Una Crown, 86, was found stabbed to death in her bungalow in 2013. Initial police mistakes allowed the crime scene to be compromised, but 12 years later, advances in DNA technology linked David Newton to the murder, leading to his conviction.
A widow's bloody fingernails have provided crucial evidence leading to the conviction of her killer, 12 years after her brutal murder. Una Crown, an 86-year-old woman, was found stabbed to death in her bungalow in Cambridgeshire on January 12, 2013. The crime scene was horrific, with her throat cut, ribs fractured by four violent blows from a knife, and her clothes set alight. Two separate fires were also started in attempts to destroy evidence.
David Newton, a 70-year-old local known for his Jekyll and Hyde personality, who had a history of sexually assaulting a teenage girl and vandalizing neighbors' property, has now been sentenced to a lengthy prison term after being convicted of her 2013 murder by a 10-2 majority verdict. He stole £40 from her purse, which he spent at a local ex-servicemen's club, and her wedding ring.The gruesome discovery was made by Mrs. Crown's nephew who had driven over to collect her for their usual Sunday lunch with his wife. Astonishingly, police initially treated the incident as an accident, and emergency workers, undertakers, and family members were allowed to enter the house and search through drawers. During this time, Mrs. Crown's blood was inadvertently transferred to other areas, compromising the crime scene. It was only two days later that a mortuary technician raised the alarm about this oversight, leading to the launch of a murder investigation.Newton, who lived a stone's throw from his victim, was a suspect early on, but it was only in 2023 that advances in DNA technology finally linked him to the horrific crime. Analysis of DNA evidence found on Una's fingernails concluded that Newton was 26,000 times more likely than any other person to have killed her. The DNA samples, taken from her nail clippings during a post-mortem examination in 2013, proved to be the key piece of evidence. Police have since stated that the presence of Newton's DNA on the nails made it 28,000 times more likely that he was the killer. During his trial, Newton denied the murder charge but was convicted by a jury after 29 hours and 13 minutes of deliberation. When the verdict was read, he stood open-mouthed and stared at the jury. Newton, who gave no evidence during his trial and called no witnesses, repeatedly answered 'No comment' when confronted with the DNA evidence during a police interview. DS Iain Moor, of Cambridgeshire Police, praised the pioneering new techniques used in the case, stating that the testing for male DNA only provided the breakthrough evidence that was crucial to securing the conviction
Murder DNA Evidence Forensic Science Cold Case Crime Scene Justice
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