Madeleine McCann family on verge of bombshell DNA offer which could solve case

Madeleine McCann family on verge of bombshell DNA offer which could solve case

MADELEINE McCann’s family are set to receive an offer from a DNA investigator that could solve the case, Daily Star Online can exclusively reveal.

By Tom Towers / Published 10th August 2019

Back in April, US-based Dr Mark Perlin launched a request with London’s Metropolitan Police to release DNA samples related to Maddie’s 2007 disappearance. 

She vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the evening of May 3.

Portuguese cops initially sent the findings – which could implicate an intruder – to be examined by the UK’s Forensic Science Service (FSS) in Birmingham. 

However, the evidence was “too complex” for the team and did not result in “meaningful inclusion/interpretation”. 

Dr Perlin claims his Pittsburgh lab Cybernetics – which has identified victims of the 9/11 terror attack – can unlock samples UK authorities initially struggled to analyse.


MYSTERY: Maddie vanished 12 years ago, with investigators no closer to the truth (Pic: GETTY)

He told Daily Star Online: “Most of the apartment's samples were taken from the wall, floor, and skirting board. One item was from the curtains.  

“The mixture evidence could contain DNA from an unknown person who was not a member of the immediate McCann family.  

“However, we wouldn't know whether or not that stranger was actually an ‘intruder’.  

"But the DNA results could provide an investigative lead, e.g., for conducting a DNA database search to find the unknown person.  

“And, once DNA from a suspected intruder became available, a TrueAllele comparison between the evidence and suspect would provide a match statistic.”


INNOVATIVE: US forensics expert Dr Mark Perlin has pioneered a new type of analysis (Pic: HANDOUT)

Dr Mark Perlin wrote: “I did get the email address for the family and I’ll probably contact them soon”

However, his request has yet to trigger a response from the Met – with Perlin now set to approach the McCanns directly. 

He added: “I did get the email address for the family and I’ll probably contact them soon and ask them if they would like an answer.”

Unlike the FSS, Dr Perlin’s team possess a computer programme called TrueAllele that can analyse far more complex data. 

It has been used in hundreds of cases since 2009, relying on mathematical formula to determine the statistical likelihood of whether a certain genotype came from one individual over another. 

He added: “I think the FSS did generate reliable DNA data and their methods were proven laboratory methods, some of which they even innovated.


DETERMINED: Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry have vowed never to give up hope (Pic: GETTY)

“But they didn’t know how to properly interpret the data that they had generated.

“If you use a computer programme that can use all of the data and consider millions of different possibilities, that would give you more information than other methods that usually give no answer at all.”

Once the lab has the data, it would take just “one to two weeks” to provide a preliminary report.  

Last month, it overturned the wrongful murder convictions of two American men who served more than 30 years in prison. 

Ralph Birch and Shawn Henning, both from Connecticut, were convicted as teenagers in the fatal 1985 stabbing of Everett Carr, 65.


SORELY MISSED: They recently celebrated their daughter's 16th birthday (Pic: GETTY)

Perlin analysed evidence from the crime scene, and found neither Birch nor Henning’s DNA present inside Carr’s home.


In 2016, it also successfully analysed a minute piece of DNA evidence in a high-profile mass murder trial in Australia. 

It was pivotal in securing a guilty verdict against Robert Xie, who slaughtered five relatives and evaded justice at three earlier trials. 

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman told Daily Star Online: “The investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann remains ongoing. We are not providing a running commentary.”

The McCann’s spokesman has been approached for further comment.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/794359/madeleine-mccann-dna-expert-to-make-offer-family-news-2019-parents-latest

Forget intruders.

Maybe they could tell us if it really was Madeleine's DNA in the car and other places.

The Birmingham Forensics Lab said it was... then it wasn't.

Be nice to have a truly independent study.

The McCann’s spokesman has been approached for further comment. 

Interesting... the "spokesman" is usually driving the news item.

Tom Towers is the masculine version of Tracey Kandohla.  Errant hack journalism.

Tom Towers likes to rake-up old news and decorate it to make it look a bit less stale.

If there can be found 1% of truth in anything they write, I would be astonished.

  <<<  Me being astonished.

ETA:  Fancy me forgetting Jon Clarke of the Olive Oyl Press .  Stick him on the list of hack journalists.

In fact, stick him at the top of the list .

1% is generous with the Satr Verdi!

Don't you just love the way that the press twist things?

Portuguese cops initially sent the findings – which could implicate an intruder – to be examined by the UK’s Forensic Science Service (FSS) in Birmingham.

The Portuguese police found no evidence of a break in and the DNA was tested for Madeleine, not an abductor.

Are they going to try to tell us that the abductor used the McCanns hire car before them?

The McCann's spokesman has been approached for further comment.

Can't wait for this - Go on Clarence, do your bit.

sar wrote:1% is generous with the Satr Verdi!

I was hoping they at least get their own names right and one or two other minor details