Giuseppina Martorana

Giuseppina Martorana and her husband, Giuseppe, had been shopping in west London for a pair of rings to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. On their way home the couple stopped at McDonald's, and it was here that armed robbers Jason James and Daniel Whyte spotted that they were wearing expensive Rolex watches and followed the couple to their Hertfordshire home.

When the couple got out of their car, the two men approached them and attempted to steal their watches, but as Giuseppina tried to escape, she was shot and died a month later. Inside the house, the couple's son and his girlfriend heard the struggle, and as they opened the front door they too were both shot.

As the robbers attempted to drive off, Mr Martorana tried to block their escape in his car but failed. He then chased them down the road and rammed the getaway car from behind with his BMW.

Soon after the shooting, the police contacted the Forensic Science Service and a specialist adviser formulated a forensic strategy to identify the assailants and the car in which they fled the scene.

Scientists examined the paint left on the Mr Martorana's car as he had rammed the offenders' car. A flake of light blue metallic paint was recovered that was unusual in its appearance possessing both silver and gold metallic particles. Through the paint the car was identified as a light blue metallic Renault Laguna that had been stolen from a car hire company. Glass was also found embedded in the Laguna's bumper that was similar to the broken headlamp of the BMW.

Some months after the shooting, a bag of clothing was given to the police by an ex-girlfriend of James. Significant amounts of firearms discharge residue matching that of the deceased woman were found on a duffle coat inside the bag. Hairs were also extracted from the collar, cuffs and underarm area to establish the usual wearer of the items.

A mixed profile, which could be explained by the presence of DNA from Jason James and an unknown female, was obtained from biological material on the collar and hood of the duffle coat. This provided very strong scientific support for the assertion that biological material on the hood and collar of the duffle coat originated from Jason James and an unknown female, linking him to the crime.

This evidence was presented at St Albans Crown Court in March 2002. Both Whyte and James were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.