261.Subsection (7) amends section 64 of PACE to enable DNA samples and fingerprints taken from deceased persons to be checked against the national DNA and fingerprint databases for identification purposes. Section 64 currently restricts the purposes for which the National Fingerprint Database, known as NAFIS, and the National DNA Database may be used to those related to the prevention or detection of crime, the investigation of an offence or the conduct of a prosecution. Consequently, where a person is suspected of having died as a result of a crime, if necessary the databases may be used to help identify the victim. However, in circumstances where a person has died of natural causes or as a result of a disaster such as the tsunami in South East Asia at the end of 2004, neither database may be used to help identify a deceased person’s body or body parts.
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