Enquiry into HIV Court Blunder (UK)

[Pert_UK]

"A blunder has resulted in a witness learning he had HIV during questioning in a packed Leicester courtroom.

The man did not know lawyers had ordered a sample of his blood be tested for HIV, and only became aware he had the virus when a lawyer told him...

When asked about having HIV, the witness vehemently denied any knowledge of having the virus. He was then told a sample of his blood had tested positive earlier this year...

The Crown Prosecution Service had told police to give a sample of the innocent man's blood to a defendant's counsel. The lawyers then commissioned an HIV test.

The sample had been given to police for DNA testing in September following the witness's arrest on suspicion of an offence, for which he was later released without charge."

From:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/leicestershire/3744495.stm

Holy shit - poor guy! What a way to find out.

In case it's not clear from the snippet, basically he'd had to give a blood sample to Police for DNA testing whilst under investigation for a crime he hadn't committed. It was then somehow obtained by lawyers who tested it for HIV and then brought it up in court while cross-examining him.

People need to lose their jobs over this.

[LibLabUK]

1. Hmm

Seems to me that the defence has some serious questions to answer over this. I wonder why they needed an HIV test to be done...

[Pert_UK]

2. It's obvious, isn't it?

Anyone with HIV is clearly evil and should not be relied upon to provide accurate, honest evidence in court.

:eyes:

Did you see the Brasseye episode a few years ago?

"With me in the studio is Geoff, who sadly caught AIDS from a blood infusion..."

"No, I got it from my partner Graham."

"Oh, so you've got BAD AIDS! How dare you come in here with your bad AIDS....."

etc. etc. etc.

Funny and yet terribly sad at the same time.

P.

[LibLabUK]

y'know it didn't cross my mind...

I saw that episode of Brasseye (fantastic series imho), but that didn't cross my mind as to why they would have his blood tested.

What bastards!

Hopefully they can be found in breach of the Data Protection Act or something and spend some time in gaol for this..

[Dead_Parrot]

3. Why the hell did they test it?

Was there any relevance to the case, or were they just wasting money? Weird.

Poor sod...

[AP]

4. This was a prosecution witness and it was the defendant's lawyer who was

questioning him and who ran the test. (Presuming that the reporting is accurate.) However, it was the government who provided the blood sample to the defendant. The gov't didn't know the guy was HIV positive since they didn't run the test.