Events will mark 35 years of DNA fingerprinting discovery Mums of killer’s victims to meet professor who helped police catch him

THE mothers of murdered schoolgirls Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth are to meet for the first time the man who was instrumental in catching their killer Colin Pitchfork.

Lynda and Dawn were killed by Pitchfork in Leicestershire in the 1980s, and he was brought to justice thanks to the then newly-discovered scientific technique DNA fingerprinting.

March 7 marks the 35th anniversary of the discovery of the worldchanging technique, made at the University of Leicester by Sir Alec Jeffreys.

Lynda and Dawn’s mothers will meet Sir Alec for the first time at a special event at the university hosted to celebrate the anniversary.

DNA Fingerprinting: From Discovery to Legacy will feature talks from people whose lives have been benefited from the discovery.

The event will be hosted by Professor Turi King, who studied under Sir Alec and who was instrumental in proving human remains found under a car park in Leicester were those of King Richard III using DNA fingerprinting, and Professor Nishan Canagarajah, vice-chancellor and president of the University of Leicester.

Lynda and Dawn’s mothers will take part in a “fireside chat”-type talk led by Prof King.

Sir Alec will also be speaking, along with David Gyimah, the man who first benefited from the discovery.

Prof King, who is organising the event, said of Mr Gyimah: “A woman called Christine lived in Ghana, and when she came to the UK with her son the Home Office said he wasn’t related to her. Alec then compared the DNA of David to Christine’s DNA and proved they were related.”

Mr Gyimah will speak at the event about his experience.

Former detective chief superintendent David Baker, who approached Sir Alec for his help in investigating the Pitchfork case after reading about the DNA discovery in the Leicester Mercury, will also talk about his work.

For Prof King, the event is as much about celebrating the scientific achievement as it is about helping Dawn and Lynda’s families.

Prof King said: “The families have never met Alec before, so it will be good for them to meet.

“We also won’t be mentioning his (Pitchfork’s) name during the event.”

Jenny Foxon, whose DNA was used by Sir Alec to create the firstever DNA fingerprint, will be talking at the event, as well as Chief Constable Simon Cole.

The event takes place at the University of Leicester, at 6.30pm on Friday, March 6. The 300 tickets for the general public sold out in hours.