CRIMINAL COLD CASES-FUGITIVES FINALLY BROUGHT TO JUSTICE-31-MARION CROFTS

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MARION CROFTS:
A GIRL TOO YOUNG TO DIE
MARION CROFTS WAS A TEENAGE GIRL WHO WAS BRUTALLY RAPED AND MURDERED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM IN 1981. POLICE MOUNTED A HUGE SEARCH FOR HER KILLER, QUESTIONING THOUSANDS OF LOCAL PEOPLE IN AND AROUND THE AREA OF FLEET, HAMPSHIRE, WHERE SHE LIVED. DESPITE THE ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF EFFORT PUT INTO FINDING HER KILLER, IT WAS ALL TO NO AVAIL, AND THE CRIME WENT UNSOLVED.

However, there was one thing that police did that was to prove crucially important. Samples of her body and clothing were taken from the scene of the crime for forensic analysis. Nothing very useful could be done with them at the time, but experts knew that in future years, the technology would become available whereby a microscopic DNA analysis could be made, showing the identity of the killer. Of course, a match would also have to be made between the DNA from the sample and the DNA of a criminal on the police's files, and no one could predict whether that would be possible. The chances of finding the perpetrator of the crime were slim, yet, all the same, the samples were filed away safely, just in case they should be needed in future. And twenty years later, the police's foresight, and their faith that one day the killer would be found, proved to be justified.

Raped, beaten, and strangled Marion
Crofts was just fourteen when she left her home to bicycle to a band practise at Wavell School in Farnborough. That was the last time anyone saw her. She was later found dead on the cycle route. She had been attacked beside some bushes near a canal towpath, and when her body was examined, it was found that she had been raped, beaten, and then strangled to death.

In 1981, police could do little with the forensics taken from the scene of the crime. These samples then revealed Marion's killer twenty years later

The crime shocked the quiet, law-abiding community where she lived, and a massive murder investigation was launched by the local police. Thousands of men living in the area were asked to complete a questionnaire, and many of them were interviewed, but despite these efforts, no arrests were made. By 1983, the investigation had been scaled down and, to the dismay of Marion's family and friends, it looked as though her name would remain on the list of unsolved murders for the foreseeable future.

However, when the police had examined Marion's body at the scene of the crime, forensic experts had taken samples from the girl's clothing and transferred them to a laboratory microscope slide. This was filed away, in the hope that it would become useful once DNA profiling techniques became available in the future, so that the killer would be found. As it turned out, this is just what happened.

Bodily fluids
In 1999, police re-examined the Crofts case, extracting a full DNA profile from the sample on the slide. The profile was then checked against the national DNA database held by police, which contained DNA samples from all known criminals in the country. This was a laborious task, which was performed repeatedly in the hopes of yielding some new information on Marion's killer, but for a long time no match was made and it looked as though the mystery would never be solved.

Not deterred, the police regularly checked and updated the information, and two years later, in August 2001, their perseverance paid off. A match was made between the sample and bodily fluids from a man named Tony Jasinskyj.

Jasinskyj had been picked up by police for assaulting his second wife, who had accused him of beating her. Before he left police custody, a mouth swab had been taken for DNA analysis and the results had been routinely loaded into the database. To the astonishment and delight of the researchers, there was a match between his profile and the Crofts sample from 1981, and police immediately brought Jasinskyj in for questioning.

Marion's bicycle was found on a road near her house. She had been dragged to a canal towpath where she was raped, beaten and killed

Jasinskyj was by now aged forty-five. It emerged that he had been working as a cook in the local army barracks at the time of the Crofts murder and that, in fact, he had been one of the thousands of men who had filled out a police questionnaire as to his whereabouts at the time. On the form, he had claimed to be at work at the time the teenager was killed, and had maintained that he had never been anywhere near the spot where her body was found.

'A nice guy'
Since 1981, Jasinskyj had left the army and was now working night shifts as a security guard in the town of Leicester. After the assault on his wife, he had been banned from visiting his children at home, and had temporarily become homeless, so a former colleague had helped him out by having him to stay for a few days. The colleague described him as a kind, helpful person, and described how he had been an easy house guest. Most of the time, he said, Jasinskyj had been out at work; when he was in the house he had spent most of his time sleeping, smoking, eating bowls of Cheerios, and playing the guitar. Jasinskyj had spoken about his wife and children a great deal, and told his friend how much he was missing them. 'He was the nicest guy you could ever meet,' said the friend. 'He would do anything to help anybody.' On hearing that Jasinskyj was a murderer his friend was astounded, commenting, 'I feel like a bad judge of character.'

One of Marion Crofts' socks which she was wearing when she was murdered. A DNA profile was constructed from her clothing in 1999

Brought to justice
In 2001, Jasinskyj was arrested for the rape and murder of Marion Crofts. The following year he was brought to trial and was convicted. He was given a life sentence. The DNA evidence was, of course, crucial to the case. It was essential to establish that the sample on the microscope slide was the right one, that it had been filed correctly and that no errors had been made in maintaining the files – after all, a man's freedom was at stake. The defence, not surprisingly, were keen to show that such an old sample could easily have been wrongly labelled or tampered with, but it appeared that the police forensic service had catalogued the results meticulously. As a forensic expert stated, on record, at the time: 'The Forensic Science Service made a decision to put things on hold as far as the slide was concerned – and it effectively became a time capsule.' He went on to explain that the slide sample had been untouched in 1981, for fear of damaging the DNA cells on it. He continued, 'We retained the evidence well and every time we looked at anything it was noted properly. We even knew who prepared the original laboratory slide and this scientist was able to give evidence confirming that this was the microscope slide prepared in 1981.' Summing up, the judge at Winchester Crown Court praised the work of the Forensic Science Service. Marion's family also personally thanked the police officers involved in the case.

Thus it was that the tragic case of Marion Crofts, a young girl who had everything to live for and whose life was brutally cut short when she was only fourteen years old, was finally solved. It had taken over twenty years to bring her killer to justice, and had it not been for advances in DNA profiling technology, the chances of ever tracking him down would have been very remote. As it was, the police forensic department's forethought in taking samples from her clothing, at a time when the technology for DNA analysis was still in its infancy, made it possible to conduct a thorough check at a later date. Not only this, but the careful way in which the microscope slide was maintained for more than two decades, untouched until the case was re-examined, meant that the evidence to convict the killer was extremely persuasive. There were those who argued that, over the passage of time, there might have been errors, but the police were able to produce full records to show that the sample was the right one. Had this not been the case, Marion Crofts' murder might, to this day, still appear on the United Kingdom's list of unsolved murder cases. As it was, the solving of the case was a triumph for the police and for Marion's family, who could now grieve in peace, knowing that the man who had killed their daughter had finally been brought to justice.