Hundreds of French students and teachers DNA tested to find rapist

Students received their summonses last week.

Permission to take DNA samples requires the double consent of pupils and their parents, however refusal to agree to provide samples would be viewed as suspect and could be held for questioning, police said.

Most pupils were apparently happy to take part in the exercise but some said they regretted not being informed of the rape until several months after the attack.

Isabelle Pagenelle, the local prosecutor, said: Forty samples will be taken per hour, under the watch of teachers when it comes to pupils, as photos and identity cards are not always trustworthy for minors.

On the delay in conducting the tests and informing pupils, she said: We first needed to be sure about the girls credibility, then look for DNA traces on clothes, check these didnt belong to relations and compare them with the national genetic print database.

Only when this produced no leads did they decide to proceed with the mass test. It was chosen to avoid any repeat offence and to safeguard the school, she said, conceding that investigators could not totally rule out the possibility that the assault was carried out by an unknown intruder with no links to the school.

However, given its quasi-compulsory nature, the genetic testing of teenagers has come in for criticism.

"I understand the argument that those who have done nothing wrong have no reason to refuse. But why should refusal be considered an admission of guilt?" said Pierre Tartakowsky, president of the French human rights league. The exercise was "disproportionate, threatening and traumatising", he told Le Parisien.

However Cathy Richert, a legal expert, said: Its obviously less traumatic to say that everyone is taking a DNA test than singling out certain people who risk being stigmatised.

The school has set up a counselling unit to provide psychological help if needed.

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Hundreds of French students and teachers DNA tested to find rapist