Expert doubts reliability of any new DNA evidence

A FORENSIC expert said he had “serious doubts” if any DNA evidence from a second postmortem on Sophie Toscan du Plantier would stand up in court.

Professor Allan Jamieson, chairman of the Forensic Institute in Glasgow, said the type of DNA testing being conducted — low copy number (LCN) DNA — varied in its reliability. He said this was all the more so given that Ms Toscan du Plantier had been buried twice and had already undergone a postmortem examination.

His comments come after the body of the Ms du Plantier, who was 39 when she was killed, was exhumed in France yesterday morning for a range of medical tests, including LCN testing, a complicated process that can take several weeks.