FORENSICS: DNA

The birth of DNA fingerprinting will forever be tied to Leicester, England. It was invented in a lab in the city’s university by Alec Jeffreys in 1984. And it was in the outskirts of the city that it was first used to catch a murderer – Colin Pitchfork who raped and killed the young girls Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth.

It has gone on to revolutionise policing.

Our guest to tell this story is Turi King who was taught by Alec Jeffreys and is now professor of public engagement at Leicester University and the inhouse geneticist on the BBC TV show ‘Family Secrets’.

Since this is the final episode in our mini-series on forensics we thought it would be nice to round things out with a chat with a real forensic scientist. Niamh Nic Daeid is the head of Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science in Dundee. We talk about the realities of being a forensic scientist today and what the future might hold.

Produced by Freddy Chick

Edited by Thomas Ntinas

Executive Producer was Charlotte Long