DNA lab staff `raised concerns’ about flawed method

A flawed DNA extraction method blamed for the failure to identify the killer of Shandee Blackburn was implemented despite scientists raising concerns it was failing.

The new boss of Queensland’s DNA lab, Professor Linzi Wilson-Wilde. Picture: Liam Kidston

A flawed DNA extraction method blamed for the failure to identify the killer of Shandee Blackburn in 2013 was implemented despite scientists raising concerns it was failing.

The new chief of Queensland’s DNA lab, Linzi Wilson-Wilde, said former management decided in 2007 that the method could be introduced first and fixed later as pressure mounted over delays and backlogs.

“I believe that there were concerns raised by staff regarding the Project 13 method. The outcome was that Project 13 was implemented, regardless,” Professor Wilson-Wilde said.

Serious concerns about the DNA extraction method are raised in a new episode of The Australian’s podcast Shandee’s Legacy, the sequel to Shandee’s Story.

The comments came after ­independent forensic biologist Kirsty Wright’s revelations in The Weekend Australian that a scientific report showed the lab knew the method was catastrophically failing to recover DNA from crime scene samples before it was introduced.

Project 13 tested the time-­saving method of using robots to extract DNA – rather than relying on scientists laboriously doing it by hand – on mock samples.

The Project 13 report’s abstract or executive summary falsely and misleadingly stated that the ­results of the automated method were “comparable” to a manual method, and recommended its use.

In the body of the report, data showed the automated method recovered up to 92 per cent less DNA than the manual method and was 100 times less sensitive.

Independent forensic biologist Dr Kirsty Wright has been reviewing documents published by the Sofronoff inquiry and believes she has found the origins of why Shandee Blackburn’s murder was not solved. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

The disturbing discovery was not canvassed in the meticulous and dedicated work of Walter ­Sofronoff’s landmark inquiry into the lab last year, and raises doubts about results in thousands more criminal cases including murders and sexual assaults

About 100,000 crime scene samples would have been processed using variations of the extraction method between its introduction in October 2007 and the end of its use in 2016, Dr Wright said.

Professor Wilson-Wilde, the newly appointed chief executive of Forensic Science Queensland, agreed the method was introduced before Cathie Allen took over as the laboratory manager.

“I think at the time there was a focus on turnaround times and implementing a robotic platform that had been purchased from government,” Professor Wilson-Wilde said. “My understanding is that the focus was on implementing the method and addressing the issues that were raised afterwards.”

Dr Wright and internationally renowned experts Jo Veth and Bruce Budowle discovered problems with the method in the final days of the Sofronoff inquiry.

It was used on almost all the samples of concern in the investigation into Blackburn’s vicious stabbing murder in Mackay, including one from a fresh pool of blood that returned a result of “no DNA detected”.

A year’s worth of data from 2012-13 showed the method was recovering four times less DNA than another extraction method used in the lab at the time, Dr Wright said.

An explanation for the lab’s actions might lie in a ministerial taskforce report from October 2005, unearthed by The Australian, which recommended crucial validation of new robotic equipment be rushed through to save time.

The taskforce was formed to look into serious concerns being aired in courts and the media over delays and backlogs in testing crime-scene samples.

Its report noted that half a million dollars had been put aside for the purchase of robotics and the complete automation of processing of samples. The same technology reduced staff from 450 to 110 in the DNA unit of Britain’s Forensic Science Service and significantly increased output.

“The purchase of this equipment will not have an immediate effect, due to the time required to validate the instruments, change the practices within the laboratory, and train staff,” the report said.

“The validation can take up to 12 months if the process is started anew, however – according to ­expert sources – can be shortened to four to six weeks by utilising the validation experience of other jurisdictions.

“It is recommended that the Chief Executive Officer of the ­Institute ensures that, when validating future equipment, the validation work undertaken by other jurisdictions to introduce equipment and/or automation processes is utilised to minimise validation time while maintaining scientific accountability and integrity by 31 October 2005.”

Dr Wright told a new episode of the Shandee’s Legacy podcast: “I believe that the failure to identify Shandee’s murderer can be traced back to Project 13 – this ­deceptive decision that was made in 2007 to knowingly introduce a flawed method that these managers, these senior scientists, knew would fail.”

The automated extraction method used successfully around the world failed in Queensland Health’s hands because the lab decided to change critical settings recommended by the manufacturer, she said. Various changes were made to the method between its launch in 2007 to 2016 when it was abandoned, that would have improved DNA yields, “but to what extent, we don’t know exactly”, Professor Wilson-Wilde said.