Mark Kempster

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Mark Kempster was convicted of burglary, following a burglary at the home of an 89-year-old lady, who was woken by a man in her room and pressed her lifeline alarm. The man’s head was covered by a hood. He told her that if she told him where the money was he would not hurt her, and took £45 from her handbag. The victim could not identify anyone from a video identification parade. The rear window to the house had been forced and the police recovered an earmark from the window frame. Expert evidence matched the ear print on the window pane to a print taken from Kempster. He did not admit that the print was his but noted that he had done work on the victim’s house 5 weeks prior, during which he may have leaned against the window. The prosecution contended that this could not be the case as if the print had been left when he last conducted work it would have since been removed by the complainants window cleaners. On appeal, expert evidence was introduced to suggest that the prints in Kempster’s case were not of sufficient quality to safely conclude that there was a match. On the contrary, the gross anatomical features of the ear did not accord with reference prints provided by Kempster. Having considered expert evidence the court concluded that while the ear print at the scene matched Kempster, it was not a precise enough match to justify a verdict of guilty by itself. The conviction was therefore quashed (although other convictions for a seperate burglary were upheld).

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