Scientific advance set to snare countless criminals across Europe who thought they had got away with the most serious offences due to poor quality DNA evidence
Thousands of cold cases could be solved after a breakthrough in DNA profiling.
Forensic scientists from Interpol have developed a new method for identifying victims and suspects from previously unusable decades-old evidence.
Heavily degraded samples of blood, bones or semen from crime scenes and missing-persons investigations could now yield crucial DNA links.
For the past 30 years forensic scientists have relied on matching a minimum of six common genetic markers – an identifiable DNA sequence on a chromosome – from one sample to another.
That meant police had to discount some evidence deemed too damaged such as bones that had remained in seawater for years or outdoor bloodstains degraded by ultraviolet light exposure.
Now scientists can match DNA with only three markers.
That means they need less DNA evidence for official identification.
Investigations that were closed because of a lack of suspect or evidence could be reopened.
Murder victims could finally be identified after decades of uncertainty.
Police could see their workload reduced and cases solved more quickly as they would not waste time following up false leads thrown up by irrelevant matches.
Criminals who thought they had got away with serious offences could now be brought to justice.
Boffins have hailed it one of the biggest advances in DNA profiling in decades.
It has reportedly already opened new lines of investigation in unsolved cases.
Interpol believes the method will be adopted by police forces globally – including Scotland Yard – in years to come.
Dr Francois-Xavier Laurent, a DNA database manager at Interpol and a co-author of the study, said: “We are starting to see interesting investigation leads that we are hoping to provide to the countries in a very short time.
“Hopefully within the next few months or years we will be able to have a catalogue of investigations that were helped with this new method.
“The possibility is enormous.”
Scientists identify an individual by using a mathematical algorithm which matches the rare genetic markers with those in other DNA samples.
Police can narrow a list of hundreds of potential suspects by discounting false matches from common genetic markers.