A MAN arrested on DNA evidence has been cleared of murdering an Italian woman after police admitted he was the victim of an Interpol blunder.
 Bartender Peter Hamkin, 23, was arrested in Merseyside on an extradition warrant and hauled up before Bow Street Magistrates' Court in London. His DNA fingerprint was said to be a perfect match for the man who shot Annalisa Vincenti in Tuscany in August 2002. The killer had escaped in a Rover car and Mr Hamkin, from Litherland, was said to match the e-fit produced with the help of witnesses by the Italian Carabinieri investigators. Police arrested him while he was pulling pints behind the bar at Buckley's Pub, at Litherland, when it was crowded with regulars. Mr Hamkin protested his innocence from the outset and swore that he had never even been to Italy, let alone murdered anyone. Following a 20-day ordeal he has been informed that the Metropolitan Police have now ruled him out following a second DNA test. Mr Hamkin said: "This has been the worst three weeks of my life. I've not been able to sleep or think straight with this nightmare hanging over me. "I've been a prisoner in my own home, constantly on edge thinking the Italian police were going to arrive to take me away. "You hear about miscarriages of justice and innocent men have been hanged for murders they did not commit. "They picked me out of millions of men in Europe.
 "I had dozens of alibi witnesses but as far as they were concerned I was guilty because the DNA said so. "I told the police who arrested me that I have never been to Italy and I could prove it but they just did not listen. "They marched me off and threw me in a cell overnight and then stuck me in a van for eight hours to take me to London. "I felt like I was trapped in some kind of crazy film and told myself this could not be happening to me." | 
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