Notorious murderer Dr Crippen could soon be exhumed from his prison grave as lawyers seek to prove his innocence with DNA evidence.

Efforts to dig up his remains have moved a step closer after prison authorities gave his family the green light for re-burial.

But they have been told they must first get permission from the relatives of three other killers whose bodies lie in unconsecrated graves next to his at Pentonville jail in London.

Now the Crippen lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano is appealing for help in tracing the other families.

And he says he is determined to get a pardon for the notorious poisoner thanks to DNA evidence from the murder scene.