A ”fingerprint” can be produced from the DNA of a single cell.* The DNA sample is “chopped up” into many smaller pieces by an enzyme to produce a collection of snippets which are unique for every person. Putting these snippets on to a gel with an electric field makes them move according to their size, producing the familiar spotted band of the DNA fingerprint.*There is more than a 40 per cent chance of DNA found at a crime scene matching a name on the national DNA database. Samples can be taken from anyone charged, reported or cautioned. Last year it was used to solve some 14,800 crimes, compared with 8,600 the year before.*Police can begin to build profiles of criminals from DNA found at crime scenes. So far they can tell if someone has red hair or blue eyes; other aspects are being worked on.*British laboratories have made prototype paternity and other self-testing kits They may be widely available in five years.Charles Arthur. The most senior police officer to investigate the death of the second black man to be found hanging in Telford admitted yesterday they still could not be sure how he died “A central piece of the jigsaw”, was missing, he conceded.

“A central piece of the jigsaw”, was missing, he conceded.
Jason McGowan, 20, was found hanging from his belt on railings only yards away from the pub where he had been celebrating the Millennium Eve with his new wife hours earlier. His death, coming just six months after his uncle, Errol McGowan, 34, was discovered in a similar hanging in July 1999, shocked the Shropshire community.Their family, convinced the men could have been killed by racists, objected to what they saw as a police assumption of suicide and campaigned for a new inquiry.Detective Superintendent Mel Shore, now retired, was called in a month after the second death to reinvestigate both hangings. He admitted at the inquest into the younger man’s death yesterday: “It is very difficult to say exactly what happened to Jason.”He said: “The most likely explanation is that Jason died by self hanging but there might be other possibilities.”Telford and Wrekin coroner’s court was told that Mr Shore’s inquiries had been hampered by mistakes made in the first investigation into Jason McGowan’s death.Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Grieve, who headed the Metropolitan Police’s Racial and Violent Crimes Task Force until his recent retirement, told the inquest that the first investigation had started efficiently but descended into confusion. He said it was “inexplicable” that scenes of crimes officers were withdrawn within hours of the death. The railings were not fingerprinted and bushes and trees not checked for evidence.Detective Chief Inspector Ken Crane, now retired, who led the investigation for the first month, admitted that officers at the scene jumped to the conclusion the death was suicide.

But, he insisted, he had maintained an open mind and conducted a thorough inquiry.The inquest continues.. Airport staff were among 12 people believed to be members of a suspected robbery gang arrested yesterday on suspicion of a £2m theft at Heathrow airport. The people held yesterday, all believed to be Asian and aged between 21 and 37, were found at addresses in London. They are accused of conspiring to steal and launder the cash and are expected to be questioned about both robberies.