Carroll trial: court hears detailed forensic evidence

The prosecution has alleged that the scientific evidence links 53-year-old Leeds man Nigel Carroll to the attack on the 70-year-old victim last year.

Earlier this week the jury at Bradford Crown Court was told that the complainant subsequently died a few months after the attack following an unrelated fall, but the video of her police interview on the night of the crime was shown to them as part of the prosecution case.

In the video she described how the intruder had pushed her onto a bed and pulled down her jeans before removing her knickers and tights.

Carroll, of Wykebeck Avenue, Osmondthorpe, has admitted being involved in the burglary, but he has denied attempting to rape the pensioner or sexually assaulting her.

The prosecution has alleged that Carroll had a peculiar sexual interest in ladies tights and he has also denied being responsible for house burglaries in Birkenshaw and Leeds in which tights were stolen.

Yesterday (Wednesday) the court heard that a DNA profile found on the inside of the pensioner’s bra matched the defendant.

Senior forensic scientist Valerie Tomlinson told the jury that the DNA sample was taken from inside the right cup of the bra and Carroll’s profile was fully represented along with the DNA of the complainant.

She suggested that it was approximately 100,000 times more likely that the DNA profile came from the pensioner and Carroll than from the pensioner and anybody else.

Forensic scientist James Walker told the court how he had carried out DNA profiling on a sample taken from the left outer hip area of the pensioner’s jeans.

Mr Walker said the sample produced a mixed profile for at least two male individuals.

He said when he compared the sample with Carroll’s DNA profile all 17 component elements from the defendant were present.

“He (Carroll) can’t be excluded,” said Mr Walker.

“The fact that all his components are present would be unusual if he wasn’t a likely contributor to the mixture.”

Carroll has suggested through his barrister that an accomplice on the burglary was responsible for the sex attack on the pensioner.

But the jury heard that further DNA tests on the victim’s bra and jeans had “eliminated” Karl Jason Stead, who had been accused by Carroll’s barrister of carrying out the sex attack.

The trial is expected to last into next week.