The jury is still out

DNA profiling has in recent years led to the conviction of killers and other serious offenders who, without the union of scientific advance and dogged detective work, would probably still be at liberty. Each such conviction serves justice, satisfies investigating officers and gives the families of victims a prospect of moving on in their lives. But the outcome is not always as the police, families and the Crown Office as prosecutor would hope. The collapse yesterday of the trial of Angus Sinclair, a convicted killer and serial sex offender accused of the so-called World's End murders in Edinburgh in 1977, is one such case.