DNA matches murder accused, jury hears

DNA taken from the body of Phyllis Murphy - the young Kildare woman found raped and strangled in Co Wicklow over 22 years ago - matched DNA taken from John Crerar, the former army sergeant on trial for her murder, a jury has heard.

Dr Maureen Smyth of the State Forensic Science Laboratory told the Central Criminal Court that when she conducted a first set of comparative tests on the DNA profiles in 1999, the estimated chance of the same profile occurring in the rest of the population was one in 76 million.