Danville Neil: DNA evidence sees man jailed for siblings' killing

Anne Castle and William Bryan were killed during a break-in at their east London home

A career criminal who killed an elderly brother and sister almost 30 years ago has been jailed for life.

Danville Neil, 65, "dodged justice for years" after attacking WW2 veteran William Bryan, 71, and widow Anne Castle, 74, during a break-in at their east London home in August 1993.

Neil was convicted of Mr Bryan's murder and of Mrs Castle's manslaughter.

He was handed a life sentence and ordered to serve a minimum term of 32 years at the Old Bailey on Friday.

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Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said: "You dodged justice for nearly 30 years, now justice has caught up with you."

She later said: "This was a notorious and universally appalling crime, both because of your history and the doubly fatal consequences of what you did."

The pensioners were beaten and restrained as their flat was ransacked in the search for valuables.

The judge told Neil his actions were "unscrupulous" and "lacking in mercy", and the siblings died "as a result of your greed".

She added: "You were a well-established and experienced career burglar by 1993.

"But you had it in you to offend in a way which was far more serious."

Danville Neil was a violent burglar with a string of convictions, the Old Bailey heard

Neil pulled two wedding rings and two diamond rings from Mrs Castle's fingers but failed to find some £4,000 in cash, some of which had been stashed in socks, the Old Bailey was told.

Mrs Castle suffered a heart attack and Mr Bryan went into cardiac arrest after being beaten and smothered during the night-time raid.

No-one witnessed the attack, but screams were heard by neighbours, suggesting a "prolonged burglary and attack", jurors heard.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told the court: "The suffering of one of them was compounded by knowing that the other had died or was dying, that is inescapable.

"They were left virtually opposite each other, it is not difficult to imagine, though no-one would want to, the anguish they must have endured at the suffering of the other."

Police were called to the address on 23 August 1993 and found Mrs Castle's body slumped in an armchair, with her brother lying on the floor.

DNA found on binocular strap

The murders went unsolved for nearly 30 years until Neil's DNA was found on the knot of a strap used to tie Mr Bryan's hands.

The court heard Neil had a string of convictions for some 15 burglaries between 1973 and 1998.

In 1984, he carried out two home invasions in three months in which the occupants were physically assaulted.

He was jailed for the violent burglaries and released on licence in August 1992 - a year before the double murders.

During his trial, Neil had accepted his DNA was found at the scene of the killings, but denied he had been there or knew the victims.

He claimed an innocent explanation for the forensic link was that he had sold Mr Bryan binoculars at a car boot sale and it was the strap which was used to bind him.

Neil's DNA was found on a strap he used during the burglary in Bethnal Green

But Mrs Castle's grandson remembered his great uncle was keen on gadgets and had two sets of binoculars which he would have bought new.

Jurors heard that the victims had lived together in a flat in Bethnal Green since Mr Bryan was invalided out of the Army in 1945, with Mrs Castle being widowed in 1987.

A statement from Mrs Castle's granddaughter, read out to the court, described her as a "pillar of the community who was well loved and respected by everybody".

It went on to say the pair "showed all the things which are good in people".

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