The free exchange of forensic evidence across European Union (EU) member states could result in miscarriages of justice unless defence lawyers are properly trained to challenge expert evidence from different jurisdictions, a conference in London heard this week.

Speaking at the Law Society’s Criminal Justice Conference, George Gebbie, Scottish advocate and member of the European Criminal Bar Association’s cross-border evidence working group, told delegates police forces should exchange information across borders, but warned mistakes made in one country could lead to poorly informed decisions in another.

He said: ‘We need to [provide] for a robust and efficient defence to all cases with a cross-border element. This will take training and ingenuity, but most of all it will take funding.’

Barrister Karen Squibb-Williams, strategic policy adviser to the Crown Prosecution Service, said prosecuting authorities in Europe were responsible for ensuring they understood jurisdictional issues and constraints relating to commercialising the provision of forensic science within criminal justice systems.