Expert Witness Features – page 18

Mobile phones: a wealth of evidence for those who know where to look

IT IS ESTIMATED that there are now more active mobile telephones in the UK than there are people.

The worldwide mobile telephone subscriber count is over three billion, which accounts for half the population of the planet.

Modern mobile telephones are able to store massive amounts of data: hundreds of contact details, along with the times and sometimes the durations of calls – both incoming and outgoing – may be stored. Recent technology has enabled internet browsing and email correspondence, as well as instant chat (such as Yahoo chat or Windows Live Messenger). Embedded cameras and microphones now allow telephones to capture events and even to ‘geotag’ them using co-ordinates generated by onboard GPS systems.

Professional negligence A case of being named, blamed and shamed

First, there is the knock to your pride and ego that comes with direct criticism of your work and advice.

However, more tangibly, such claims can be very expensive even if the actual damages are covered by an indemnity policy. There will be an excess to pay and, typically, many hours will be spent in defending the action and justifying the standard of work undertaken.

When is a digital forensics expert NOT an expert?

FOR MANY YEARS lawyers knew exactly what to do when they took on a case involving computer crime – call in the forensic computing experts.

A rare breed, their skills were held in high regard and shrouded in mystique, and they often appeared to be performing miracles. Armed with just a few software tools and years of hard-earned experience, they could deliver compelling evidence by piecing together a few fragments of deleted files recovered from various hard drives or email servers.

When the facts get lost among the evidence

AN EXPERT witness is a witness of opinion and not a witness of fact. Our role as expert witnesses is to assist the court through our expertise, having carefully considered all the information available to us.

Fraudulent claims in personal injury cases are an unfortunate fact of life and it is therefore not surprising that insurers and third parties are keen to identify and discredit such claims.

When the police investigate an accident, who investigates the investigation?

DESPITE WHAT people think, road traffic collision investigation is no longer the domain of retired police officers.

Generally, most traffic officers and beat officers have had no formal training in accident investigation.

When they are called to the scene of a non-serious or non-fatal accident, most do not know to look for underlying circumstances or contributory factors and are, in fact, fairly restricted to documenting evidence by completing a Stat 19 form at the scene of the accident.