Police determination sees life sentence handed out in cold case

Advances in DNA technology have seen a man who raped and murdered a 17-year-old girl in her own home more than 30 years ago jailed for a quarter of a century.

On Thursday (July 14), James Warnock, 56, was found guilty of the rape and murder of Yiannoulla Yianna – known as Lucy – at the Old Bailey after a long-running investigation by detectives from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) homicide and major crime command.

Warnock was sentenced to life imprisonment on Monday (July 17) and will serve a minimum of 25 years. He also pleaded guilty to a number of child sex offences.

He raped and strangled Ms Yianna at her family home in Belsize Road, Hampstead on the afternoon of August 13, 1982.

Semen was recovered from her body but DNA testing did not exist in 1982 and therefore the sample provided no clues.

Finger and palm prints, were lifted from the rim of the bath.

Over the years the case was routinely reviewed by MPS detectives and scientists to see if advances in forensic technology might provide some answers.

In 1999, a scientist obtained a partial DNA profile for a semen stain on the bedspread where she had been found.

Four years later a more refined profiling technique obtained a near complete DNA profile from the stain.

The profile was run through the national DNA database but there were no matches and, while the case remained open, it couldn`t be progressed further.

On December 30, 2015, Warnock was arrested for possessing indecent images of children, he provided a DNA sample which was loaded onto the database.

That sample was a near complete match for the semen found on the bedspread – the chance of it belonging to someone else was estimated as one in a billion.

Warnock was arrested for murder on January 12, 2016 and later further arrested for rape.

At the time of the attack, Warnock, then 22, was living around half-a-mile from Ms Yianna’s family home and had been working as a tiler in a nearby street.

Over the course of several interviews, Warnock claimed he`d been having a secret relationship with Ms Yianna after she caught his eye when he supposedly took some boots into her father`s shop.

He said they then met six or seven times and their relationship quickly became intimate.

Finger and palm prints found on the rim of the bath were shown – 33 years later – to match those of Warnock.

Detective Inspector Julie Willats, from the homicide and major crime command, said the sentencing is testament to the unrelenting, dedicated work of scientists and detectives and also to the local community that supported them.

“Yiannoulla must have been utterly terrified that day. The only small shred of comfort is that the injuries she suffered meant she may well have been unconscious as Warnock raped and finally killed her,” she said.

“I`m sure Warnock thought he`d never be caught, but historic murders such as this are never `case closed`. As we have seen, advances in DNA technology can play a huge part in solving older cases and, no matter how long it takes, the MPS will always strive to bring offenders before the courts.”

Following the verdict, Ms Yianna’s family, said: “For over half a lifetime we have had to live with the daily torture of what happened to our daughter and sister Lucy.

“We thank, from the bottom of our hearts, the police both past and present who have worked constantly and tirelessly to bring him to justice, especially those over the last six months.

“We now pray that we can move forward with the rest of our lives having some peace in knowing that her killer has been brought to justice and that a very dangerous man is no longer a threat to anyone else.”

Sentencing, Judge Nicholas Hilliard said Warnock “ended one life and devastated a number of others” and had subjected Ms Yianna to a “terrifying ordeal”.

He added that the murder was “cruel, brutal and without mercy” and that it is “very likely” Warnock will die in prison.

Last year, he admitted that for two years he had been involved in chatting online about child sex