DNA profiling

by nglfi 18.09.14 20:11

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] My apologies and please delete if this has already been discussed elsewhere, but....

I came across this whilst reading about the murder of Jo Yeates in 2010. Apparently, initially samples obtained from Yeates contained a match for Vincent Tabak, but was not of sufficient quality to be able to use as evidence (surprise surprise, that DOESN'T make him automatically innocent, far from it). However, using a DNA extraction technique called senCE, scientists were able to raise and improve the quality of the sample. According to the Wikipedia page about the incident, forensics decided that they could not identity whether the samples came from semen or blood, but there was a less than one million chance they did not belong to Tabak. I haven't read extensively about the case but I imagine this was a strong reason for charging him. The linl I have posted is for a website describing the senCE technique, and says that it has been in successful use in cases since July 2007, a most fortuitous time. It does make me wonder, was this used in the McCann case, and if not, why on earth not?

Did the FSS really mess up the samples so badly that they were just unusable? What is going on here? Madeleine's case was so high profile that surely money would have been no object??

by **tigger** 19.09.14 7:37

The technique has improved since 2007. Sufficient DNA can now be extracted from a hair without an attached root.

I am convinced that the DNA results were entirely unexpected and it needed fast action by those who had up to now merely facilitated the McCann narrative.
Remember that most of the government interference happened after the CSI dogs' results.

The press hadn't been gagged yet. If we take the publication of the DNA results as the date after which some real interference took place the whole affair looks a lot clearer.

Perhaps Lowe is under a similar super inaudible as the T7. He would in any case not have a career left if he talked about it, I expect he found or was transferred to another and possibly better job in the same profession.

The samples were ditched, the FSS was closed down. The initial results were valid in a UK court of law, but Portugal needs a 100% match.

by nglfi 19.09.14 11:30

Goncalo Amaral did suggest that some DNA had been saved and could still be tested, I hope there is some truth to this. It just seems very strange that at a time when this new technique was first starting to be used successfully in cases it was not used in the McCann case. But like you say there are problems with the difference between what's acceptable in a British and Portuguese court.