Retest ‘blood’ in Shandee Blackburn murder suspect’s car, says DNA expert

Twelve areas of possible blood in the car of Shandee Blackburn’s former boyfriend and accused killer are a key avenue for new forensic scrutiny.

Twelve areas of John Peros’s ute tested presumptively positive to blood including the steering wheel. The government's laboratory later said no DNA was detected, and police accepted it was not blood.

Twelve areas of possible blood in the car of Shandee Blackburn’s former boyfriend and accused killer John Peros are a key avenue for new independent forensic scrutiny.

Leading DNA expert Kirsty Wright said all samples from the areas should be retested, with some showing strong indications of the presence of blood in police Luminol testing.

Dr Wright, Shandee’s family, police commissioner Katarina Carroll, lawyers and a group representing homicide victims have all welcomed the Palaszczuk government’s move this week to ­reopen the inquest into Shandee’s unsolved 2013 stabbing murder in Mackay on Queensland’s central coast.

Dr Kirsty Wright talks to the media watched by Shandee’s mother Vicki and sister Shannah and Hedley Thomas. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

The move was a result of Dr Wright’s discovery with The Australian’s Hedley Thomas, on the Shandee’s Story podcast, of a litany of major errors and problems in the state’s forensics laboratory.

Samples taken from Shandee’s body – including from under her fingernails and on her arms and clothing – and knives handed in to police are among items that should be retested, she said.

“This is exactly what we want. There’s so much testing that can be done,” Dr Wright said of the ­inquest reopening. “If the coroner is happy to, just retest everything – just go for it.”

Dr Wright believes there is evidence showing who killed Shandee; the lab just didn’t find it.

She is convinced the lab was having serious problems interpreting DNA profiles after introducing new software and DNA profiling kits just weeks before Shandee’s murder.

Episode 10 of Shandee’s Story is called Blood and is available to The Australian’s subscribers.

Experienced police scientific officer Adrian Brock collected and labelled as blood 12 samples from Mr Peros’s vehicle – including 11 on the driver’s side – after spraying it with a fine mist of ­Luminol. The areas had turned a distinctive blue, testing presumptively positive to blood.

They were on the steering wheel, handbrake well, ignition and clutch, accelerator and brake pedals, rear of the driver’s seat, on a rear-door handle, window and door trim, and in the front passenger side footwell.

When the government’s lab could not find DNA in the samples, police accepted it was not blood. A jury that in 2017 acquitted Mr Peros of murder was never told of it. Mr Peros denies any ­involvement.

Dr Wright found in a review of hundreds of documents that the lab had stopped testing many crucial samples, including all 12 ­potential blood samples from the car, at the halfway mark.

The lab has four stages of testing for DNA but in 43 instances stopped after getting no results at the end of the second stage, Dr Wright says.

John Peros gives hair samples to police in Brisbane after his arrest.

DNA profiles that are not showing up in ­stages one and two appear sometimes in the third and fourth stages of ­testing, she says.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said on Thursday she would write to state Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman to request the ­inquest be reopened.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said on Friday for the first time she would also consider a wide-ranging independent ­inquiry into the lab.

Shandee’s family, as well as legal and scientific experts, are calling for a separate, broader ­inquiry into the lab’s operations.

Ms Palaszczuk said: “I know the Health Minister was writing to the Attorney-General. Let’s get the outcome of that first and if there is anything further we need to do, we will closely consider it.”

The police commissioner, Ms Carroll, confirmed she had ­received a heartfelt letter from Shandee’s mother, Vicki, asking for all forensic evidence to be ­retested. “I support anything they are trying to do to resolve this issue,” Ms Carroll said. “I know they have asked for an inquest, that matter is still open, just so you know, and we would be heavily supportive of that. Anything I can do to assist that family is incredibly important to me.”

She said she still had confidence in the state-run laboratory, citing successful convictions on DNA evidence.

Queensland Homicide Victims’ Support Group chair Samara McPhedran said reopening the inquest would be a “positive step forward, but of course it’s early days”. Questions about the laboratory had far-reaching implications that could affect many other victims and it was “crucial that those issues be properly investigated”, Dr McPhedran said.

Anyone with information about the murder of Shandee Blackburn can contact Hedley Thomas confidentially at [e-mail]