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Prosecutors in France have been unable to tell which of a pair of identical twins on trial for murder pulled the trigger in a fatal shooting, because DNA found on a gun is a match to them both.<\/p>\n
Identified in reports as 33-year-old brothers Samuel and Jeremy Y, the pair are suspected of being involved in a double gang murder in September 2020 and several attempted murders the following month.<\/p>\n
The pair are accused over the killing of a 17-year-old, named in reports as Tidiane B, and a 25-year-old, identified as Sofiane M.<\/p>\n
But DNA on an assault rifle used in one of the later gun battles could only be from one twin, French newspaper Le Parisien said.<\/p>\n
Forensic experts couldn’t say which of the brothers had been definitively implicated, a police officer told the court.<\/p>\n
One investigator is quoted as telling the trial that “only their mother can tell them apart”.<\/p>\n
They are among five defendants on trial at a court in Bobigny, a suburb to the northeast of Paris, until the end of February.<\/p>\n
Police believe they have taken advantage of their resemblance to cover their tracks, the paper said.<\/p>\n
It claimed the pair frequently exchanged clothes, phones and identification documents, quoting a senior police officer.<\/p>\n
Identical twins happen when a single egg (zygote) is fertilised, the NHS says on its website.<\/p>\n
The egg then divides in two, creating identical twins who share the same genes.<\/p>\n
Identical twins are always the same sex.<\/p>\n
Because the pair came from the same egg and sperm, they share exactly the same DNA, making forensic identification extremely difficult.<\/p>\n
Read more on Sky News:<\/strong> With genetic data unable to distinguish between them, investigators relied on phone records, surveillance footage, wiretaps and efforts to corroborate their whereabouts and movements, according to Le Parisien.<\/p>\n But the crucial question of who fired the recovered weapon remains an open one.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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