Scandal-hit Queensland DNA lab repeats major testing error as rape victims wait over a year for results

The review into Queensland’s forensic services laboratory also found it was ‘a dirty lab’ and was known to be contaminated. Photograph: Hero Images Inc./Alamy

Queensland’s state forensic services laboratory has repeated an error which led to “one of the greatest failures of a justice system in the world”, affecting evidence in thousands of criminal cases including rapes and murders.

The latest testing failure was revealed in a review into Forensic Services Queensland released on Monday, which also found that hundreds of rape victims were waiting “over 12 months” for the lab to test rape kits, a process that should be completed “ideally within five days”.