Explanation for DNA lab’s new chief discredited by evidence
Another explanation for why Queensland’s top scientist failed to tell a public inquiry about a ‘catastrophic’ collapse in DNA lab yield is discredited by inquiry evidence.
A fresh official explanation for the failure of Queensland’s top scientist to tell a public inquiry about a “catastrophic” collapse in DNA yield in the state’s lab is discredited by inquiry evidence.
Former judge Julie Dick, who is backing scientist Linzi Wilson-Wilde amid calls for her resignation for having misled the DNA inquiry last year, has told reporters a different scientist who assisted the inquiry had “dealt with the yield issues”.
ButThe Australian can reveal that Ms Dick is factually incorrect with her assertions, which have implicated Dr Bruce Budowle, the world’s most respected forensic DNA scientist, in the scandal.
Ms Dick and the former judge who led the DNA inquiry last year, Walter Sofronoff KC, have been appointed by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk as co-chairs of a high-powered board overseeing a suite of major reforms and the injection of almost $200m into the DNA lab in a bid to reverse years of costly failure.
In October last year, two months before being headhunted from South Australia and named the new CEO of scientific services and the DNA lab in Brisbane, Professor Wilson-Wilde filled a role as an expert witness for the DNA inquiry. In her report for the inquiry, she failed to reveal damning evidence from an internal report about “Project 13”, showing a catastrophic collapse in DNA yield after the introduction of a new automated method.
It plagued the lab for nine years up to 2016 and is suspected by forensic biologist Kirsty Wright to be the reason many murders and other serious crimes have not been solved with DNA.
The omission was despite Professor Wilson-Wilde having insisted she was aware of the evidence from the internal report that strikingly depicted the seriousness of the yield problems.
In a recorded interview with journalists in Brisbane, retired District Court judge Ms Dick said: “The criticism is that Professor Wilson-Wilde gave a report to the Commission of Inquiry about a project, called Project 13, where she discussed contamination issues but failed to highlight low yield issues.
“In fact, there were many scientists who gave evidence before the inquiry and gave reports – and Dr Budowle on September 15, 2022 gave a report which dealt with the yield issues.
“Professor Wilson-Wilde had that report from September 22. She then received instructions to prepare a report and she was steered in the questions towards the issue of contamination. And she dealt with that. She knew that another scientist had dealt with the yield issues and she was looking at, specifically, contamination over a period of time.”
However, official inquiry documents, including the respective reports of Dr Budowle and Professor Wilson-Wilde, do not support Ms Dick’s claims.
Dr Budowle was asked to look at something entirely different and as a result was not given the Project 13 report by the inquiry.
But Professor Wilson-Wilde was provided with the Project 13 report and was asked to respond to direct questions about the reliability of the DNA samples relating to Project 13.
She subsequently stated in her report to the DNA inquiry: ‘I did not find any significant failings that would indicate that the final results released were not reliable.’
The Australian has previously reported Dr Wright’s findings that a 2007 cover-up of a catastrophic collapse in the amount of DNA that could be recovered from crime scene samples had compromised tens of thousands of cases for nine years.
Dr Wright, who has reversed her public backing of Professor Wilson-Wilde, said on Sunday: “This latest version simply does not make sense, is not based on evidence, and unfairly shifts blame to Dr Budowle.
“Dr Budowle was not tasked to examine Project 13 for any failings, and his report, exhibit 31 on the inquiry website, demonstrates he was given very different terms of reference.”
Dr Wright said the yield collapse in Project 13, and the method failure, should have been picked up by Dr Wilson-Wilde.
The DNA Commission of Inquiry, led by former judge Mr Sofronoff, ran for six months last year after Dr Wright and The Australian’sShandee’s Story podcast highlighted serious failures in the lab at the time of the 2013 murder of Shandee Blackburn and over subsequent years.
Professor Wilson-Wilde has strenuously denied having misled the DNA inquiry.
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