NEWTON CONVICTED OF 2013 CAMBRIDGESHIRE MURDER
A man arrested and released over the death of an 86-year-old widow 12 years ago has now been convicted of her murder.The body of retired postmistress Una Crown was discovered at her bungalow in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, on 13 January 2013.
She had been stabbed four times and her throat had been cut.
David Newton, 70, who had denied murder, was charged in April 2024 after new techniques were used to re-examine DNA evidence taken at the scene.
Det Sgt Simon Oldfield, of the Bedfordshire Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, said: "For more than a decade David Newton thought he had gotten away with this most horrendous crime, but today's result shows you cannot hide forever." Newton, a retired kitchen fitter who lived near Mrs Crown, was found guilty after a trial lasting more than three weeks at Cambridge Crown Court.
He will be sentenced at the same court on Friday.
Mrs Crown's body had been discovered in the hallway of her home by relatives who had arrived to take her to Sunday lunch.
Police officers did not immediately recognize Mrs Crown's death as suspicious and it was initially treated as "unexplained".
Defense barrister Henry Grunwald KC told the trial there had been "many, many mistakes" made by Cambridgeshire Police, in that the crime scene had not been secured immediately and it was "chaotic" and "unregulated".
But DNA matching Newton was found on nail clippings taken from Mrs Crown's right hand after her death in 2013.
The clippings were retested by forensic scientists 10 years on.
Newton was found guilty of murder on Thursday following a trial lasting more than three weeks.
Mrs Crown's body had been discovered in the hallway of her home by relatives who had arrived to take her to Sunday lunch.
Police officers did not immediately recognize Mrs Crown's death as suspicious and it was initially treated as "unexplained".
Defense barrister Henry Grunwald KC told the trial there had been "many, many mistakes" made by Cambridgeshire Police, in that the crime scene had not been secured immediately and it was "chaotic" and "unregulated".
But DNA matching Newton was found on nail clippings taken from Mrs Crown's right hand after her death in 2013.
