Overview
- Prison authorities collected fresh saliva and DNA from Michael Stone on Thursday, the 30th anniversary of the killings, to support a renewed forensic review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
- Forensic advisers have identified items for targeted re-testing including the dog lead and stick, a balaclava, nail scrapings and a lunchbox print using DNA-17 to separate mixed profiles and Y-STR to isolate male-line DNA.
- Y-STR testing can help compare a male profile to a named alternative suspect but cannot be searched against national DNA databases, which limits how broadly an unknown profile can be checked.
- Stone was convicted after juries heard disputed jailhouse 'confession' evidence and there was never any contemporaneous forensic link to the scene; some prisoner witnesses later retracted or were discredited.
- The CCRC must show a 'real possibility' the conviction is unsafe before referring the case to the Court of Appeal, and it says testing is ongoing with results pending that could either strengthen or weaken any referral decision.