Police and rape experts warn women are being duped by a firm selling self-swab rape kits

Thousands of women have been ‘misled’ by a company selling self-sampling rape kits as a ‘deterrent’ that could allow attackers to walk free, police have warned.

A company falsely claiming to be funded by the police, government and universities has caused a sensation on social media after launching £20 rape kits that tell victims they can get justice by taking a sample of themselves to detect the presence of their attacker’s DNA.

More than 8,000 kits have been given to university students by Enough, a company that claims to be an active ‘deterrent’ against rapists.

The company, which sells the kits on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, posed in front of Downing Street last month and announced that they had delivered 100 kits to the Government.

There are ample plans to sell the kits in pharmacies, schools, workplaces and on Amazon, with police claiming they are already using them as evidence in investigations.

However, police, prosecutors and MPs said victims were ‘sold lies’, saying the samples provided no evidence of rape, that their chances of being accepted in court were ‘extremely low’, and warned that the company’s ‘dangerous’ misleading claims could allow predators to roam free.

The warning comes after the first case of abuse resulted in a self-cleaning kit being dropped by police, leaving a child victim traumatised.

Now the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the Crown Prosecution Service, MPs, coroners and more than 30 rape and victim charities are warning that victims are being put at risk.

Photo of the contents of the adequate self-cleaning kit. Critics say home DNA sample is not proof of rape or even sexual intercourse

Professor Katrin Hohl, the Government’s Independent Adviser on Criminal Justice Responses to Sexual Violence, has backed calls from rape charities and MPs to ban the sale of self-swab kits after similar versions were made illegal in several US states.

The claim that the cotton bud-like stick can be kept for 20 years and give women a ‘feeling of control and power’ as they later have the option of going to the police with their attacker’s DNA is enough.

But critics say the home DNA sample is not evidence of rape or even sexual intercourse.

The kits are provided without gloves, and victims are instructed to send semen or saliva samples to Enough by post; This leaves it at risk of contamination and damage in transit as it will not be frozen until it reaches the laboratory days later.

The laboratory used to store the sample is accredited to store paternity tests, not criminal evidence.

There are enough claims that ‘leading ROKs’ say the evidence is admissible in court, but have refused to name these lawyers.

Yesterday the national police launched an investigation into the rape, with Chief Constable Sarah Crew saying there was a ‘very, very low or no chance’ the kit would be admissible in a criminal prosecution, adding that she was deeply concerned about the potential harm to victims.

‘I see no evidence of these claims, I think they are misleading,’ he said.

‘I am concerned about how evidence was collected and contaminated’(example) I’m worried about how the chain of custody works, I’m worried about other corroborating evidence being lost due to the time delay this causes.

‘All of this can lead to debates about admissibility and then victims lose the opportunity to get justice and perpetrators get away with it.’

Avon and Somerset Police Chief Sarah Crew said there was a “very, very low to no chance” the kit would be admissible in a criminal prosecution, adding that she was deeply concerned about the potential harm to victims.

He added: ‘It’s potentially dangerous because I don’t think it would do any good for victims in terms of coping and healing, the psychological and physical impact of what they’ve been through, but at the same time if they want to secure justice, that doesn’t mean holding criminals to account.

‘This doesn’t deter them at all.

‘What these self-cleaning boys don’t do is they don’t help us identify, even from an intelligence perspective, who the dangerous perpetrators in our societies might be.

‘So from my perspective it’s the opposite of deterrence. In effect, it gives perpetrators permission to continue.

‘You end up with victims who may be more traumatized, you end up with suspects who aren’t held accountable, and then communities become less safe.’

The chief constable of Avon and Somerset Police was one of many critics, including Victims Commissioner Claire Waxman, Professor Hohl, rape charities, the College of Forensic Science and Forensics, universities and campaigners, to receive threatening letters from the firm after voicing concerns.

Enough’s co-founder, millionaire tech entrepreneur Tom Allchurch, was previously involved in a US self-sampling firm called MeToo Kits, later rebranded as Leda Health, run by a woman who described sexual assault as a ‘billion-dollar industry’.

The startup raised $9 million in funding but was later banned in many states in the US.

Professor Hohl said he would support a similar ban in the UK: ‘I would support banning products that are marketed or portrayed in a way that would end rape in this world.

‘If this kit is found in someone’s room, I don’t see how it will turn someone who is dangerous into someone who is not dangerous; the idea that this kit could change someone’s mind.

‘I think it is very unlikely that it will be admissible in court.’

Ciara Bergman, chief executive of Rape Crisis England and Wales, said: ‘I am very concerned about the harm these kits could do to a group of people who are already traumatised.

‘People are being given false hope and if they try to pursue a case in the future this evidence will not be valid.’

Shadow Safety and Protection Secretary Alicia Kearns (pictured) calls for products to be banned

‘There is no evidence that it has any deterrent effect, it is a meaningless claim.’

He added: ‘DNA is rarely involved in rape cases, it is consent.

‘These kits don’t even tell you where this DNA comes from.

‘A defense lawyer might say this person was framed.

‘This raises concerns about delivering justice and catching serial perpetrators because it undermines the criminal justice system if DNA is not included in the police database.’

Shadow Safety and Protection Secretary Alicia Kearns said: ‘It is both despicable and disgraceful that this firm is profiting off of rape victims by selling a lie and a kit that will not keep them safe, let alone deliver justice.

‘Hiding behind misleading claims and false messages of empowerment, they are weaponising the postponement of hearings and trying to capitalize on the fears of women and the trauma of rape victims.

‘While they claim to be the voice of victims, they also brutally attack and denigrate campaigners fighting to make the world a safer place for women.

‘Behaving like legal sharks, inflicting legal intimidation by threatening charities that provide vital support to victims of harassment and sexual assault, and even schoolgirls trying to protect their peers.

‘The self-important rape kit is not a form of deterrence, protection or justice. This is the exploitation of people at their most vulnerable.

‘For the safety of victims, the sale of self-cleaning rape kits should be banned.’

Siobhan Blake, National Crown Prosecution Service Lead for Rape and Serious Sexual Offenses, said: ‘It is important to make clear that self-swab kits may have admissibility issues, including questions regarding the integrity of any forensic material collected using this method.’

Enough co-founders Katie White and Tom Allchurch cited the firm’s survey of students in Bristol; Here, 70 percent said, ‘It prevented rape on campus sufficiently.’

They added: ‘All it takes is a registered CIC non-profit social movement to prevent rape, funded by individuals and organisations, including the national lottery.

‘Enough is enough, a revolutionary social movement, a strong public health campaign that creates social deterrence, as our government does against smoking and drunk driving. Enough is enough, it is misunderstood when reduced to a DNA kit.

‘Our approach fills two gaping holes in the system; an option for survivors who do not currently report, and a threat to perpetrators who will face no consequences today.

‘It is disappointing that some in the industry try to block new ideas without understanding their impact.’