Colin Pitchfork was the first person convicted of murder using DNA in 1988.
Why has it taken the Gardai another 35 years to use this technology to find baby John's parents?
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that every case is different, and that the circumstances for solving a case with DNA are different.
But I might be wrong, maybe it's just "because the Gardai..."
"because the Gardai... knew what they would find?"
It has taken this long for a number of factors, the main one being the collection of DNA and its use to discover the family of John. If I recall, there were 400 people who voluntarily provided DNA samples recently to AGS. Would they have provided this back in the '80s or '90s? Possibly not. Furthermore, the tracing of familial lines using DNA is a relatively new technique (whereas Colin Pitchfork's DNA sample was compared against DNA from his own semen found in his victims)
My understanding is that in the intervening years the DNA extraction technology has improved. Back in the 1980s it probably wasn't possible to determine the DNA from either the tissue sample the gardai had or John's body. But in recent years it did become possible.
The media battle seems to be preferred initial approach decided upon by the solicitor representing. Two days in a row, he has front page expsoure denouncing the allegations of murder and also that DNA matches do not equal a murderer. Of course that is true, but there are serious questions to answer.
Eiethr way, whatever advice he is acting upon, he is taking the battle up via media and public opinion. I suggest watch his commentary as the days pass, they will have a gradual pattern that I suspect is about softening up the public
I find it hard to believe that some garda in the depths of Kerry had much influence over a Dublin based cold case squad.
My idle gossip?
Couple arrested - source, solicitor
House turned into a crime scene - source, solicitor
Suspects staying with friends / relatives - source, solicitor
The DNA may turn out to be theirs, but that doesn't make them murderers - source, solicitor.
You might point out exactly what the idle gossip is please.
It's not a good sign
Afaik technically it wasn't DNA
It was the lie that got him then he confessed
Do you not get it is the Gardai that are 100% responsible for what Joanna Hayes and her family went through. Baby John's parents maybe guilty of other things but not that.
The women arrested was in her 50's. so in 1984 she was any age from 11 to 20. If she was 16 or younger her pregnancy would have been a rape. It was reported earlier that her boyfriend at the time was a Garda.
....
Well maybe ask a few locals and you will find out? Like I did.
So what do we do? Just forget about it like it never happened.
Stop being silly - nobody suggested that!
Dont get how you inferred I think that baby John's murder should be forgotten about. Point being made was the parents of baby John does not equal his murder/s by that fact.
I'd wager there are certain posters on here and people in the locality have suggested it. Sure it was all but forgot when they could stitch up the innocent woman.
Absolutely agree with you on that point.
But they will know who murdered the infant if they didn't.
It was reported earlier that her boyfriend at the time was a Garda.
It was not reported.
Someone here with a post count of 1 said it in a post around 2am.
People really need to cop on.
But who said I want to find out from "a few locals"
The last "local" that told me anything about it said that they were living in and arrested in a town that was not actually Cahirsiveen or in the immediate area
Am I to believe them.
If I sent out a WhatsApp message to all the "locals" I know and get multiple different answers which am I to believe.
I'll wait for something official if it ever comes.
You know if that is all your talking about sure go ahead but that is not what you are others are talking about your trying to be amateur detectives. We don't know anything else except 2 people were arrested and then released and a house is been looked at. As for there solicitor he seems to be loving the limelight and making statements left right and center rather then making sure he does what is best for his clients. As others have said while yes it maybe her baby we don't know her involvement yet
And Next-Generation sequencing also advanced;
From The Times article ;
"Using a new DNA technology called next-generation sequencing, scientists can now obtain DNA matches even if the samples are not from immediate relatives and it is believed that it was this technology that enabled FSI scientists to get a DNA match for Baby John.
This in turn led gardaí to focus their inquiries on relatives of the person who gave the voluntary match, which in turn led them to the two people they arrested, believing that one of them may be related to Baby John."
So it may well turn out that only one of the two people arrested is related to Baby John.
If the man arrested turns out to be the father and his current partner is no relation to Baby John, the father may well have known nothing of Baby John.
So it's quit possible the two people arrested have been living in total ignorance of any involvement.
Where exactly did the solicitor say the following ?
House turned into a crime scene
Suspects staying with friends / relatives
The manner in which the child was killed and the subsequent vandalism of the grave has led me to think it's a case that goes beyond a child born outside of marriage.That this was either a case with a sad circumstances (incest/abuse) or the child was killed by a 3rd party who was angry at the "shame" the mother had brought on the family.
The fact I forgive was added to the headstone was in very poor taste.
You're inviting us to believe that such a chap screwed a local woman, got her pregnant and had no idea of her situation in the following nine months and took no interest at all in what happened to the baby afterwards?
Unlikely but possible to claim I suppose.. hardly marks him out to be a local pillar of the community worthy of respect?
Of course the gardai were at fault but this couple/family were also at fault.
They could have came out and said the baby was theirs and put a stop to the abuse Joanne suffered but they didnt. Joanne Hayes was put through hell, her life ruined - it ruined her work life, her familys life, her daughters life, her relationships with men - it ruined every aspect of her life. This couple/family sat back watching this unfold, watching this huge story, watching her shamed, abused and ridiculed knowing she had nothing to do with it.
To kill like that -a broken neck and 28 stab wounds- took a lot of hatred. Who could hate an innocent child so much?
Irish examiner.
Neither Mr O’Connell nor his clients will be told when the DNA results are actually returned as this is “a logistical matter”, and up to the gardaí to divulge when it suits them.
He also described the man and woman’s house as being a “scene of crime investigation”.
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