Episode Details

After the murders of two young girls rocked the village of Narborough in Leicestershire, the community was terrified that the killer would s

After the murders of two young girls rocked the village of Narborough in Leicestershire, the community was terrified that the killer would strike again. But the police were totally at a loss. That is, until a researcher at the University of Leicester discovered that patterns in a person’s DNA could link them definitively to a crime scene.

In this month's bonus episode, we look at how Colin Pitchfork became the first person to be convicted of rape and murder using DNA profiling. We explore how relying too heavily on it can actually hinder police work – and lead to convictions of people that couldn’t possibly have committed the crime. Plus: how German police spent two years chasing a ghost.

Sources:

https://cen.acs.org/analytical-chemistry/Thirty-years-DNA-forensics-DNA/95/i37
https://le.ac.uk/dna-fingerprinting/history
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/07/killer-dna-evidence-genetic-profiling-criminal-investigation
https://onegarden.com/society/georgina-meakin-dna
https://www.wired.com/story/dna-transfer-framed-murder/
https://daily.jstor.org/forensic-dna-evidence-can-lead-wrongful-convictions/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK232607/
https://www.uts.edu.au/about/faculty-science/partners-and-community/uts-science-focus/forensics/dna-silver-bullet-solving-crime...or-it-dr-georgina-meakin
https://nuscriminaljustice.com/dna-the-silver-bullet-to-all-crimes/