Murder DNA match 'one in billion'

Ronald Castree denies murdering Lesley Molseed

A scientist has told a jury how DNA taken from the underwear of murdered schoolgirl Lesley Molseed were linked to the man accused of her murder.

Dr Gemma Escott explained to Bradford Crown Court the chances of the semen samples belonging to anyone other than the defendant were one in one billion.

Eleven-year-old Lesley, from Rochdale, was found stabbed to death on moors in West Yorkshire in October 1975.

Ronald Castree, 54, from Shaw, Oldham, denies Lesley's murder.

The court has heard how Lesley went missing from her home in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, as she was running an errand for her mother.

Her body was found three days later on the West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester border, 30 to 40 yards away from the A672 Oldham to Ripponden road.

Dr Escott told the jury how she examined samples of semen taken from red pants Lesley was wearing when she was found.

The probability of obtaining that profile if the semen did not originate from Ronald Castree is in the order of one in one billion Scientist Dr Gemma Escott

She explained the pants were destroyed in 1985 but adhesive tapes used to remove material from them were retained by the Forensic Science Service.

The scientist said she extracted a DNA profile from this residue in 2000 as part of a cold case review of the murder.

She confirmed that she later found there was a direct match with another sample which was taken from Mr Castree.

She told the jury she had to be very careful with the wording of the statistical significance of this match.

"The probability of obtaining that profile if the semen did not originate from Ronald Castree is in the order of one in one billion," said Dr Escott.

The jury has already heard how an innocent man - tax clerk Stefan Kiszko - was wrongly convicted of Lesley's murder and spent 16 years in prison

Dr Escott said she compared the DNA sample she obtained from the semen in Lesley's pants with a sample taken from Mr Kiszko.

The scientist went on to tell the jury her investigation led her to believe the semen found in Lesley's pants had not come from any form of sexual intercourse.

The case continues.