A NEW DNA investigation is being conducted into the unsolved murder of a student amidst fears she was one of serial killer Peter Tobin's victims.
A coroner is currently considering whether Sussex art student Jessie Earl was unlawfully killed 30 years ago in a new inquest.
Her body was found in undergrowth near Beachy Head in 1989, nine years after she disappeared from her Eastbourne bedsit.
Jessie Earl was 22 when she disappeared near Beachy Head, East Sussex, leaving her parents John and Valerie to endure four decades of grief and uncertainty.
They believe serial killer Peter Tobin - who had a hoard of unknown women's jewellery at his home - could be responsible.
It is believed he could be called to give evidence about the art student’s death after her parents won the right to a new inquest.
It followed years of criticism from Miss Earl's family over a "woefully inadequate" police investigation.
Tobin has been convicted of murdering three other young women who disappeared after Ms Earl’s remains were discovered.
A pre-inquest hearing was told DNA has already been taken from her parents and police forensic experts are searching databases for a match to any crime scene.
Sussex Police have also been asked to do a thorough search of their archives and provide an audit trail of evidence collected before the first inquest.
The bra used to bind Jessie Earl's hands was destroyed following the first inquest in 1989, the force said.
The Earl family legal team are hoping their DNA can be matched to a trophy taken from another victim of the same killer.
Chris Williams, representing the family, said: "Some serial killers retain trophies and this is to see if any of her DNA shows up on any other trophies.
"It would be useful if it could identify the identity of a potential killer in this case."
The family asked for a complete audit trail of all the exhibits recovered in 1989. Sussex Police said they were all disposed of.
"With that in mind, we ask for an audit trail to see, in particular, if we can recover Jessie's bra," said Mr Williams.
"If the killer used that bra, it is likely to yield DNA from the killer. DNA on the bra other than that of Jessie and would lead to suspicion a person was responsible for her death.
"Police databases could identify the person who touched that bra."
Tobin is currently serving three life sentences for the murders of Angelika Kluk, Vicky Hamilton and Dinah McNicol.
Tobin, originally from Johnstone, Renfrewshire, was 34 and the father of three children when EMs arl vanished. He lived in Brighton close to Beachy Head in 1980 and 1981 and travelled regularly to Eastbourne.
In 2007 Tobin was convicted of the murder of Angelika Kluk, 23, whose body he hid under the floorboards of St Patrick’s Church in Anderston, Glasgow, after raping and stabbing her the previous year. He was convicted in 2008 of murdering Vicky Hamilton, 15, from Redding, near Falkirk, whose body was found buried at his former house in Margate, Kent. She had disappeared in February 1991.
He was convicted in 2009 of murdering Dinah McNicol, 18, from Tillingham, Essex, who disappeared in August 1991 and whose body was also found buried at the Margate home.
Tobin has also been suggested as a suspect in the disappearance of Louise Kay, 18, from Eastbourne, who was last seen at Beachy Head in June 1988.
Ms Earl's brother James Earl, 66, said the family are aware of the link to Tobin.
"The evidence might find that way although there are other possibilities.
"I'm maintaining an open mind.
"In some ways, I hope it's not him because the way he dispatched his victims was pretty unpleasant.
"I wouldn't want my parents to have to go through that."
He added: "The original inquest left the verdict open, but the death of my sister was very clearly a result of being murdered.
"Having the record straight is important... even though nothing may actually otherwise happen.
"A verdict of unlawful killing is what we want. If it's possible to find out who did it in the end that would would be good, partly just to protect the public if that person is still alive and not in prison."
Stephen Kamlish QC, representing Ms Earl's parents previously said police were instructed in 1989 not to treat the case as a murder.
But in 2000, Sussex Police reinvestigated the case and concluded Miss Earl had been murdered.
No arrests have ever been made.
A representative for Sussex Police confirmed new DNA profiles had been obtained from Miss Earl's parents and had been uploaded onto the national police database to be compared with other crime scenes.
The family are willing to have her body exhumed so a sample can be taken from her bone marrow if the DNA search finds any possible matches.
Jessie's parents, now both in their 90s, who won the right to a second inquest in December 2021 appeared at the latest hearing by video from their home in south-east London at the start of a new inquest process in Eastbourne.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here