This can take the form of DNA from skin cells or bodily fluids, fingerprints or medical examination of the alleged victim. The Crown Prosecution Service will often obtain a report from a forensic expert for use in court to support the prosecution’s case. Defence solicitors should carefully scrutinise the content of any such report.
At PCD Solicitors we have immediate access to expert witnesses who will not only comment on the accuracy of the prosecution’s expert report, but can also undertake a separate, independent, analysis of any forensic evidence. The use of expert witnesses for the defence can provide a second opinion to check whether the prosecution evidence is as strong as is claimed.
Forensic investigatory work can also assist in the analysis of documentary evidence. For example, telephone records, credit card payments, shopping receipts, etc, may place the accused at a different location.
Many sexual offences involve information held on a computer, particularly photographic images and videos of children. A forensic computer expert can be used where the possession of the images is denied by the accused. At PCD Solicitors we are able to instruct a forensic expert who will be able to examine the computer data, including anything deleted, and comment on issues such as:
-
Can the user of the computer be identified?
-
Can the viewer of the images be identified?
-
Were active searches made to access the images?
-
What evidence is there that the images have actually been viewed?
-
Has there has been any deliberate editing or saving of the images?
-
Could the images have been stored as a result of an automated process?
-
Could the computer have been accessed remotely by a third party?
-
What type of file was used to store the images? For example, images stored on a temporary internet file folder are not easily retrievable to the user.