For years, the murder of ‘defenceless old lady’ Una Crown remained a mystery. But then one small but significant piece of evidence came to light that proved damning for her remorseless killer
In January 2013, John Payne arrived at the home of his wife’s aunt, Una Crown, ready to collect her for a family Sunday lunch. The sight that greeted him was devastating.
Una’s body lay in the hallway of her in her bungalow, in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. The 86-year-old widow’s throat had been cut, and there were stab wounds to her chest. Her clothing had also been set on fire.
Despite Una’s horrifying injuries, police didn’t initially view Una’s death as suspicious, and there was a two-day delay in preserving the bloody crime scene, in what prosecutor John Price described as a “grave error of judgment by police officers who went to the house”. All the while, evil killer David Newton was walking free, and for nearly ten years, it seemed as though retired postmisstress Una’s death would forever remain a mystery.
Then, in October 2022, the cold case was reopened again as part of Cambridgeshire Police’s “normal review processes.” This time around, advancements in crime scene investigations meant progess could finally be made.
Newton, of Magazine Close in Wisbech, was charged with Una’s murder last year. He pleaded innocent, but was ultimately brought to justice thanks to damning DNA evidence. DNA found beneath Una’s fingernails tied Newton, 70, to the crime, all thanks to pioneering technology which hadn’t been available back in 2013.
During his trial, prosecutor John Price told the court how “male DNA, the profile of which matches that of David Newton”, had been discovered by scientists in 2023, from “nail clippings, which had been taken from the fingers and thumb of the unburnt right hand of Una Crown”. These clippings were taken during a 2013 post-mortem examination and proved to be the “nucleus of the case”.
Newton was found guilty of Una’s murder on Thursday (February 13), and without scientific advances, he may well have continued to float under the radar.
Detective Superintendent Iain Moor of Cambridgeshire Police explained: “Vital evidence was retained from the 2013 crime scene, in the form of DNA under the fingernails of Una Crown’s right hand. It was through pioneering new techniques, testing for male DNA only, that the evidence breakthrough that has been so crucial was made. This DNA testing technique was not available in 2013.
“The DNA allowed us to cast doubt on David Newton’s claims that he hadn’t seen Una on the day, or days, before her death and place him at the scene of her murder. For more than a decade, he thought he had gotten away with this most horrendous crime, but today’s result shows you cannot hide forever.”
Addressing Newton, sentencing judge Mr Justice Neil Garnham said: “This was a ferocious and sustained knife attack on a defenceless old lady in her own home.” Following the conviction, DS Moor, who became the senior investigating officer in the case, stated that “mistakes were made during the initial investigation in 2013, for which we have apologised to Una’s family”.
Although an exact motive for the murder has not been given, Mr Price told the court how Newton had relied upon state benefits as his only source of income at the time, while money had gone missing from Una’s handbag. The day after Una was murdered, Newton was spotted “spending freely” on a fruit machine.
The prosecutor added that there was evidence to suggest Newton had been drunk on the night of January 12 and that he’d been “pestering elderly women on the telephone”.
Newton is now set to be sentenced by judge Mr Justice Neil Garnham.
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