Tweet
On 16th May 2002 the late Michael Sherrard QC ,who had been Hanratty's trial barrister went on National Television in a Horizon Programme and made several statements to the effect that despite the appeal judgment of 10th May 2002 he continued to have grave doubts about the evidence , including the results of the LCN DNA tests that the Appeal Court judges had such faith in at that time and which they believed confirmed Hanratty's guilt.
He drew attention particularly to the total lack of evidence in the murder car.
Michael Sherrard: In fact NOTHING at all was found in that car-no hair ,no blood, no fibres to link Hanratty to the car .
The sudden emergence from a police drawer 1997 of that white hanky did nothing to allay fears about contamination.
There have of course since then been a number of cases that judges have thrown out of court such as the November 2007 case when the FSS had used Jonathan Whitaker's LCN DNA evidence to convict a man of a murder committed in 1980.The results of the tests were successfully challenged by Mark Stewart QC when Mr Jonathan Whitaker agreed contamination through long storage was a possibility.Likewise the 2007 LCN DNA tests that were used by the prosecution to convict Sean Hoey in the notorious Omaghbombing where the judge threw the prosecution case out when Professor Dan Crane of Ohio explained that "LCN DNA tests were much more prone to flexible interpretation,than with conventional DNA tests" "Its just too easy for contamination to occur,or for DNA to have become associated with an article through very innocent .very old contact " "Because of its sensitivity there are much greater concerns about the persistence of DNA and its ability to be transferred from one article to another." and there many more cases that have been thrown out since including other high profile ones.
He drew attention particularly to the total lack of evidence in the murder car.
Michael Sherrard: In fact NOTHING at all was found in that car-no hair ,no blood, no fibres to link Hanratty to the car .
The sudden emergence from a police drawer 1997 of that white hanky did nothing to allay fears about contamination.
There have of course since then been a number of cases that judges have thrown out of court such as the November 2007 case when the FSS had used Jonathan Whitaker's LCN DNA evidence to convict a man of a murder committed in 1980.The results of the tests were successfully challenged by Mark Stewart QC when Mr Jonathan Whitaker agreed contamination through long storage was a possibility.Likewise the 2007 LCN DNA tests that were used by the prosecution to convict Sean Hoey in the notorious Omaghbombing where the judge threw the prosecution case out when Professor Dan Crane of Ohio explained that "LCN DNA tests were much more prone to flexible interpretation,than with conventional DNA tests" "Its just too easy for contamination to occur,or for DNA to have become associated with an article through very innocent .very old contact " "Because of its sensitivity there are much greater concerns about the persistence of DNA and its ability to be transferred from one article to another." and there many more cases that have been thrown out since including other high profile ones.
Comment