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Case
Studies
UK’s highest profile police investigations
Shoreham Air Disaster
On August 22nd 2015 a vintage Hawker Hunter jet fighter, crashed during a display at the Shoreham Airshow, resulting in the deaths of eleven people and injuring sixteen others. The incident was the deadliest airshow disaster in the UK for more than 60 years and resulted in a series of new restrictions being applied to future vintage aircraft displays. The resulting enquiry by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch concluded that the incident was caused by pilot error.
Working with the Civil Aviation Authority and Sussex Police, FCS was tasked with making daily collections from mortuaries, transporting to the forensic laboratories, over a 4 week period.
7/7 Bombings
Perhaps the most infamous of any terrorist atrocity committed on British shores, the London Tube and bus bombings of the 7th July 2007 resulted in one of the most urgent and extensive enquiries in British police and intelligence services history.
Instructed by The Metropolitan Police, and trusted as the sole provider of forensic logistics for the case, FCS was required to collect a huge and diverse selection of exhibits from a central source and transport them to forensic laboratories as directed. FCS drivers were specifically selected for their seniority, their experience as former police officers and, most crucially, for satisfying ‘developed vetting’ criteria, as set by UK security services.
Stephen Lawrence
The tragic murder of Stephen Lawrence in April 1993 led to a legal process that spanned almost twenty years, taking in lengthy investigations, an inconclusive initial trial, a public enquiry, a cold case review and a subsequent trial that was eventually successful in securing the conviction of two of the original perpetrators.
Profoundly affecting public attitudes to racism and the police, with deep repercussions to British law and police practice, the case was instrumental in achieving a partial revocation of the double jeopardy laws in the UK and remains the highest profile, racially motivated killing in British history.
FCS was instructed by the Metropolitan Police to convey evidence from its London hub to a forensic laboratory for review. A requirement for transporting the evidence in sterile, secure conditions was specified and FCS was able to satisfy this need without question.
Jill Dando
On 26th April 1999, BBC newsreader and presenter, Jill Dando, was found fatally shot outside her home in London. Following intense media coverage, an investigation concluded a year later with the arrest of local man, Barry George. However, following his conviction in 2001, concerns about the case and the evidence presented became widespread. Two initial appeals were unsuccessful, but with the discovery that crucial forensic evidence had been withheld from the prosecution’s case, a third appeal, in November 2007, was successful and George’s conviction was eventually quashed in August 2008.
Following the first two appeals into the conviction, a Cold Case Review was commenced. The Metropolitan Police instructed FCS to collect exhibits and deliver to a specialist forensic laboratory for analysis of gun shot residue. It was this analysis that eventually led to the quashing of George’s conviction and the case remains unsolved to this day.
April Jones
Five year old April Jones disappeared on the 1st October 2012 following a sighting of her willingly climbing into a vehicle near her home in Powys, Wales. Although her body was never found, Mark Bridger, a local man known to April’s family, was convicted following the discovery of fragments and blood, consistent with April’s DNA, in several areas about his home.
In this instance, FCS was instructed to attend the crime scene in readiness to accept evidence direct from Crime Scenes Investigators and transport it direct to a forensic laboratory. FCS’s driver was required to wear a fully enclosing crime scene suit and convey the evidence in sterile conditions. The van was loaded and sealed by the CSI’s, unsealed and unloaded by laboratory staff on delivery. This process helped to ensure that cross contamination would not be a factor in the case and that continuity could be demonstrated and proven as required.
In the absence of a body, Bridger was convicted on the basis of forensic evidence alone and is currently serving a full life prison sentence.
Damilola Taylor
Whilst making his way home from the library on 27 November 2000, ten-year-old Damilola Taylor was involved in an altercation with several local youths and later died from a single stab wound to his thigh.
The case attracted widespread media attention and resulted in two trials and a subsequent retrial at The Old Bailey. On 9 August 2006, brothers Ricky and Danny Preddie were convicted of the manslaughter of Damilola Taylor and sentenced to eight years in youth custody.
Working with the Metropolitan Police and a leading forensic services provider, FCS was commissioned to collect exhibits from London police stations and deliver to laboratories for analysis.
Almost two decades on, and recently the subject of an award-winning BBC dramatisation, the sad case of Damilola Taylor remains clear in the public consciousness.
The War Graves Commission
Almost a century after its end, the First World War continues to give up the remains of soldiers killed on its great battlefields.
Most often found during agricultural or construction work, such discoveries are initially reported to the local police and, where nationality is known, the relevant country’s authority is informed. In the case of British and allied personnel, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is tasked with conducting research into the identity of such bodies and this often requires expert forensic analysis.
Under instruction from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, FCS has been required to collect genetic material from the sites of First World War battlefields in France and deliver to forensic laboratories in the UK.
Thanks to huge advances made in genetic fingerprinting, many remains that would otherwise have been reburied with identity unknown, have been compared to genetic samples provided by living family members, successfully identified and formally interred with full name, rank and regiment inscribed on the headstone. With the fate of long, lost combatants finally solved, families can take peace from the knowledge that their loved one’s grave has been marked, and will be caringly maintained, for centuries to come.
In addition to our work with First World War casualties, the repatriation of bodies from recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq has also required FCS’s involvement and we have worked closely with the Ministry of Defence, the Home Office and forensic service providers to fulfil this need.
Roberto Calvi
Dubbed by the press as God’s Banker due to his association with The Vatican, Roberto Calvi was found hanging from scaffolding beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London, in June 1982. Originally ruled as suicide, his death has long been a source of controversy and sensation, finally being ruled as murder after two further coroners’ inquests and an independent investigation. With speculation of both Mafia and Masonic involvement, the case attracted widespread interest from the world’s media and remained unsatisfactorily explained in the eyes of many.
Two decades after the incident, and following the exhumation of Calvi’s body, a German forensic team was instructed to conduct further analysis into the cause of death. As recognized experts in the field of transporting sensitive forensic material, FCS was commissioned to collect and deliver evidence to Munster University in Germany. Such evidence included tissue matter, clothing, scaffolding, rope and bricks found at the scene.
Despite exhaustive enquiries and the admission of new evidence, a subsequent murder trial held in Rome failed to produce any convictions and the case remains ‘unsolved’ to this day.
