[Back to Document View]

                            LexisNexisª Academic

                         Copyright 2001 MGN Ltd.
                               Sunday Mirror

                         November 18, 2001, Sunday

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 36

LENGTH: 397 words

HEADLINE: SUSPECT IS DNAMED;
 GENETICS COULD GIVE POLICE THE NAMES OF CRIMINALS

BYLINE: Alex Peake

HIGHLIGHT:
Barry George and Michael Stone; EASIER TO TRAP; Kenneth Noye and; Peter
Sutcliffe; HARD TO TRAP

BODY:

GENETICS could soon be used to help catch criminals by revealing their
surnames.

Scientists have come up with ground-breaking new research which links DNA to
family groups via a future national database.

It means a hair or other clue left behind at a crime scene could alert
police to the fact that the crime may have been committed by a man with a
specific surname. Dr Mark Jobling, who is leading the project at Leicester
University, said: "This is very exciting research.

"We have discovered that people with rarer surnames share distinct
similarities in their chromosomes.

"That means we could identify a surname through DNA profiling.

"We have been contacted by the Home Office and the Forensic Science Service
who are very interested in what we have found.

"Although it is still in its very early stages, developing this research
could prove invaluable for the police when they are investigating a crime."

The breakthrough came as Dr Jobling's team were carrying out a three-year
study into genetics.

They have taken DNA samples from 600 men to test the success of the method -
which involves looking at the Y chromosome, passed on from father to son.

Dr Jobling said: "I don't believe that by itself this research could lead
detectives to the criminals, but coupled with other advances in DNA there is
no doubt it is a major breakthrough."

But he warned: "While there was a link with the rarer names, there was not
with the more popular surname like Smith. These names are just too common."
And he added: "I do not think in the future we could look at a DNA profile
and say to police, for example, this comes from a Mr Bloggs.

"But we will be able to say is that there is 60 per cent chance that it
comes from a person whose family name is Bloggs." The new technique means
criminals with rarer surnames, such as M25 road-rage murderer Kenneth Noye
and Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, could possibly have been caught with
the new system.

But it would have been no good in helping track down killers with more
common surnames, such as Jill Dando's murderer Barry George and Lyn and
Megan Russell killer Michael Stone. Glenn Smyth, chairman of the
Metropolitan Police Federation said: "This is an exciting breakthrough.

"It could be the modern-day equivalent to the development in the use of
fingerprints to catch criminals."

LOAD-DATE: November 18, 2001