Detective Superintendent Iain Moor of Cambridgeshire Police said, after Newton was found guilty of murder, that the force had apologised to Mrs Crown’s family for “mistakes… made during the initial investigation in 2013”.
Former kitchen installer David Newton, of Magazine Close in Wisbech, which is close to Mrs Crown’s address in Magazine Lane, had been interviewed as a suspect and later arrested on suspicion of murder 12 years ago.
He was charged last year after scientists made a DNA breakthrough, having tested nail clippings from Mrs Crown’s dominant right hand using techniques that were not available in 2013.
A 70-year-old man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years for the 2013 murder of retired postmistress Una Crown after DNA which matched his profile was found on her nail clippings.
Mrs Crown’s body was found in her hallway on January 13 by John Payne, the husband of her niece Judith Payne, who had driven to collect her to take her for Sunday lunch at their house.
