Police dismiss Mikus link to Bentley case

Police are "very unlikely" to compare the DNA profile of Jules Mikus to anything containing DNA found on or around the body of Ashburton murder victim Kirsty Bentley.

Mikus, who was convicted of killing Teresa Cormack in 1987, owned a van similar to that seen near the Ashburton River where Kirsty was abducted and also near Rakaia Gorge where her body was found.

A Masterton couple said they had sold an unusual green Commer van to Mikus "four or five" years ago - not long before Kirsty was killed in January 1999.

The suspect van was never found.

But police spokeswoman Maggie Leask said yesterday police thought there was little likelihood Mikus was involved in Kirsty's death.

"As we said before, we believe that the vehicle is not the same one we are looking for. It is very, very unlikely DNA would be compared," she said.

A DNA profile of Mikus extracted from hairs and semen found on Teresa Cormack's body and underpants was pivotal in the case against him at trial this month.

Mikus was 60 million times more likely to be the source of the semen than any other man in the country.

Ms Leask said investigations so far had not shown any link between Mikus and Kirsty Bentley.

Head of Operation Kirsty, Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Williams, had said that the green Commer van had been investigated thoroughly at the time but it had never been located.

"At this point I can say it appeared to be ruled out, but we are going back now to look at that aspect again ... There is information to light now in regard to a Commer van and the Mikus conviction."

It would be some time before any results could be found from the information.

Police have never released the nature of the injuries Kirsty suffered or if she had been sexually violated before death.

But they took a blood sample for DNA testing from her brother John last year.

He and Kirsty's father Sid previously claimed they had been unfairly targeted as suspects by police.

- NZPA