Dennis McGrory jailed for life after ‘one-in-a-billion’ DNA hit in oldest double jeopardy case

Dennis McGrory, 75, has been jailed at Huntingdon Crown Court for life with a minimum term of 25 years after being convicted of the rape and murder of teenager Jacqui Montgomery nearly 50 years ago in the oldest double jeopardy case in England and Wales.Mr Justice Bryan handed down the sentence.McGrory was 28 when he sexually assaulted, stabbed and strangled 15-year-old Jacqui Montgomery in her home in Islington, north London, in 1975.The next year, he was tried on a circumstantial case and cleared of murder on the directions of a judge.Justice finally caught up with McGrory after swabs from Ms Montgomery’s body produced a one-in-a-billion DNA match decades later.After a 2003 change in the law on double jeopardy, McGrory’s case was referred to the Court of Appeal and sent for a fresh trial at the Old Bailey, he was found guilty on December 19, 2022.PA