Police foot the bill after collapse of forensics firm

A forensics company was carrying out work in 2,000 cases when it collapsed
A forensics company was carrying out work in 2,000 cases when it collapsed
PETER BYRNE/PA

Police have been forced into a multimillion-pound bailout of a private forensics company whose collapse jeopardised thousands of cases that include rape and murder, The Times has learnt.

Key Forensic Services (KFS), which folded on Friday in the latest in a string of privatisation scandals, was carrying out work in 2,000 cases for 30 forces including the Metropolitan Police.

The company, which handles everything from DNA testing to firearms examination and drug testing, went into receivership weeks after the collapse of Carillion, the construction company.

The development will raise questions over the government’s decision to close the state-run Forensic Science Service (FSS) in 2012, thus outsourcing policing work to private companies. It comes alongside an ongoing investigation into alleged manipulation of data at Randox, a