Featured Articles – Expert Witness Features – page 13

Who would be an expert?

OUR SOCIETY is heavily dependent on technology and so it is inevitable that litigation will arise in which technology is involved. On the other hand, technology is only one out of the great variety of subjects with which the legal system has to deal.

The police find themselves in a similar position, where the range of topics an officer has to study leaves little time for technical matters. Not much technology is needed to arrest a football hooligan, whereas measuring the speed of cars, for example, is a different matter.

How to work effectively with your expert

IN MY 10 years experience of working alongside solicitors, the police and the CPS as an expert witness, I have worked on a fascinating variety of criminal and civil cases – from murder and rape cases through child care proceedings to ‘best interest’ cases in the High Court.

Also throughout that time I have encountered an equally fascinating variety of lawyers who have presented me with some extraordinary challenges in terms of the working relationship between the instructing party and the expert.

CHIPS with everything

THE UBIQUITOUS silicon chip is in our cars, our homes, our businesses and just about every area of commercial, industrial and domestic life. So it’s no wonder that when things go wrong, fingers are pointed at electronics and built-in software.

It’s also no surprise that disputes find their way into every type of resolution forum from mediation through arbitration and litigation in jurisdictions throughout the world.

Manipulating images by enhancement

IN 1835 FOX TALBOT revolutionised the photographic process by developing the ability to reproduce images from a negative. In the 21st century we have images represented as numbers and we are theoretically able to manipulate them in any way that we choose.

The development of the computerised age and the introduction of digital image enhancement have brought many benefits, and many questions, especially in relation to the investigative process and the use of this technology within the judicial system.

The art of recovering lost data and undeleting deleted text messages

SOME of the best sources of forensic data are mobile phones, computer hard drives and digital devices such as memory sticks and digital cameras.

Despite many highprofile Crown Court and Magistrates’ Court trials, criminals still leave data trails that can be followed and used in evidence to convict the guilty. In this article I shall look at some of the main options open to the forensic data recovery specialist.