Hair test can confirm alibi in suspected terrorism cases

Scientists have devised a hair test that the government hopes will help check the alibis of terrorist suspects and asylum seekers. They believe new laser scans of individual hair strands can reveal where a person has been living for the previous two months.

Researchers at the National Metrology Institute in Teddington, Middlesex, have developed the laser to measure tiny changes in hair that are caused by diet or the immediate environment.

The decision of the government to back the plans worries human rights groups, which believe that the tests could be easily abused.



Each region across the world is believed to have a unique isotopic profile, reflected in the food, water and air particles. Anyone who visits a specific region is thought to absorb elements from the immediate environment.

Dr Rebeca Santamaría-Fernández, the leading scientist involved, said: "We are what we eat, and the small variations in the relationship between elements reflect changes to our diet, which can in turn be related to movements from one region to another. The hope is that this can be used to test alibis and explanations from those under suspicion."

Eric Metcalfe, of the campaign group Justice, said: "If the government was serious about reducing the terrorist threat or clamping down on asylum seeker identity issues, it would allow courts to intercept evidence or give more money to ensuring policing on the ground."