Man convicted on 'ear prints' is freed

A man convicted of murdering an elderly woman on the basis of "ear prints" that he allegedly left at the crime scene had his conviction quashed yesterday after the Court of Appeal ruled that the forensic technique may be unreliable.

Other cases in which ear-print evidence has been used may now have to be reviewed.

Mark Dallagher, 28, was the first person to be convicted using the technique when he was found guilty of killing Dorothy Wood in May 1996 at her home in Huddersfield. He was sentenced to life imprisonment when his case was heard at Leeds Crown Court in December 1998.

Police obtained "ear prints" of Ms Wood's killer after he squeezed through a small window in her bedroom and suffocated her with a pillow.

Forensic experts found a left and a right ear print, which were allegedly left by Mr Dallagher, although he has always maintained his innocence and said he was with his girlfriend at the time. The Court of Appeal ruled yesterday that the conviction was unsafe because of fresh expert evidence about the reliability of ear-print identification.

During Mr Dallagher's conviction appeal, the court heard from two experts who cast doubt on the safety of using ear-print identification.

Lord Justice Kennedy, Mr Justice Curtis and Mr Justice Pitchford quashed the conviction. The Lord Justice said it was in the "interests of justice" for Mr Dallagher to face a retrial, for which no date was set.

He said that at the original trial two experts for the prosecution – a Dutch police officer and a Glasgow University professor – were "satisfied" that the prints came from Mr Dallagher. But, crucially, the jury was denied the chance to hear that other experts had "misgivings" about the technique.