A man has been found guilty of the murder of an 86-year-old woman after DNA which matched his profile was found on her nail clippings.

Una Crown, a retired postmistress, was found dead at her home in the Wisbech area of Cambridgeshire on 13 January 2013.

She had sustained stab wounds to her chest, her throat was cut and her clothes set on fire.

Initially, her death was not considered suspicious by police, which prosecutor John Price described as a “grave error of judgement”.

David Newton, 70, was charged with Mrs Crown’s murder last year but he denied the offence.

On Thursday at Cambridge Crown Court, he appeared open-mouthed as the foreman returned the jury’s guilty verdict.

Newton was found guilty by a majority of 10 jurors to two after deliberating for 29 hours and 13 minutes.

John Payne, the husband of Mrs Crown’s niece, found her in her hallway on 13 January 2013.

He had driven to her address to collect her for Sunday lunch at their house.

Prosecuting, Mr Price told the jury that Mrs Crown was killed the day before and that male DNA matching David Newton’s profile was discovered by scientists in 2023.

The prosecution said the reason why Newton went to Mrs Crown’s home and killed her were “not matters that the prosecution need prove”.

But the trial heard the defendant was on state benefits in 2013 – his only source of regular income – and that he was “spending freely” on 13 January.

The prosecution also said money was missing from Mrs Crown’s handbag.

Read more from Sky News:
Elon Musk’s X to pay Trump $10m compensation
Former Real Housewives star reveals she has brain tumours

Detective Superintendent Iain Moor from Cambridgeshire Police said the force had apologised to Mrs Crown’s family for “mistakes” during the initial investigation in 2013.

Using a DNA testing technique that was not available then, police were able to “cast doubt on David Newton’s claims that he hadn’t seen [Mrs Crown] on the day, or days, before her death”.

“For more than a decade he thought he had gotten away with this most horrendous crime, but today’s result shows you cannot hide forever,” Mr Moor added.

Newton is due to be sentenced at the same court on February 14.

NHS dentists are “very weak” and “not fit for purpose”, England’s chief medical officer has warned.

Professor Sir Chris Whitty has told MPs that a lack of NHS dentistry access for children will set them up for “lifelong poor dental health”.

Speaking at the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament, Sir Chris said: “The NHS dental system is very weak and has got weaker over time.

“I think we would all say this is a problem, particularly for those who find it difficult to get dental services when they need them in states of emergency.

“So I think everyone should agree that the NHS dentistry is in a much weaker state than most other areas of the NHS.”

Sir Chris added: “The last time I think most people in the country would consider that NHS dentistry was operating as they would anticipate it should do was probably in the early 1990s and the changes since then have all tended to either do nothing or make things worse.”

Sir Chris, who is also the interim permanent secretary at the Department for Health and Social Care, stressed that early prevention “is absolutely critical”.

However, he added the “very sad reality” was the opposite.

The professor also warned that a “common procedure” among children in hospital is the “destruction of teeth” due to tooth decay – which sets them up “for lifelong poor dental health”.

Data shows as many as six in 10 children have rotting teeth by the age of five – with stark differences between the poorer regions of England, and the more affluent.

For example, the number of five-year-olds with poor dental hygiene was on the rise in London, the North East and the South West.

Sir Chris, and other NHS leaders, criticised the NHS ‘recovery plan’ put in place by the previous Conservative government for failing to deliver new dentists or more appointments.

Read more on Sky News:
Children among 28 injured in Munich ‘suspected attack’
Brothers deny assaulting police at airport
Ryanair scrapping several European routes

The Dental Recovery Plan was first introduced by Conservative health ministers in February 2024 – an attempt to tackle England’s NHS dentistry crisis. It promised to introduce 1.5 million new treatments for patients.

But when asked if the plan was on track, Sir Chris said: “The very short answer is no.”

The committee also heard that while the number of dentists has risen, the number providing discounted NHS care has decreased.

One of the men convicted of the notorious “Essex Boys” murders will be released from prison on licence after 27 years.

Michael Steele, who is now in his 80s, was jailed for life in 1998, alongside Jack Whomes, for the murders of Patrick Tate, 37, Tony Tucker, 38, and Craig Rolfe, 26.

They were shot dead at point-blank range in a Range Rover on an isolated farm track at Rettendon, Essex, in December 1995 in what prosecutors said was a row over a drug deal.

The gangland executions, also known as the Rettendon Murders or the Range Rover Murders, inspired the 2000 film Essex Boys, starring Sean Bean, as well as The Rise Of The Footsoldier franchise.

All three of the victims were known to police.

Mr Tucker ran security for Raquels, the nightclub where Leah Betts had taken the ecstasy tablet that led to her death less than a month before the murders.

Steele and Whomes maintained their innocence following their convictions, which were based in part on the evidence of “supergrass” Darren Nicholls, who said he had been the getaway driver.

Their appeals were rejected and in 2006 Lord Justice Kay said there was no “element of unsafety” over the original convictions.

The case has also been reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) and a decision was made in January 2023 not to refer it back to the Court of Appeal.

Read more from Sky News:
Driver clocked doing 122mph in 30mph zone
Recording captures audio of Titanic submersible implosion

Whomes was released from jail in 2021 on strict licence conditions.

Steele, who was 55 when he was sentenced, has now also been released by the Parole Board.

After hearing evidence, it said there had been a “marked improvement” in his behaviour while in prison and keeping him locked up was no longer necessary to protect the public.

Steele will have to meet strict conditions such as staying at a designated address, attending probation appointments, giving up his passport and wearing an electronic tag.