DNAprint Genomics (DNAG)

[mingwan0]

A bit more on the London rapist

We knew from previous reports (such as this from the Guardian) the order of magnitude by which the suspect pool had been reduced by viture of using DNA Witness:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1204770,00.html

Detective Chief Inspector Will O'Reilly said the rapist's origins were in the Caribbean, something which has reduced the range of suspects by 75%.

We also knew from this article in The Mirror something about how many suspects the Police are working with:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/tm_objectid=14187771&method=full&siteid=50143&headl....

Now detectives are working through a list of 100 people with similar DNA to the rapist.

From this article in a local South London paper today we know how many suspects have been eliminated:

http://www.streathamguardian.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.486600.0.dna_breakthrough_in_hunt_for_....

More than 3,000 suspects have been eliminated from the inquiry and investigators have viewed Interpol and FBI DNA databases in the hope of tracing the man.

So they had over 4,000 current suspects, three quarters of whom were not of Caribbean ancestry.

From this article in The Sun we know the number of suspects that have historically been eliminated:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004192180,00.html

Since 1992, police in London have eliminated 17,000 suspects...

So historically the London Police have on average eliminated some 1,400 suspects per year over the life of the case through traditional methods. The use of DNA Witness has therefore at a stroke obviated the need for some two years work. I would say that the use of DNA Witness is cost effective for the London Police!