Exclusive:'Change of findings' in ongoing murder trial as expert witness rethinks observations
Stephen Sexton denies the murder and rape of Joanna Derkacz.
A forensics expert told a court she would have to “go away” to reconsider her thoughts after a change of findings.
Stephen Sexton, 38, is on trial accused of the murder of Joanna Derkacz, as well as rape, and controlling or coercive behaviour. The 37-year-old was found dead at the couple’s home in Nevinson Way, Waterlooville on December 28, 2023. Sexton denies the charges.
Yesterday (Monday, June 29), evidence was heard about DNA swabs taken from Joanna’s body during a post-mortem, including an “intimate area” that was originally thought to be 3-5cm inside her. Here, a trace amount of semen was found, which was 11,000 times more likely than not to match Sexton’s DNA profile.
Forensic expert Ruth Shackel told the jury at Portsmouth Crown Court that she “could not exclude Sexton” from being a contributor.
This morning, defence solicitor Jodie Mittell explained to the jury that this swab has since been found to have been taken from a slightly different part of the body.
She said: “Each of these swabs was examined for the presence of semen. The swab was taken from swiping around the vulva - does that change your observations in any way?”
Ms Shackel said: “That is a change in findings. I would have to go away and think about it.
“I need some time to think about it properly.”
Judge Michael Bowes KC insisted that the defence move along with its line of questioning, to return to this matter later in the trial.
Further evidence was discussed about a carrier bag found in the property, which had a “large” amount of saliva inside. Police asked Ms Shackel if the carrier bag had Joanna’s DNA inside it, which she was able to confirm.
Ms Mittell said: “The circumstances of her head being in that bag, you cannot say as far as forensic science is concerned. Thinking about reasonable possibilities, a person could have coughed or spit into that bag.”
Ms Shackel said: “It’s difficult to say. I’m not sure you would get such a widespread distribution - it was quite a large area that was testing strongly positive.”
(Proceeding)