A British scientist, Sir Alec Jeffreys, developed DNA profiling in the 1980s.

DNA for profiling can be

extracted from samples of human cells found at a Crime Scene, including blood, semen, skin, saliva,
mucus, perspiration and the roots of hair, and Profiling can even be carried out on old and dried out
samples. The case of Colin Pitchfork was the first murder conviction based on DNA profiling evidence
(there was a previous rape conviction based on this type of evidence).

The Exoneration After going missing, Lynda Mann, a 15-year-old schoolgirl, was raped and murdered in
the grounds of Carlton Hayes psychiatric hospital in Narborough, Leicestershire, in November 1983.
Forensic examination of semen sample showed that it was a type found in only 10% of men, and was
from someone with type A blood. However, the police did not find a suspect. In 1986, another 15-year-old
schoolgirl, Dawn Ashworth, was similarly sexually assaulted and strangled in the nearby village of
Enderby, and semen samples showed the same blood type. Richard Buckland, a local 17-year-old with
learning disabilities who worked at Carlton Hayes psychiatric hospital, had been spotted near Dawn
Ashworths murder scene and knew unreleased details about the body. In 1986, he confessed to Dawn
Ashworths murder but not Lynda Manns. Using Sir Alec Jeffreys new technique, scientists compared the
semen samples with a blood sample from Richard Buckland. This proved that both girls were murdered
by the same man, and also proved that this man was not Richard Buckland the first person to be
exonerated using DNA.

The Conviction In 1987, in the first ever mass DNA screen, the police and forensic scientists screened
blood and saliva samples from 4,000 men aged between 17 and 34 who lived in the villages of Enderby,
Narborough and nearby Littlethorpe and did not have an alibi for murders. The turn out rate was 98%, but
the screen did not find any matches to the semen samples. The police and scientists expanded the
screen to men with an alibi, but still did not find a match. In August 1987, a woman overheard a colleague,
Ian Kelly, boasting that he had given a sample posing as a friend of his, Colin Pitchfork. Pitchfork had
persuaded Kelly to take the test as he claimed he had already given a sample for a friend who had a
flashing conviction. The police arrested Colin Pitchfork in September 1987, and scientists found that his
DNA profile matched that of the murderer. Colin Pitchfork had previous convictions for flashing, and
claimed that the murders had begun as flashings, but the girls had run away, which had excited him. In
January 1988, Colin Pitchfork was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders, and was told he had to
serve a minimum of 30 years.