DNA bid to link Angus Sinclair to Anna Kenny murder

The latest DNA technology is being used by prosecutors to reinvestigate the 38-year-old murder of Anna Kenny. Picture: PA

Anna Kenny went missing in Glasgow in August 1977 and her body was found nearly two years later in a shallow grave near Skipness in Argyll.

The 20-year-old was last seen alive as she left the Hurdy Gurdy bar in Townhead.

Angus Sinclair, convicted last year of the double murder of Christine Eadie and Helen Scott in October 1977, has been linked by police to a series of other murders in the 1970s - including that of Ms Kenny - but has never faced charges over them.#

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The Crown Office Cold Case Unit is now reviewing evidence kept from the time of Ms Kenny’s murder with “cutting-edge DNA 24 technology” which can analyse tiny samples.

Groundbreaking forensic science techniques were central to the reopening of the World’s End case which ended in the conviction of Sinclair.

His DNA was found in three knots which had been preserved as evidence for 37 years.

The killer - who has been in jail since the 1980s for a series of rapes and murders - was jailed for at least 37 years over the World’s End case - named after the Edinburgh pub where 17-year-olds Christine and Helen spent the evening before they died.

After the guilty verdict, former detectives stated their belief that Sinclair was involved in other murders, including the cases of Ms Kenny, Hilda McAuley and Agnes Cooney - all in 1977.

A Crown Office spokesman: “Our Cold Case Unit regularly reviews cases to ascertain if there are any new evidential developments, including advances in forensic techniques, which would assist in providing a basis for criminal proceedings.

“The murder of Anna Kenny is under reinvestigation.

“This work includes a re-examination of the physical evidence, including garments recovered with the body, to establish whether advances in DNA analysis might produce new lines of inquiry. This DNA work includes the new cutting-edge DNA 24 technology.”

Ms Kenny’s aunt, Agnes Byrne, told the Scottish Sun: “I am pleased to hear they might finally be able to catch someone for it.

“I just wish it was sooner because Anna’s dad, mum and brother are all dead.

“She was a lovely girl, and died in a horrific way.”