24 September 2013 Last updated at 12:35 ET <\/p>\n
An ex-prisoner has lost a legal challenge at the High Court against a request by police for him to provide DNA samples. <\/p>\n
The man, known as R, had argued that the request infringed his human rights. <\/p>\n
Under Operation Nutmeg, which runs in England and Wales, DNA has been gathered from people jailed for serious crimes before routine collection. <\/p>\n
The Home Office said the judgement was a common-sense one that supported the work of the government and police. <\/p>\n
Police could have been ordered to destroy thousands of samples if the legal challenge had been successful. <\/p>\n
Since 1994, individuals convicted of serious crimes have had DNA swabs routinely taken to add to the national database. <\/p>\n
The aim of Operation Nutmeg is to see if there are any matches to unsolved crimes among those who offended before that date. <\/p>\n
By July of this year, 6,204 samples had been taken under the scheme with 111 being matched to crime scenes. <\/p>\n
R - who was jailed for manslaughter in the 1980s but after his release was in trouble for a lesser, non-violent offence - argued that he had turned his life around since 2000. <\/p>\n
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More: 24 September 2013 Last updated at 12:35 ET An ex-prisoner has lost a legal challenge at the High Court against a request by police for him to provide DNA samples. The man, known as R, had argued that the request infringed his human rights Continue reading
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