Inside the first double murder case ever solved using DNA fingerprints – 40 years on | UK | News

Forty years ago today, a scientist accidentally discovered a method that made it possible to establish links between people and their crimes, and which subsequently put millions of criminals in prison.

This discovery quickly exonerated a man with a learning disability from the charge of double sex murder and later led to the successful prosecution of the monster who had murdered the two girls.

Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys had a “eureka” moment in his laboratory at the University of Leicester at 9:05 am on Monday 10 September 1984.

At that time, he concluded, as part of a failed experiment, that human DNA can contain unique patterns that can be used to identify individuals and determine family relationships.

The geneticist made the discovery during a failed experiment to research the inheritance of hereditary diseases in families.

He had extracted DNA from cells and placed it on photographic film, which was then left in a photo-developing chamber.

When pulled out, the film showed a series of bars. Jeffreys quickly realized that each individual whose cells had been used in the experiment could be identified with great accuracy. In addition, this technique could be used to determine relatedness.

While the DNA fingerprinting method he developed is now widely recognized for its role in criminal law, it has also played an important role in resolving family and immigration disputes, forensic examination of wildlife, and the diagnosis and treatment of hereditary diseases.

The first time this technique was used to solve a crime was after the shocking sexual murder of 15-year-old schoolgirl Dawn Ashworth in the village of Narborough in Leicestershire.

In July 1986, she left a friend's house to return to her home in Enderby, which was just a short walk away along a footpath.

She never returned home and two days later her body was found in a nearby field after being raped and strangled.

The investigators assumed that a serial killer had struck because two and a half years earlier, Lynda Mann, also 15, had been murdered a few hundred meters away – she too had been raped and strangled. Her clothes had been removed in the same way.

No one was arrested after the first murder, but not long after Dawn's murder, Richard Buckland, a 17-year-old boy with learning difficulties who knew her, was questioned by police.

He appeared to know details of the crime that had not been disclosed, and remarkably, he confessed to the murder to police several times.

On August 10, 1986, he was charged with her murder.

He insisted he knew nothing about Lynda's murder, but the police were convinced that the same person was responsible for the murder.

After his breakthrough, Sir Alec published a scientific paper about his DNA discovery, which was later viewed by the police in connection with the double murder.

His method had been used in numerous cases involving children who had been denied British citizenship in immigration disputes, but had never been used in a criminal case.

He was contacted by police and asked if the technology could help prove that Buckland had murdered Lynda and Dawn.

Sir Alec conducted the tests that proved that both girls were killed by the same man and that it was not Buckland.

The police were skeptical because they had lost their suspect, but the test was performed twice more, with the same result.

A discouraged senior investigator said: “One minute we have the guy and the next we have nothing.”

Buckland spent three months in custody and was duly released when the hunt for the real double murderer began.

They decided to use the technology to seal off the entire area.

Every man born between 1953 and 1970 who had lived or worked in the Narborough area for a number of years was written to and asked to provide a blood sample.

Some refused, but were persuaded, and 5,511 men volunteered, but there was no one to match them.

The operation made headlines around the world and led to complaints from civil rights groups.

Among those who gave a blood sample was Colin Pitchfork, a local baker aged 27 at the time who had two young children.

He was questioned about his whereabouts the night Lynda was murdered and said he was looking after his son.

About a year after Dawn's murder, a man confessed to friends that he had done Pitchfork's DNA test for him.

One of the friends later told a police officer and the man and Pitchford were arrested.

Knowing the game was over, Pitchfork, now 64, confessed to both murders and two other sexual assaults.

In 1988, he appeared before Leicester Crown Court and pleaded guilty to two counts of murder, two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 30 years, later reduced to 28 years.

Pitchfork was released from prison for the first time in September 2021.

Two months later, he was back in prison for violating the terms of his license by approaching a single woman.

His next parole hearing was supposed to be public, but will now be held behind closed doors on a date to be determined as details of his “relatively recent conduct” need to be discussed.

Mark Jobling, Professor of Genetics and Co-Director of the Alec Jeffreys Forensic Genomics Unit at the University of Leicester, commented on this milestone: “We are proud to work in the department where Alec made his world-changing discovery.

“We use the history of DNA fingerprinting and the early cases to inspire our students at all levels about the beauty of basic research and show them how it can be used for the benefit of society.”

Professor Nishan Canagarajah, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leicester, added: “Forty years on, the legacy of Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys’ work continues to inspire our students and researchers. DNA fingerprinting has had far-reaching impacts, not just in the fields of forensics, but also in medicine, ecology and immigration, and has had a profound effect on countless lives.

“We are honored to be part of such a significant breakthrough and are committed to continuing his legacy by fostering innovation in the field of genetics.”