Forensic Scientist

Expert Witness: book review feedback

Anna Sandiford • Jul 18, 2011

• Anna Sandiford,
• Expert witness,
• grant jacobs,
• Sciblogs

Firstly, it’s a nerve-wracking experience to have colleagues read your work; it’s even more nerve-wracking for them, fellow scientists and people who I don’t know to read something that is as personal as this book, Expert Witness, is about my job. So I thank Grant Jacobs for his book review and am relieved that the [...] … Read More

Murder: head in David Attenborough’s garden…

Anna Sandiford • Jul 07, 2011

• David Attenborough,
• news,
• Sciblogs,
• The Barnes Mystery

This is about a 100+ year old murder mystery of a well-to-do woman who was murdered by her maid.  The head was never found. It has just turned up in the garden of Sir David Attenborough, which is an interesting twist to the tale in itself. Some of the facts of the case include the [...] … Read More

Child abuse cases — the role of the expert

Anna Sandiford • Jun 29, 2011

• Kahui inquest,
• Louise Woodward,
• news,
• Sciblogs,
• Shaken Baby Syndrome

Given the current inquest into the deaths of the Kahui twins and the storm about the book to be published by Ian Wishart and the twins’ mother, Macsyna King, this may be of interest – it is a link to a Frontline programme (about half an hour) that seems to have been shown in the [...] … Read More

Incendiary — ’junk science’ in fire investigation

Anna Sandiford • Jun 26, 2011

• Cameron Todd Willingham,
• fire investigation,
• Incendiary,
• news,
• opinion,
• Sciblogs

The case of Cameron Todd Willingham has had a huge impact on the state of Texas. It should also be yet another case that justice systems around the world take a good, hard look at to make sure that such issues do not occur in their jurisdictions. Cameron Todd Willingham was accused of setting a [...] … Read More

Sleep drink-driving

Anna Sandiford • Jun 22, 2011

• automatism,
• Drink Driving,
• news,
• Sciblogs

Just a link to a case where a doctor has been found guilty of sleep drink-driving. It’s the sort of question that arises from time to time and may be of interest to those in jurisdictions where there is a conclusive presumption regarding any breath/blood alcohol result such as New Zealand (which means that the [...] … Read More

Perverting the course of justice — Facebook misuse

Anna Sandiford • Jun 15, 2011

• contempt of court,
• Facebook,
• news,
• Sciblogs

A juror on a drugs trial in Manchester, England, last year now faces jail time after she allagedly contacted and had a Facebook conversation with a Defendant. The full article is here so I don’t intend to repeat it in full. Just in brief though, the juror is alleged to have contacted the Defendant and [...] … Read More

Blood all over the place….

Anna Sandiford • Jun 09, 2011

• blood pattern analysis,
• CSI Miami,
• opinion,
• Sciblogs

I have just read Grant’s blog post comment about blood pattern work that has been completed recently regarding the distribution of blood patterns at a scene and how they can (or can’t in many instances) be interpreted. The new work could help with interpretations in cases where it hadn’t been possible previously. The problem with [...] … Read More

Fingerprints & nanotechnology

Anna Sandiford • Jun 07, 2011

• fingerprint enhancement,
• Nanotechnology,
• news,
• Sciblogs

Fingerprints and forensic science go back a long way – they are probably the most traditional forensic science tool that people will mention if you ask them about solving crimes.  Having said that, there have been some monumental stuff-ups when it comes to fingerprint ID; the Madrid bomb suspect misidentification springs to mind when a [...] … Read More

Scientific Process Rage (yep, we can all relate to this…)

Anna Sandiford • Jun 04, 2011

• news,
• Sciblogs,
• scientific process rage

This is a neat flowchart of how scientific research takes place, from Electron Cafe‘s scientific process rage blog post. I have nothing else to add  (apart from thanks to Tasha for sending me the link).   … Read More

Drug wraps and Schlieren lines

Anna Sandiford • Jun 03, 2011

• analysing drugs,
• drug wraps,
• Forensic Casework experiences,
• Schlieren patterns,
• Sciblogs

Life is spooky: it was interesting to see the blog post about Schlieren imaging by Physic Stop‘s Marcus Wilson because it reminded about this simple yet effective technique that I have not seen in use in New Zealand (yet) and related directly to a conversation I had yesterday with my crime scene consultant. We were [...] … Read More