Met scientist's 'neglect' meant rape suspect unidentified, court hears

Met Police forensic scientist Ursula Collins has been suspended from duty

A man suspected of raping a 17-year-old girl was not identified for five years after a Met Police forensic scientist "caused undue delay" to the investigation, a court has heard.

Ursula Collins appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Monday accused of "knowingly neglecting her duties" and failing to store exhibits correctly.

The 43-year-old from Mitcham, south London, pleaded not guilty to eight counts of misconduct in public office.

She is currently suspended from duty.

The charges relate to offences committed between September 2009 and March 2018, involving work in connection with investigations into five separate allegations of rape, one of driving whilst unfit, a robbery, and a shooting.

'Years of delays'

Jurors heard that in a case involving the rape of a 17-year-old girl, a suspect was identified as a result of re-examination of DNA analysis of her underwear and a sanitary towel.

However, this did not happen until after a review of the file in March 2018, years after they were first sent to the laboratory in November 2012.

Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC told the court: "At that time, over five years after the complaint was made, the complainant was no longer willing to assist the police."

The jury was told that in another alleged rape, another scientist took over the case and by the time a DNA match was found, the suspect had left the country and the Crown Prosecution Service had closed the case.

Ms Heer said that in a third separate rape case, a DNA profile matching the description of the suspect given by the complainant was found on a pair of leggings first sent to the laboratory in 2012, but only after they were resubmitted for analysis in 2018.

By then the victim no longer supported the investigation due to the passage of time, the jury heard.

The court also heard that in a shooting case, a detective asked for a DNA examination of a petrol can and gloves in 2010 in an attempt to identify anyone who had handled them, but a match was not obtained until after Ms Collins was suspended in 2018.

'Actively misled people'

Ms Heer described Ms Collins as a "qualified and experienced" forensic scientist who occupied a "key role" in the investigation of crime.

The prosecutor told the court: "The prosecution case is not that Ursula Collins set out intentionally or deliberately to obstruct justice or to pervert police investigations into criminal offences.

"The prosecution case is that she knowingly neglected her duties as a reporting officer and, in some cases, actively misled other people, in the knowledge that by doing so there was a risk that she would misconduct herself and thereby undermine the integrity of police investigations into crime."

'Knowingly took risk'

Ms Heer added: "She caused undue delay to investigations and created an obvious and significant risk to the integrity of those criminal investigations."

"She knew very well the possible consequences to the administration of justice if she failed to perform her duties properly; the risk that the perpetrator of a crime might not be identified; or, indeed, the risk that delay would mean that victims would lose faith in the investigation and decline to support it," she continued.

"And yet, the prosecution say, she knowingly took that risk."

The trial continues.