WINNIPEG - Wrongly convicted inmates across Canada, hoping to use DNA analysis to prove their innocence, may need to find other avenues after the RCMP yesterday confirmed a long-standing policy to destroy biological evidence from serious criminal investigations. The policy was in place until 2001.

In contrast to the approach used by most municipal police forces, the RCMP said it disposed of all exhibits, including such biological items as hair and blood samples, 30 days after a convict exhausted all avenues of appeal.

The policy led to the destruction of a hair sample used to convict Manitoban Kyle Unger of first-degree murder in 1990. A special committee struck by Manitoba Justice to review cases involving microscopic hair comparison evidence -- the standard technology used for scientific analysis before DNA was available -- had recommended the hair be subject to further analysis.

[. . . . ] Unger confessed to undercover RCMP officers, but later claimed he lied to impress two men he thought were drug dealers offering him a job. The only piece of physical evidence tying Unger to the murder was a single hair found on Grenier's clothing.

The hair was identified by microscopic comparison as belonging to Unger.