide stretches of Asia and into Europe.

While up to now most human victims appear to have been infected directly from birds, the danger is that the deadly virus could mutate into a form easily transmittable between humans. A recent Science magazine article stated that according to expert opinion the odds of an eventual global outbreak are "100 percent," posing a danger to millions of lives.

Critics have decried Bush's "crash program" as too little, too late. Dr. Allan Rosenfield, dean of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York, told Reuters, "It should have happened five years ago." To put the $7.1 billion figure into perspective, it is close to the amount spent by the US in a month on the war in Iraq. It is also less than the $8-billion flu preparedness plan passed recently by the Senate.

It is also a fraction of the $70 billion in additional tax cuts for the wealthy that Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress are preparing to enact.

The Bush administration's "National Strategy" to fight an avian flu pandemic is not only woefully inadequate, but promises windfall profits to the giant pharmaceutical interests while leaving cash-strapped state and local authorities financially responsible for implementing large portions of the plan.

The overwhelming share of the proposed $7.1 billion--$6 billion--is earmarked to purchase vaccines and antiviral drugs and to change the way the vaccines are produced. In particular, drug manufacturers will receive $2.8 billion to shift from an older technique that involves inoculating a virus into fertilized hens' eggs to a more efficient approach using cell cultures to produce vaccines.

Also allocated in these drug-related costs are between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion to build a 20 million-dose stockpile of an experimental vaccine (based on the bird flu presently found in Asia), $1 billion for antiviral medicines, and $800 million to develop new flu treatments. Only $251 million is slated to go to affected nations in Asia to monitor the disease and build new laboratories.

But while the US pharmaceutical companies stand to reap billions, one of the most sinister aspects of the administration's plan calls for their protection from legal liability. In his remarks, Bush said he wants "to remove one of the greatest obstacles to domestic vaccine production--the growing burden of litigation," urging Congress to "pass liability protection for the makers of life-saving vaccines."

Administration officials have yet to clearly spell out how the drug giants would be shielded from this "growing burden of litigation," but the implications are clear: ordinary citizens suffering sickness or death as a result of the use of vaccines or flu treatments would be sharply restricted in efforts to seek legal redress for their injuries. Congress has already approved limits on the legal liability for drugs and vaccines used for bio-defense.

While details of how the money is to be doled out have yet to be released, pharmaceutical companies expressed their delight at the prospect. "It's really an encouraging step," said Dino Dina, chief executive of Dynavax Technologies of Berkeley, California, which is developing a drug to increase the effectiveness of bird-flu vaccines.

Gilead Sciences of Foster City, California, developer of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, was singled out for mention in Bush's speech. Gilead stands to make about $50 million from royalties for Tamiflu, which is manufactured by Roche.

Local and state officials, however, were less enthusiastic. The plan calls for $644 million to "ensure that all levels of government are prepared," and calls for states to buy enough antiviral medicine to treat 31 million people, with the federal government providing a 25 percent subsidy. But Trust for America's Health, an advocacy group, calculates that this amounts to an "underfunded mandate" of about $510 million.

The "National Strategy" also allots $100 million for state and local preparedness in the event of a flu pandemic. But the Bush administration's budget has already reduced funding for state and local health departments by $130 million, so the net result is a $30 million cut in funding.

Commenting on the shortfall for local health authorities, Mary Selecky, secretary of the Washington State Department of Health, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "I appreciate that the feds want to stockpile antiviral drugs and improve the work toward getting a vaccine, but we also need basic support for state and local public health departments."

The Infectious Diseases Society of America, a professional organization of disease experts, said in a statement that "significant issues remain to be resolved, including investment in state and local preparedness, (medical) surge capacity and risk communication."

There is also no funding in Bush's program to counteract the danger of an inadequate number of hospital beds in the event of a pandemic. Hospital beds have been slashed in recent years due to a combination of federal budget cuts and moves by for-profit health care corporations to boost revenues.

According to a leaked draft of the plan drawn up by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and obtained by the New York Times, in the event of a flu outbreak, hospitals would be overwhelmed, riots would engulf vaccination clinics and power and food could be in short supply.

In remarks last month, Bush seized on the threat of an avian flu pandemic to press for legislative changes to grant him de facto martial law powers in the event of an outbreak. He said that large numbers of US combat troops could be needed to "effect a quarantine."

In the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Bush administration officials have repeatedly urged Congress to repeal or amend the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 statute that bars the use of the military for domestic policing, except under conditions of a popular insurrection.

At a news conference Wednesday on the new bird flu plan, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt did not indicate whether the government planned on restricting travel in the event of a pandemic, but said that the departments of Homeland Security and Transportation were still considering possible scenarios and plans.

Up to now, one of the major factors contributing to the short supplies of vaccines and influenza treatments has been their limited profit potential for pharmaceutical corporations, as compared to more lucrative profits from the production of drugs for chronic conditions, such as heart disease, impotence and arthritis.

As in other aspects of social life in America, private ownership, production for profit and the anarchy of the capitalist market constitute the central obstacles to an effective and comprehensive plan to safeguard the people. In the case of the avian flu pandemic threat, millions of lives are potentially at stake. But the government's response is to treat it as a pretext for expanding the domestic use of the military and providing a new windfall for multibillion-dollar corporations.

By Kate Randall posted 4 November 05

Related:

The boogymen are coming here soon
How we peoples are lied too again rumsfeld in america, howard in australia. You can't make any real money without a boogeyman, and the new "Bird Flu" hoax is the latest scam used to generate profits for pharmaceutical company insiders.

Avian Flu hyped for profits?
Louis Pasteur, father of the germ theory, confessed on his deathbed that he was wrong about the germ being the cause of disease. The famous quotation went like this. "It's the soil, not the seed."

The boogymen are coming here soon

How we peoples are lied too again rumsfeld in america, howard in australia. You can't make any real money without a boogeyman, and the new "Bird Flu" hoax is the latest scam used to generate profits for pharmaceutical company insiders.

"Finally, the pieces of the puzzle start to add up," writes Dr. Joseph Mercola, author of the "Total Health Program." "President Bush sought to instill panic in this country by telling us a minimum of 200,000 people will die from the avian flu pandemic but it could be as bad as 2 million deaths in this country alone."

Rumsfeld To Profit From Avian Flu Hoax

"This hoax is then used to justify the immediate purchase of 80 million doses of Tamiflu, a worthless drug that in no way shape or form treats the avian flu, but only decreases the amount of days one is sick and can actually contribute to the virus having more lethal mutations," Mercola continues.

"So the U.S. placed an order for 20 million doses of this worthless drug at a price of $100 per dose. That comes to a staggering $2 billion.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former chairman of Gilead, the manufacturer of Tamiflu, will also make big profits, since he is a major shareholder.

Better yet, Bilderberger spokesman Etienne F. Davignon (Vice- Chairman, Suez-Tractebel)and Reagan-Bush Cabal insider former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, PhD (Distinguished Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University) are also on the board of directors of Gilead.

Another Bilderberger regular is Lodewijk J.R. de Vink, who sits on the board of Hoffman-La Roche, Gilead's partner.

In other words, the "Bird Flu" scam will generate outrageous profits for globalist-insiders like Shultz, Rumsfeld, Davignon, and de Vink.

And where did Tamiflu come from?

According to the Gilead website, "In September 1996, Gilead and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. entered into a collaborative agreement to develop and market therapies that treat and prevent viral influenza.

Under the agreement, Roche received exclusive worldwide rights to Gilead's proprietary influenza neuraminidase inhibitors, including orally administered Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate), formerly known as GS 4104.

As part of this collaboration, Gilead and Roche jointly conducted clinical development of oseltamivir phosphate, with Roche funding all research and development costs. Roche has worldwide commercial rights to Tamiflu, and Gilead receives payments from Roche for the successful completion of program milestones and royalties on product sales.

It should be remembered that Rumsfeld loves pharmaceutical scams. It was after all Rumsfeld, as chairman of G.D. Searle, who pressured the FDA to get Aspartame approved.

The FDA blocked its approval for ten years before Rumsfeld twisted arms and broke who knows how many legs at the FDA. Now Aspartame, an artificial sweetener as ubiquitous as it is toxic, continues to poison America and the world.

So here's an advertising tagline.

Tamiflu - It's the Bird-Flu Scam-Drug For You.

Rumsfeld is into iraq with some nice money making programs, looking for the wmd, weapons of mass disapearennce,now we are told by our leader howard that the boogymen is coming here to australia very soon, just trust me, he says.

The boogymen could not have come last week, or before, yet he turns up in the aussie parliament on the leaders day yesterday, when all questions are being asked about the no choice work deals,trust me, says howard, i would never tell lies to you people says he ,on my time travels in the tardis, i recall never ever gst, children overboard words from this little rodent man before.

Now i have to go forward to 2006, because there seems a oil problem in iran, or someplace in the middle east, wait and see.

Bye for now.

By Dr Who planet earth Mercola.com posted 4 November 05

Related:

Avian Flu hyped for profits?
Louis Pasteur, father of the germ theory, confessed on his deathbed that he was wrong about the germ being the cause of disease. The famous quotation went like this. "It's the soil, not the seed."

Outback DNA evidence 'contaminated'

The handcuffs ['allegedly'] used to tie up the girlfriend of a British backpacker who was ['allegedly'] murdered in the Australian outback in 2001 were contaminated by a forensic scientist, a court heard yesterday.

A full DNA profile of Peter Thatcher, director of the Forensic Science Laboratory, was found in May 2004 on the cable ties ['allegedly'] used to bind Joanne Lees's hands behind her back during an ['alleged'] attack, forensic biologist Carmen Eckhoff told the Northern Territory supreme court in Darwin.

Bradley Murdoch, 47, of Broome, Western Australia, denies murdering Peter Falconio after [allegedly] flagging the couple down on a remote highway near Barrow Creek, north of Alice Springs, on July 14 2001. He also denies depriving Ms Lees of her liberty and assaulting her.

Ms Eckhoff told the jury Dr Thatcher's DNA was found on the "significant" piece of evidence and could have got there in a number of ways, despite protocols being in place to prevent this happening.

During cross-examination by Grant Algie, defending, Ms Eckhoff said she did not know how his DNA came to be on the exhibit.

Mr Algie asked the prosecution to call Dr Thatcher as a witness later in the trial.

During the cross-examination, Ms Eckhoff said she argued against taking the cable ties to Yatala prison in Adelaide, South Australia, where Mr Murdoch was on remand in October 2002.

"I was unhappy about them leaving my possession, particularly if the forensic examination may not have been completed."

She said she made her feelings known to Dr Thatcher, who was giving the handcuffs to Senior Constable Tim Sandry so he could take them to Adelaide.

Ms Eckhoff also said one of the centre loops from the cable ties 'used' [?] to bind Ms Lees's' arms behind her back during the attack had been taken to Jonathan Whitaker, of the UK Forensic Science Services, at his laboratory in Wetherby.

She said he specialised in "low copy number" DNA and was able to use an extremely low level of DNA to try to produce an acceptable profile.

Later, Ms Eckhoff agreed with Mr Algie that on July 17 2001 five people worked "something like 14 hours straight in order to undertake sampling, extracting and analysing these items".

She said that in this time around 40 samples were taken from "a number of items", including eight from Ms Lees's T-shirt.

"Only one sample was open at any one time so it minimises any risk of contamination," she said.

Mr Algie suggested that the protocols might not have been followed, for example with the cable ties contaminated with Dr Thatcher's DNA.

He also suggested this might happen when people were tired and under pressure. Ms Eckhoff said: "That didn't happen within the laboratory." [?]

When Mr Algie suggested the cable ties were exposed to a "significant risk of contamination" while they were officially in her possession, Ms Eckhoff said: "I don't agree with that. Our protocols were put in place to ensure there was minimal risk of contamination from both the persons doing the tests as well as the samples."

Asked by the judge whether any of the samples, other than one from Ms Lees's T-shirt, taken on that day contained either a partial or full DNA profile that matched Mr Murdoch, she said: "No, sir."

[Great witness this one, already made up her mind I reckon.]

Ms Eckhoff also denied that she "completely dismantled" the handcuffs ['allegedly'?] used to tie up Ms Lees on July 31 2001.

[Seems she can't find the word 'allegedly' but has no trouble with the words 'used to tie up Ms Lees'.]

She admitted removing a section of tape from each of the three centre links of the handcuffs and said she did this in order to make a note of their G-codes, markings on the actual cable ties, beneath the layers of tape, as requested by crime scene examiners.

She said she had not been aware until recently that the handcuffs, which were inside two sealed paper bags, had been stored in the physical examinations section at Adelaide along with Mr Murdoch's possessions for around four to five days.

But she said: "If the cable ties were in a double bag and sealed I don't have a problem with that."

[Yes and what if someone wanted to intentionally contaminate the cable ties? Of course no one had any reason to set up Bradley Murdoch did they?]

During re-examination, Ms Eckhoff told the judge Chief Justice Brian Martin she was not aware of any other occasion, apart from one instance with the handcuffs on October 8 2002, when a correct entry in the log was requested to be deleted.

The court has heard Mr Falconio and Ms Lees, now 32, of Brighton, were allegedly attacked after being flagged down by another motorist at around 8pm on the Stuart Highway, around six miles north of Barrow Creek.

She told police she was threatened with a gun to her head, tied up with her hands behind her back and put into the back of her attacker's vehicle but managed to escape from under the loose canopy and hide in the bush for more than five hours before being rescued.

Mr Falconio, 28, of Huddersfield, was never seen again and no body has been found.

The trial was adjourned until tomorrow, when British DNA expert Dr Whitaker is due to give evidence.

By The Guardian and Just Us 3 November 05

Corrupt police planting DNA evidence at crime scenes

Others have raised concerns about corrupt police planting DNA evidence at crime scenes.

Ed: Yes and what if someone wanted to intentionally contaminate the cable ties? Of course no one had any reason to set up Bradley Murdoch did they?

Related:

Trial of B J Murdoch
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No Murder Weapon, No Body, No Place or Time of Death
NT: Joanne Lees ought to be the main suspect in this show trial. There is no body and no weapon to be found and Joanne Lees had a clear and present motive. She knew him, she travelled with him, she was unfaithful to him and she said that she was the last person to see him on the night she was stoned out of her head. So where does Bradley James Murdoch fit in?

Unfaithful Lees admits taking drugs, court told
AUSTRALIA: NT: Key witness Joanne lees, has testified in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to smoking Marijuana on the night her boyfriend Peter Falconio went missing.

Murdoch: Ambushed by Prosecution
AUSTRALIA: NT-Through the smell of an oily rag - A FORENSIC expert alledgedly has produced vital evidence ahead of the Peter Falconio murder trial linking his alleged killer to the camper van driven by the dead man and his girlfriend, Joanne Lees?

Day set aside for Falconio forensic evidence
More than a day has been set aside in the case of the man accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio to hear evidence from a Northern Territory forensic scientist. Yesterday the Darwin Magistrates Court heard from mechanics and friends of the defendant Bradley John Murdoch.

Mr Bradley Murdoch to go on trial next year!
The alleged man is not the alleged Falconio killer in my book. He's alleged to have committed a crime but the Faloconio mystery remains a secret to be unlocked by time itself and more interestingly may never be unlocked at all.

Falconio magistrate closes court
THE hearing into the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio has been closed to the public. Magistrate Alasdair McGregor has closed the court for part of the testimony of Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees.

Ch/9 News? Or Ch/9's Department of Public Prosecutions?
Bradley Murdoch committal, lawyer calls for fair hearing
The lawyer of the man accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio has spoken to the media in Darwin.

Peter Beattie nominated as Australian of the year: Howard
Bradley Murdoch the man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio who has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court.

Tourist dollar drives set-up for crime
The man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court. Bradley John Murdoch, 45, was charged with two counts of rape, two counts of false imprisonment and two counts of indecent assault after an alleged incident in South Australia's Riverland in August last year.

Supreme Court rejects Nine appeal
CHANNEL Nine lost a Supreme Court appeal today to have a suppression order on details of the case of missing backpacker Peter Falconio lifted. The Full Bench of the NT Supreme Court today ruled Magistrate Alasdair McGregor had the power to make the order banning from publication some details of the case.

Falconio magistrate closes court
THE hearing into the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio has been closed to the public. Magistrate Alasdair McGregor has closed the court for part of the testimony of Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees.

Innocent until proven guilty? Not in Australia's outback!
There is no way that Bradley John Murdoch can get a fair trial in the Northern Territory. The entire jury pool is already contaminated, the general public have accepted the verdict of the Northern Territory News and the NT Police State has turned on the cone of silence. Maybe some of the reporters might want to ask Director of Public Prosecutions Rex Wilde QC just how he is going to secure a conviction when a body has not been found. Surely the NT bureaucracy learnt from the Lindy Chamberlain case that it is not a good idea to jail someone for murder when you haven't got a body. Maybe they have the same people working on the case. The NT Police forensic team certainly do.

Taken "A Dingo Took My Baby!"
They were the words that Lindy Chamberlain had screamed out into the blackness of the cold night in a camping ground close to Ayers Rock, Central Australia, on the night of August 17, when she discovered that her nearly ten-week-old baby, Azaria had been taken by a dingo.

Man Says He Shot Dingo That Snatched Baby SYDNEY, Australia (July 5) - A distraught mother's scream 24 years ago that a dingo snatched her baby from a camp site near Ayers Rock in the Australian Outback ignited one of Australia's most enduring mysteries. An elderly man's claim that he retrieved the infant's bloodied body from the jaws of the wild dog has revived the case and - if true - could finally lead to the discovery of Azaria Chamberlain's body.

Australia to see the light on tourism
A total of $120 million has been earmarked for the campaign's international marketing, which tops up the Australian Tourist Commission's annual budget of $90 million. The inbound and domestic tourism industry contributes $70 billion to the economy and employs 500,000.

Ten reports $76.9 million profit
The Ten television network has reported a full-year profit of $76.9 million. Even if it were down by half on the previous year they're still greedy self-interested people who care little about the real damage done, not just in Australia but the world. That profit is obviously on top of wages and expenses yet they're still greedy enough to turn the news upside down to suit the Howard government's investment in advertising.

DNA Links:

Corrupt police planting DNA evidence at crime scenes
Others have raised concerns about corrupt police planting DNA evidence at crime scenes.

The ABC for good or evil?
He had a suspect that he wanted to find guilty based on the chances of a spouse killing a spouse which were greater in anycase, at least more likely than that of a stranger.

First Grabs To Control Our DNA
A small company in Australia has been subjected to gross denials of rights after DNA database technology was stolen from it's company. This one year saga has spawned them to form a new approach to projects of importance to all people.

Worries over DNA and racial profiling
UK: Black men are four times more likely than White men to be on the national DNA database and there is growing concern about racial profiling in criminal investigations.

Lab's Errors Force Review of 150 Virginia DNA Cases
US: WASHINGTON, - A sharply critical independent audit found that Virginia's nationally recognized central crime laboratory had botched DNA tests in a leading capital murder case. The findings prompted Gov. Mark Warner to order a review of the lab's handling of testing in 150 other cases as well.

Witch-hunt targets scientists
QLD: SCIENTISTS at the John Tonge Centre are being threatened with jail in the wake of a government hunt for the source of leaks highlighting serious problems in the forensic laboratories.

Fresh swipe at DNA labs
Scientist Kris Bentley, whose departure yesterday follows that of forensic biologist Deanna Belzer after concerns about "inaccurate" DNA results and unvalidated equipment, issued a scathing resignation letter leaked to The Courier-Mail.

DNA leads 'CSI' cold-case squad to first arrest?
Frozen case? I don't really know what to say about them until they come up with their case. They say it involves DNA evidence but that's the only stuff we know.

Criminal's DNA filed under relative's name
The New South Wales Opposition is calling for an investigation into claims that police have entered DNA data for serious offenders under incorrect names.

DNA Evidence of Bipartisanship
Last week the U.S. Congress passed the Justice for All Act, which includes provisions of the Innocence Protection Act. As of this posting, the legislation has not yet been signed by President Bush. Attached is an analysis of the legislation prepared by the Justice Project.

DNA fingerprinting 'no longer foolproof'...
The genetic profiles held by police for criminal investigations are not sophisticated enough to prevent false identifications, according to the father of DNA fingerprinting.

'Rape' officer clears his name
UK: A former policeman has been cleared of rape after protesting his innocence for 15 years. Judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh ruled that Brian Kelly, 47, had suffered a miscarriage of justice over crucial DNA evidence.

THE BUTLER DIDN'T DO IT!
PROFESSOR BARRY BOETTCHER: Now, there should be a law enacted within Queensland so that when cases come up like this they can be brought to attention and if an appropriate authority such as a judge of your Supreme Court considers that it merits further inquiry, an inquiry be ordered.

Death Penalty Forensics?
In proposing a new death penalty for Massachusetts last month, Governor Mitt Romney offered firm assurance that no innocent people would be executed: Convictions, he said, will be based on science.

New unit investigates unsolved deaths?
A new police unit has been established to investigate more than 360 unsolved deaths in New South Wales, with many of the deaths dating back more than 30 years.

QLD Prisoners DNA Bid THE curious case of Queensland's "cat lady" murder is set to test the state's legal authorities again, with the man convicted of the killing asking the Attorney-General to take the unprecedented step of releasing blood samples for DNA retesting.

Prisoner's bid for review denied
Prisoner Roger Cheney has lost a Supreme Court action to have a judicial review of his 1993 convictions an 30-year jail sentence. Justice Shaw said he was concerned about the prisoner's claim that DNA evidence held by the police could prove his innocence. Although Cheney had requested the results of the DNA tests, he had been denied access to the forensic analysis.

Database clears up crimes?
NSW Police Minister John Watkins said at the launch of a Sydney conference of international forensic experts meeting to mark 100 years of fingerprinting in NSW. He said the collection of DNA from prisoners and suspects in NSW during the past two years had led to more than 5,400 matches on the forensic database.

A Question of Innocence
Katrina Bolton: The promise of DNA freeing the innocent as well as convicting the guilty has been repeated by politicians across Australia, usually while DNA laws are being expanded. The promise was made as a national DNA database, ‘Crimtrac’ was created, and it was made as NSW introduced legislation giving unprecedented powers to take DNA samples from prisoners, by force if necessary.

Mouse Trap Game? Tried Until Guilty!
Two New South Wales Labor MPs have strongly criticised the Carr Government's proposed abolition of the 800 year old double jeopardy rule, which stops people being tried a second time for the same crime. The left-wing MPs have branded the reforms as dishonest and unjust in a formal submission to the Attorney-General's department.

Weak Carr Government suspends Innocence Panel
It's a callous disregard for justice! The panel takes applications from convicted prisoners for DNA evidence to be analysed a move that may help in a future court appeal.

DNA yours or mine?
Now they have isolated two genes that they say tells you if you're more likely to be depressed. What does that mean? It could mean that you should stay in jail because you are more likely than not to continue your offending behaviour according to a Department of Corrective Services Forensic Psychiatrist.

JUST BEAT IT! Govt lauds crime-solving technology?
The New South Wales Government says advances in crime solving technology are helping the progress of hundreds of police investigations.

DNA testing causes debate in murder case
The use of voluntary DNA testing in the investigation of a murder case in New South Wales has been applauded by victim support groups who are ill informed about the process said Justice Action's spokesperson Gregory Kable.

Abolition of double jeopardy law a political stunt: NSW Opp
Why draconian laws? What about the re-trial by media that goes along with it? Twice shy?

ARE YOU INNOCENT?
The NSW government has finally appointed somebody (Justice John Nader) to head up its Innocence Panel and has produced leaflets and forms for people convicted of serious crimes (eg murder) to apply for DNA testing if they believe it may help prove their innocence. You can get the info by phoning 1300 881 717 or writing to the panel at GPO Box 45 Sydney NSW 2001.

Is the Westminster System flawed?
Most people would say Lady Di got the boot and NSW has so much trouble getting the Innocence Panel moving. I said hey, what's going on!

Murder charge first for DNA data bank link, but not the same as solving the murder Mass DNA testing of prisoners has led to the first NSW case of a person being charged with a previously unsolved murder as a result of a controversial gene-matching data bank. The Herald reported 25 Nov 02 "a DNA saliva swab led to the charging of a former prisoner with the bashing murder of a woman. Police had been unable to find any witnesses or suspects following the murder in Sydney's inner city two years ago. Detectives had admitted they faced a tough job finding the killer."

Prisoners can prove innocence for $20
Les Kennedy Daily Telegraph reported today that" Prisoners who believe that DNA will prove they were wrongly convicted will have the chance to prove their innocence for a mere $20 administration fee. The move comes 20 months after NSW inmates were asked to provide DNA for comparison with a databank of DNA from unsolved crime scenes for possible convictions.

DNA = Do Not Assume - DNA Controversies!
The national DNA database of all known offenders proposed by Prime Minister Tony Blair could mean that innocent people will be accused of crimes they did not commit.

DNA - A Shadow of Doubt
One case points to misinterpretation of evidence that helped put a man behind bars. The other shows just how easy it is to plant falsely incriminating DNA evidence. As our forensic techniques become ever more sensitive, so the possibility of abuse continues to grow.

No Murder Weapon, No Body, No Place or Time of Death

NT: Joanne Lees ought to be the main suspect in this show trial. There is no body and no weapon to be found and Joanne Lees had a clear and present motive. She knew him, she travelled with him, she was unfaithful to him and she said that she was the last person to see him on the night she was stoned out of her head. So where does Bradley James Murdoch fit in?

Simple, police decided she was the victim and went about making sure someone else did it when all accounts should point to Joanne Lees who was unfaithful to her boyfriend Peter Falconio and stoned off her head on the night she said she had been attacked.

JOANNE Lees would identify Bradley James Murdoch or anyone else who was profiled to fit the crime. She has a very good reason to do so otherwise she would look very guilty indeed.

The 32-year-old wept as she told a jury she believed she would die after her attacker bound her and forced her into his vehicle on a lonely stretch of the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory in 2001.

No one else was there and this is her story believe it or not. She was quite capable of inventing an attacker and binding her own hands to make it look like there had been an attack but there was and adventure a misadventure. Tears can be manipulated and manufactured. She was entwined in the relationship maybe Peter would not let her out?

If you asked a killer who has no remorse whether someone else did the killing what answer do you think you're going to get?

During a dramatic day of evidence, prosecutor Rex Wild, QC, asked Ms Lees if she got a good view of the man as he held a western-style silver revolver to her head.

[The weapon that can't be found.]

"Yes," she replied.

"Do you see that man here today?" asked Mr Wild, the Northern Territory's Director of Public Prosecutions.

"Yes, I'm looking at him now," she replied in a loud voice, staring directly to where Murdoch sat in the dock of the Northern Territory Supreme Court.

[But she'd never seen him before the trial? And wasn't prompted.]

Murdoch looked back and shook his head.

Ms Lees responded by nodding vigorously.

[Intimating that she was guilty but had no other choice.]

She also appeared to mouth some words as she nodded back at Murdoch, but they were not audible.

[Sorry...I am Sorry...Please forgive me...?]

Ms Lees was giving testimony on the second day of the trial into the alleged murder of her boyfriend, Mr Falconio, who has not been seen since that night in July 2001.

Lees, who was stoned out of her brain on dope and who'd had a recent affair had a better motive for the killing and could easily have committed the crime herself. So why wasn't she the main suspect?

Bradley Murdoch, 47, has pleaded not guilty to murder, and to the unlawful assault and deprivation of liberty of Ms Lees.

Lees has accused Bradley John Murdoch of Peter Falconio death but until the alleged strong DNA evidence appeared late in the police investigation there was probably no case at all.

DNA results that just happened to appear now place Bradley John Murdoch at the crime scene and no doubt have helped the police case against the accused.

Back in April 2005, Murdoch's defence team was furious at the new DNA evidence. Claiming his client had been ambushed by the prosecution, Ian Baker, QC, made an application to have the hearing stopped and the trial date, put back to allow his side to have its own DNA tests done on the cable ties.

Commenting on the new development, the judge, Brian Martin, told the Northern Territory Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Tony Elliot: "The evidence you propose to lead, if accepted by the jury, would inevitably place the accused not only at the scene, but having used the ties used to tie up Miss Lees. It is critical." ?

Dr Whitaker's world-first DNA testing technique [?] has allegedly identified fragments of DNA belonging to Murdoch at the crime scene?

But earlier results of tests on mixed DNA on the gearstick and steering wheel were so poor that they were inadmissible in court. [?]

Ms Lees, who said she still bore scars from that night, said a man pulled up beside the couple as they drove their Kombi north from Alice Springs.

But she's the only witness to that and she was also quite capable of making it appear that she had been tied up and grazed.

If it were the case that she was bound then it would have been highly unlikely that she would have survived to tell the story.

Of course a murderer is not capable of making up a story to make it look like she suffered a misadventure by binding here own hands and leaving marks for all to see?

When he signaled for the couple to pull over, Ms Lees said she urged Mr Falconio not to stop.

[Sure, where in the middle of nowhere in the dark and she intimates they should stop? A street wise pom? Bullshit!]

She said, he did stop, however, and went to the back of the vehicle to talk to the man about sparks he had seen coming from the exhaust.

"Cheers mate, thanks for stopping," she heard Mr Falconio telling the man.

As she was revving the engine for Mr Falconio, she said she heard a bang which sounded like a car backfiring.

Apparantly it wasn't until the stranger appeared at her car window with a silver revolver that she realised the sound may have been a gunshot.

[Maybe it was the Lone Ranger?]

Ms Lees said she struggled as the gunman bound her hands behind her back, forced her from the Kombi and tried unsuccessfully to tie her legs with tape as he straddled her on the ground.

So he managed to bind her hands but he could not manage to bind her feet, the easy part?

He did not rape her or shoot her in the head but apparently he had no trouble with Peter Falconio?

"He punched me in the right temple, it stunned me," she said.

"I was then screaming for Pete to come and help me."

She said the man led her towards his vehicle and tried unsuccessfully to put tape around her mouth.

She also managed to shake off a canvas sack he put over her head.

He pushed her into the passenger's side of his vehicle and then into its rear tray area.

"I asked him why he was doing this, did he want money, did he want to rape me," Ms Lees said.

"He came back and told me to shut up or he would shoot me."

Asked today what was going through her mind during the attack, Ms Lees wept and said:" I felt alone.

And that just about sums it up because she was alone and has to prove otherwise, surely?

"I kept shouting for Pete. I thought I was going to die."

But the man who had her tied up couldn't find her? Or manage to bind her legs, rape her or even shoot her? But he managed to take care of Peter. Maybe he was gay? Or just plain clumsy?

Then the man moved away from his vehicle and she seized the moment to escape, she said, shuffling her legs over the rear of an unsecured canopy onto the ground with her hands still bound behind her back.

[And he could not see her in the middle of nowhere? Neither could he hear her?]

"Then I just ran," Ms Lees whispered, recounting how she curled up and hid under bushes.

Ms Lees said she heard the crunch of the man's footsteps as she hid.

"I didn't speak - I was trying not to breathe even," she said.

She heard the man drive a vehicle away, and later again heard the crunch of gravel and the man dragging something.

"I thought it could be Pete," she said.

The court has heard Ms Lees hid under the bush for five hours, before running out onto the road, still bound, and flagged down a passing road train.

[And the man ran away with the bone!]

The trial continues.

By Amanda Mortein 19 October 05

Related:

Falconio suspect to be extradited

It was only after Murdoch was arrested in SA on sex charges that police, citing DNA evidence, alleged he was linked to the Falconio case.

To avoid further delays in having the murder case heard, Mr Prescott dismissed charges against Murdoch regarding firearms offences that were currently before the Adelaide court.

Bradley John Murdoch will face a court in Darwin tomorrow, charged for the first time over the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio.

An Adelaide magistrate today ordered Murdoch, 45, to be extradited to the Northern Territory where he will be formally charged with murdering Mr Falconio and attempting to abduct Mr Falconio's girlfriend, Joanne Lees.

Murdoch's extradition follows his acquittal earlier this week on unrelated sex charges and his immediate rearrest.

Handcuffed and flanked by prison officers and Adelaide Magistrates Court staff, Murdoch showed no expression as Chief Magistrate Kelvyn Prescott dismissed arguments that his arrest was unlawful.

Related Links:

Unfaithful Lees admits taking drugs, court told
AUSTRALIA: NT: Key witness Joanne lees, has testified in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to smoking Marijuana on the night her boyfriend Peter Falconio went missing.

Murdoch: Ambushed by Prosecution
AUSTRALIA: NT-Through the smell of an oily rag - A FORENSIC expert alledgedly has produced vital evidence ahead of the Peter Falconio murder trial linking his alleged killer to the camper van driven by the dead man and his girlfriend, Joanne Lees?

Day set aside for Falconio forensic evidence
More than a day has been set aside in the case of the man accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio to hear evidence from a Northern Territory forensic scientist. Yesterday the Darwin Magistrates Court heard from mechanics and friends of the defendant Bradley John Murdoch.

Mr Bradley Murdoch to go on trial next year!
The alleged man is not the alleged Falconio killer in my book. He's alleged to have committed a crime but the Faloconio mystery remains a secret to be unlocked by time itself and more interestingly may never be unlocked at all.

Falconio magistrate closes court
THE hearing into the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio has been closed to the public. Magistrate Alasdair McGregor has closed the court for part of the testimony of Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees.

Ch/9 News? Or Ch/9's Department of Public Prosecutions?
Bradley Murdoch committal, lawyer calls for fair hearing
The lawyer of the man accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio has spoken to the media in Darwin.

Peter Beattie nominated as Australian of the year: Howard
Bradley Murdoch the man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio who has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court.

Tourist dollar drives set-up for crime
The man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court. Bradley John Murdoch, 45, was charged with two counts of rape, two counts of false imprisonment and two counts of indecent assault after an alleged incident in South Australia's Riverland in August last year.

Supreme Court rejects Nine appeal
CHANNEL Nine lost a Supreme Court appeal today to have a suppression order on details of the case of missing backpacker Peter Falconio lifted. The Full Bench of the NT Supreme Court today ruled Magistrate Alasdair McGregor had the power to make the order banning from publication some details of the case.

Falconio magistrate closes court
THE hearing into the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio has been closed to the public. Magistrate Alasdair McGregor has closed the court for part of the testimony of Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees.

Innocent until proven guilty? Not in Australia's outback!
There is no way that Bradley John Murdoch can get a fair trial in the Northern Territory. The entire jury pool is already contaminated, the general public have accepted the verdict of the Northern Territory News and the NT Police State has turned on the cone of silence. Maybe some of the reporters might want to ask Director of Public Prosecutions Rex Wilde QC just how he is going to secure a conviction when a body has not been found. Surely the NT bureaucracy learnt from the Lindy Chamberlain case that it is not a good idea to jail someone for murder when you haven't got a body. Maybe they have the same people working on the case. The NT Police forensic team certainly do.

Taken "A Dingo Took My Baby!"
They were the words that Lindy Chamberlain had screamed out into the blackness of the cold night in a camping ground close to Ayers Rock, Central Australia, on the night of August 17, when she discovered that her nearly ten-week-old baby, Azaria had been taken by a dingo.

Man Says He Shot Dingo That Snatched Baby SYDNEY, Australia (July 5) - A distraught mother's scream 24 years ago that a dingo snatched her baby from a camp site near Ayers Rock in the Australian Outback ignited one of Australia's most enduring mysteries. An elderly man's claim that he retrieved the infant's bloodied body from the jaws of the wild dog has revived the case and - if true - could finally lead to the discovery of Azaria Chamberlain's body.

Australia to see the light on tourism
A total of $120 million has been earmarked for the campaign's international marketing, which tops up the Australian Tourist Commission's annual budget of $90 million. The inbound and domestic tourism industry contributes $70 billion to the economy and employs 500,000.

Ten reports $76.9 million profit
The Ten television network has reported a full-year profit of $76.9 million. Even if it were down by half on the previous year they're still greedy self-interested people who care little about the real damage done, not just in Australia but the world. That profit is obviously on top of wages and expenses yet they're still greedy enough to turn the news upside down to suit the Howard government's investment in advertising.

DNA Links:

The ABC for good or evil?
He had a suspect that he wanted to find guilty based on the chances of a spouse killing a spouse which were greater in anycase, at least more likely than that of a stranger.

First Grabs To Control Our DNA
A small company in Australia has been subjected to gross denials of rights after DNA database technology was stolen from it's company. This one year saga has spawned them to form a new approach to projects of importance to all people.

Worries over DNA and racial profiling
UK: Black men are four times more likely than White men to be on the national DNA database and there is growing concern about racial profiling in criminal investigations.

Lab's Errors Force Review of 150 Virginia DNA Cases
US: WASHINGTON, - A sharply critical independent audit found that Virginia's nationally recognized central crime laboratory had botched DNA tests in a leading capital murder case. The findings prompted Gov. Mark Warner to order a review of the lab's handling of testing in 150 other cases as well.

Witch-hunt targets scientists
QLD: SCIENTISTS at the John Tonge Centre are being threatened with jail in the wake of a government hunt for the source of leaks highlighting serious problems in the forensic laboratories.

Fresh swipe at DNA labs
Scientist Kris Bentley, whose departure yesterday follows that of forensic biologist Deanna Belzer after concerns about "inaccurate" DNA results and unvalidated equipment, issued a scathing resignation letter leaked to The Courier-Mail.

DNA leads 'CSI' cold-case squad to first arrest?
Frozen case? I don't really know what to say about them until they come up with their case. They say it involves DNA evidence but that's the only stuff we know.

Criminal's DNA filed under relative's name
The New South Wales Opposition is calling for an investigation into claims that police have entered DNA data for serious offenders under incorrect names.

DNA fingerprinting 'no longer foolproof'...
The genetic profiles held by police for criminal investigations are not sophisticated enough to prevent false identifications, according to the father of DNA fingerprinting.

THE BUTLER DIDN'T DO IT!
PROFESSOR BARRY BOETTCHER: Now, there should be a law enacted within Queensland so that when cases come up like this they can be brought to attention and if an appropriate authority such as a judge of your Supreme Court considers that it merits further inquiry, an inquiry be ordered.

'Rape' officer clears his name
UK: A former policeman has been cleared of rape after protesting his innocence for 15 years. Judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh ruled that Brian Kelly, 47, had suffered a miscarriage of justice over crucial DNA evidence.

New unit investigates unsolved deaths?
A new police unit has been established to investigate more than 360 unsolved deaths in New South Wales, with many of the deaths dating back more than 30 years.

Prisoner's bid for review denied
Prisoner Roger Cheney has lost a Supreme Court action to have a judicial review of his 1993 convictions an 30-year jail sentence. Justice Shaw said he was concerned about the prisoner's claim that DNA evidence held by the police could prove his innocence. Although Cheney had requested the results of the DNA tests, he had been denied access to the forensic analysis.

QLD Prisoners DNA Bid THE curious case of Queensland's "cat lady" murder is set to test the state's legal authorities again, with the man convicted of the killing asking the Attorney-General to take the unprecedented step of releasing blood samples for DNA retesting.

Database clears up crimes?
NSW Police Minister John Watkins said at the launch of a Sydney conference of international forensic experts meeting to mark 100 years of fingerprinting in NSW. He said the collection of DNA from prisoners and suspects in NSW during the past two years had led to more than 5,400 matches on the forensic database.

A Question of Innocence
Katrina Bolton: The promise of DNA freeing the innocent as well as convicting the guilty has been repeated by politicians across Australia, usually while DNA laws are being expanded. The promise was made as a national DNA database, ‘Crimtrac’ was created, and it was made as NSW introduced legislation giving unprecedented powers to take DNA samples from prisoners, by force if necessary.

Weak Carr Government suspends Innocence Panel
It's a callous disregard for justice! The panel takes applications from convicted prisoners for DNA evidence to be analysed a move that may help in a future court appeal.

JUST BEAT IT! Govt lauds crime-solving technology?
The New South Wales Government says advances in crime solving technology are helping the progress of hundreds of police investigations.

DNA testing causes debate in murder case
The use of voluntary DNA testing in the investigation of a murder case in New South Wales has been applauded by victim support groups who are ill informed about the process said Justice Action's spokesperson Gregory Kable.

Abolition of double jeopardy law a political stunt: NSW Opp
Why draconian laws? What about the re-trial by media that goes along with it? Twice shy?

ARE YOU INNOCENT?
The NSW government has finally appointed somebody (Justice John Nader) to head up its Innocence Panel and has produced leaflets and forms for people convicted of serious crimes (eg murder) to apply for DNA testing if they believe it may help prove their innocence. You can get the info by phoning 1300 881 717 or writing to the panel at GPO Box 45 Sydney NSW 2001.

Is the Westminster System flawed?
Most people would say Lady Di got the boot and NSW has so much trouble getting the Innocence Panel moving. I said hey, what's going on!

Murder charge first for DNA data bank link, but not the same as solving the murder Mass DNA testing of prisoners has led to the first NSW case of a person being charged with a previously unsolved murder as a result of a controversial gene-matching data bank. The Herald reported 25 Nov 02 "a DNA saliva swab led to the charging of a former prisoner with the bashing murder of a woman. Police had been unable to find any witnesses or suspects following the murder in Sydney's inner city two years ago. Detectives had admitted they faced a tough job finding the killer."

Prisoners can prove innocence for $20
Les Kennedy Daily Telegraph reported today that" Prisoners who believe that DNA will prove they were wrongly convicted will have the chance to prove their innocence for a mere $20 administration fee. The move comes 20 months after NSW inmates were asked to provide DNA for comparison with a databank of DNA from unsolved crime scenes for possible convictions.

DNA yours or mine?
Now they have isolated two genes that they say tells you if you're more likely to be depressed. What does that mean? It could mean that you should stay in jail because you are more likely than not to continue your offending behaviour according to a Department of Corrective Services Forensic Psychiatrist.

DNA = Do Not Assume - DNA Controversies!
The national DNA database of all known offenders proposed by Prime Minister Tony Blair could mean that innocent people will be accused of crimes they did not commit.

DNA Evidence of Bipartisanship
Last week the U.S. Congress passed the Justice for All Act, which includes provisions of the Innocence Protection Act. As of this posting, the legislation has not yet been signed by President Bush. Attached is an analysis of the legislation prepared by the Justice Project.

DNA - A Shadow of Doubt
One case points to misinterpretation of evidence that helped put a man behind bars. The other shows just how easy it is to plant falsely incriminating DNA evidence. As our forensic techniques become ever more sensitive, so the possibility of abuse continues to grow.

Unfaithful Lees admits taking drugs, court told

AUSTRALIA: NT: Key witness Joanne lees, has testified in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to smoking Marijuana on the night her boyfriend Peter Falconio went missing.

Yesterday she told the court how unfaithful she was to her boyfriend and that she'd even had an affair. But for some reason Lees wasn't a suspect in her own boyfriends killing?

Show trial

Lees has accused Bradley John Murdoch of Peter Falconio death but until the alleged strong DNA evidence appeared late in the police investigation there was probably no case at all.

DNA results that just happened to appear now place Bradley John Murdoch at the crime scene and no doubt have helped the police case against the accused.

Murdoch: Ambushed by Prosecution

DNA 'links accused to Falconio camper' ?

AUSTRALIA: NT-Through the smell of an oily rag - A FORENSIC expert allegedly has produced vital evidence ahead of the Peter Falconio murder trial linking his alleged killer to the camper van driven by the dead man and his girlfriend, Joanne Lees?

Surprising!

Dr Jonathan Whitaker, a British DNA expert, told a pre-trial hearing that a new testing technique had identified fragments of DNA belonging to the accused, Bradley John Murdoch, at the crime scene. It is the first time that the damning DNA evidence has been heard, because previous orthodox forensic tests by Northern Territory officers had proved inconclusive?

Crown prosecutor Rex Wild QC said DNA obtained from a blood stain on Ms Lees's t-shirt, Mr Falconio's former girlfriend, matched that of the accused Bradley John Murdoch.

But he never said the police had planted it and of course that has to be one of the leads to be followed up by the defense in the tourist industry show trial between Corporate Australia, Joanne Lees, and Bradley John Murdoch.

This means a lot for the tourist industry and the corporate giants have their hands dirty already. Ch/9 stalled the committal hearing early in the case so they could argue that court material should be heard in public and not in camera.

Stalled Falconio Committal to resume

Channel Nine have no rights whatsoever to delay the case of a person accused and in custody. Mr Bradley Murdoch should seek damages after the committal against Ch/9 to prevent further interference by corporate media giants who no doubt have a conflict of interest making news instead of reporting news and also having a corporate interest in tourism and $$$$$$$

Wild told the court that Murdoch's DNA was also identified on the gearstick of Mr Falconio's kombi van and on the hand ties that were allegedly used to bind Ms Lees on the night her boyfriend went missing.

Again no mention that the evidence could easily have been planted by police late in the investigation to help solve their case.

Forty-seven-year-old Bradley John Murdoch has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Peter Falconio and the assault and deprivation of liberty of Joanne Lees.

The court heard that Bradley Murdoch had a haircut and shave within a day of the British traveler's disappearance but most men have a shave everyday so how this is so suppose to be some type of evidence is bewildering and can only be seen as mind-set 'evidence' that men take personal care of themselves, surely. I mean I shave everyday.

Mr Wild said that a day after Mr Falconio went missing; Bradley Murdoch was driving through Central Australia to Broome. He said when Murdoch arrived in Broome; he had a shave and cut his hair.

But Joanne Lees who was stoned out of her brain on dope and who'd had a recent affair, had a better motive for the killing and could easily have committed the crime herself. So why wasn't she the main suspect?

Tall tale?

Mr Wild told the court that Mr Falconio and Ms Lees were traveling on a remote stretch of highway north of Alice Springs when the driver of a second car urged them to pull over.

He said Mr Falconio got out of the couple's kombi van to speak to the man. Mr Wild told the court that after hearing a loud bang, like a gun shot, Ms Lees was tied with cable ties by the man accused of murdering Mr Falconio.

She asked the man if he was going to rape her and if he had shot her boyfriend. The court heard Ms Lees was forced into the back of the man's van but managed to escape and run into bushes.

The prosecutor said she waited in the dark for about five hours until she felt safe enough to flag down a truck on the highway. The court has also heard evidence from Mr Falconio's brother and father.

The family members told the court they had not heard from Peter Falconio since the night he went missing more than four years ago.

But Joanne Lees was a more likely suspect even though she told the court she identified Bradley Murdoch as her attacker during last year's committal hearing and from a photo board.

Falconio beatup compromises NSW DNA laws
ABC 20 June 2002

The NSW government has used the recent media beatup surrounding DNA testing of 'a person of interest' in the Northern Territory Falconio murder investigation to neutralise protections contained in the NSW Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act.

The Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Amendment (Corresponding Laws) Regulation 2002 takes advantage of a deliberate loophole in Section 95 of the Act which allows DNA legislation in other jurisdictions to be declared 'corresponding laws' - thereby permitting free flow of DNA database information between law enforcement agencies.

All Australian Federal, State and Territory legislation governing forensic DNA collection, analysis and use has been declared 'corresponding law' by NSW Attorney General Bob Debus - in spite of the fact that several of them contain none of the protections of the NSW Act.

Under the Northern Territory Police Administration Act people can be forced to submit to police DNA testing for summary offences such as 'failing to cease to loiter'. Once tested their DNA profile stays on the police database forever, where it is used in attempts to link the subject to unsolved offences. Volunteers and victims of crime are also liable to have their DNA used to implicate them in unsolved crime.

The Northern Territory is also the only Australian jurisdiction where police DNA testing is carried out in a laboratory which does not meet NATA accreditation standards. Its senior forensic scientist is Joy Kuhl, who first achieved notoriety for her part in the wrongful conviction of Lindy Chamberlain.

In NSW, by contrast, only those suspected or convicted of serious offences can be forced to provide DNA. If they are found innocent, have their convictions overturned or are not charged within a year their profiles and samples must be 'destroyed' (i.e. deidentified).

However the declaration of the new regulations now means that NSW police can 'launder' tainted DNA evidence through their NT colleagues.

Even when NSW police are required by law to 'destroy' a DNA profile they can rest easy in the knowledge that a shared copy remains on the NT police database and will shortly be 'shared' back to NSW. Those not liable for forced DNA testing under NSW laws might be picked up while visiting another state and forcibly tested for 'abusive language' or 'failing to cease to loiter', with results of the test relayed back to the NSW database.

The NSW government has taken advantage of the arrest of 29 year old Michael Sorrell for the stabbing murder of Michael Furlong in Smithfield on June 3 to create an artificial atmosphere of urgency and stifle debate of the new regulations.

Sorrell is described as a 'person of interest' in the shooting and presumed murder of Peter Falconio near Alice Springs in July last year, in spite of the fact that he does not match the description of eye-witness, Joanna Lees.

NSW police received DNA recovered from the crime scene in August last year and could have compared it with Sorrell's at any time without needing to alter NSW regulations (there are no restrictions in either NSW or the NT on the use of crime scene DNA).

According to a report in the [Un] Australian, Mr Sorrell has been forcibly DNA tested over 50 times since he was picked up. He is believed to have been in Queensland when Falconio was killed but a 'misinterpreted telephone conversation between territory and NSW police' resulted in him being seen as a potential suspect.

Michael Sorrell was finally cleared of involvement in the murder of Peter Falconio on June 15, when NT police announced no match between his DNA and the murder scene. But NSW citizens have now permanently lost the few protections they previously enjoyed under the Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act.

By Amanda Mortein 18 October 05

Related:

Murdoch: Ambushed by Prosecution
AUSTRALIA: NT-Through the smell of an oily rag - A FORENSIC expert alledgedly has produced vital evidence ahead of the Peter Falconio murder trial linking his alleged killer to the camper van driven by the dead man and his girlfriend, Joanne Lees?

Day set aside for Falconio forensic evidence
More than a day has been set aside in the case of the man accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio to hear evidence from a Northern Territory forensic scientist. Yesterday the Darwin Magistrates Court heard from mechanics and friends of the defendant Bradley John Murdoch.

Mr Bradley Murdoch to go on trial next year!
The alleged man is not the alleged Falconio killer in my book. He's alleged to have committed a crime but the Faloconio mystery remains a secret to be unlocked by time itself and more interestingly may never be unlocked at all.

Falconio magistrate closes court
THE hearing into the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio has been closed to the public. Magistrate Alasdair McGregor has closed the court for part of the testimony of Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees.

Ch/9 News? Or Ch/9's Department of Public Prosecutions?
Bradley Murdoch committal, lawyer calls for fair hearing
The lawyer of the man accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio has spoken to the media in Darwin.

Peter Beattie nominated as Australian of the year: Howard
Bradley Murdoch the man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio who has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court.

Tourist dollar drives set-up for crime
The man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court. Bradley John Murdoch, 45, was charged with two counts of rape, two counts of false imprisonment and two counts of indecent assault after an alleged incident in South Australia's Riverland in August last year.

Supreme Court rejects Nine appeal
CHANNEL Nine lost a Supreme Court appeal today to have a suppression order on details of the case of missing backpacker Peter Falconio lifted. The Full Bench of the NT Supreme Court today ruled Magistrate Alasdair McGregor had the power to make the order banning from publication some details of the case.

Falconio magistrate closes court
THE hearing into the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio has been closed to the public. Magistrate Alasdair McGregor has closed the court for part of the testimony of Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees.

Innocent until proven guilty? Not in Australia's outback!
There is no way that Bradley John Murdoch can get a fair trial in the Northern Territory. The entire jury pool is already contaminated, the general public have accepted the verdict of the Northern Territory News and the NT Police State has turned on the cone of silence. Maybe some of the reporters might want to ask Director of Public Prosecutions Rex Wilde QC just how he is going to secure a conviction when a body has not been found. Surely the NT bureaucracy learnt from the Lindy Chamberlain case that it is not a good idea to jail someone for murder when you haven't got a body. Maybe they have the same people working on the case. The NT Police forensic team certainly do.

Taken "A Dingo Took My Baby!"
They were the words that Lindy Chamberlain had screamed out into the blackness of the cold night in a camping ground close to Ayers Rock, Central Australia, on the night of August 17, when she discovered that her nearly ten-week-old baby, Azaria had been taken by a dingo.

Man Says He Shot Dingo That Snatched Baby SYDNEY, Australia (July 5) - A distraught mother's scream 24 years ago that a dingo snatched her baby from a camp site near Ayers Rock in the Australian Outback ignited one of Australia's most enduring mysteries. An elderly man's claim that he retrieved the infant's bloodied body from the jaws of the wild dog has revived the case and - if true - could finally lead to the discovery of Azaria Chamberlain's body.

Australia to see the light on tourism
A total of $120 million has been earmarked for the campaign's international marketing, which tops up the Australian Tourist Commission's annual budget of $90 million. The inbound and domestic tourism industry contributes $70 billion to the economy and employs 500,000.

Ten reports $76.9 million profit
The Ten television network has reported a full-year profit of $76.9 million. Even if it were down by half on the previous year they're still greedy self-interested people who care little about the real damage done, not just in Australia but the world. That profit is obviously on top of wages and expenses yet they're still greedy enough to turn the news upside down to suit the Howard government's investment in advertising.

DNA Links:

The ABC for good or evil?
He had a suspect that he wanted to find guilty based on the chances of a spouse killing a spouse which were greater in anycase, at least more likely than that of a stranger.

First Grabs To Control Our DNA
A small company in Australia has been subjected to gross denials of rights after DNA database technology was stolen from it's company. This one year saga has spawned them to form a new approach to projects of importance to all people.

Worries over DNA and racial profiling
UK: Black men are four times more likely than White men to be on the national DNA database and there is growing concern about racial profiling in criminal investigations.

Lab's Errors Force Review of 150 Virginia DNA Cases
US: WASHINGTON, - A sharply critical independent audit found that Virginia's nationally recognized central crime laboratory had botched DNA tests in a leading capital murder case. The findings prompted Gov. Mark Warner to order a review of the lab's handling of testing in 150 other cases as well.

Witch-hunt targets scientists
QLD: SCIENTISTS at the John Tonge Centre are being threatened with jail in the wake of a government hunt for the source of leaks highlighting serious problems in the forensic laboratories.

Fresh swipe at DNA labs
Scientist Kris Bentley, whose departure yesterday follows that of forensic biologist Deanna Belzer after concerns about "inaccurate" DNA results and unvalidated equipment, issued a scathing resignation letter leaked to The Courier-Mail.

DNA leads 'CSI' cold-case squad to first arrest?
Frozen case? I don't really know what to say about them until they come up with their case. They say it involves DNA evidence but that's the only stuff we know.

Criminal's DNA filed under relative's name
The New South Wales Opposition is calling for an investigation into claims that police have entered DNA data for serious offenders under incorrect names.

DNA fingerprinting 'no longer foolproof'...
The genetic profiles held by police for criminal investigations are not sophisticated enough to prevent false identifications, according to the father of DNA fingerprinting.

THE BUTLER DIDN'T DO IT!
PROFESSOR BARRY BOETTCHER: Now, there should be a law enacted within Queensland so that when cases come up like this they can be brought to attention and if an appropriate authority such as a judge of your Supreme Court considers that it merits further inquiry, an inquiry be ordered.

'Rape' officer clears his name
UK: A former policeman has been cleared of rape after protesting his innocence for 15 years. Judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh ruled that Brian Kelly, 47, had suffered a miscarriage of justice over crucial DNA evidence.

New unit investigates unsolved deaths?
A new police unit has been established to investigate more than 360 unsolved deaths in New South Wales, with many of the deaths dating back more than 30 years.

Prisoner's bid for review denied
Prisoner Roger Cheney has lost a Supreme Court action to have a judicial review of his 1993 convictions an 30-year jail sentence. Justice Shaw said he was concerned about the prisoner's claim that DNA evidence held by the police could prove his innocence. Although Cheney had requested the results of the DNA tests, he had been denied access to the forensic analysis.

QLD Prisoners DNA Bid THE curious case of Queensland's "cat lady" murder is set to test the state's legal authorities again, with the man convicted of the killing asking the Attorney-General to take the unprecedented step of releasing blood samples for DNA retesting.

Database clears up crimes?
NSW Police Minister John Watkins said at the launch of a Sydney conference of international forensic experts meeting to mark 100 years of fingerprinting in NSW. He said the collection of DNA from prisoners and suspects in NSW during the past two years had led to more than 5,400 matches on the forensic database.

A Question of Innocence
Katrina Bolton: The promise of DNA freeing the innocent as well as convicting the guilty has been repeated by politicians across Australia, usually while DNA laws are being expanded. The promise was made as a national DNA database, ‘Crimtrac’ was created, and it was made as NSW introduced legislation giving unprecedented powers to take DNA samples from prisoners, by force if necessary.

Weak Carr Government suspends Innocence Panel
It's a callous disregard for justice! The panel takes applications from convicted prisoners for DNA evidence to be analysed a move that may help in a future court appeal.

JUST BEAT IT! Govt lauds crime-solving technology?
The New South Wales Government says advances in crime solving technology are helping the progress of hundreds of police investigations.

DNA testing causes debate in murder case
The use of voluntary DNA testing in the investigation of a murder case in New South Wales has been applauded by victim support groups who are ill informed about the process said Justice Action's spokesperson Gregory Kable.

Abolition of double jeopardy law a political stunt: NSW Opp
Why draconian laws? What about the re-trial by media that goes along with it? Twice shy?

ARE YOU INNOCENT?
The NSW government has finally appointed somebody (Justice John Nader) to head up its Innocence Panel and has produced leaflets and forms for people convicted of serious crimes (eg murder) to apply for DNA testing if they believe it may help prove their innocence. You can get the info by phoning 1300 881 717 or writing to the panel at GPO Box 45 Sydney NSW 2001.

Is the Westminster System flawed?
Most people would say Lady Di got the boot and NSW has so much trouble getting the Innocence Panel moving. I said hey, what's going on!

Murder charge first for DNA data bank link, but not the same as solving the murder Mass DNA testing of prisoners has led to the first NSW case of a person being charged with a previously unsolved murder as a result of a controversial gene-matching data bank. The Herald reported 25 Nov 02 "a DNA saliva swab led to the charging of a former prisoner with the bashing murder of a woman. Police had been unable to find any witnesses or suspects following the murder in Sydney's inner city two years ago. Detectives had admitted they faced a tough job finding the killer."

Prisoners can prove innocence for $20
Les Kennedy Daily Telegraph reported today that" Prisoners who believe that DNA will prove they were wrongly convicted will have the chance to prove their innocence for a mere $20 administration fee. The move comes 20 months after NSW inmates were asked to provide DNA for comparison with a databank of DNA from unsolved crime scenes for possible convictions.

DNA yours or mine?
Now they have isolated two genes that they say tells you if you're more likely to be depressed. What does that mean? It could mean that you should stay in jail because you are more likely than not to continue your offending behaviour according to a Department of Corrective Services Forensic Psychiatrist.

DNA = Do Not Assume - DNA Controversies!
The national DNA database of all known offenders proposed by Prime Minister Tony Blair could mean that innocent people will be accused of crimes they did not commit.

DNA Evidence of Bipartisanship
Last week the U.S. Congress passed the Justice for All Act, which includes provisions of the Innocence Protection Act. As of this posting, the legislation has not yet been signed by President Bush. Attached is an analysis of the legislation prepared by the Justice Project.