32-year-old sticky tape links killer to victim

British police have used a 32-year-old piece of sticky tape to link a killer to his teenage victim decades after her brutal death.

Colin Campbell, 66, was yesterday found guilty of killing 17-year-old Claire Woolterton in August 1981.

Her naked body had been found on the promenade by the River Thames in Windsor, Berkshire, by a man on his way to work, the Daily Mail reported.

But the case had been shelved for three decades by detectives who were unable to find the person who had attacked Ms Woolterton, rendered her unconscious and sexually assaulted her before slashing her throat.

At the time, an "adhesive tape lift" had been used on her mutilated body to take "debris from the surface of her skin", and the DNA stored by police until the case was reviewed in 2011.

Advances in medical science and technology allowed forensic officers to link Ms Woolterton's death to Campbell, who was already serving a life sentence for the 1984 manslaughter of another woman.

Campbell was charged in November with Ms Woolterton's murder and yesterday found guilty by a majority verdict in Reading Crown Court.

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"At the time of Claire's murder an extensive investigation was carried out, an investigation I was part of, and at that time Campbell did not feature in our inquiries," said Peter Beirne, head of the Thames Valley Police major crime review team.

"Thanks to the work carried out by the major crime review team, working closely with our partners LGC Forensics and the Crown Prosecution Service, we were able to use modern-day technology to identify significant forensic evidence linking Campbell to the murder, which led to his arrest in November 2012.

"I hope that Claire's family, who have shown courage during this difficult time, can take some comfort in knowing that her killer has finally received the justice he deserves."