IAPE Evidence Blog

The Peo­ple
BYLINE: Fiona May

Ipswich, Suf­folk

A MASKED knife­man who repeat­edly raped a teenager 20 years ago has been nailed — by his son’s DNA.

Phil Collins, 50, believed he had escaped jus­tice after the ter­ri­fy­ing assault.

But one of his sons gave a DNA sam­ple after being arrested for shoplifting.

A cold-case review revealed the link to evi­dence left by Collins when he pounced on the 17-year-old girl in a park at Ipswich, Suf­folk, in 1990.

He was jailed for 10 years after being found guilty at Ipswich Crown Court of rape, inde­cent assault and another seri­ous offence.

The court heard that cleaner Collins, of Ipswich, forced his vic­tim to strip to her socks at knifepoint.

Det Chief Insp Rick Munns, of Suf­folk police, said: “This sends a mes­sage to any­one who thinks they have escaped jus­tice. With every advance in sci­ence it is only a mat­ter of time before they are arrested.”

Paul Hutchin­son, 51 — also trapped by his son’s DNA — was jailed last week for the 1983 sex mur­der of a girl, 16, in Not­ting­hamshire. It was the first case fea­tured on TV’s Crimewatch.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
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