A TOP American DNA expert believes he could help detectives retrieve vital DNA evidence off the schoolbag of missing teenager Philip Cairns.
Dr Mark Perlin insists his Pittsburgh-based company, Cybergenetics, can pull singular profiles from mixed DNA samples – a technique which is currently not available in Ireland.
The 13-year-old’s schoolbag was discovered dumped in a laneway six days after he went missing.
It has long been thought to hold the key to finding out what happened to the Dublin boy on the afternoon of October 23, 1986.
In 2016, prolific paedophile Eamon Cooke had a sample of DNA taken to cross reference against samples on the satchel.
Days later it emerged that none of Cooke’s DNA, who was on his deathbed at the time, were found on the bag.
MORE DNA TESTING
However, scientists at Forensic Science Ireland are believed to have been only able to test against single samples of DNA on the bag and not mixed samples.
Speaking in a new book The Boy Who Never Came Home, Dr Perlin declared there is still the possibility that Cooke’s DNA could be within the mixed samples on the canvas satchel.
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He said by testing the mixed sample and pulling out individual profiles from it, investigators will be able to conclusively rule Cooke in or out as having touched it.
And the world-renowned doctor said he is willing to test the bag if investigating officers send him the files taken by the FSI.
CLOSURE HOPE
Speaking about the technology he uses called True Allele, Dr Perlin said: “True Allele can separate out the genotypes and produce a match statistic that indicates to what extent his DNA is or isn’t present in that mixture.
“If it turns out that he is there, the case is closed and you can move on.
“If they send us the data, we would be more than happy to look at it and perhaps that would bring closure to the family and the case.”
The Boy Who Never Came Home, by Emma McMenamy, is published Thursday.