A leading forensics expert has just claimed he can solve the case of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in a week.
The young girl went missing over a decade ago from her parents’ holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, and hasn’t been found since.
The case remains unsolved, since she disappeared on May 3, 2007, despite a Home Office operation receiving £12 million in funding. It could be extended for 12 months with another £150,000 required.
As Scotland Yard awaits the approval of the extra funding for Operation Grange, Dr Mark Perlin, an American DNA expert, thinks he can help.
He wants to re-analyse 18 ‘inconclusive’ DNA samples which were tested by detectives 12 years ago with new techniques used by his Pittsburgh-based lab Cybernetics.
His technique was used to identify 9/11 victims – but have previously been dismissed as unreliable in a UK court of law due to a conflict of interest.
The BBC reports Dr Perlin’s evidence was inadmissible due to impartiality in a 2009 murder case because he had a lot to gain financially if his system of analysis was accepted in the case.
Still, Dr Perlin persists in claiming he can help the McCann’s find out what happened to Madeleine.
When asked how long the tests would take, Dr Perlin told the Daily Star:
What we actually need is the electronic data that comes out of the laboratory off their instruments.
That’s the standard starting point for DNA analysis. It would take us one to two weeks, depending on the data, after we receive it to provide some initial preliminary report.
He previously told 9News’ podcast investigation:
If a lab can produce informative data, even if it is complex and mixed, but they can’t interpret it then you can have tremendous injustice – of guilty people not being convicted, or innocent people staying in prison.
What is needed is an objective and accurate interpretation that can scientifically resolve the DNA.
The Met Police have dismissed Dr Perlin’s claim he could solve the case. Police believe Madeleine was kidnapped by a paedophile or a member of a trafficking gang.
Kate and Gerry McCann have repeatedly denied any involvement in their daughter’s disappearance and were cleared of wrongdoing.
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A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.