Expert Witness

After the body of a young Polish woman was discovered in the basement of a church in Glasgow, police observed an element of organisation and methodology behind the killing and became convinced the culprit had murdered before. They launched a huge operation to dig into the killer's life: where he had been living, what he had been doing, and which nearby crimes remained unsolved. Their investigation led them to two cold cases, but only evidence from expert witnesses could reveal if these were the work of the same killer.  The police enlisted the help of forensic scientists Jennifer Miller, Carol Rodgers and Peter Faulding - experts in a range of different disciplines, from bioarchaeology to forensic biology and ground-penetrating radar testing - to help them gather evidence. And despite the passage of time, the experts ensured that no piece of evidence was overlooked and that the truth was finally discovered.

A young schoolboy is mysteriously shot in the head while playing in the school yard, but who fired the gun and from where? Philip Boyce, a forensic ballistics expert, is called in to test-fire a number of different guns and reconstruct the injuries to find out who fired the gun.  A successful murder investigation isn’t always just about finding out who committed the crime. Police and prosecutors often have to prove the how and the why. When the body of a woman is found in a river in Wiltshire, the police turn to an expert in an unusual forensic discipline to help solve the crime. Paul Bagnall’s expertise in forensic handwriting identification helps prove intent and premeditation and decode the killer’s motives.

A food expert is brought in to explain what killed a healthy 38-year-old man, and an expert witness reconstructs the face of a murdered woman to help the police identify the victim.

After a 25-year-old woman goes missing in Bristol, the police launch a major missing-person enquiry. Soon after, the body of the young woman is discovered by dog walkers on Christmas Day, and the hunt becomes a major murder enquiry. As investigators can find no sign of forced entry to her flat, they conclude that her killer must be someone known to her. They turn to Kelly Sheridan, an expert in fibre analysis. Her first priority is to see if there are any foreign fibres on the victim’s clothes. The evidence she finds proves crucial in identifying and convicting the killer, who is not who the police thought. In Wales, a look at how the analysis of mobile phone data helped convict the men behind a brutal murder. Initially, the police thought they were investigating a violent burglary, but following the death of a young man, their investigation immediately turned into a murder inquiry. Expert witness Paul Hope then found texts on a phone that put friends of the victim in the frame.

Crime scene investigations are often thought of as being about the DNA left behind in traces of blood, hair or skin cells, but in the first story, it was the site itself, that provided the biggest clue to detectives. Police asked for help from Patricia Wiltshire, a forensic ecologist. The partner of the missing woman initially claimed he had killed her by mistake but couldn't remember where he had buried her body. Patricia was given access to his car and footwear, and was able to use her botany skills to pinpoint where the body of the missing woman was and help prove it was murder. And in Melsonby, a woman was found dead in the home she shared with her husband above a post office. Her husband claimed that she had been held hostage, but the time frame didn’t fit. The police asked Jo Millington, an expert in blood spatter analysis, for help. Jo showed that the direction of blood at the crime scene meant there may never have been a break in, and the husband was convicted of murder.

In our first story, a community reels in total shock when a doting grandmother is found murdered in her home. Detectives search for the killer and suspect it may be someone close to her. The suspect's DNA is found all over the crime scene, but that is easily explained because he lived until recently in the same house. So the police try another route. They approach Kelly Sheridan, an expert witness in fibre evidence, who uncovers a trail of fibres, unravelling the mystery and putting the killer in jail.

An expert witness uses soil analysis to find the body of a missing woman feared murdered, and a cell site expert uses his tracking skills to catch a killer in Northern Ireland.

When a young nurse disappears, a soil analyst helps find her body and solve the crime. A digital imaging expert proves that what was thought to be an accidental death was murder.

An expert in microscopic lifeforms helps solve the murder of a teenager, and a handwriting expert assists an old lady whose house has been sold without consent.

A blood spatter analyst unlocks the mystery of a woman murdered in her own car, and an expert witness uses a mobile phone to help detectives solve a baffling murder case.

Police turn to a footprint analyst and a pollen expert to help solve a murder in Manchester, and a soil expert unearths the evidence needed to arrest a gang of treasure thieves.

Blood spatter analysis helps identify the killer of a body found in a suitcase, and an expert helps in a serious case of financial fraud that cost some victims their life savings.

An expert in mobile phone technology tracks the movements of a murder suspect, and an expert in art fraud determines whether a very expensive painting is genuine or fake.

A dental expert helps police investigating the mysterious death of a teenage girl, and an autograph expert is brought in to help convict scammers selling fake celebrity signatures.

When a man kills four people and goes on the run, a handwriting analyst is brought in, and after a body is found, an expert in pollen links the suspects to the scene of the crime.