Doctor Crippen may not have murdered his wife, say DNA experts

Dr Crippen fled Britain in 1910 after the death of his wife Cora.

He was captured after he was recognised by the captain of the ship on which he and his mistress were fleeing across the Atlantic.

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But American scientists who analysed DNA from the body almost 100 years after it was found now say it might not have been Mrs Crippen's.

The scientists compared mitochondrial DNA from the corpse that was understood to be Mrs Crippen with that of her living relatives said that the dismembered body was not her.

David Foran, a forensic biologist at Michigan State University, said: "That body was not Cora Crippen's.

"We don't know who that body was or how it got there."

The body was found under the Crippens' home in london. It had no head, no genitals and no bones.

A tissue sample was kept on a slide in the archives of the Royal London Hospital.

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The research team said that a scar on the abdomen of the body, which convinced the jury that the remains were Mrs Crippen's, was incorrectly claimed to be so.

Researchers said that other evidence showed the body could only have been put at Crippen's house while the couple were living there.

One hypothesis is that Crippen was performing illegal abortions and that the body could have resulted from a botched procedure.

Crippen was convicted of poisoning his wife and burying her body in the cellar of their house.

The doctor and his mistress, Ethel Le Neve, then fled England on a transatlantic ship called the SS Montrose.

But Crippen was arrested as the ship entered Canadian waters - after the captain recognised the doctor from newspapers.

The captain had also become suspicious of Le Neve who had disguised herself as a boy.

The captain used the newly-invented wireless telegraph to alert the Britsh police.

Dr Trestrail, an expert on poisoning whose books are used by detectives across the world, said that the fact Cora Crippen's body had been badly mutilated suggested that she had not been poisoned.

"The thing about the Crippen case is the mutilation, which is contradictory to what poisoners do," he said.

"They want a 'natural death' certificate, and to walk away."

Newspapers at the time described Crippen as "one of the most dangerous and remarkable men who have lived this century".

Crippen maintained throughout his trial that he was innocent and that the remains found were not his wife's.

But his defence was undermined because he tried to leave England.