The brutal murder of a Wharfedale woman rocked a quiet country hamlet over six decades ago.

Margaret Peel, 37, was found bludgeoned to death in the village shop she ran in Fewston and her murder still remains unsolved 65 years later.

But the key to finding her killer was only uncovered 15 years after her death in a Cambridge laboratory.

April 25th marks the 50th anniversary since the molecular structure of DNA was discovered by James Watson and Francis Crick.

Lecturer in biomedical science at Bradford University, Dr Steve Picksley, is marking the anniversary with a lecture in 'Understanding our Genetic Blueprints'.

"In less than 50 years since having first discovered DNA, scientists have now completely sequenced the human gene," he said.

"To quote Jodie Watson '...we used to think our fate was in the stars. Now we know in large measure it is in our genes.'

"DNA can now tell us about a person's risk of disease, risk of dying and predict the risk of heart disease."

DNA is unique to each person and acts as a fingerprint which in terms of crimes can prove someone's guilt or innocence.

This crucial breakthrough changed the shape of criminal investigations and has had a big impact on local crimes.

The murder of Margaret Peel is one of many, which detectives have reopened, to examine DNA evidence taken from the original crime scenes.

The Peel murder saw her husband, Jesse Peel, tried and cleared of murder.

Jesse was found with blood on his clothing and had it been today, tests would have been able to determine whose it was.

DNA testing on the murder weapon, a wheelbrace, may also have uncovered the real culprits through a comparison with the world-wide DNA database.

The weapon was found in a nearby reservoir where her husband worked, but when the shop was demolished it is believed that another potential weapon was also unearthed.

Today, forensic teams would have had a better chance at solving these riddles and could have found possible links between them and the crimes of two men who were hanged for a similar offence in 1940.

Undertaker William Appleby, 27, of Hawksworth village, and ice-cream vendor Vincent Ostler, 24, of Menston, were found guilty of shooting PC William Shiell in County Durham in March 1940.

The men were known for raiding shops for supplies and could be potential culprits for the Fewston murder but they were overlooked at the time.

In the last ten years, DNA has been heavily relied upon to prove the guilt of suspects in crimes.

John Taylor, the murderer of teenager Leanne Tiernan, whose body was discovered in Lindley Woods in Otley, has been convicted of two rapes since he was handed two life-sentences for her murder and kidnapping last July at Leeds Crown Court.

Taylor's conviction led police to re-examine similar sex and murder cases and DNA evidence taken at the scene of two rapes in Bramley in the 1980s matched his.

Following this breakthrough, detectives have reopened the murder of Bradford prostitute Yvonne Fitt whose body was found dumped in Lindley Woods in September 1992, just 200yards from where Leanne's was found nine years later.

The Yorkshire Ripper, who prowled the streets of Ilkley and attacked an Ilkley Gazette reporter with a hammer, could also be re-examined using DNA techniques.

Notorious serial killer, Peter Sutcliffe, was imprisoned in Broadmoor on the grounds of insanity after being sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in prison.

But a new book called 'Wicked Beyond Belief' by Michael Bilton is questioning his sanity after suggesting that Sutcliffe wore the same item of clothing, a pullover worn upside down over his legs, for each murder. If DNA tests on this item prove he wore it to carry out his grisly crimes then it could imply premeditation rather than insanity and he could be transferred to a prison.

At his trial, Sutcliffe had claimed he carried out the murders after hearing messages from God ordering him to kill.

The advancement in DNA research over the past 50 years has been so successful that people can now even buy blueprints of their genes which can predict their life expectancy.

The technology will continue to help police forces across the world to catch culprits of new and old cases.