Forty years on, DNA helps police close in on boy's killer

Forty years after the murder of Brighton schoolboy Keith Lyon on the Sussex downs, police said yesterday they finally have the DNA which could lead them to his killer.

The officer leading the hunt for those responsible for the death of the musically precocious 12-year-old said they were "one telephone call away" from solving one of Britain's most puzzling murder mysteries after finding DNA on the murdered boy's clothing.

At the scene of the place on the downs where Keith was stabbed to death, his younger brother, Peter, now 48, issued a call for those who know the identity of the killer to contact the police.