Forensic Science Group

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Is The Forensic Evidence Really Is Beyond Reasonable Doubt?

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As providers of independent forensic advice and opinion for a number of years, we at Forensic Equity know that engaging a forensic expert to re-examine evidence on behalf of the defence is not always easy. There may be frequent delays in response from both the CPS and the police to requests for access to case notes and exhibits. It may take many phone calls and emails and a lot of perseverance on your part to get the required authority for your chosen expert to view crucial exhibits at a forensic laboratory and to look at the case notes and talk to the prosecution scientist who wrote them and provided a statement for the Crown. Meanwhile the clock is ticking towards the court date and courts are not always sympathetic to requests for postponements, even if the delays are not of the defence’s making.

We at Forensic Equity are here to help you cut through the red tape and ease the bottlenecks in gaining access to crucial forensic evidential material. We pride ourselves on knowing the system and the scientists and police officers within it. As forensic scientists we occupy a unique non- adversarial role, where we find that we often don’t encounter the same reticence that police officers or CPS officials may have to cooperating with the defence solicitor to expedite prompt access to those crucial exhibits. If you can get us those initial contact details of the CPS official and/or police officer dealing with your case then, with your written authority, we can do a lot of the necessary chasing for you, which could save substantial time in gaining access and leave you free to deal with other aspects of the case.

We also pride ourselves on being responsive and meeting tight deadlines wherever possible. So having gained access to the exhibits before that all important court date we would do our very best to produce our expert report in time too and keep you updated of our progress at regular intervals. So why not try out the services of our experts and we guarantee that you will never have second thoughts about commissioning that all important forensic defence review again.

About Forensic Equity and its Forensic Science Services Forensic Equity is one of the leading forensic science service providers in the UK, offering comprehensive forensic services of the highest quality to a wide range of clients, including defence solicitors and barristers, law enforcement agencies, the police and other government bodies. Our key aim is to make current, impartial, forensic expertise of the highest calibre accessible to all.

These forensic science services are provided by some of the leading forensic scientists in Europe, who bring their many years of forensic training, experience and knowledge together to offer the most current and credible forensic services available.

As leaders in their particular field, our forensic scientists enjoy international recognition for their work. All have provided forensic science consultancy and advice to government agencies, solicitors and private companies and are well versed in all aspects of the criminal and civil justice system.

Forensic Equity is a leading forensic services provider. Our internationally recognised forensic scientists provide superior principal forensic services to the defence and prosecution

We will invariably provide the forensic scientist best placed to report and provide expert witness comment on the forensic evidence type in your case; ensuring that the value of that evidence is explained in a clear and credible manner to ensure the best possible outcome.

Our team of forensic experts includes forensic scientists specialising in all of the mainstream forensic evidence types

Forensic evidence and the key role of the forensic scientist

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Forensic scientists have a very important role in the criminal process: from initial crime scene investigation to forensic laboratory analysis to providing expert forensic statements and culminating in their appearance in court as an expert witness. Forensic scientists do not just perform forensic analyses and report on the results. As expert witnesses they are allowed to provide opinion as well factual evidence in criminal cases. Interpretation of certain factual evidence and opinions relating to it may vary between forensic experts; which is where forensic defence experts come in to the equation. Many will be extremely experienced and long serving forensic scientists who can use their experience and expertise to re-examine the forensic evidence and peer review any statements from the Crown’s experts. Where appropriate, they can offer alternative forensic expert interpretation and opinion and appear in court as an expert witness for the defence.

Forensic science is divided into several disciplines and most forensic scientists who act as expert witnesses will usually specialise in one or two particular disciplines, which is what makes them ‘experts’ rather than just someone with a general knowledge of forensic science as a whole. These forensic disciplines include Forensic Biology and DNA, Forensic chemistry (which includes marks and traces), Forensic Drugs, Forensic Toxicology, Fingerprints, Firearms and ballistics and Road traffic accident investigation. In many serious criminal cases the trial may involve obtaining forensic evidence from forensic scientists in a whole range of forensic disciplines.

To get a better idea of the role of the forensic scientist let us consider a few case scenarios:

Example case – The crime scene of a violent assault/murder where the victim’s body is still at the scene.

At a crime scene of this nature there may be contact trace exchange, such as blood, DNA, hairs, fibres etc. between the victim and their assailant. This will involve a forensic biologist and necessitate forensic DNA analysis as well as fibre analysis, blood pattern analysis and should also include the examination of the victim’s and suspect’s clothing. All of this forensic evidence can then be interpreted by an expert forensic biologist.

There may be blood stains, smears and splashes, all of which if interpreted correctly by an experienced expert forensic biologist can indicate a possible scenario of what took place at the crime scene before and after the victims death.

There may be fingerprints to be lifted and examined by a fingerprint expert and shoeprints to be photographed and compared by a forensic chemistry expert to shoes found on the person or at the home of a suspected assailant.

It may be that it was suspected that the murder occurred after an argument fuelled by drugs and/or alcohol. Blood samples would then be taken at post mortem and sent to the forensic laboratory for forensic analysis for drugs and alcohol by a forensic toxicologist. The results of these analyses would then be interpreted by a forensic toxicology expert.

In a case of this type there could be several expert witness statements: from a forensic biologist, a forensic chemist, a fingerprint expert and a forensic toxicologist. The content of these statements may or may not be pulled together by an overarching statement from the %u2018lead forensic scientist’ in the case.

Example case – The crime scene of a large scale cannabis cultivation run by a serious organised crime group.

Drugs scenes of this nature are invariably ‘forensicated’ by police personnel (PCs and SOCOs – Scenes of Crime officers). Photographs are usually taken, cannabis plant samples are submitted to the forensic laboratory for forensic examination and forensic analysis and then usually the whole scene is dismantled and all the other cannabis plants are disposed of. This makes the job of a forensic drugs scientist quite problematic as they have to make their interpretation of the scene from photographs and the few sample cannabis plants submitted, with the rest of the forensic evidence having been destroyed.

The role of the forensic cannabis cultivation expert is to identify and analyse the cannabis plants submitted and, based on the photographs and police information about the crime scene to give opinions on the conditions under which the cannabis plants were grown and to estimate the potential yields of cannabis which could have been produced at the scene and ultimately sold. As the information available to the forensic drugs expert is limited, opinions of Crown and defence experts about potential yields can often vary and crucially depend on the levels of experience and expertise of the forensic experts involved. Cannabis cultivation on a large scale is usually a carefully controlled process as any deviation from optimum conditions could dramatically affect potential yields and the monetary value of a crop. It is important to assess plant yields properly as sentencing and asset seizure (under the proceeds of crime act) depend on crop value.

Established and experienced forensic drugs experts engaged by the defence may also be able to estimate crop values, based on their long-term knowledge of drugs markets and the different types of cannabis products sold in them. Original crop values are usually estimated by police ‘experts’.

Forensic Equity is a leading forensic science service provider, offering forensic scientists of the highest quality to a range of clients within the criminal justice system.

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