Trial told of forensic 'errors'

A court artist's drawing of Sean Gerard Hoey

A review of the work of the Forensic Science service in Northern Ireland found mistakes in more than a third of cases, the Omagh bomb trial has heard.

In the last six years, the service had its accreditation suspended twice, after revelations of a falsified signature and lab practice concerns.

About 1,200 cases were checked and 455 were found to contain mistakes.

Sean Hoey, 37, of County Armagh denies a total of 58 charges, including murder as a result of the 1998 Omagh bombing.

Mr Hoey is an electrician from Molly Road, Jonesborough.

The Omagh bomb trial heard that a review of the FSNI's work was carried out by a consultancy firm, during a time when the UK Accreditation Service had suspended the service's accreditation.

A series of cases were checked between 2001 and 2003. In that two-year period it was responsible for about 2,400 cases - of those, a sample 1,200 were reviewed.

The firm found 455 of the cases contained mistakes - more than a third.

The acting operations director of the Forensic Science Services Northern Ireland, Samuel James Speers, said the errors were "generally administrative" and they were not all the responsibility of that agency.

DNA confusion

But the judge, Mr Justice Weir, asked if that mattered.

He added: "Whether the errors were caused by the police or the laboratory, errors still resulted".

On Tuesday, Mr Speers is expected to face further questioning about the reasons for the lab's accreditation being suspended twice - once in 2001 and once in 2003.

Earlier there were more questions about the reliability of Low Copy Number DNA - a key part of the prosecution case and an issue that has dominated the trial for weeks.

Dr Peter Gill a forensic scientist and expert in the field accepted that there was still a "lot of confusion" about the technique and differences in how it is used worldwide.

The trial continues.