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[Applause]
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[Music]
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on a deserted footpath early on the
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morning of November 22nd
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1983 a hospital worker witnessed a
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terrible
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sight it would be the first case in the
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world where DNA evidence help find the
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Killer
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[Music]
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[Music]
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narborough England a quiet little
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village of about 6,000 residents where
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violent crime is almost unheard of it is
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something you expect to happen in a city
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not in a small village
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community 15-year-old Linda man was a
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typical teenager quiet but popular she
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liked school and enjoyed being with
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friends on a cold November evening Linda
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left her home in nbor to walk the mile
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or so to her friend's house when Linda
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didn't return home by midnight her
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frantic parents called the
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[Music]
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police early the next morning her
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semi-nude body was discovered along a
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secluded footpath known locally as the
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black pad detective David Baker was
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called to the
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scene her clothing was in the state of
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dis array her jeans
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removed uh and her underclothes were
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stwn about it was a cold night and she'd
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got a a scarf around her neck and and
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and the scarf had been used uh to
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strangle her she was very brutally uh
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attacked sexually assaulted word of
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Linda's murder traveled quickly in the
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otherwise quiet Village the people were
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horrified
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horrified I'm very worried particularly
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those with the young girls young
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daughters a search of the crime scene
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turned up little of substance but the
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autopsy provided some important clues
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about Linda Man's last moments alive
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five the absence of injury to her
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private parts and also generally on her
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body there was very little injury to her
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would suggest that it was not a violent
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attack and that she may have died very
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quickly the conclusion was that um she
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was strangled and then raped a Sean
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sample taken from Linda's body turned
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out to be an extremely important piece
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of evidence it came from an individual
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with type A blood and a pgm1 plus
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profile but this matched 10% of the
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adult male population in England since
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Linda man's body was found only a few
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hundred yards from a local Psychiatric
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Hospital some speculated that the killer
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may have been a patient others weren't
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so sure the thing that I was very
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anxious to establish is that it was
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unlikely to have been a psychiatric
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patient from the hospital it was much
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more likely to be a man leading a normal
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life perhaps with a a family uh
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certainly one who had friends relatives
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and contacts who thought of him as a
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normal individual Linda man was in the
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wrong place at the wrong time former cop
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turned author Joseph wau wrote a
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best-selling book intitled The blooding
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it Chronicles the events surrounding the
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murder of Linda man and the
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history-making investigation which would
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follow it's very unusual and still is in
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a village like narb in Britain for a
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complete
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stranger to Ambush and murder someone uh
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on a foot path I mean it was so unheard
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of police questioned thousands of people
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about Linda man's whereabouts on the
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night she was killed they put more into
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a murder investigation over there which
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they call an inquiry uh than we do here
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because they have so few murders
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compared to
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us Linda man was buried in a churchyard
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not far from where she was murdered on
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the day of her funeral police set up a
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surveillance and videotaped the crowd
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for anything or anyone unusual often one
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finds that um criminals will revisit the
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scene of the crime or some other uh
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activity associated with the crime and
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it was just a precaution today police
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issued a new poster to try to jog
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people's memories but it was of little
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help the investigation dragged on for
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months then a
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year with no eyewitnesses few strong
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leads and several false Trails the
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murder hunt hit a dead end well really
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in any police investigation after a week
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or two uh the trail is usually cold it's
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quite difficult we suffer all the time
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yes please come forward what all along
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Linda's parents held out hope that the
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killer of their daughter would be caught
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the only thing that they could possibly
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get now was Justice for their daughter
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and that seemed to be going away from
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them it's always frustrating when uh you
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know you've not got an answer to a
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problem and I mean you're forever
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looking over your shoulder a to see what
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you've missed and then trying to guess
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what might happen in the future and the
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search for Linda man's killer continued
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for the next 3
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years 3 years had passed since the
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murder of Linda man and life in the
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small village of narbar was beginning to
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return to normal until the afternoon of
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July 31st
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1986 another 15-year-old school girl
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Dawn Ashworth was walking home from her
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part-time job at a new stand instead of
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taking the main road she took a shortcut
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down a thickly overgrown foot path
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called 10 lb Lane
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when Dawn didn't return home by 9:30
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that night her parents called the police
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another teenage girl was missing Dawn
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Ashworth went missing last night we all
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hoped and prayed that this was not a
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repeat of the Linda Manas yes 2 Days
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Later police discovered Dawn ashworth's
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nude body under some heavy brush and
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hay she was discovered less than a mile
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from where Linda man was murdered 3
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years early
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earlier like Linda man Dawn Ashworth had
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been strangled and sexually assaulted
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Dawn had quite marked injuries to uh
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gendel area which would indicate was a
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very violent attack uh and her injuries
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elsewhere in the body would also
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indicate that she had um suffered
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violent injury therefore she had been
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attacked violently which would indicate
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that she had put up a fair struggle
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before she died Seaman samples taken
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during 's autopsy revealed that the
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attacker had the same blood type as
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Linda man's murderer there were other
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similarities as well there were
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signature elements in the crime
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certainly uh both murders took place on
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foot paths both girls were uh
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teenagers um both girls were walking
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alone both manually
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strangled both um severely sexually
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assaulted all school girls were advised
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to travel in groups and not to walk
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anywhere alone Dawn ashworth's father
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had given his daughter the same
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advice I war and wander about the
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dangers of going down there on a road
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we've got to
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find the fiend really that did this to
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my daughter to our
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daughter and
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um stop it from happening again police
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launched an extensive investigation into
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the murder of dawn Ashworth and within a
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week police got a break Witnesses saw a
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young man in the vicinity of 10 lb Lane
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on the afternoon of dawn ashworth's
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death he was 17-year-old Richard
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Buckland a kitchen worker at the
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psychiatric hospital located just a few
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hundred yards from where both Linda man
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and Dawn Ashworth had been murdered
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police brought him in for questioning
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and he quickly became their Prime
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Suspect for one thing he knew details of
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the murder which weren't in the
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newspapers in addition to that when we'
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questioned Mr bookland uh he couldn't
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really account for his movements on uh
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that particular afternoon if I were
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working on the case I probably would
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have become very
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suspicious uh given the things he told
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the police given his background given
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his reputation around the village for uh
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liking to scare girls they're walking
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home from school things like that
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finally after 15 grueling hours of
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interrogation Richard buckin confessed
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to the rape and murder of dawn
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Ashworth police finally had their man
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given the similarities between the two
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murders police were convinced that
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Buckland also raped and murdered Linda
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Man 3 years earlier buckin denied it was
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he telling the truth the answer lay just
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a few miles away in a university
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Laboratory
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Richard Buckland confessed to killing
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Dawn Ashworth but insisted he had
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nothing to do with the murder of Linda
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Man 3 years earlier police were
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convinced he was lying and set out to
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find the truth here at the University of
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Leicester ironically less than 10 miles
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away from where both teenagers were
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murdered Dr Alec jeffri a geneticist had
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been researching her hereditary diseases
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when he accidentally discovered an
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amazing technique called DNA or genetic
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profiling there was a case of Eureka you
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could see individual identification you
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could see parentage analysis paternity
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disput sorting out immigration cases
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David Baker said well look let's cement
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the case against this young man let's go
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to this geneticist at leester University
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this Dr Alec Jeff and take the SE
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samples from both murders and cement our
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case with this new thing called genetic
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fingerprinting whatever it is and let's
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just prove that he did both of them
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because we know he must have done both
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of them Dr jeffri wasn't sure that he
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could do what Baker wanted because this
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sort of analysis had never been done
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before Dr jeffy's breakthrough technique
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for analyzing DNA is called restriction
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fragment length polymorphism or
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rflp it can identify an individual based
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on just a small amount of their DNA DNA
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that can come from semen blood hair
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roots and other cells DNA is a complex
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chemical which is present in all living
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cells it's a little like a computer
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program containing coded instructions on
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how to make a human being no two
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individuals have the same DNA pattern
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except for identical twins Dr jeffy's
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task was to take the seen recovered from
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Linda man and Dawn Ashworth and compare
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it to the blood sample from Richard
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Buckland to see if it was a match first
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white blood cells from Richard
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buckland's blood sample were treated
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with a special chemical solution that
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allows the DNA a sticky white substance
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to float
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free next the DNA is cut into smaller
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pieces using special proteins called
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restriction enzymes which act like
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chemical scissors the DNA fragments must
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then be sorted out by a process called
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electroforesis the DNA is marked with
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the radioactive die and placed in
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separate Lanes on an electrooptic gel
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then it's subjected to an electric
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field under ultraviolet light you can
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see how the electrical current draws the
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negatively charged fragments through the
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gel to the positive end of the
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tray the separated fragments are then
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visualized on x-ray film called an auto
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radiogram which resembles a barcode
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showing an individual's unique genetic
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makeup Dr Jeff first used this technique
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to resolve an immigration case and after
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that a paternity dispute but this would
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be the first time that was ever
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attempted in a criminal case to reveal
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the identity of a double Murderer let's
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start with uh Linda man this is her DNA
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profile taken from my hair next track is
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a mixture of semen and vaginal fluid
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from that victim showing her DNA profile
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as expected plus a single man Sean DNA
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profile next victim daor Ashworth this
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is her blood DNA profile a band here and
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another one off to the uh
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left Trace Amounts of seamen recover
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from that victim both revealed two faint
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bands whose position on the auto
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radiograph is very similar to the Sean
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profile seen from Linda man so first
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conclusion both girls have been raped
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and therefore presumably murdered by the
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same man what about the prime suspect
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Richard Buckland this is his blood DNA
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profile here and here completely
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different from the Sean profile
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conclusion both girls have been raped
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and therefore presumably murdered by the
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same man and that man was not the prime
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suspect Richard
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Buckland the result shock the police
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it was it was a blow to us they didn't
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basically didn't believe a word that we
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were saying and that was quite right
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healthy skepticism of of an entirely new
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technology and indeed I didn't believe
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the results myself so we did retesting
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the testing was done again independently
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by home office friendsit scientists all
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pointing to the same conclusion namely
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that buckin was not the guilty party in
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this case after four months in custody
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Richard Buckland was released and became
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the first person in the world to be
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exonerated of murder through the use of
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DNA
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profiling I have no doubt whatsoever
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that he would have been found guilty had
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it not been for the DNA evidence he
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would been jailed for life I mean that
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was that was a remarkable occurrence but
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why did Richard Buckland confess to a
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crime he didn't commit then the pressure
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started getting really hard just didn't
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have a chance he had to have discovered
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the body himself because in the terms of
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his confession he was able to give a
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very detailed description of her clo
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where the body was in what position it
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lay the ligature and so on details that
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nobody could possibly know unless they'd
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actually seen the body with Buckland now
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out of the picture a double murderer was
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still
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loose and of course the next stage was
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for David Baker then to make what I
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think was an incredibly courageous
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decision a DNA man hunt police sent
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letters to all men between the ages of
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13 and 33 living in The Villages of of
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narbar and Enderby the letter asked each
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man to volunteer for a blood and saliva
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test I'm sure they expected uh that the
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real killer if he was indeed a resident
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of The
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Villages would probably try to uh Escape
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responsibility of giving a blood sample
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DNA testing would only be performed on
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those who had the same blood type as the
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killer which was about 10% it was really
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an attempt to try and flush out uh the
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guilty party which is what it did but
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not the way police have
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hoped the Trap was Now set a DNA Manhunt
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to flush out the killer of Linda man and
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Dawn Ashworth it was a bold plan more
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than 5,000 men voluntarily gave blood
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and saliva samples but one worker at
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this local bakery didn't his name was
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Colin Pitchfork and was already known to
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police for earlier convictions for
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indecent
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exposure he didn't want any further
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involvement with the police so he
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persuaded coworker Ian Kelly to take the
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blood test for him Kelly lived outside
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the area and wasn't asked to take the
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test himself Kelly was the perfect foil
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Pitchfork spun him a yarn that um he'd
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already given blood on behalf of
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somebody else who uh couldn't go because
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he was wanted by the police etc etc and
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uh Kelly ostensibly swallowed that Hook
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Line and Sinker since police required
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identification before taking a blood
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sample Kelly needed some photographic
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proof he was Colin
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Pitchfork they both went down to a photo
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booth and took a passport-sized photo of
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Ian Kelly
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Pitchfork took his own passport slit the
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plastic casing with a razor blade and
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neatly inserted Kelly's photo in its
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place the police failed to observe that
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a photograph had been substituted for
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the original one and therefore they
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believed that this was Colin Pitchfork
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and there was his picture to prove it
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perfect Ian Kelly then took the blood
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test for Colin Pitchfork of the more
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than 5,000 men who voluntarily gave
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blood and saliva samples none matched
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the profile of the
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murderer but no one could anticipate
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what would happen
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next on a summer's evening one year
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after Dawn Ashworth was found brutally
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raped and murdered Ian Kelly joined
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fellow Bakery workers at this local
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pub and the conversation turned to the
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DNA
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Manhunt a young woman in the group
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overheard Kelly bragging that he had
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taken the blood test for Colin
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Pitchfork she sat there and listened to
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that and thought to herself there's
00:19:38
something not right about this this
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isn't something that someone normally
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does no matter how afraid he is of the
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police and so she put in a call to the
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leerer uh murder inquiry team and that's
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what made them focus on Colin pitch for
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police quickly located Pitchfork to
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question him about the blood test and
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what he might know about the two murders
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within a very short time he confessed to
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killing both Linda man and Dawn Ashworth
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Pitchfork uh believed in DNA
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fingerprinting right away not that he
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knew any more about it than the rest of
00:20:13
the world but he'd been following it in
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the newspapers and he believed in it and
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he knew that it was as good as an ink
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fingerprint and he knew he was finished
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when they arrested him so he confessed
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quite readily without this breakthrough
00:20:29
the chances are the police NE would have
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never caught pitch for and I think it's
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fairly clear that had he not been caught
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then he would have killed and killed and
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killed again Colin Pitchfork was 27
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years old married with two children his
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wife had no idea she was married to a
00:20:48
serial killer I think he was able to
00:20:50
deceive her perfectly well so that
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nobody in the whole world knew that he
00:20:55
was the guilty person it's the same
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story uh the wife the brother the mother
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the friends of serial killers never
00:21:03
suspect that they could be serial
00:21:05
killers on January 22nd
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1988 Colin Pitchfork became the first
00:21:11
person ever to be convicted in a murder
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case solved by DNA profiling and was
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sentenced to life in
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prison for his part in the deception Ian
00:21:22
Kelly was convicted of conspiracy to
00:21:24
pervert Justice and sentenced to an
00:21:26
18-month prison sentence which was
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suspended he served no time for his
00:21:31
crime you did I was wrong for doing what
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I
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[Music]
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did I think we've learned a lot from the
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deaths of both of these two girls
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certainly the scientific advances that
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um have been made with um DNA has uh
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spread itself now throughout uh the
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world it was this case of all cases
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where on which DNA really cut its teeth
00:22:01
in a forensic sense the door has been
00:22:03
opened to a whole new aspect of medical
00:22:08
investigation people will be talking
00:22:10
about this case 100 years from now not
00:22:12
because of my book but because of Alec
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Jeffrey's discovery
00:22:18
[Music]
00:22:28
a
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[Music]
