Record #00455Technology archive
In 1986, Alec Jeffreys's team applied DNA fingerprinting and profiling to the investigation of two murders in Leicestershire, England. The comparison excluded an initial suspect and marked the first criminal investigative use of the technique.
Achievement date
1986
1986
Jeffreys discovered DNA fingerprinting in 1984 and applied it to immigration and paternity cases in 1985.
DNA comparison in 1986 cleared an initial suspect and helped identify the offender. The first investigative use must not be confused with the later first DNA-based conviction.
Subsequent population screening and comparisons identified the offender, but the later conviction is not the same event as the first 1986 criminal investigation.
The record conclusion has sufficient verification support.
Basis: direct confirmation by an authority
The University of Leicester's chronology and historical account date the first forensic criminal investigation to the 1986 Enderby murders. Earlier immigration and paternity cases and the subsequent conviction are different milestones.
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