Forensics in crisis. Crisis in research. 1/3.

Linda Geddes, science journalist, investigates a crisis in forensics in the UK. A number of high profile cases have called the veracity of the evidence into question; the man arrested and charged with the murder of Jill Dando on the evidence of a speck of gun residue; the fingerprinting service in Scotland, a woman wrongly accused of being on a crime scene; the murder of Meredith Kercher. All reveal series flaws in the gathering, analysis and retention of evidence. Mistakes and cuts in the service are causing concern in the UK. The National Academy of Sciences in the US revealed the problems in the scientific methodologies employed by forensics in their 'NAS' report. The validity and professionalism of staff was called into question - most of the evidence types are employed in the UK with the problem arising the subjective and objective types of evidence. Peter Neufeld investigated the murder of Catherine Schilling, a paralegal on a vacation placement. She was brutally raped and killed. Donald Gates, an African-American, who was in the vicinity and implicated. Geddes goes to a crime-scene house at Bournemouth University: Alex Otto is the trainer; she briefs Geddes. Footprints seen in a white powder on the floor, an ESLA, can collect these. Returning to Donald Gates; he was convicted of morphological hair testing. Peter Newfeld started the Innocence Project to investigate claims of wrongful convictions. He campaigned for DNA testing and Gates was released 28 years later. Our high standing in forensics analysis is at risk because the National Forensics Service was closed in 2012. It was running at a loss. Work is now contracted out privately. There is no longer any funding specifically for forensic science. The government claims that initiatives like National DNA database mean that R&D funding etc is not necessary. In the US, the FBI are working on other miscarriages of justice involving the wrongful submission of hair samples. The quality of in-house police testing laboratories is called into question