DNA used in a criminal case
 

In Burton on Trent in 1971 the body of a young man was discovered buried in the remains of a flint mill by the river Trent. This has become known as the case of Fred the Head as his head was the first thing uncovered. Nothing is known about him. He was found naked except for some socks and wearing a ladies wedding ring on his ring finger of his right hand. The ring was hallmarked 1968/9. It’s been suggested he was gay. DNA in later investigations said he might be from Eastern Europe.
A anthropologist friend of mine has suggested to the police investigating this cold case that an isotope scan of a tooth now may reveal more.

In this country can DNA be used from police cases on commercial sites to find possible relatives and how?

I don't think they are using commercial sites, just the National DNA Database. There is a document from 2020 with info:

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...ssible-version

Relatives of missing people have over the years been checked with ‘Fred’s’ DNA. Nothing so far. It’s almost 51 years now since the body was discovered and he still remains un-named

Thanks Kate. I thought that was the case but it would be crucial to identifying this man.

In that link is the report conclusion which says they could if they made a good case for it but they would need to seek a warrant. In this case I think they should push for it to tried to identify the man but do they have other unknown DNA? I think the dead man needs a legal advocate in this case to push for it.

Clearly a crime has been committed taking into account the method of Burial.

"The cases for which a genetic genealogy approach may be considered must be clearly defined to enable an ethical and reasoned decision to be made. Permission from the Forensic Information Database Strategy Board should be required."

I know this is hair splitting (at which I am extremely good, lol) but surely they are simply trying to identify him? The criminal side of the case can be dealt with separately.

OC

Yes, identification. The killer is probably long dead.

Mary

I would have thought that DNA would be the first call to identify someone in a case like this, both the police held DNA records and the wider civil DNA records. Perhaps it's a question of budget because I suppose civilian genealogical detectives have to be paid.

OC

How sad. I hope Fred is identified at some point.

It is still possible his attackers are still alive and could be brought to trial.