The Investigator

Transcription

The Investigator

Investigator
t he
April 2010
www.the-investigator.co.uk
C old Case
Rev iews
ESSENTIAL READING FOR TODAY’S INVESTIGATORS
Also inside this issue:
F o ll o w i ng
t h e D NA t r ai l
• Solving Soham • Carousel Fraud • Using Interpreters • News •
• Digital Forensics • Cold Case Rapist • Traffic Conference •
I N T E RV I E W I N G
VULN ERABLE
SUSPECTS
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BEST PRACTICE IN INVESTIGATIVE INTERVIEWING
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The Investigator magazine is holding a one-day conference to provide best
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Paying particular attention to the needs of vulnerable suspects during the
interview process is a vital aspect of the justice process and can be challenging
and problematic for even the most experienced investigators.
The conference will feature experts from forces, academia, the CPS and a
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thinking in this ever-changing and evolving area of major crime investigation.
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feature articles
Cold Case Review conference: All the latest best
practice and discussion from The Investigator’s Cold
Case Review conference.
Solving Soham: Former Cambridgeshire SIO Chris
Stevenson reveals how he led his team to solve the
murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
Lost in Translation: Research highlights need for
better use of interpreters in suspect interviews.
Self Administered Interviews: Scientists are working
on a project that could see witness accounts
collected in a way that protects against
contamination.
Digital Forensics conference: Conference reports
on all the latest advances in digital forensics.
COLD CASE
special report
exclusive
REVIEWS
8
23
29
33
42
interviewing
case notes
feature
that are available to them?
I NVESTIGATING
New approach
Dr Lorraine Hope (University of
Portsmouth) and Dr Fiona
Gabbert (University of Abertay)
have been working with several
UK police forces on a new
investigative tool called Self-Administered
Interviewing (SAI).
CONFERENCE
25 M ARCH 2010
Wyboston Lakes - Willows Centre, Bedfordshire.
Conference sponsor
Investigator Cold Case Reviews Conference
I
nvestigations into cold cases are becoming more
common as forensic techniques evolve. Cold
cases pose unique challenges to detectives, with
various issues ranging from the integrity of
evidence to victim care. The Investigator held a
conference on 25 March, for detectives and
forensic experts to discuss some of the challenges
and share their experiences of investigating cold
cases.
There has been a national push for police forces to
re-investigate cold cases due to advanced forensic
techniques providing new leads, and this has led to
over 150 successful prosecutions. The area is
fraught with difficulties and there is a vast amount
of good practice to share among forces. Opening
the conference, Cathy Turner of the Forensic
Science Service (FSS) said that it was essential that
forces shared experiences so that they could learn
from each other.
Operation Stealth – the national response to Cold
Case Homicide Review
Geoff White is the Home Office lead on Operation
Stealth, the national cold case review project for
homicides. This project is an ACPO and Home Office
Also in this issue:
6: News
17: Cold Case Rapist
20: CCTV Conference
08
April 2010
initiative to financially support the forensic review
of historic undetected homicides.
“The drivers for this are
providing an equality of service
for victims, the continued
exploitation of the latest
scientific techniques and a
mainstreaming of policy on
historic crime,” said Mr White.
Successful cases also demonstrate the use of the
National DNA database (NDNAD) - a resource that
has recently been under threat.
“The more we can show successes in solving cold
cases, the stronger the argument for retaining the
NDNAD.”
The benefits of the project have included the reinvestigation of undetected homicide, the increase
of public confidence, justice and closure for victims,
development and dissemination of best practice,
provision of objective advice to police forces and
the identification of possible suspects.
Solvi ng the
So h a m M urd e r s
T
he murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells
brought a widespread show of public emotion
when they went missing and were subsequently
found murdered eight years ago. The SIO in the
case Chris Stevenson gave a recent presentation at
Birmingham City University about the key
elements of the investigation. Carol Jenkins report.
The SIO who headed The Soham inquiry has urged
investigators to make effective use of the ‘golden
hour’ in suspected murders in order to solve crimes
quicker.
Chris Stevenson told a recent seminar held at
Birmingham City University for students and also
detectives from West Midlands Police that those
first few moments when Holly Wells and Jessica
Chapman went missing were crucial.
“If we could have used the golden hour more
effectively then we could have solved the murders
Lost in Translation
in a shorter time,” he told delegates.
“Use of the golden hour is crucial. Hindsight is a
valuable thing.”
A former Detective Chief Superintendent for
Cambridgeshire Constabulary with 30 years
experience within the Police Service, Chris
Stevenson’s career has involved numerous
homicide and major crime enquiries throughout
Cambridgeshire.
He spoke about how the murder of the two Soham
ten-year-olds by caretaker Ian Huntley that was
codenamed Operation Fincham marked a
“watershed in criminal investigation.”
“The imprisonment of Huntley sent out a powerful
message that society will not tolerate crimes of this
nature. Successful prosecution is as good a
deterrent as any police officer walking the streets,”
he said.
April 2010
23
A
research project by a Gwent officer into the
use of interpreters in suspect interviews
revealed forces need to provide better training for
investigators in this area. Saskia Welman reports.
He looked into guidance available and found that
other than a few short paragraphs on in PACE, there
was none for detectives - despite the fact that using
interpreters does create many challenging issues.
The UK is increasingly becoming more diverse
which places more importance on the use of
interpreters in suspect interview.
“If a detective is not thoroughly sure of what he or
she is doing, this is one of the biggest areas which
you can fail on.”
DS Martin Vaughan of Gwent police began to look
at the issues around the use of interpreters during
interviews and found little support for investigators
in this area.
DS Vaughan is an ACPO-approved interview advisor
and has spent 24 of his 27 years’ service in CID. He
now works in crime training.
Operation Compass
The issue came to the fore for DS Vaughan when he
was involved in a major crime case for Gwent Police,
called Operation Compass. This involved a large
scale criminal gang, and had many suspects that
were Vietnamese nationals. The case involved 22
suspects and 364 suspect interviews, with seven
interpreters used.
“Interviewing with interpreters is essential in many
investigations, but it is an area which I believe from
a training background, we did not pay much
attention to,” said DS Vaughan.
“But we did not know how to deal with them, there
were so many issues.” The situation inspired the
officer to write a dissertation for an education
degree on the subject. He looked at the training
April 2010
29
The idea for the tool followed discussions with
police officers, in which they acknowledged that
although cognitive interviewing did produce better
results, it was not always viable for every criminal
incident.
Total Recall
This was particularly the case when an incident
occurred in a public place, leading to police having
to deal with a large number of witnesses, with no
real idea which ones could provide the most
accurate and helpful information. Conducting
cognitive interviewing on every witness at this
stage is not an option, as it is unlikely there will be
enough resources available.
"A full interview of all witnesses is just not practical
in every situation - but SAIs can help police to get
the best information possible from witnesses at the
cientists are working on a project that could see earliest stage and then prioritise the interviewing of
witness accounts collected in a way that
witnesses who have the most information relevant
reduces forgetting and protects against
to the investigation," said Dr Hope.
contamination while helping forces short on
resources. Saskia Welman reports.
Taking detailed accounts at such an early stage is
imperative, to minimise forgetting and protect
S
Interviewing witnesses is instrumental to an
effective criminal investigation, and it is essential
that police use the best techniques possible to
retrieve as much accurate information as possible
from any identified witnesses.
Although cognitive interviewing is a very effective
way of achieving this, it is heavily time-intensive and
needs a high level of training - not something that is
always possible at the start of an investigation. So
what can be done to allow investigation teams to
get the most out of a witness with the resources
against contamination. One problem that police
face after a public criminal incident is that there will
be exposure to media accounts and other witness
stories.
"Witnesses will visit social networking sites and
discuss what has happened, or they will watch
reports on the news, and it will contaminate their
account," said Dr Hope.
When witnesses begin to re-tell their story, or hear
other people's accounts, it is inevitable that details
April 2010
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37: Carousel Fraud
40: Interviewing Technology
46: Traffic Conference Review
April 2010
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the investigator
From the
editor
EDITORIAL
Editor: Carol Jenkins
Tel: +44 (0) 844 660 8707
[email protected]
SENIOR REPORTER
Saskia Welman
Tel: 0844 660 8707
[email protected]
FORENSICS
Daniel Dexter
Tel: 0844 660 8707
[email protected]
HONORARY CONSULTANT
Gary Shaw
Tel: 0844 660 8707
CONTRIBUTOR
Doreen Porter
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[email protected]
COMMERCIAL MANAGER
Dale Hazell
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CONFERENCES
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Our recent cold case review conference highlighted the tremendous
energy and commitment from forces around the country to tackling
unsolved crimes.
Delegates representing forces from Lothian and Borders in Scotland
right down to Sussex in the South of England attended the event to pick
up best practice and discuss the latest developments in this exciting
and evolving area of policing.
I found the day particularly enlightening and was interested to hear
from Home Office lead Geoff White talk about the potential for national
funding that exists for cold case projects that forces might not be
aware of. Geoff revealed that 90 per cent of funding applications were
successful and that further funding for the coming year was now
secured. He urged forces to get in touch with their bids.
Presentations on advances in familiar searching; the Lesley Molseed
cold case review as well as the work of South Yorkshire Cold Case
Review team provided stimulating food for thought.
One of the most valuable areas was the input from Duncan McGarry and
Kevin Smith from the NPIA looking at the area of victims and witnesses.
It is clear that the main benefits of solving cold cases is to provide
justice for victims and witnesses.
However, they both raised a number of issues relating to the
sensitivities around dredging up previous crimes when many victims and
witnesses might have moved on with their lives and tried to put the
trauma behind them.
They both emphasised the importance of putting in place sound
strategies relating to victim and witness care and urged officers to think
carefully about how they would make the initial approach to families
and how this would be followed up with long term care. It is vital that
all this good work is not undermined by a lack of regard for victims and
witnesses particularly as they often hold the key to tackling unsolved
crimes of the past.
Carol Jenkins
April 2010
05
5
news
Longest
serving CID head retires
A
fter 36 years in the police service with 25 of
these spent in CID, Ian Scott the head of
Durham CID is retiring.
Det Chief Supt Scott has been head of CID for nine
years and has also been the ACPO lead on facial
identification. He has championed the importance
of facial identification as a forensic discipline and as
a result the national practice guidance that he
helped write has now been adopted by the NPIA.
The facial identification portfolio will now be
headed by West Midlands Police Chief Constable
Chris Simms who is also ACPO head of forensic
matters.
He is well placed to take on such a role after
investigating infant deaths, managing child
protection teams as well as being the force lead on
protecting the public from registered sex offenders.
“I am
passionate
about this
work and am
looking
forward to
working with
other
agencies to
Det Chief Supt Ian Scott
help make a
Det Chief Supt Scott is proud of his achievements
difference. I’ll still be liaising with police and
on the national stage as the ACPO lead on facial
agencies such as social services. We are lucky in that
identification and welcomes the news that the work we have very effective partnership working in the
will now be championed at chief officer level.
county,” he said.
“This is excellent news, as chief officer support is
essential in progressing the investigative potential
of this line of inquiry.”
Det Chief Supt Scott is now taking up a new
challenge working with Durham Safeguarding
Children’s Board. This will involve working with local
partnerships to protect children from sexual and
physical abuse as well as nurturing their safe
development into adulthood.
06
April 2010
“What we need to be doing is prioritising the
business around where the risks are and in that
regard you must be intelligence led.”
He explained that both prevention and the reactive
element were equally important aspects of the
work of the board. The boards were set up
following the Lord Laming report into the death of
Victoria Climbie.
Looking back over his career, Det Chief Supt Scott
news
said: “Policing has been my life for the past 36 years
and I have met many good friends over the years. I
even met my wife through the job as she was a
police woman.”
Det Chief Supt Scott also has the accolade of
solving every one of the homicides he has
investigated since 1985. He has investigated an
array of cases ranging from parents who murdered
their children to children who murdered their
parents.
“Every case has involved something different or has
been a challenge,” he said.
He has seen the investigation of homicide change
significantly over the past 25 years with a renewed
emphasis on continued professional development
and mentorship of SIOs.
“When I first started, you picked up knowledge
from your peers and built up experience on the job
but now we have the PIP programme which
requires detectives to go through a training regime
and produce evidence in a portfolio you
demonstrate your competence.”
One development he has criticised is the increase in
‘fly on the wall’ documentaries that reveal policing
techniques to the public.
“There have always been challenges around the use
of policing techniques such as covert disciplines and
the use of informants that I think should be
guarded and not broadcast in ‘fly on the wall’
techniques. We are now so open that everybody
knows what we can do,” he explained.
“There are certain things that should be for police
eyes only – I have never entertained fly on the wall
documentaries on my watch.”
Despite going onto a new challenge, he admits he
won’t be going geographically far from his current
office as his new office is based some 800 yards
away!
April Issue
Competition winners
1st Prize
Apple iPod Nano
8GB with camera
Michael Daly
Merseyside Police
3 x 2nd Prizes
Handbook on Crime
Jenny Hunt
Essex Police
Neil Stanton
North Yorkshire
Police
Sally Nicholls
West Mercia Constabulary
THE COMPETITION ANSWER
Q. The fictional detective Hercule
Poirot is from which country?
A. Belgium
April 2010
07
COLD CASE
e x c lusive
REVIEWS
I NVESTIGATING
CONFERENCE
25 M ARCH 2010
Wyboston Lakes - Willows Centre, Bedfordshire.
Conference sponsor
Investigator Cold Case Reviews Conference
I
nvestigations into cold cases are becoming more
common as forensic techniques evolve. Cold
cases pose unique challenges to detectives, with
various issues ranging from the integrity of
evidence to victim care. The Investigator held a
conference on 25 March, for detectives and
forensic experts to discuss some of the challenges
and share their experiences of investigating cold
cases.
There has been a national push for police forces to
re-investigate cold cases due to advanced forensic
techniques providing new leads, and this has led to
over 150 successful prosecutions. The area is
fraught with difficulties and there is a vast amount
of good practice to share among forces. Opening
the conference, Cathy Turner of the Forensic
Science Service (FSS) said that it was essential that
forces shared experiences so that they could learn
from each other.
Operation Stealth – the national response to Cold
Case Homicide Review
Geoff White is the Home Office lead on Operation
Stealth, the national cold case review project for
homicides. This project is an ACPO and Home Office
08
April 2010
initiative to financially support the forensic review
of historic undetected homicides.
“The drivers for this are
providing an equality of service
for victims, the continued
exploitation of the latest
scientific techniques and a
mainstreaming of policy on
historic crime,” said Mr White.
Successful cases also demonstrate the use of the
National DNA database (NDNAD) - a resource that
has recently been under threat.
“The more we can show successes in solving cold
cases, the stronger the argument for retaining the
NDNAD.”
The benefits of the project have included the reinvestigation of undetected homicide, the increase
of public confidence, justice and closure for victims,
development and dissemination of best practice,
provision of objective advice to police forces and
the identification of possible suspects.
Operation Stealth supports 50 cases across 20
forces, including some high profile cases, and some
that involve double jeopardy.
Mr White said that there are many challenges for
detectives and scientists investigating cold cases.
“There is often a challenge around the scientific
techniques used, particularly around the use of LCN
(low copy number) DNA.”
However, a recent Court of Appeal ruling stated
that a challenge on the validity of this technique
should no longer be permissible in court.
Homicide cold cases have also been helped by
advances in familial DNA and DNA boost.
“DNA boost is a way to interpret mixed profiles
where there is no known donor or it is too complex
to interpret via normal means.”
The original Operation Stealth was reactive only,
whereas Operation Stealth 2 has taken a more
proactive approach. This will use the Homicide
Index 1985-1999 to have a preliminary look at
undetected homicides. This time period has been
chosen as 1985 is when the FSS began to keep
incremental electronic records, and 1999 saw the
advent of LCN.
“After 1999, all murders should have been afforded
all the scientific opportunities available today.”
Stealth 2 focused on over 600 cases where no
suspect had ever been charged and looked for
forensic potential. One hundred cases were sent to
the FSS for documentary review. Forces can also bid
for funding to review an appropriate case. Mr White
said that there is still financial help available.
“By March 2012 a significant amount of these
undetected cases should have received some level
of scrutiny.”
Advances in familial searching
The technique of familial searching is a relatively
new one, and has made significant progress in the
last few years.
exclusive
The technique is regularly used in cold case
investigation.
Kate Jones, Acting Team Leader for the Forensic
Intelligence Bureau, spoke to delegates about the
advancements in Familial searching and its uses.
“This technique can be used to trace a suspect but
also to generate intelligence. The goal is to provide
added value: if a crime scene has yielded a good
DNA profile but there is no suspect, we can start a
match process.”
Familial DNA works by matching DNA profiles on
the NDNAD with the suspect profile. Although
strangers are likely to share up to six or seven
strands of DNA, sibling are likely to share 13 or 14.
Studies show that family dispersion is connected
with levels of education and income, and criminality
often runs in families. This means that it is not
unusual for there to be a family member on the
NDNAD.
Although familial searching on the NDNAD can yield
a large amount of potential family members - often
too many to investigate - when a likelihood ratio is
applied to it the number becomes manageable.
“By the process of elimination we can make the list
much smaller, by ranking the “most interesting”
potentials.”
Parameters that can be added to the likelihood
ratio include age, ethnic appearance and
geography.
Results have shown that by using the basic
likelihood ratio, 77 per cent of siblings found on the
NDNAD were in the top 50 matches.
“With added criteria and techniques, 100 per cent
were in the top 50 - with 92 per cent in the top ten,”
said Ms Jones.
April 2010
09
collaboration
asked for police records of the
investigation.
Detective Chief
Other techniques
Superintendent Max McLean,
for familial searching use the head of CID for West
actual science of DNA,
Yorkshire, was
including the presence of the
involved in the case.
YSTR gene - a strand of DNA that
is passed unchanged from male to
He admits that it was
male. Similarly, the mitochondrial strand
challenging from the outset, due to the length of
is passed down unchanged on the
time passing since the murder, and due to the two
maternal side. Searching on these DNA types can
previous investigations.
quickly and conclusively eliminate a large amount of
people and shorten any list produced.
“Much of the original evidence had been destroyed,
as the team believed they had successfully
The technique has been successfully used in
prosecuted the killer,” he said.
Operation Kanah - an investigation into a series of
rapes over a nine year period. Semen recovered
“On top of this, the family had completely lost
linked the crimes - but there was no match on the
confidence in the police after two investigations
NDNAD. Familial searching was conducted within
that did not see justice done, and actually had
some parameters, including using the YSTR gene. In approached the police as they intended to launch a
January 2008, the search was re-run and the most
private prosecution against someone they
interesting matches picked.
suspected.”
“After further research, police identified the
suspect after a match with his son’s DNA. He was
subsequently charged with rape, kidnap and
attempted murder,” said Ms Jones.
Solving the Lesley Molseed
murder
Eleven-year-old Lesley Ann
Molseed was found murdered
in October 1975, and shortly
afterward a man was arrested
and successfully prosecuted for
the crime.
Lesley Molseed
However, in 1992, he was exonerated of his crime
after it was proved that he could not have medically
provided the semen that was found on Lesley’s
body, and the case was re-opened.
When this second investigation also failed, the case
was laid to rest until 1999, when West Yorkshire
Police was approached by the Molseed family, who
The 1975 investigation had seen Stefan Kiszko
emerge as a suspect after it was alleged that he had
indecently exposed himself to girls in the area
where Lesley had disappeared. He then made a
voluntary statement to the police, admitting to the
murder. After a 14-day trial he was found guilty and
sentenced to life imprisonment.
“In 1978, he appealed but it was rejected. But in
1992 he was able to prove that he was not able to
medically produce semen at the time of the murder
- but samples taken from the body had contained
semen which was believed to be from the killer.”
In 1992, another man, Raymond Hewlett, was
brought to the attention of the police as a suspect.
A convicted paedophile, he had been a suspect in
the original 1975 investigation, but when a file was
submitted to the DPP, the case was rejected due to
insufficient evidence.
The FSS became involved in the 1999 investigation
April 2010
11
c o l l aboration
to attempt to find new leads.
Cathy Turner said that the first move was to
examine the FSS National Archive to see what
material from the case had been retained.
“The archive is a rich source of materials, with
microscope slides, DNA extracts, fabrics, fibre lists,
original exhibits and case files. In this case, it initially
looked like we had a large amount of information,
but on further examination we had very little,” said
Ms Turner.
Semen had been found on the body but no slides
had been retained; however one fibre taping from
Lesley’s underwear remained at the FSS.
“An idea was borne that perhaps we may be able to
recreate a DNA profile from any traces of semen
that were on the taping, without damaging the
sample.”
contamination of the sample could have occurred,
which included tracing and interviewing the initial
scientists that worked on the 1975 investigation.
Det Chief Supt McLean said that at this point, the
police priority was to locate all prime suspects, as
well as witnesses.
“We also had to establish the forensic integrity
from a police angle, and create an inventory of all
original paperwork from the case.”
Cognitive interviews were used on the original
witnesses to make the most of their memory of
events.
As there was no match on the NDNAD, a familial
searching process was undertaken to trace the
offender, as well as suspects generated from MO
coding.
In November 2006, a man was swabbed after his
arrest for attempted rape of a prostitute. His DNA
was a match for the killer of Lesley.
After many careful experiments, the decision was
taken to try and recreate the profile - a risk as the
experiment itself would destroy the taping. The first Ronald Castree had been 21 at the time of Lesley’s
slide found sperm heads on the taping and SGM+
rape and murder. He denied all knowledge of her
was used to find the DNA.
and her family, but had previous convictions for
indecent assault and gross indecency.
“We now had a complete profile from the semen - a
fantastic result - but we now had to make sure that Castree claimed that he was being set up or that the
it was a relevant profile by proving where we had
sample had been contaminated, but due to the
created it from.”
work previously undertaken, this was not a
legitimate line of defence.
Delicate work was then undertaken to ask the
family some very difficult questions about whether
“The prosecution focused on proving the forensic
Lesley’s underwear could have had semen on it for
integrity, and it was not a problem in court.”
any other reason than her murderer raping her.
Castree was found guilty of his crime in October
“Family liaison was so important at this point as the 2007, finally seeing justice for Lesley.
questions were quite upsetting, including asking
whether there was any possibility of sexual abuse in Team work in South Yorkshire
the family or by close friends,” said Ms Turner.
Detective Superintendent Richard
Fewkes from South Yorkshire
Any person that could have been an abuser was
Police works with the force’s cold
swabbed to eliminate them from further inquiries.
case review team. He told
The scientists also had to ensure that no
delegates that the force had decided to
12
April 2010
look at sexual offence cases that had occurred
between 1974 - the formation of the force - and
1989. The team works closely with the CPS and the
FSS to decide which cases to re-open.
The team visits the FSS archive
to examine the cases during this
time period. An initial police
review weeds out any cases that
have since been detected or
disproved, before the remaining
ones are given to the FSS for an
initial scientific review.
After this a joint agency review, including a senior
scientist, CPS, SIO, scientific support and police
team supervisor, makes a decision about the
viability of the cases from all angles.
“If we decide to proceed then an examination is
done of materials and hopefully a DNA profile is
recovered,” said Det Supt Fewkes.
The victim is not approached until a profile is found,
but occasionally a victim approaches the team
directly asking for their case to be re-examined.
Sue Steeples is a Crown Advocate and cold case
lead for South Yorkshire CPS. She works with the
team to make charging decisions.
“It is so beneficial to work together like this as I can
give early advice on decisions and work closely with
the police at every step,” she said.
Some of the difficulties with prosecuting these
cases include acceptance of the science, if any of
the witnesses are deceased or untraceable, and
abuse of process arguments. Discrepancies
between old and new statements and continuity
can also cause problems.
Detective Sergeant Ian Harding told delegates
about the investigation into the rape of Joan Wright
in 1991. Joan Wright has severe learning difficulties
and physical disabilities as a result of athetoid
cerebral palsy.
collaboration
She was raped after a stranger entered her home
after trying to sell furniture to her. She was so
severely injured in the attack that she nearly died and immediate and necessary surgery meant that
much forensic evidence was destroyed.
“However, blood-soaked swabs were retained,”
said DS Harding.
The investigation team knew that travellers had
been involved but had no evidence to suggest a
suspect.
In a cold case review, DNA profile was able to be
taken from semen found on the swabs from Mrs
Wright.
“A hit was found in Cambridgeshire in 2005 after a
man calling himself Dan O’Brien was arrested but
not charged. There was also no photograph of the
man.”
A further match was found for another arrest - this
time of a man calling himself Jeremy Sheridan.
“It was the same man and the Sheridan family had
been questioned after the original attack, so we
had a lead but it was still challenging.”
The team looked for official ID for the man, and
found a passport and driving license in the name of
Jeremiah Sheridan. The photo was shown to
officers in Cambridgeshire who confirmed this was
the man they had arrested. The team spent 12
months covertly looking for Sheridan before
turning overt and going to Crimewatch.
“He was eventually arrested at Heathrow and was
found guilty of the offence in September 2009. He
was sentenced to 16 and a half years.”
Role of family liaison
Family liaison is important in
any investigation, but is a
particular challenge in cold
cases. Duncan McGarry is the National Police Family
Liaison Advisor for the NPIA.
April 2010
13
c o n ference
Operation Sumac
Learning lessons from
the Ipswich Murders
A ONE DAY CONFERENCE
19 May 2010
We st M i d l a n d s P o l i c e L ea r n i n g a n d
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w w w. t h e - i n ve st i gat o r . c o . u k
He said that it is vital for officers working with a
victim and family to fully understand the issues that
will be raised if a case is re-launched.
“Consideration must be given to how a family is
approached and when,” he said.
Teams must be sure that they have a chance of
providing some good evidence, so as not to put an
individual through a re-investigation for it to fail.
“You must ask, is it proportionate to put them
through this? Is there a pressing need? Is there as
risk to society?”
An FLO is essential to a cold case as the victim and
the family have to be asked to relive a traumatic
experience from their past, and need a large
amount of support through the process. Media
attention is also high with a cold case, and it is
essential that the FLO is able to have a good
relationship with the family to protect them and
keep them updated with the latest news, before
the press does.
Family liaison within the police has changed
dramatically in the last 15 years as the focus has
changed to be more on public satisfaction and
confidence. The nature of families themselves has
also changed, often with more fractures. A good
relationship between the FLO and the family can
lead to some hidden truths emerging, and a deeper
level of honesty.
“A good FLO may find something out that the
victims and family themselves did not realise was
significant - they can listen to family dynamics and
release previously unknown information,” said Mr
McGarry.
Victim and witnesses strategies
Dr Kevin Smith is the National Vulnerable Witness
and Intermediaries Coordinator for the NPIA. He
said that interview strategies for witnesses and
victims in a cold case are essential to a good result.
“You must consider specific strategies depending
on the circumstances of the case,” he said.
collaboration
It must also be considered
how to categorise witnesses
and how the initial contact
should be made.
Methods for coordinating interviews and the
resources necessary must also be taken into
account.
The issue of vulnerable witnesses and victims is of
paramount importance.
“Also consider whether situations have changed
since the initial crime - have any witnesses become
vulnerable that would previously not have been
categorised as such?”
Detectives and interviewers should think carefully
how to prioritise interviews - taking into account
shifting allegiances and the complexities of familial
relationships.
“Conduct witness assessments, seek advice and
consult and consider whether interviews should be
recorded, and how,” said Dr Smith.
When planning an interview for a cold case,
detectives should fully review the case, looking at
the volume of information already gathered and
thinking about any practices that were common to
the time which may affect the way the witness or
victim feels about the new interview process.
“Also ensure that the information that you have on
the victims and witnesses is current - the person
you have before you could be very different from
the person that was previously interviewed.”
Careful consideration should be given to whether a
witness or victim is reluctant, and whether a
strategy for this should be put into place.
April 2010
15
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April 2010
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s p eccai a
ptoerst
s le rneo
Catching the cold case rapist
W
hen a man suspected of
distributing child abuse
images had his DNA added to the
national database, it matched
against DNA taken from a 13year-old victim of rape which
happened in 2002. The Cold Case
Review Team at Lancashire
Constabulary investigated the
case. Saskia Welman reports.
During an investigation by the
Child Exploitation and Online
Protection (CEOP) centre and
several US agencies, Delwyn
Savigar was identified as the key
administrator of an online group. This group
allowed members from across the world to share
child abuse images.
Following this intelligence, Savigar was arrested by
Lancashire Constabulary in September 2008. While
in custody for this initial offence, the defendant’s
DNA was taken and loaded onto the National DNA
Database.
Delwyn Savigar DNA profile was obtained, but
at the time, no match was
found on the database.
“In fact Savigar had never
previously come to police
attention until his arrest in
2008,” said DI Foster.
Savigar was re-arrested on 16
October 2008 by South Ribble
CID officers and charged with
rape.
The investigation begins
After Savigar had been
identified as being responsible for the rape in 2002,
the investigation team was concerned that this was
not his first - or last -assault, particularly due to the
fact that he was only 27 years old at the time of the
rape.
A decision was made to look at other offences in
the area, to see whether he could have been
responsible for other attacks.
Several weeks later, officers from Lancashire’s
criminal investigation department were informed of
a DNA match with Savigar. The DNA that had been
on the database was in relation to an unsolved rape
of a 13-year-old schoolgirl in Lancashire 2002.
“Psychologists would say it is unlikely that an
individual would just go out and commit a single
rape offence and then not do anything else. It was
likely that he had offended before or since, if not
both,” said DI Foster.
Due to the age of the case, the investigation was
passed to Lancashire’s Cold Case team, which is
made up of one detective inspector, one detective
sergeant and four detective constables, as well as a
full time researcher. Detective Inspector Bev Foster
worked on the case.
The team looked at information as far back as 1999
and up to Savigar‘s arrest in 2008.
“The victim had been walking alone in a quiet area
when she was approached and forced down some
steps before being raped,” said DI Foster.
A force analyst looked at all the offences in that
time - and initially there were hundreds. Each
offence was looked at in detail and matched against
the description of the man and his modus operandi.
After several weeks of analysing the data, the list of
attacks that he was possibly responsible for was
whittled down to 58.
The assault was reported to the police and a full
Further examination of each of these 58 offences
April 2010
17
s p e cial rep ort
led to even more being ruled out, with an eventual
figure of 11 potentials.
were no longer
retrievable.
“To get to this figure we got in touch with the
investigating officers at the time for more
information. Obviously there was no forensic
evidence for any of these cases or they would have
matched against his DNA, so we had to rely on
descriptions,” said DI Foster.
“Not every
force is able to
store all of
these things as
well as they
should do. Ours
were not
stored, so we
had to
approach the
victims and
send trained
officers to speak to them, because obviously there
was a sensitivity in that after ten years, they had
rebuilt their lives as much as they could and you
have to then ask them to bring it all up again, and
that is hard.”
The victims of these 11 offences were approached
by the Cold Case team, and asked if they would be
prepared to attend an identification parade.
Although one victim declined, ten agreed, and out
of that ten, three picked Savigar out of the parade.
Charging and interview
Savigar was charged with four offences, but at
interview he denied any involvement with these
cases.
Although he had admitted the rape and the being
involved in the online child abuse images group, he
claimed that he had nothing to do with the four
other offences.
“During interview he had admitted the first offence
and talked about it. However, he knew there was
no forensic evidence for the further offences and
therefore he tried to deny all knowledge,” said DI
Foster.
Challenges and lessons learnt
One of the challenges for this case was the
timescales that the team had to work to.
“We had an extremely tight schedule because
Savigar was going to court for the original child
abuse images case and the rape, so we had to get
our case done quickly to try and get it all in
together,” said DI Foster.
A major challenge was in locating investigation files
from cases that had been looked at many years
previously. It was found that quite often reports
and records had been filed and after several years
18
April 2010
The team used Family Liaison Officers (FLOs) to
ease the process of dealing with victims as much as
possible, and this proved to be a success.
Because of the lack of original files, the victims also
had to be interviewed again, as the investigations
were started anew. It was essential that throughout
this process, the victims were updated and
supported. For this reason, the team used the
services of advisors from the local sexual assault
forensic examination (SAFE) centre.
“It was important to keep linking in with the victims
and making sure that they were on board and
letting them know what was going on during the
investigation,” said DI Foster.
“So we used advisors from the SAFE centre. These
centres are based all around the country and we
found it key to keeping the victims supported.”
The advisors are trained counsellors, and
accompanied the police when they visited the
victims and were able to talk to the victims and
offer them support. DI Foster would recommend
other forces use this service, as working in
partnership with SAFE advisors led to the victims
feeling secure and supported, and has led to some
great feedback for the force.
“As police, we are very focused on the investigation
and getting perpetrators caught and hopefully sent
to prison. We are not trained counsellors and there
are other people who can take that on an provide a
really good service to the victim.
Forces need to recognise that police cannot do
everything, there are other agencies that are
trained to do other jobs and we should make use of
the resources like this that are available to us and
the victims.”
DI Foster said that being open-minded is also
important - bearing in mind that just because an
offender has been linked to one crime does not
mean that they have not committed others.
s p eccai a
ptoerst
s le rneo
“We must be aware that just because someone has
committed one type of offence does not mean that
they are not capable of committing others - there
are always other avenues to investigate.”
The trial
At trial, Savigar pleaded guilty to two sex
attacks on young girls dating back more than
ten years. He admitted an attempted rape
and an indecent assault during the course of
the trial at Preston Crown Court.
He will be sentenced at Preston Crown Court
on 30 April 2010, where he will also be
sentenced for the original rape and
distributing and possessing indecent images
of children.
PNC Training
PNC (Police National Computer) Training is offered to Police Forces
and other organisations that have PNC Access.
Training is delivered at the client site although a mobile classroom.
All training is carried out by accredited NPIA trainers who have the
appropriate security clearance.
Stan da rd Co urs es :
• 5 Day - Vehicles, Property and Names Enquiry Course • 4 Day - Vehicles and Names Enquiry Course
• 2 Day - Vehicles and Property Course • 3 Day - Names Enquiry Course
For a free consultation on your PNC training contact us on: 07811
982022 or email: [email protected] www.pnctraining.co.uk
April 2010
19
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28 APRIL 2010
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World-leading experts from police forces, academia and industry will
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This is a ‘must attend’ conference for all investigators looking for
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Speakers include:
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Professor Martin Gill – author of Home Office research on CCTV
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Ray Evans, Facial Identification expert, University of Manchester
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Further speakers to be announced
Booking instructions
Email the delegate/s names, contact details and invoice
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Book by phone Tel: 0844 660 8707
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22
April 2010
special report
Solvi ng the
So h a m M urd e r s
T
he murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells
brought a widespread show of public emotion
when they went missing and were subsequently
found murdered eight years ago. The SIO in the
case Chris Stevenson gave a recent presentation at
Birmingham City University about the key
elements of the investigation. Carol Jenkins report.
The SIO who headed The Soham inquiry has urged
investigators to make effective use of the ‘golden
hour’ in suspected murders in order to solve crimes
quicker.
Chris Stevenson told a recent seminar held at
Birmingham City University for students and also
detectives from West Midlands Police that those
first few moments when Holly Wells and Jessica
Chapman went missing were crucial.
“If we could have used the golden hour more
effectively then we could have solved the murders
in a shorter time,” he told delegates.
“Use of the golden hour is crucial. Hindsight is a
valuable thing.”
A former Detective Chief Superintendent for
Cambridgeshire Constabulary with 30 years
experience within the Police Service, Chris
Stevenson’s career has involved numerous
homicide and major crime enquiries throughout
Cambridgeshire.
He spoke about how the murder of the two Soham
ten-year-olds by caretaker Ian Huntley that was
codenamed Operation Fincham marked a
“watershed in criminal investigation.”
“The imprisonment of Huntley sent out a powerful
message that society will not tolerate crimes of this
nature. Successful prosecution is as good a
deterrent as any police officer walking the streets,”
he said.
April 2010
23
s p e cial rep ort
He recounted to the audience the circumstances
surrounding the disappearance of Holly and Jessica
that is now well documented in the press.
Shortly before the murders on 4 August 2002 at
around 6.15pm, Holly Jessica had attended a
barbecue at Holly's family home. They then went
out to buy some sweets.
On their way back they walked past Huntley's
rented house in College Close. Huntley later stated
in open court that one of the girls had a nose bleed
and he took them into the house. Shortly after Holly
and Jessica entered 5 College Close, Huntley
murdered them.
It is still not clear about
Huntley’s motives for
the crimes but postmortem results revealed
the most likely cause of
death was asphyxiation
or drowning.
They were reported
missing on Sunday night
– by the time the call
came into the police
they had been murdered
and their bodies
transported into a ditch.
Huntley was already planning how he was going to
get away with the murder. Police had no chance of
recovering the children.
Huntley was charged with the murder of both girls
on day 17 and Carr was charged with conspiring to
pervert the course of justice and of assisting an
offender. She was later acquitted of the charge of
assisting an offender.
It was identified on day three that officers were
dealing with a critical incident and the girls bodies
were eventually found in Lakenheath on day 14.
During the initial stages of the investigation one
24
April 2010
officer reported she was suspicious of Huntley and
did a PNC check – unearthing no results.
Concerns were initially raised when Huntley
revealed to a teacher at Soham Village College,
where he worked as a caretaker, that he had seen
the girls while washing his dog outside his house.
He had not previously mentioned this to a dog
handler he had been speaking to.
Mr Stevenson said Huntley began to display ‘classic
offending behaviour’ because he wasn’t sure that
his encounter with the girls had been witnessed and
so he tried early on to cover his tracks.
Distractions
The high number of
empathy sightings that
was reported to the
incident room posed
huge challenges for the
investigation team as
they distracted them
away from the real
killer.
There were also one
other significant event
that happened on the
same evening – two
teenage girls were walking through the streets of
Soham and were approached by four men in a van.
At the same time a convicted sex offender who
lived in a neighbouring village was interviewed by
the police. He told them he was with his girlfriend
when Holly and Jessica were murdered.
His girlfriend refused to corroborate his alibi. He
later confessed to police that he had spent the
evening with his daughter when he was not
permitted to have unsupervised access.
Mobile phone intelligence
Cell site analysis played a part in linking Jessica to
Huntley’s house. Despite an early report by
Vodafone that her phone had disconnected at 1am
Monday morning at a mast in Burwell, a cell site
analysis expert called David Bristow confirmed that
it had in fact disconnected much earlier on at
6.42pm.
Catching Huntley
Mr Stevenson told
seminar delegates that
Huntley was “watching,
inquiring, monitoring and
planning” from the
outset. Soham Village
College was used by
police to give appeals
and media briefings and so Huntley could monitor
development.
Huntley spoke to a number of people including,
neighbours, the press and some police officers and
he attempted to cover his tracks by introducing a
red Fiesta car in the village and a man whom he
thought was suspicious, carrying something in a bin
liner. He then spoke with a special constable and
asked “how long does DNA last? Can you get DNA
from clothing?
When told by the officer that police could get DNA
from everything, he drove back to Lakenheath to
where he had dumped the bodies and removed
their clothing, poured petrol over their bodies to
destroy the DNA and set fire the Manchester Utd
shirts the girls were wearing and stored them in the
hangar at Soham Village College.
The following day, Huntley was talking to a local
news reporter and say the police go by. He then
said to the reporter “I wonder where they are
going? I wonder if they have found the girls
clothes.”
He also gave himself away by asking the search
officers how many miles outside of the village they
were searching.
He also asked to change his statement and asked
detectives “am I a suspect? Do you think I have
done it?”
special report
Further concerns were raised about Huntley when
he and Carr were interviewed for GMTV. This
prompted a call from a member of the public raising
concerns about Huntley’s background.
Cambridgeshire Police contacted Humberside Police
as Huntley used to live in that area and while his
name was in the intelligence system, nothing was
recorded against him.
In the meantime, Huntley
was interviewed as a
significant witness and
his home was searched.
Officers found a key to
the hangar in the college
and found the burnt
football tops under a bin
bag in a rubbish bin.
Huntley and Carr were
put in a nearby hotel
room by the police to
protect them press and
Chris Stevenson
public intrusion. As the enquiry developed and
further information, including the girls clothes
being found came to light Huntley was elevated to
suspect status and arrested in the early hours of the
Saturday 17 August.
The media played a major part in the inquiry and
before this breakthrough a £1M reward was offered
by another newspaper for the killer’s identity
prompting coach tours to the village and people
walking their dogs in a bid to find their bodies.
Huntley was arrested and placed in a cell and failed
to co-operate. Psychiatrists were called into assess
Huntley and he was certified under the Mental
Health Act.
Huntley began an appeal process against his mental
health certification, but a further order from a
crown court judge ensured that he assessment
under the Mental health Act was completed. As a
April 2010
25
s p e cial report
result Huntley was certified fit to be interviewed
and to stand trial. Mr Stephenson said he was
convinced that “Huntley feigned this mental illness
right from the beginning.”
Story of our time
Opening the conference, visiting professor Steve
Frosdick quoted author Nicci Gerrard as describing
the murders as “a detective story and a sinister
fairytale rolled into one.”
Recovering the bodies
The bodies of Holly and Jessica were ironically
found in a wood known as The Carr in Lakenhead.
Pollen expert Patricia Wiltshire was able to identify
the route Huntley had taken into the ditch because
of the re-growth of nettles.
He spoke about how the case had led to the
dismissal of Humberside Chief Constable David
Westwood for failings by his force in recording
valuable intelligence on Huntley’s previous
offending.
One big challenge came when a thunderstorm hit
the area making it difficult to examine the bodies.
Both girls were identified by their dental records.
“You don’t lose your job if the burglary rate goes up
but you do lose your job if you mess up on
protective services,” said professor Frosdick.
Later in court Huntley tried to explain the deaths by
alleging that Holly had accidentally fallen into the
bath of water he’d run for his dog and that when
Jessica saw this she screamed and he put his hand
over her mouth to silence her.
He spoke about how the case led to the emergence
of an independent safeguarding authority and the
Bichard Inquiry. An IT programme designed to join
up police databases called IMPACT cost the service
£244.2m.
He said Holly had accidentally fallen into bath of
water he’d run for the dog when Jessica saw this
she screamed and said what are you doing and he
put his hand over her mouth.
“None of that stopped a seven-year-old girl from
starving to death in this very city only recently,” he
said.
He hit the headlines recently after being attacked
by an inmate, causing further controversy over
claims he is to be awarded compensation for the
attack.
Senior lecturer in Criminal Investigation at the
university, Nick Howe is a former senior police
officer with Staffordshire Police. He admitted he
was given the job “by accident” when he was
Professor Frosdick also revealed that Mr Stevenson
Prosecution
became a victim of the hysteria over the safety of
The inquiry team worked closely with the CPS under children when he was ordered not to take a picture
senior prosecutor Marian Bastin to build up the case of his own grandson at a village football match.
against Huntley.
“No amount of legislation, record keeping or
There were over 7,000 statements and 8,000
checking could prevent future murders of children
exhibits and the evidence was presented in nine
by paedophiles,” declared Professor Frosdick.
separate files to make it accessible and easy to
understand to a jury.
The seminars are the result of a partnership
between the university and West Midlands Police.
West Yorkshire Police Imagery Unit produced a
pictorial representation of the fibre transfer
Birmingham City University is one of first
between the girls’ clothing and Huntley’s clothing.
universities to offer degrees in criminal
Huntley was convicted of the murder of the two
investigation and maintains close ties with local
girls and remains in prison.
forces.
26
April 2010
working for Her
Majesty’s Inspector of
Constabulary and was
sitting on a train and spilt
tea over his laptop. He
got talking to a fellow
passenger who worked
at the university and the
rest is history.
special report
Speaking about his award, DI Webster said: “It was
a great honour and a total surprise to be given this
award.
“I believe passionately in the whole concept of the
professionalisation of the role of the investigator
and of continuous professional development for all
our officers and have really enjoyed working with
our friends and colleagues at the university to
Nick Howe further this objective.
His appointment is an illustration of how much the
university prides itself on its links with law
“I’d also like to congratulate all those officers who
enforcement organisations.
were presented with the awards – they were very
well deserved.”
Speaking about the seminars, he said: “This seminar
is the last of four Murder Investigation Seminars
held at the University over recent months,
examining some of the most significant and highprofile murders the country has witnessed with
in-depth presentations from the senior police
investigators involved.
“Previous seminars have focused on the West
murders, the James Bulger case and the Ipswich
serial killings.
“These seminars have reinforced the University’s
commitment to studying and researching criminal
investigation. We continually aspire to be a centre
of excellence in this field and the lecture series is
evidence of our ambition and it is great that we
have secured such high profile speakers.”
Certificates of achievement
The seminar was also the venue for the first ever
certificates of achievement given to police officers
who have been students at the university.
The head of investigative training at West Midlands
Police DI Alan Webster was also given an award by
Birmingham City University for his efforts in
promoting the professionalisation of the role of
investigators.
DI Webster has established strong links with the
university and has been instrumental in organising
the best practice seminars.
The full list of award winners are:
Richard Green, Thomas Coughlan, Jonathan
Hesketh, Neil Gould, Mark Howe, Ronald Winch,
Mick Gillick, Scott McKenna, Mark Smith, Kevin
Bullas, Clive Burgess, Steven Glover, Joanne
Byrne, Philip Kay - West Midlands Police
Andy Hough & Steve Pepper - West Midlands
Police and Derbyshire Constabulary
David Shaw - West Midlands Police and West
Mercia Police
Cliff Grainger - Staffordshire Police and the
National Police Improvement Agency
Bob Titley - Staffordshire Police and Her
Majesty`s Inspectorate of Constabulary
Paul Giannasi - Staffordshire Police and the
Home Office
April 2010
27
c o n ference
I N T E RV I E W I N G
VULN ERABLE
WITNESSES
A N D AC H I E V I N G B E ST E V I D E N C E
CONFERENCE
29 A PRIL 2010
We s t M i d l a n d s P o l i c e
L ea r n i n g a n d D eve l o pment Reso u rce Centre Tal ly Ho !
The Investigator magazine is holding a one-day conference to provide best
practice for investigators on the interviewing, identification and treatment of
vulnerable witnesses.
It is now recognised that it is a vital part of the justice process to protect the
rights of vulnerable witnesses, support them through the prosecution process
and achieve best evidence.
This is a must-attend conference that will provide investigators with the latest
thinking in this ever-changing and evolving area of major crime investigation.
To book your place call Tel: 0844 660 8707
or email:[email protected]
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28
April 2010
e-mail: [email protected]
feature
Lost in Translation
A
research project by a Gwent officer into the
use of interpreters in suspect interviews
revealed forces need to provide better training for
investigators in this area. Saskia Welman reports.
He looked into guidance available and found that
other than a few short paragraphs on in PACE, there
was none for detectives - despite the fact that using
interpreters does create many challenging issues.
The UK is increasingly becoming more diverse
which places more importance on the use of
interpreters in suspect interview.
“If a detective is not thoroughly sure of what he or
she is doing, this is one of the biggest areas which
you can fail on.”
DS Martin Vaughan of Gwent police began to look
at the issues around the use of interpreters during
interviews and found little support for investigators
in this area.
DS Vaughan is an ACPO-approved interview advisor
and has spent 24 of his 27 years’ service in CID. He
now works in crime training.
Operation Compass
The issue came to the fore for DS Vaughan when he
was involved in a major crime case for Gwent Police,
called Operation Compass. This involved a large
scale criminal gang, and had many suspects that
were Vietnamese nationals. The case involved 22
suspects and 364 suspect interviews, with seven
interpreters used.
“Interviewing with interpreters is essential in many
investigations, but it is an area which I believe from
a training background, we did not pay much
attention to,” said DS Vaughan.
“But we did not know how to deal with them, there
were so many issues.” The situation inspired the
officer to write a dissertation for an education
degree on the subject. He looked at the training
April 2010
29
f e a t ure
background of both interpreters and police and
how officers were currently trained to interview via
an interpreter, as well as what training an
interpreter received around being in a police
interview environment.
“The quality of individuals must be consistent
across a criminal investigation. Historically police
forces have used members of the local community,
who may have good intentions but might not meet
the requirements for a criminal investigation.”
“I used the learning that came out of Compass as
the basis for a dissertation, and it really highlighted
how many challenges there were around this
subject, and how many gaps in training.”
Officers must ensure that interpreters who assist
fully understand the police environment and the
police interview, so they are not only capable of
interpreting but also understand what the police
are asking them to do.
One of the biggest issues with Compass was the
geography and political issues of Vietnam. Officers
had to ascertain what area they came from in order
to know which language they spoke.
This is absolutely
essential when
using an
interpreter, as
European Court
of Human Rights
(ECHR) legislation dictates that any suspects of
criminal activity must be informed, promptly, in a
language that they completely understand, of the
reason for their arrest and the crime they are
suspected of.
A non English speaking suspect has the legal right
to an interpreter, and one that not only
understands the language but also the cultural
backgrounds and customs.
“The officer must brief the
interpreter correctly in
relation to what the
requirements are in terms of
that particular interview.”
If the interpreter is inadequately trained, it can
potentially have disastrous results for the
investigation.
Due to the EHRC legislation, if an interpreter does
not correctly and accurately explain, in detail, the
caution and other details of the arrest, then the rest
of the interview can be inadmissible. For that
reason DS Vaughan advises that officers should
provide the interpreter with all relevant material
before the interview and establish if there is
anything that the interpreter is unable to interpret.
“The interpreter can then have time to prepare and
speak out if there is a particular piece of
information or legislation they cannot interpret. If
National register
there is something they can’t translate it can be
DS Vaughan said that the first step that should be
taken when an interpreter is needed is to check that ascertained if that is because there is no like-for-like
translation for it, or is it a case that the interpreter is
the interpreter employed is registered on one of
not able to reach that level - and someone else
the recommended registers, such as the National
could.”
Register of Public Service Interpreters. It is
important to do this so that forces can be assured
that the interpreter has adequate training and is the Areas of interpretation that need this level of
planning include in rendering an originally written
right person for the job.
30
April 2010
legal document in a face-to-face speech mode, the
legal and accurate interpretation of the caution and
the interpreter’s understanding of this, and the
degree to which cultural or institutional gaps should
be bridged by the interpreter.
feature
during interview - if they don’t then they put the
interpreter under pressure and may lose the
connection with the suspect.”
Future challenges
Based on DS Vaughan’s work, the criminal justice
department in Wales has set up an all Wales review
of the use of interpreters during interview.
Planning on the side of the interviewer is also
essential, so that they can inform the interpreter in
as much detail as possible about the route of the
interview, and make an informed decision about the But DS Vaughan believes that the issue needs to be
examined from a UK perspective.
suitability of the interpreter.
“You need to ensure that you plan to the smallest
minutiae about both language and culture if you
want the best results from interview via an
interpreter - if you don’t plan and get the wrong
interpreter or misunderstand something then you
can throw the entire investigation off track.”
This involves doing research into the native country
of the suspect, which can be challenging as it is not
always obvious where to go to for this type of
information. Although Embassies can be a good
start, they do not always have balanced information
about the countries that they represent.
“Sometimes the information that is held at an
Embassy will be of little use - it is often more
focused on the positive aspects of its country. You
need to do as much research as possible to get the
level of information needed.”
Another key challenge is in the style of interview often officers who use an interpreter then amend
their technique - something that DS Vaughan
advises against. Many officers tend to direct the
questions to the interpreter and not the suspect.
“A key message that I want to promote is that
officers must not change their techniques because
an interpreter is used. They must maintain all the
training they have about engaging with the suspect
“It is an area that we need to look at, and I am
currently in discussions with the National Policing
Improvement Agency about how we can develop
this.”
Statistics suggest that the use of interpreters is
becoming more widespread, as crime involving
immigrants escalates.
In 2008, BBC News Online reported that
Lincolnshire Police spent more than £300,000 on
interpreters, covering 49 languages.
The Daily Mail reported in 2008 that the chief
constable of Kent spent more than £34 million
over three years on immigrant crime.
The Home Office reported that the use of
interpreter services has increased by 75 per cent
in 2006-7.
Wales On Sunday reported that Welsh forces
spent over £2 million in seven years on
interpreters.
Gwent Police reported a 105 per cent increase
on cost of interpreters over 2005-6 in 34
languages.
April 2010
31
E F F E C TIVE M EDIA I NTERVI EWS
F O R I NVESTIGATO RS W ORKSHOP
A PRIL 20, 2010
Leicester – J22 M1
This one day course will provide investigators with all the skills
and techniques to field an effective media interview and use the
media as a valuable resource that can aid an investigation and
build public confidence.
The course is delivered by Carol Jenkins, editor of the Investigator,
an experienced journalist and media trainer who has delivered
media training courses to police, criminal justice professionals and
the defence and security industry for the past seven years.
COURSE CONTENT
• How to give an effective media interview 8 avoiding negative
questioning and highlighting positive messages effectively
• Spotting the angles journalists favour and capitalising on them
• How to present compelling crime appeals to the media
• How to retain media attention during a long3running investigation
• How to publicise crime problems without heightening the fear of
crime and causing displacement
• Legal constraints 8 what you can and can’t say to a journalist
• Building public confidence through the media
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
The course is aimed at all those involved in the investigation process
regardless of rank or position who wants to deal more effectively with
the media.
BENEFITS
The course will enable investigators to:
• Build up an awareness and understanding of the value of dealing
with the media
• Field an effective media interview and deal effectively with the media
• Use the media as a valuable resource that can aid an investigation
and enhance public confidence
• Improve overall public speaking skills
Booking instructions
Email the delegate/s names, contact details and invoice address
to: [email protected]
t he
Book by phone Tel: 0844 660 8707
Imedia
nvestigator
training
Cos t : £1 3 5 p e r p e r s o n
© The Investigator 2010
i nct e
a rsvei enw
o itne g
s
that are available to them?
New approach
Dr Lorraine Hope (University of
Portsmouth) and Dr Fiona
Gabbert (University of Abertay)
have been working with several
UK police forces on a new
investigative tool called Self-Administered
Interviewing (SAI).
The idea for the tool followed discussions with
police officers, in which they acknowledged that
although cognitive interviewing did produce better
results, it was not always viable for every criminal
incident.
Total Recall
This was particularly the case when an incident
occurred in a public place, leading to police having
to deal with a large number of witnesses, with no
real idea which ones could provide the most
accurate and helpful information. Conducting
cognitive interviewing on every witness at this
stage is not an option, as it is unlikely there will be
enough resources available.
"A full interview of all witnesses is just not practical
in every situation - but SAIs can help police to get
the best information possible from witnesses at the
cientists are working on a project that could see earliest stage and then prioritise the interviewing of
witness accounts collected in a way that
witnesses who have the most information relevant
reduces forgetting and protects against
to the investigation," said Dr Hope.
contamination while helping forces short on
resources. Saskia Welman reports.
Taking detailed accounts at such an early stage is
imperative, to minimise forgetting and protect
Interviewing witnesses is instrumental to an
against contamination. One problem that police
effective criminal investigation, and it is essential
face after a public criminal incident is that there will
that police use the best techniques possible to
be exposure to media accounts and other witness
retrieve as much accurate information as possible
stories.
from any identified witnesses.
"Witnesses will visit social networking sites and
Although cognitive interviewing is a very effective
discuss what has happened, or they will watch
way of achieving this, it is heavily time-intensive and reports on the news, and it will contaminate their
needs a high level of training - not something that is account," said Dr Hope.
always possible at the start of an investigation. So
what can be done to allow investigation teams to
When witnesses begin to re-tell their story, or hear
get the most out of a witness with the resources
other people's accounts, it is inevitable that details
S
April 2010
33
i n t e rviewin g
will become exaggerated or inaccurate.
“By the time police realise that they need to return
to witnesses to obtain more information, it is often
the case that important information has either been
forgotten, has become less detailed, or has become
distorted” said Dr Gabbert.
The SAI is an idea that has been developed since
these initial conversations, with Dr Hope, Dr
Gabbert, and Professor Ron Fisher (one of the
originators of cognitive interviewing) working with
police forces on the concept. Funding has been
provided by the British Academy and the Economic
and Social Research Council.
A series of experiments have been conducted, and
several forces are now running field trials with real
situations and witnesses. Currently trials are
underway with Greater Manchester Police, British
Transport Police and a number of trials with other
forces will start shortly.
Detective Sergeant Mick Confrey,
Specialist Investigative Interview
Advisor (Major Incident
Team) at GMP said “This is a
very useful tool and can
make an important
contribution to an
investigation in the right
circumstances. Where we
have tested the tool
witnesses have provided detailed
accounts…and even crucial evidence in a case
which we were then able to follow up as part of the
wider investigation”.
How does the Self Administered Interview work?
The SAI essentially is a method of eliciting a full and
detailed memory account which enables
investigators to get as much information as possible
right at the scene as soon as an incident has
happened and, importantly, before there has been
memory decay or contamination.
SAIs take a generic form which incorporates a
34
April 2010
specially
constructed set of
instructions and
questions, that has
been developed and
tested by the
academics in
collaboration with a
number of police forces.
Dr Lorraine Hope
"The form is based on cognitive techniques known
to facilitate the retrieval and reporting of
information – this approach supports witnesses as
they write their account of what happened" said Dr
Gabbert.
The instructions for the witness when filling out the
form are detailed, in order to tease out the best
information possible. The instructions have been
extensively tested in order to create the optimum
set of questions.
The form consists of an open report, where a
witness is asked to write a full, unedited, and as
accurate as possible account of events. This is the
followed with a set of probes for different types of
information around relevant subjects, such as
whether a vehicle was involved in the incident.
The final part of the form is
based on questions around
ADVOKATE issues, such as what
the witnesses' viewing quality
of the incident was.
"This is so that the Senior
Investigating Officer can make
a decision about the credibility
of that witness's account," said
Dr Hope.
Dr Fiona Gabbert
"We have spent a lot of time working hands on with
the police on SAI, asking what questions they need
us to put on it to get the information they need. We
went through many scenarios, so that it could be as
applicable as possible, so that it can be used
irrespective of what the event was."
The benefits
Witnesses who complete
an SAI produce
significantly more accurate
information than someone
who has not had the early
opportunity to complete
an SAI. The SAI also
protects against exposure to inaccurate
information for other sources. "The SAI facilitates
memory recall and also preserves a witness’s
account," said Dr Hope.
"It also protects witness memory against
contamination by establishing a detailed initial
account."
The SAI can initially help officers to ascertain which
witnesses have the most information to offer allowing them who to prioritise first for a full,
cognitive interview.
"Typically what happens when there are many
witnesses is that police interview a smaller number
of key witnesses and take names and addresses of
other witnesses at the scene. Then at some point
later - depending on the incident, and resources and
time - they will get in touch with some of these
witnesses, but by this time there may have been a
substantial delay, and those witnesses may have
forgotten details of the event, because our memory
decays."
The SAIs can help to prioritise the witnesses and to
regulate how police distribute resources most
effectively. Completed SAIs will help officers
identify which witnesses have the most information
to offer, without adding anything to their
operational load.
"After the SAIs are completed, investigators can
identify all important witnesses and conduct a
thorough interview," said Dr Hope.
The SAIs might also help when a witness is
reluctant, as they do not have to spend time at a
police station being interviewed, they can provide
i nct e
a rsvei enw
o itne g
s
their initial account at least via the SAI.
Obviously the SAI is not suitable for vulnerable
witnesses with learning difficulties or with mental
health issues, as they often benefit more from
social support, or witnesses with literacy issues as
they may not be able to read or write to the
standard needed to complete the form.
Getting involved
Forces who are interested in running field trials for
the SAIs are encourage to contact Dr Hope for more
information.
"Several large
forces are running
trials, but we
would like to see
more forces taking
part." said Dr
Hope.
Dr Hope believes
that, as SAIs are a
tool that can add
to police procedures without draining extra
resources, more forces could benefit from it.
"It can help to retrieve as much accurate high
quality evidence as possible, and we would like to
see SAIs used in the formal part of the procedure,
as a tool that is available throughout the UK."
For more information or to join the trials
contact:
University of Portsmouth
University House
Winston Churchill Avenue
Portsmouth
Hampshire, PO1 2UP
Tel: 023 9284 8484
Fax: 023 9284 3082
[email protected]
www.port.ac.uk
April 2010
35
t h e investigator
Investigating
Fraud
Conference
17 June 2010 - Wyboston Lakes
A one-day conference that will showcase the latest best
practice and thinking around fraud investigations. The
conference will look at both current prosecutions, emerging
trends and provide advice and sound theory for
investigators on this complex area of crime.
The conference is aimed at investigators both in forces and
in other organisations who are involved in the investigation
of fraud as well as representatives from the finance
industry and the wider business community.
Presentations will cover:
•
Advice on seizing bank accounts
•
Spotting irregularities/patterns
•
Most efficient way of collating huge amounts of data
•
Effective presentation of complex data in court
•
Current trends in fraud investigations
•
Emerging threats
For further details contact The Investigator Conferences
Tel: 0844 660 8707 E: [email protected]
36
April 2010
c a s ef enaot ut er e
s
Magic roundabout
T
he Revenues and Customs Prosecution Office
built up considerable expertise in prosecuting
complex crimes such as carousel fraud. Its recent
merger with the Crown Prosecution Service means
that it brings a new area of expertise to the
organisation. Doreen Porter reports.
As part of HM Revenue and Customs, the RCPO was
created by the Commissioners for Revenue and
Customs Act 2005 on 18 April 2005. An independent
prosecuting authority, the RCPO was responsible
for prosecuting some of the largest drug and fraud
cases in the UK. And it is that expertise that has
been brought to the CPS. The newly created
Revenues and Customs Division provides a
specialist tax and revenue prosecution service,
together with expertise in the prosecution of illegal
arms dealing and sanctions violations.
David Green, former RCPO Director and who now
leads the new Revenue and Customs Division (RCD)
within the new organisation, explained the reasons
behind the merger: “In the current economic
climate a small department like RCPO is quite
expensive to run, so it made sense to merge with
the CPS and save money through shared services.
Importantly, too, the merger will enable us to
preserve the expertise we have at RCPO in, for
example, fiscal prosecutions. As a CPS HQ specialist
directorate we can nurture and expand the skills we
already have.
“I see the merger as a very positive development. It
is about combining the strengths of two
organisations in order to build a public prosecution
service for the future. It is also a reflection of the
professionalism of staff, and the excellence of the
specialist casework divisions of both departments,
without which such a development could not have
been contemplated.
“Specialist work is done to a high standard in the
CPS and I would like to think RCPO brings its own
expertise and will itself become a well regarded
specialist division within the CPS.”
Other changes stemming from the merger include
an enhanced and enlarged Organised Crime
Division, which now includes a team supporting the
prosecution of all crimes investigated by the Serious
and Organised Crime Agency; a further team
dealing with offences investigated by the new UK
Borders Agency; and a Proceeds of Crime Unit that
April 2010
37
f e a t ure
combines RCPO and CPS expertise, providing a
much stronger asset recovery arm for the merged
organisation.
RCD handles cases involving:
• all types of direct and indirect tax fraud;
• evasion of the duty on tobacco, alcohol and oils;
• illegal arms trafficking, export controls and
sanctions violations;
• export-related money laundering and export
control cases
It is also responsible for ensuring that criminals do
not benefit from the profits of these crimes. The
complexity of RCD cases ranges from a
straightforward prosecution in a magistrates' court
to major tax cases that might involve multiple
defendants and criminal activity that spans several
years.
By successfully prosecuting tax evaders and
fraudsters, RCD is able to Increase public
confidence by ensuring that public services are not
deprived of much needed resources; and strip
offenders of the proceeds of their crimes so that
those who break the law are not seen to benefit as
a consequence.
Particular areas of RCP expertise include so-called
Missing Trader Intra-community (MTIC) and
‘carousel’ frauds. MTIC is a complex VAT fraud that
exploits the fact that the movement of goods
between EU member states is free of VAT. Such
frauds often involve long and complex
investigations involving multiple defendants.
avoid preventive action, before disappearing.
There are variants of this form of fraud. One
involves traders who simply default on the payment
of VAT that is owed (called 'defaulting traders'), and
another involves hijacking the VAT registration
numbers of legitimate companies.
Thereafter, there are normally several other
companies ('buffers') forming a chain of sales
transactions that give the appearance of legitimate
trading. Eventually, at the end of the chain, the
goods are sold by an exporting company back to a
purchaser outside the UK. That transaction is VAT
free. In a 'carousel' fraud, the UK exporter is the
same company that originally imported the goods.
The company that finally sells and exports the
goods to the EU is able to claim a repayment of the
VAT that they paid when they purchased the goods
from another UK company. However, due to the
'missing trader', HMRC will not have been paid the
VAT due on the original sale of the goods following
their importation.
The same goods often go round the 'carousel' a
number of times without even moving their physical
location. In some instances, goods will be falsely
described or don't exist at all. This fraud results in
the loss of hundreds of millions of pounds in VAT
revenue.
Casefile
Operations Emersed, Shepherd and Shoot
In September 2008, the final defendants in a series
of trials for MTIC fraud as it is often called,
prosecuted by RCPO, were sentenced at Worcester
At its simplest, MTIC fraud involves importing into
Crown Court. All three frauds involved the bogus
the UK low bulk, high value goods, such as mobile
trade in mobile telephones in order to cheat the
phones or computer chips, from a supplier in
Exchequer of millions of pounds. The gang in these
another EU state free of VAT. They are then sold to
linked operations divided the profits of the fraud
another UK company and VAT is charged on the sale and laundered them through various bank
in the usual way. Instead of the company that sells
accounts, some based in Gibraltar and Hong Kong.
the goods within the UK paying the VAT charged on The frauds were linked together by some of the
the sale to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
defendants and by their mastermind, Craig
(HMRC), they disappear — hence the term 'missing Johnson. The links between the frauds added a host
trader'. The 'missing trader' tends to operate for a
of additional difficulties to what were already
short period of intensive trading in an effort to
complex cases.
38
April 2010
feature
Trial management was a huge undertaking with so
many defendants, hundreds of thousands of
documentary exhibits, and trials that lasted six or
seven months. In order to get the facts of each case
over to the juries, RCPO prosecutors split the
defendants into groups and relied upon electronic
presentation of evidence as much as possible. In
spite of the issues involved, prosecutors
successfully proved to the courts that, far from
being involved in legitimate trade, the main
defendants were highly organised career criminals
deliberately defrauding the Exchequer of more than
£138 million in a minutely planned and carefully
orchestrated crime.
The first of the three linked frauds was a £20 million
MTIC fraud, Operation Emersed. The 12 defendants
included Craig Johnson from Operation Shepherd
and Stephen Hancock from Operation Shoot. The
total sentences handed down amounted to 119
years.
Operation Shepherd, the second fraud, resulted in
the convictions of Clive Saunders, Craig Johnson, D
G Routledge, Craig Jones, Philip Hague, Michael
West, and Charles Hackney. At the time of their
trial, this was the largest MTIC fraud ever
prosecuted, valued at approximately £68 million.
The 11 defendants received a total of 39 years in
prison.
In the last of the three frauds – Operation Shoot –
four defendants, Gerard Forrest, Shane Matthews,
Stephen Hancock and Barbara Moran were
convicted of controlling a series of ‘buffer’
companies designed to give an air of legitimacy to
the fraudulent transactions. Between them they
stole £50 million from the Exchequer and were
sentenced to 19 years imprisonment.
On 20 November 2008, a confiscation order for
£26,060,383.17 was granted against Craig Johnson.
The order was the second largest confiscation order
ever obtained by RCPO against a single defendant.
For more information, go to www.cps.gov.uk
F R E E I N T RA N E T
U SAGE F O R A L L
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Cr imin all
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Unc overed
SIO re gis te r s ig na ls
new era for det ec tiv es
After Columbo
E mbrac ing
M obil e and
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F ore nsics
No Pride
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Investi gation
Uncovered
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Embracing
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Uncovered
g
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dminton - Invesgave Interviewing Conference - News
the
December Update 2009
Street
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Child’s Play
New ways
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child abuse vic ms
INSIDE: The rudiments of inves ga on - Behavourial pa!erns
H d f i
f
Fingernail forensics - Mobile phone forensics
I
i w
ding technology - NEW: T i i
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July/August 2009
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•
4 March 2009
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the
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1 ye a r ol d i n Mar ch 2 010
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Puzzle
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March 2010
C r im i n a l
In v e s ti g a ti on
U nc o v e r e d
the
September/October 2009
CID IN CRISIS?
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8 April 2009
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4 March 2009
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• Cash in transit robberies • Witness imtimidation • Witness care
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February 2010
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September/October 2009
1 year old in March
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th e
CID IN CRISIS?
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March 2010
the
the
8 April 2009
Embracing
Mo bi l e a n d
Computer
Forensics
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Puzzle
over lack
of UK detectives
Investigator
Investigator
Exclusive
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Interview
DIGITAL
REVOLUTION
th e
DIGITAL
REVOLUTION
Investigator
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th e
Effective
use of house
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Major Crime Conference Report - Forensic Bloodstain Evidence
Operaon Badminton - Invesgave Interviewing Conference - News
the
7 May 2009
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Street
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Child’s Play
New ways
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child abuse vic ms
Head of crime focus - Fingernail forensics - Mobile phone forensics
Interview recording technology - NEW: Training and development
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th e
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child abuse vic ms
Head of crime focus - Fingernail forensics - Mobile phone forensics
Interview recording technology - NEW: Training and development
Forensics
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Fo l l ow i n g
t h e DN A t r ail
• Solving Soham • Carousel Fraud • Using Interpreters • News •
• Digital Forensics • Cold Case Rapist • Traffic Conference •
IN T RAN ET USAGE
FREE use of The Investigator magazine is
available for police forces/organisations
on their intranets. The magazine can be
supplied in two formats, pdf or a flashplayer version.
To find out how to use this free service,
contact The Investigator on Tel: 0844 660
8707 or email:
[email protected]
April 2010
39
t e c hnology
Recording
r e vo l ut i o n
T
he way witness and suspect interviews are
captured is about to undergo a radical
revolution with the introduction of digital systems.
The Investigator talks to one provider who is
leading the way in this important area.
Police interview suites are about to undergo a
radical change as forces move towards replacing
their audio cassette recording systems with digital
solutions.
It is now widely recognised that the old systems are
not only the most secure method of capturing
interviews but that the technology is so out of date
that virtually no suppliers now stock the old audio
tapes.
includes air traffic control, financial institutions and
the NHS.
Toby Sparrow, General Manager of Hosted Services
explained that moving into the police arena was a
natural progression from its work with the NHS. It
has now teamed up with Systems Integrator
Damovo to embark on a programme of work which
it hopes will see forces in England and Wales adopt
its Complete Online Digital Evidence System
(CODES) into their interview suites.
“I immediately felt that the police was the ideal
market to use our technology because of its
reputation of being highly secure and userfriendly,” he explained.
Business Systems (UK) Ltd is one such provider who “Our first step was to go out to forces and to talk to
is working with forces to help replace their
officers to allow us to get a feel from officers about
outdated interview recording systems with more
their exact requirements.”
modern digital evidence systems.
They have visited more than 20 forces to get their
The London-based company has been working for
feedback and ensure that the forces make a real
the past 20 years to provide leading-edge call
contribution to shaping the way the technology
recording technology to organisations which now
develops – an approach which Toby says is vital.
40
April 2010
“We want forces to help us develop the technology
and ensure that it is something that truly reflects
their requirements. We’ve had some really
constructive sessions with officers who are very
clear about what they want out of such
equipment.”
As a result, the company has adapted its CODES
technology so that it is able to capture audio; voice
and video to allow officers to be able to store
interviews in a way that meets strict security
requirements and ensures they are tamper proof.
The combination of synchronised voice and video
makes CODES unique as is the fact that the
technology is already in operation by organisations
such as the NHS.
Toby acknowledges that some forces are still
uncertain about moving onto a digital system when
they have relied on the audio system for so long.
“It is important to understanding how insecure the
current system is,” he said.
“There is a feeling of security because you can pick
up a tape and hold it but the reality is that people
can walk into a police station and steal a tape and
there have been stories about tapes turning up a
car boot sales.”
He said that the transport mechanism of bagging
them up and carrying them from one place to
another is “highly insecure, terribly inefficient and
not very green.”
“The first thing is to understand the issues of the
current system and to have some understanding
from senior police officers that this isn’t great,”
explained Toby.
“One of the benefits of our technology is that we
can make the data secure in so many different ways
such as compression and redundant machinery and
so can make it an awful lot more secure than it is at
present.”
The CODES system
has been designed to
be user-friendly so
that it can be
operated by an
investigator with
limited technological
skills.
technology
“We started off with
something that was
too complicated and
feedback from officers in
Toby Sparrow
one force made us realise
that all they needed was to enter the custody
reference number into the system and start the
interview. Officers made it clear to us that they did
not want to start the interview and continue typing
in information while they were talking to a
distressed witness or suspect.”
CODES is described as a digital evidence system
rather than an interview system because there is
scope to extend it so it covers interviews and other
digital evidence that officers might want to include
such as a photograph of a weapon or a piece of
CCTV footage that relates to the case. This means
that the interview and key evidences can be
managed in one system in future.
“Right now it is aimed at the interview process but
there is future scope for this to develop further in
the new few years,” said Toby.
“We describe it as ‘forever young’ software
because in over the next two years the technology
is going to change considerably and we will change
with it.
The licence fee that people pay us means that they
get regular updates to the software. It will be an
ever evolving system so in five years’ time it won’t
be a redundant system.”
For more information on Business Systems (UK) Ltd
go to: www.businesssystemsuk.com
April 2010
41
FORENSICS
r e v iew
PRACTICAL
T
COMPUTER & MOBILE PHONE
CONFERENCE
ASSISTING INVESTIGATIONS WITH TECHNOLOGY
he world of forensics is constantly evolving as
criminals use increasingly sophisticated
techniques to commit their offences. The
Investigator Practical Forensics Conference in
Wyboston saw present on how the latest
techniques and technologies can help
investigations. Saskia Welman reports.
Almost all criminal investigations now use some
element of forensic examination, but the everchanging nature of criminality and the constant
development of technologies means that
knowledge can quickly become outdated.
The Investigator Practical Forensics Conference
provided an opportunity for specialists in the world
of forensics to discuss some of the latest methods
that can be used in investigations, as well as to
highlight emerging threats.
Web aware
Detective Constable Stewart
Bergman of Devon and Cornwall
Police talked to delegates about
best practice in investigation
technique, learnt from his work
on the force’s Hi-Tech Crime Unit.
He presented on several cases that demonstrated
how officers can use information from computers
to apprehend criminals. In one case, a teenager
42
April 2010
managed to steal thousands of credit card details,
which he used to purchase himself goods, as well as
gifts for his friends.
Sites such as www.hackthissite.org offer
professional and amateur hackers the opportunity
to operate anonymously, by installing an
anonymous proxy SQL injector. “It also advises
hackers how to bypass systems by changing the
terms of security access, allowing protection such
as passwords to become irrelevant,” said DC
Bergman.
In the case of the teenager, he was eventually
caught after trying to wipe his computer with the
Absolute Shield programme. Although this wipes all
data, he had also used a different programme called
KGB, which proved to be his downfall. KGB is a
hacking tool which stores screen catches – by using
this to hack others’ systems, he had accidentally
installed it onto his own machine, which meant
officers could retrieve information.
Computers were particularly important in the Nicky
Reilly case, where a young man had become
involved in terrorism.
“Data found on his computer showed how he had
become radicalised, and we were able to find
information on how he progressed down this route.
This included how he planned his attack, how he
chose targets, and how he was linked to other
radicals,” said DC Bergman.
The detective advised all investigating officers to
make sure that they discuss with hi-tech units what
technology is available to them, including covert
tools.
review
unchanged to the
naked eye, but
allows the receiver
to decode the
changed digits to
create the hidden
image.
“This is a common technique used to distribute
“There are many tools available to you that you may child abuse images, but can also be used to send a
not be aware of – make sure you have good links
number of other documents, such as spreadsheets,
with your Hi-Tech units to make the most of the
and information on hacking tools,” said Dr Watson.
latest developments.”
A more sophisticated version of this is Steghide.
The ‘hidden’ art of steganography
This does not involve LSB steganography, but
Dr Tim Watson, head of
instead involves an entirely exchanged pixel state.
the Department of
Computer Technology at
Other forms of steganography are relatively well
De Montfort University,
known, but are sometimes dismissed as irrelevant in
presented to delegates
the modern world of criminality.
on the emerging threat
of a technique called
The use of ‘white writing’ on a document (where
Steganography.
the user must create a black background to see the
words) and microdots, may be seen as too old“In many ways it is an
fashioned, but there is evidence that these can be
unseen threat, as it can
used and should not be discounted.
cloak that offenders are
communicating anything
Dr Tim Watson “We have only scratched the surface of
of importance,” he said.
steganography and we now need to look at
“However, it is very important in understanding the alternate data streams, audio steganography,
ways in which individuals can transmit information.” covert data channels and hiding in executables to
understand more.”
Steganography is sometimes compared to
encryption – but where encryption disguises
Documents important to prosecutions
information, steganography provides the ability to
Although the computer hard
hide the message in a totally innocent facade.
drive is itself commonly
focused on during an
Sometimes steganography also utilises encryption
investigation, the
to further protect the hidden information.
documents that surround it should not be ignored.
Oliver Thorne, Head of Questioned Documents at
The simplest form of this technique is called Least
LGC Forensics, presented to delegates on how to
Significant Bit (LSB) steganography. Information on make use of techniques such as handwriting
hard drives of computers is stored in sets of eight
comparisons and other equipment such as printers.
digits of binary code, which tells the computer what
colours to put where to create an image. LSB
“Investigators should look for any handwritten
involves changing the last two digits of this eight
notes, indented impressions left on paper, printers
digit code, which still creates an image that is
and scanners, etc, and any shredded documents as
April 2010
43
r e v i ew
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44
April 2010
review
these can prove useful,” said Mr Thorne.
was so clever.”
Although these techniques may seem outdated,
they can still be useful in aiding a digital
investigation, by corroborating evidence in a simple
and effective way.
The killer texted the victim posing as both a son and
a father, utilising totally different language and
tones. When posing as the son, he used language
that was casual and typical of teenagers, such as
abbreviated words.
The Questioned Documents unit at LGC Forensics
use Electrostatic Detection Apparatus (ESDA) to
look for any indented impressions or information
that may have been hidden. This can be used to
identify substitute pages or disposed evidence, as
well as find any alterations or obliterations.
The team at LGC Forensics also use specialist
lighting equipment to look at laser printers and any
images that they may have created. It is possible to
link a printed page to the specific printer which
created it. Also, when a dye sublimation printer is
used, for example to create an ID card, it leaves an
imprint of the image it has created – in reverse
colours – held on the printing ribbon. These images
can then be restored.
“Dye Sublimation printers can hold thousands of
images and pieces of text which can be essential to
an investigation,” said Mr Thorne.
The language of forensics
Forensic linguistics is the
study of how language is
used and can be an
effective tool in establishing
the authorship of
documents. It has become
particularly important in
this age of instant
Dr John Olsson
messaging and texting,
and can be very revealing about offenders.
When posing as the father, he used full words and a
reasonable tone, to make the victim feel safe. He
also used the son to talk about the father in the
third person, creating a clever narrative that
persuaded the victim that there was nothing
suspicious occurring.
Dr Olsson examined all the texts, including several
that were sent from the victim’s phone after
officers believed she may have been killed.
“Although they appeared to be in her style, I do not
believe she sent them. I did some basic analysis on
these texts and it became clear that they were
clever copies.”
Dr Olsson believes that more training should be
offered to officers on this subject as linguistics can
be extremely effective.
“It is a powerful but hidden instrument to fighting
crime.”
Maximising evidential potential of digital devices
Angus Marshall talked to
delegates about the best
methods of retrieving
evidence from digital
devices and the potential
pitfalls that they may face.
Dr John Olsson from the Forensic Linguistic
Institute presented to delegates on the recent
‘Facebook’ killer case, where he studied text
messages from the killer to the victim.
When looking at digital
Angus Marshall
devices, investigators
should be aware that they may not at first recognise
one. Current trends have seen devices disguised as
all manner of objects, including clocks and even
food items.
“This man was a linguistic master criminal,” he said.
“His use of language and the way he manipulated it
This has partly been caused by technology
becoming more of a fashion statement than an
April 2010
45
r e v i ew
46
April 2010
review
essential gadget, but it can also be a conscious
effort by criminals to hide devices.
“Devices can look nothing like you would expect, so
a decision must be made about what can
reasonably be seized,” he said.
Another issue for investigators is the trend for
devices to be wireless. This means that they are no
longer restricted to staying in one place, making
traces more difficult. The development of RFID
devices – which are powered by radio frequencies,
exacerbates the problem.
It has been proved that in theory, this type of
device could enable criminals to remotely
pickpocket an individual.
Other key technologies that will prove challenging
for investigators will be the developing use of
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi systems, which will allow
Internet access in any time and place.
“There are also major opportunities for hacking into
these systems. Any wireless system should be
treated as inherently insecure and easy to abuse,”
said Mr Marshall.
“They are vulnerable which means that little in
them is safe or trustworthy.”
This type of system can also cause a problem if it is
paired with another system, for example to act as a
trigger to erase a hard drive of evidence if a
computer is moved or accessed without the correct
authorisation.
“This means officers need to be careful when they
access a scene. They must avoid moving any
systems or using any wireless technology until they
are sure the area is sterile.”
Mobile phone forensics
Mobile phone handsets are developing so quickly
that they are often now more powerful than a
computer.
This means that they can be used in many of the
same ways and can provide large amounts of
evidence for an investigation.
Peter Jones of Zentek Forensics explained some of
the latest handsets and their uses to delegates. He
said that it has been predicted that mobile phone
handsets could replace PCs in just a few years.
“Mobile handsets are becoming smaller, cheaper,
lighter and more powerful than ever before,” he
said. “This means that they are being used by
criminals in many ways that they would have used a
computer.”
When seizing phones, investigators need to be
aware of the fact that mobile phones are made up
of three parts – the chassis, the memory card and
the SIM.
“If one part is not present you could be missing a
big chunk of evidence – particularly if the SIM card
is not present as it may prevent you unlocking parts
of the phone.”
As well as the obvious evidence from a phone, such
as call logs and SMS messages, criminals could now
use their phones for Internet access and browsing,
meaning that they could have instant messaging
logs or Internet history.
Some new handsets coming to the market also
include GPS systems and Internet Syncing, meaning
that they could prove the exact location of an
individual at a certain time.
“The use of Internet Syncing really opens up a can
of worms, as a single mobile phone can send
updates to any number of Internet sites, such as
Facebook, which can then link in with MySpace,
etc.”
April 2010
47
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This will be essential to investigators as they trace
the activities of a suspect. The evidence from
phones can be potentially reliable and accurate,
showing timings and locations of suspects. It can
also be used to look at the behaviours of a suspect,
or of victims and witnesses, to corroborate stories.
“Phones can provide an absolute goldmine of
information for investigators.”
Cell site analysis
Ross Patel from Afentis
Forensics presented to
delegates on the
triangulation of mobile
communication devices
to attribute suspect proximity to
crime scene, assess alibis and build an intelligence
picture.
Cell site analysis is routinely used on some level in
most investigations, and can prove essential in
proving or disproving an individual’s geographic
location or version of events.
Calls from mobile phones are always tracked by the
providers nearest phone masts, proving location,
but there are some pitfalls.
“The mast will show where the call starts and ends,
but not where the individual was for the duration of
the call,” said Mr Patel.
For example, a suspect could begin a call in one
area, drive up the motorway and
then return to the original
location. If the call did not
end in this time, cell site
analysis would suggest that
the suspect had never
moved. However, if
investigators suspect that this
situation has occurred, they have a
short window of time to find more
information.
review
commercial use it is not retained for longer than 24
to 48 hours.”
Cell site analysis has been used in many high profile
cases, including the Jill Dando murder and the
Soham murders.
“Cell site can show how
and where phones were
switched off or if they have
been broken, etc, as well as
the times and locations of
phones,” said Mr Patel.
In the recent Rhys Jones
murder, cell site analysis
proved that the suspect
Rhys Jones
was not in the area that he
had claimed to be, meaning that he changed his
version of events at court.
This was done by analysis in
the field; making test calls
to see what masts would
have been activated if he
had been where he
claimed.
They were not the same
masts that the cell site
showed, meaning that his
location must have been
different.
Jill Dando
“Cell site analysis is a good science, but
investigators must also be aware of its limitations,”
said Mr Patel.
“It is very worthwhile when used properly, and
used in conjunction with other evidence types.”
“You can ask for location registry
information – but as it has no
April 2010
49
t h e investigator
50
April 2010
review
INVESTIGATING
ROAD TRAFFIC
INCIDENTS
CONFERENCE
The Investigator
T
he Investigating Road Traffic Incidents
conference, held at the Transport Research
Laboratory (TRL), saw experts in this area meet to
discuss some of the latest legislation and research.
Road traffic incidents can involve investigations into
a broad spectrum of crime, due to the vast array of
circumstances around such incidents. The
Investigating Road Traffic Incidents conference
provided an opportunity for those involved in this
area of policing to look in detail at some of the main
challenges.
Corporate manslaughter
Nicky Rowley is a Principal
Investigating Officer in the Serious
Collision Investigation Unit at Devon
and Cornwall Constabulary. He
presented to delegates on the issues
involved in attempting to prosecute
on a charge of corporate manslaughter.
Corporate manslaughter provides a means of
accountability for very serious management failings
across an organisation - failings which have led to
the death/s of individuals. The legislation was
established to close a loophole which allowed
organisations to escape prosecution despite the
failings of management leading to the death/s of
others.
When investigating a road traffic incident, it needs
to be ascertained whether the accident has been
caused by a driver error, or if an organisation has
been to blame in some way.
“First of all an investigator must ascertain what the
role may have been if senior management in the
fatality, and whether there was a duty of care to the
victim,” said Mr Rowley.
This can vary from a utilities company failing to
maintain a manhole cover which has caused a fatal
crash, to an employee losing a life while driving a
company vehicle.
“If it is suspected that corporate manslaughter is a
possibility, investigators must then establish who
senior management is - it is not necessarily the
person who directly made the error - it is the
April 2010
51
r e v i ew
individual/s who have an influence on how a
company is run.”
An organisation can be held to account, or an
individual, as long as gross negligence is proved.
Corporate manslaughter is challenging because
there is confused responsibility and it is difficult to
prove that driver error was not to blame.
So far there have been no successful prosecutions.
“It is not legislation that was designed for RTIs but
it could be effective. Investigators need to ask
themselves questions around where the duty of
care laid and whether management could
reasonably be expected to know about the
circumstances that led to the fatality.”
Mr Rowley recommended that officers who are
investigating corporate manslaughter take the
advice of experts in whichever industry is being
examined, that way they can check industry
standards and whether they had been adhered to.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) should be
involved from the outset, and health and safety
teams can be essential if it is a work-based incident.
The SIO Assessment Guide was also recommended
to help guide the process.
Dangerous or careless driving?
The result of a successful
prosecution for dangerous
driving is very different to that of
careless driving, but the criteria
used to define which an incident
falls under is unclear.
Luke Bulpitt, a Crown Advocate
from Thames Valley CPS, spoke to delegates about
the issues around the prosecution of careless and
dangerous driving.
The legislation around this is relatively new; as
recently as two years ago the consequences of an
offence of dangerous or careless driving were not
taken into account.
52
April 2010
“It has been a sea change in terms of attitude - with
the priority now being on the consequence, hence
the charges of death by careless or dangerous
driving,” said Mr Bulpitt.
The main challenge for the police and CPS is in
identifying which incidents fall under which
categories. This can be very confusing as legislation
states that a definition of dangerous driving is that
which falls far below standard, whereas for careless
it falls below standard.
“It is hard to make the decision about where to
categorise some incidents - one sounds much like
the other.”
Early consultation between police and CPS is
essential, so that a joint decision can be made as to
what to charge, and then any bereaved family can
be informed.
Family liaison officers are essential in this process,
as it is vital that family expectation is properly
managed and that they understand the processes
that are taking place.
Mr Bulpitt said that the CPS is now more involved in
the sentencing process, which also poses
challenges as sometimes family members have to
witness their lawyer advising that a defendant
should not receive a significant sentence for the
death of the victim.
“The service that the family receive is so important,
so we have also set up a Victim Focus Scheme,
where all decisions should be explained to the
family face-to-face by a lawyer, with the police.”
Mr Bulpitt also emphasised the need to attempt to
prosecute the most serious crime possible - not just
settling for a conviction for driving without a
license/insurance because it is easy to prove.
“If culpability can be proved, we must try and
charge the most serious offence.”
Vehicle restraint systems
Stephen Henderson works for TRL and conducts
review
research on occupant ejection and driver
identification.
Lateral ejections are particularly unusual, and must
be thoroughly investigated.
A large amount of
evidence can be gleaned
from seatbelts, but it is
important that
investigating officers are
aware of the different mechanisms involved in
seatbelts and how they behave under pressure.
Identifying where individuals were seated in the car
at the time of incident is vital. Tips to accurately do
this include checking where seats were on their
runners, which can help ascertain the size of a
person who was in a particular seat.
“Examination can often prove whether a seatbelt
has been used in a vehicle, which can in turn explain
injuries or prove where people were sitting,” said
Mr Henderson.
Airbags are also useful in compiling evidence about
a road traffic incident. Airbags are deployed after a
certain severity of impact, and the person who hits
the bag may leave forensic traces.
Average speed checks
Cameras that monitor the average
speed of vehicles have managed to
reduce the rate of casualties on
several of Britain’s roads.
Timo Thornton of Speed Check
Services spoke to delegates about how the cameras
have helped not just to reduce incidents, but to
improve journey times.
“Speed Enforcement Cameras (SPECS) are installed
on nearly 200 major roadworks and on 40
permanent routes,” he said.
However, officers must be careful that this type of
evidence is reliable. It is possible that blood on an
airbag, or clothing fibres, could be from a passenger
in the vehicle.
Originally installed to improve road safety, the
cameras are also now installed to reduce emissions,
“There is the possibility of transference, but saliva
noise and improve traffic flow. The cameras work by
on an airbag is more reliable and should be
tracking the speed of a vehicle over a distance of at
checked.”
least 250 metres. The intention is that unlike single
speed cameras, SPECs will not encourage erratic
Also, it is possible that airbags can deploy when an
driving as drivers will drive consistently through the
impact is less severe, of the vehicle detects that a
area.
seatbelt is not being worn.
The cameras provide ANPR data which is sent to a
Occupant ejection from a vehicle can help
remote server held by the police. If the speed of the
investigators understand how an impact was made, vehicle is above the theshold the image taken can
as well as placing an individual’s position within the be retrieved automatically to create an offence file,
vehicle.
and then double checked by a member of staff.
Ejection is unusual when a person is correctly
belted, but it still possible during a severe rear
impact.
“Usually the ejection route is backed up by other
evidence, such as injuries and clothing fibres on the
car,” said Mr Henderson.
“The offence file gives the number plate and
illuminates it for easy reading. The cameras provide
a 24 hour operation and give a clear read in any
conditions.”
At a site in South Yorkshire, casualties have been
reduced by 85 per cent, and at another site in
Strathclyde they were down 40 per cent. Other
April 2010
53
r e v i ew
Networked enforcement
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length of road. SPECS3 can operate in
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54
April 2010
benefits include speed harmonisation, few speeding
offences and better journey times on major roads.
Future plans for SPECs include enforcing new
20mph zones.
“They are being designed at the moment, and we
are looking at locations where cameras would be
useful.”
CCTV analysis
Imagery from CCTV
cameras can be vital in
establishing how events
unfolded in a road traffic
incident, or for identifying a vehicle that may be of
interest to the police.
Andy Wooller from TRL presented to delegates on
how to most effectively use CCTV when
investigating RTIs, warning that it can be a
challenging method from the start due to the
resolution quality of images from a CCTV camera.
“It can be difficult but very useful if used correctly.
Look for defining factors on a vehicle, such as
bumpers, shapes of headlights, and this can help
you identify the car.”
It is important that imagery is not just subjected to
naked eye analysis to identify a vehicle, and
techniques such as overlaying other images and
dimensional analysis can confirm or deny initial
ideas.
It can also be useful to attempt to see the position
of items inside the car for more exclusive
identification. Other uses for CCTV can be to
establish the speed that a vehicle was travelling at,
and which direction.
One challenge that faces detectives using CCTV is
the change from VHS cameras to digital.
“It means that the footage is no longer linear, and
so information from digital cameras must be
matched closely to see the course of events,” said
Mr Wooller.
review
CCTV image analysis has also been used in more
diverse ways. For example, in one case, it was used
to prove that a coach driver was lying when he
claimed that he hit a car because it was not
sufficiently lit.
“From CCTV footage on the coach we were able to
compare how other cars were lit during that
evening, and it proved that the car involved in the
RTI was just as adequately lit.”
ANPR
John Dean is the National ANPR
lead for the National Policing
Improvement Agency. ANPR
cameras aim to target criminals through their use of
the roads and has proven to be a highly effective
enforcement tool.
ANPR cameras capture the number plates of cars,
the time and location, and then sends that
information to databases and local hotlists to see if
that vehicle is of interest to the police for any
reason. Images from the cameras are stored locally
for up to 12 months. As well as being used in this
simple way, ANPR can be used for intelligence and
analysis in an investigative role. Presently, cameras
take around 14 million reads a day.
“ANPR can be used for a number of reasons and
has become a core policing tool,” said Mr Dean.
“It is a quick, searchable system, with few RIPA
requirements, and is low cost.” Detectives must be
aware that although very reliable, data from ANPR
cameras is not 100 per cent accurate.
“It is possible that there can be faulty equipment
that leads to an inaccurate reading - or that
criminals can hide or disguise the plate.”
During investigations, ANPR can be used in a variety
if ways, including convoy analysis - to see which cars
have regularly been travelling in and around a
suspect vehicle - and time synchronisation.
April 2010
55
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