Operation Phoenix

Forensic work by scientists at the FSS helped police get their first conviction in one of the biggest operations of its kind to reinvestigate sex crimes.

As part of Operation Phoenix, Northumbria Police are looking at all unsolved sexual offences over a 14-year period from 1985 -1999.

The project is using DNA techniques which weren’t available at the time, such as FSS SGMplus™ and DNA Low Copy Number (DNA LCN), to produce DNA profiles in cases where they couldn’t be obtained or where the system used was not compatible with the National DNA Database (NDNAD). More than 200 cases selected by Northumbria Police have been reviewed by FSS scientists.

“This is a large-scale operation not only in terms of numbers of offences, but also in terms of both police and FSS resources, and the involvement of other organisations,” said an FSS specialist adviser (SA).

“At the time of these offences the technology was simply not available. It is only recently that we have developed the technology that gives us a reasonable prospect of obtaining profiles from older materials.”

The work has involved looking at original items, at samples stored in freezers - like swabs or old DNA extracts - and samples retained in archives, for example slides or tapings. Once a case is identified as being likely to produce a profile, further work is carried out at the lab.

The FSS SA said: “With the matches obtained from the NDNAD there are now several other cases that could get to court.

“These are people who have slipped through the net, but now the advances in technology mean that these individuals will have to face up to their crimes.

“The approach used in Operation Phoenix by Northumbria Police could now become the blueprint for other similar operations.”

Mark Wilkinson, from Roker, Sunderland, was jailed for five years in January 2003 after being found guilty of raping a 19-year-old student in Sunderland seven years earlier.

Work carried out by the FSS involved reanalysing extracts from the original swabs taken from the rape victim using FSS SGMplus™. A mixed profile was obtained, part of which was matched to the victim’s boyfriend. However, the major component of the profile was loaded onto the NDNAD and a match was made to Wilkinson.