3:37pm UK, Monday December 13, 2010
New forensic evidence has convicted a man of murdering a mother-of-two nearly 15 years after he was originally cleared of the crime.
Vikki Thompson died less than a week after she was brutally attacked by Mark Weston
Mark Weston, now 35, was found not guilty in December 1996 of the killing of Vikki Thompson near her Oxfordshire home more than a year earlier.
The murder remained unsolved until Thames Valley Police reopened the case a decade after her death.
Detectives found small amounts of Mrs Thompson's blood, missed during the initial investigation, on a pair of Weston's boots.
With the so-called "double jeopardy" rule, which prevents someone being arrested for the same crime twice, abolished in 2005, a retrial was sought.
Weston, a "loner" who worked as an odd-job man, was convicted at Reading Crown Court and sentenced to life in jail, with a minimum term of 13 years.
Detectives found small amounts of Mrs Thompson's blood on Weston's boots
Pete Beirne, a retired detective recruited by police to investigate unsolved crimes, said it was a "very significant" result.
"This is the first time using double jeopardy legislation that new forensic evidence has been used to secure a conviction," he said.
Mrs Thompson was attacked while walking her dog on August 12, 1995, in the village of Ascott-under-Wychwood.
She was found battered lying on a railway embankment, unable to speak coherently about what had happened to her.
The 30-year-old died in hospital six days later, leaving behind her husband and two young children.
Mrs Thompson's husband was one of the people who found her by a rail line
Prosecutors said Weston chased and viciously assaulted Mrs Thompson because she had caught him watching her and performing a sex act.
Police found a plastic bag near the scene containing two bras stained with semen matching his DNA profile.
However, this key piece of evidence was not allowed by the judge in the first trial.
During the second trial, it was put before the jury along with the new evidence found on Weston's boots.
Outside the Reading court, Mr Thompson said: "Vikki was the perfect wife and mother and should have been able to see Matthew and Jenny turn into the fine young adults they are today.
"At least now, they know that truth and justice have finally been seen."
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