David Newton, 70, was today found guilty of the brutal killing of widow Una Crown, 86, who denied her murder but was caught by evidence dating back to the 2013 crime
The murderer found guilty of killing 86-year-old widow Una Crown and attempting to set her body on fire was caught by her bloody fingernails.
David Newton, 70, initially denied murder when he was charged in April last year, but earlier today was found guilty of the brutal killing at her bungalow in 2013. The retired postmistress had been stabbed to death at the home in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire with cuts to her throat and chest, and her clothing set on fire.
Police did not initially consider her death suspicious and there was a two-day delay in preserving the scene. Newton was today found guilty after a trial at Cambridge Crown Court.
It has been revealed one of the key pieces of evidence which proved him to be the killer was the widow’s own bloody fingernails. Detective Superintendent Iain Moor of Cambridgeshire Police said afterwards “mistakes were made during the initial investigation in 2013″, and apologised to Una’s family.
He said: “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 gave the evidence breakthrough which has been so crucial. This DNA testing technique was not available in 2013.
“The DNA allowed us to cast doubt on David Newton’s 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.”
Mr Moor added he hoped the the guilty verdict “gives Una’s family the closure they deserve and the answers they have longed for. He added: “My thoughts are very much with them at this time.”
Mrs Crown’s body was found in her hallway on January 13 by John Payne, the husband of her niece Judith Payne, who had driven to collect her to take her for Sunday lunch at their house. Prosecutors said she had been killed the day before and that DNA evidence was the “nucleus of the case”.
Mr Price told jurors when opening the case that “male DNA, the profile of which matches that of David Newton”, was discovered by scientists in 2023. He said this was “on nail clippings, which had been taken from the fingers and thumb of the unburnt right hand of Una Crown”.
