MEETING REPORT

One willing Derson

Speaking at the Forensic Science Society Summer Meeting garment was 11; two other garments bore a group of seven in York, 1996, the convener of the meeting, Dr Norman matching fibres. Hence, the study has shown that even Weston said that he had chosen the title of One Willing using common fibre types it is unusual to find random Person after some thought. The forensic sciences were built fibres matching a selected control and when matching fibres on carefully laid foundations. The crime scene examiner are found they are generally in small numbers. must do hi'utmost to recover all the evidence and interpret what may be needed to lead to the successful detection of offenders. Other forensic experts in laboratories, fingerprint bureaux and elsewhere would then contribute their part. Over the years, all the major and minor developments have occurred through the determination of individuals to break new ground by developing new techniques in the laborato- ry or at the crime scene. He cited a case where laboratory staff had taken microscopes and other equipment and set up an ad hoc laboratory near to the scene. As a large number of houses were searched for a particular combination of coloured fibres, laboratory staff had been able to make immediate decisions on the likely involvement of a particu- lar house in this major murder enquiry.

The positive identification of a number of items of bed clothes from one room which matched fibres from the naked body of the victim produced a speedy arrest with large savings of time for police, crime scene examiners and scientists.

He hoped the meeting would establish that individual effort and creativity still flourished in the forensic sciences.

The Significance of Extraneous Fibres on Outer Garments was presented by Anna-Marie O'Connor of the Forensic Science Service London Laboratory. The trans- fer of textile fibres between the clothing of a suspect and a victim can provide valuable evidence, however, it may be argued that the fibres found were there purely by chance. This project was set up to test this argument by establishing the incidence of four very common fibre types on the sur- faces of 100 randomly selected garments. The target gar- ments were chosen on the basis of their large production figures and consisted of a blue cotton Marks and Spencer pullover, a blue woollen Marks and Spencer pullover, a pink cotton Top Man T-shirt and a sample of grey polyester car seat fabric.

Extraneous fibres were recovered from each of the 100 gar- ments by taping. The tapings were then searched for any possible matching fibres using low power microscopy. Any fibres found were then compared against the target controls using the following series of techniques: comparison microscopy, microspectrophotometry, Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectrometry and thin layer chromatography. If a fibre failed to match the target control at any stage then no further comparison was carried out on that fibre.

Seventy-two garments were found to bear no matching fibres. Twenty-four garments bore matching blue woollen fibres, four garments bore matching pink cotton fibres and one garment bore matching blue cotton fibres. Only one garment bore more than one type of matching fibres (blue wool and pink cotton fibres). The total number of matching fibres found was 67 but the maximum number on any one

The Foster and Freeman Fibre Finder, a preliminary report on its strengths and limitations, presented by Yvonne Turner of the Forensic Science Service London Laboratory. The transfer of textile fibres can be used to pro- vide evidence of contact between a suspect and a victim, or between a suspect and a scene of crime or vehicle.

It is common practice in many forensic laboratories throughout the world to use clear adhesive tape to remove extraneous fibres from clothing or other objects. These tapes are then examined for any possible transferred fibres using low power microscopy. This work can be time con- suming and tedious, particularly in cases where large num- bers of tapes need to be examined; this can lead to operator fatigue.

The Foster and Freeman Fibre Finder consists of a comput- er controlled high resolution scanner. The scanner has a series of ten filters covering the range 390 to 750 nanome- ters. Control fibres are scanned using all ten filters and the machine then automatically selects the four most appropri- ate filters to search for similar fibres on the tapings. Once the tapings have been scanned a results map can be printed off showing the locations of the fibres found. By overlaying the taping over the results map, the fibres can then be read- ily recovered for a more detailed comparison.

The advantages of the Fibre Finder are that it is portable, it can be run overnight and it greatly reduces the amount of scientists' time spent searching tapings. It can search for more than one target fibre at the same time and it can also examine tapes not suitable for scientists to search (for example, where the target fibres are similar in colour to that of the garment being searched). The drawbacks of the sys- tem are: its cost (about £50,000); it requires an experienced operator; it only looks at colour and not other physical char- acteristics (such as shape); it requires a fixed size of tapings and it can be affected by the orientation of the fibres.

Romelle Piercy of the Forensic Science Service London Laboratory presented Sequencing the Tsar. In 1991 a grave containing nine skeletons was discovered in Russia. Work carried out on the remains by forensic scientists sug- gested that they were of Tsar Nicholas 11, his wife and three daughters along with four others thought to be three ser- vants and the family doctor. It was believed that on July 16 1918 the Tsar and his family had been executed by a firing squad and then buried in a secret mass grave.

In 1992 the Forensic Science Service was approached to use DNA based techniques to help further identification of the bodies. The Forensic Science Service used a two pronged approach involving chromosomal and mitochondria1 DNA tests. The chromosomal DNA tests indicated a family group of a father, mother and three daughters, along with four

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One Willing Person

unrelated individuals. Mitochondria1 DNA, which is mater- a suspect, in order to provide a considered opinion on the nallv inherited and, therefore, allows comparisons across comparison and arrive at a successful conclusion. generations, gave the expected results for four females (the

At the beginning of the year, there was very little informa- Tsarina and three daughters).

tion available on earprints. The speaker, with the assistance A blood sample obtained from HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Norman Weston, h a s collated references on the subject of Edinburgh, who is a relative of maternal descent from the including a very useful text written by Alfred Iannarelli in Tsarina also matched this profile. The putative Tsar's DNA the 1950s. was also compared with ;hose from relatives of unbroken maternal descent. A 98.5% probability was given to the likelihood that the remains were those of the Tsar and his family (excluding the missing son and daughter). A footnote to the talk was the analysis of samples obtained from Anna Anderson Manahan, who claimed to be the lost daughter Anastasia. The tests gave results inconsistent with this claim.

The paper presented by Anne Keenan, One, Other or Two, emphasised the need for cooperation between profes- sionals in establishing the accuracy of a case before presen- tation to the courts. As an example, she cited the case of an armed robbery involving the fatal shooting of an elderly gentleman - but was this murder or accidental death? The victim was shot as a result of trying to prevent the driver of the getaway car leaving the scene of the crime. The victim died almost instantly and during the post-mortem it was established that the victim's body contained two bullets, but had only one entry wound and a single bullet track. The pathologist theorised that the weapon in question had some- how fired the two bullets in such a way that they travelled in tandem through the deceased's body probably due to a flaw in the gun's mechanism. As a result of close commu- nication between the Fiscal, the pathologist and the ballis- tics experts, this unusual fact was confirmed.

The next issue was to establish if the gun had been acci- dentally or intentionally fired at the victim. Once again, close cooperation between the professionals produced evi- dence of the force required to pull the trigger, the position of the victim's wound and the friction marks and level of soot on the victim's clothing. These facts established that a struggle had not taken place and therefore the firing of this two-bullet shot was not accidental.

In this case, the combined efforts of law, science and medi- cine contributed to the case by helping the jury come to the conclusion that the three men involved in the armed robbery were guilty of the murder of the elderly gentleman, thus showing the importance of the efforts of one willing person from each discipline and more significantly the value of a team effort.

A presentation on Earprint Evidence was given by John Kennerley, Lancashire Constabulary. The oldest reference to earprints left at scenes is from a series of five burglaries over a two year period (January 1974 to December 1975). A crime bulletin was issued to the scene of crime investiga- tors, providing instructions as to what to do when a suspect is arrested. Two years later the same earprint appeared again at burglary scenes; various suspects were ear printed but the series remains undetected.

Thus, awareness was stimulated and on a few occasions earprints have been presented to the bureaux. In 1996 there was a successful case. John described the process and stages necessary to compare the earprints recovered from a scene and the reference control earprint samples taken from

Earprint impressions are usually detected during routine fingerprint examination using aluminium powder and are then recovered using fingerprint tape. The method for obtaining reference control earprint samples from suspects is to use an acetate sheet, press it onto the ear using a weight, dusting the sheets with powder and recovering the print using fingerprint tape. Using this method the speaker created a database of earprints which characterises the dif- ferences between individuals and also demonstrates the dif- ferences found when the earprints are produced under vari- ous degrees of pressure from the same individual.

The message to the conference was firstly, to increase the awareness amongst scene of crime examiners of the inci- dence of earprints at scenes and what can be done with them once recovered; secondly to draw all the expertise in this field together to provide a service to the police through ACPO. There was a case still pending trial and the speaker was currently involved in the analysis of earprints recov- ered from a series of linked burglaries in Cheshire. The del- egates were invited to increase the size of the current data- base and to experience the method of collecting reference control earprint samples by lending their ears to the cause.

Dr Peter Bull of Oxford University presented a talk on Dirt, Sand and Dust. There are over three hundred major soil types in Britain, every one distinguishable from the other. Each soil, whether it be dirt, sand or dust is made up of hundreds or even thousands of different types of materi- als.

The microscopic surfaces of minerals contain scratches and dents which can help to work out the history of a grain for perhaps the last five or six hundred million years. Every flowering plant, tree or shrub produces pollen. Each pollen species is different so it is possible to work out the vegeta- tion of an area from the types of pollen present in a soil. Chemicals are continually added to the soil and they pro- vide useful signatures as to the origin of a soil.

Very small amounts are necessary (usually a teaspoonful will suffice) to reach a conclusion about the characteristics of a soil, sand or lump of dirt. The power of soil analysis is that it can be used to match a suspect to a particular scene and, perhaps mindful of the cost of policing today, it can be used to eliminate suspects from further enquiry.

Bob Weddell gave a talk on the Future for Professional Crime Scene Examiners. The case was presented that crime scene examiners should be educated to the level of Bachelor of Science Degree in Crime Scene Examination.

Firstly, there is an increased level of advanced technology and advanced methodology to detect and recover material from a scene which requires a corresponding increase in the level of scientific knowledge needed by a crime scene examiner.

Secondly, "It is recommended that the SOCO remit should

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MEETING REPORT

be extended to create a more investigative and professional role" as quoted in "Using Forensic Science Effectively" published jointly by ACPO and the FSS.

Thirdly, costings of services provided by the FSS are rising and in this climate crime scene examiners may perform some of the services. To accomplish this, crime scene examiners that are suitably qualified and experienced must be recognised by the courts as 'Expert Witnesses'.

A further argument was submitted that there is an urgent need for a separate and distinct professional organisation within the Forensic Science Society aimed at and catering for, the needs of crime scene examiners.

Peter Middleton, head of Analytical Science at Scientifics Ltd, a subsidiary of the British Railways Board, gave a pre- sentation on the Future of the Forensic Sciences. Mr Middleton believes that there will always be a need for forensic science because of the existence of lawyers and courts. The key to services is credibility and the most important factors to maintain credibility are quality and pro- ficiency.

He felt that quality accreditation organisations (e.g., NAMAS) will increase in importance and quality improve- ments will lead to specialisation within forensic science resulting in specialist laboratories. These specialisms would need to be supported by proficiency testing; although there are proficiency schemes already for organisations smaller than the Forensic Science Service, Scientifics Ltd has to subscribe to an American proficiency testing authority, there being none available in the UK. He quoted an article in the Times of 28 May 1996 'Police Forces are shopping around for the cheapest deal and the quality of the evidence they are getting is declining accordingly'.

Mr Middleton suggested that forensic science will depend increasingly on new quicker and cheaper analytical tech- niques and technology will provide an enhanced reputation for forensic science.

Dave Werrett of the Forensic Science Service continued the discussion about the Future of Forensic Sciences. In the period 1990 to 1991 the Forensic Science Service changed to charging the police for forensic services; this led to comparisons. There was joint ACPOIFSS research into how useful forensic science was to the police. The services offered were now different to before agency status (e.g., mass screens) as he believed success lay in meeting the cus- tomer requirement.

Quality is important, but accreditation only says that the organisation is systematic, document based, and does what is written, but not that it gets it right. Mr Werrett stated that there is a technological push for near customer testing, data- bases and an integrated approach. In the pipeline are: print- ed liquid circuits (wax on filter paper) which will allow conventional bloodgrouping to be performed at a crime scene in five to ten minutes; third generation multiple5 (TGM) DNA analysis leading to discrimination of 1 in 10 which raises the question of moral certainty; and genetic bit analysis which will be used to determine commonplace characteristics, e.g., red hair.

It was strongly recommended that the investigation be a co- ordinated process involving specialist tests which should be part of an interactive continuum.

Russell Stockdale then 'took the stand' to talk on the sub- ject of Exploding Myths. He described how forensic sci- ence has been shaken about in the name of improvement, mostly by people outside forensic science, leading to the creation of new myths. He said that it was no good to pro- vide the investigating officer with a forensic science spe- cialist, as this would lead to fragmented evidence, no con- trol of the integrity of exhibits and a decrease in quality. He stated that it is not possible to provide a 5D service, i.e., Digits, DNA, Drugs, Documents and items to do with footwear (Doc Martens), and anything which didn't fit into any of the five categories would be disregarded. If this became the case it would not be possible to go back, the necessary expertise having been lost.

Mr Stockdale described how an investigation should have a beginning (scene), middle (analysis of evidence) and an end (tying together and weighting of evidence), and that without the three parts the results would be meaningless. He men- tioned several examples of police DIY forensic science where the forensic scientist was called in too late or not at all, resulting in evidence irrevocably lost.

A presentation entitled Suicide? A Tale of 12 Halves was given jointly by Andy Williams and Roger Mann of the (former) Aldermaston Laboratory and Bill Harding of Surrey Police. The police attended an address in Guildford where one of the lodgers in a multi-occupancy house had been reported missing. An examination of the woman's room revealed a strong smell of creosote and some dark staining on the bed. Although initially unconcerned, the officer returned some days later to find that the stain had spread. A closer examination showed the stain to be blood.

Scenes of crime officers and a scientist from the Forensic Science Service attended. A detailed examination of the room revealed spattered directional bloodstains and heavy blood staining to the head end of the bed. The scientist con- cluded that a severe assault had taken place there resulting in a substantial loss of blood. A piece of bone recovered at the scene was later identified as from the inside of a human skull.

The police launched a murder inquiry. The body of the missing woman was discovered in a nearby pond several days later. She had suffered severe head injuries and had been cut in two around the middle of the torso. The body had been wrapped in black plastic bin liners.

The forensic scientist was asked to link the bin bags from around the body to a quantity of bags that originated from the home address of the victim. A subsequent link to bags originating from a suspect's workplace was to prove invalu- able during the interview of the suspect and helped lead to a full confession.

The case demonstrated the ability of the Forensic Science Service to assist during the early stages of the investigation by providing useful intelligence to the police and not just corroborative evidence at the conclusion of an investiga- tion.

The final presentation of the Meeting was devoted to the West case. Dlsupt J Bennett presented the background to the case and outlined how the investigation was carried out. Dr D Whittaker, University of Wales, described how some of the human remains were identified using dental features.

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One Willing Person

Dr Wilf Basley, Forensic Science Service, Chepstow, out- lined the main findings of some of the work carried out at the forensic laboratory and finally Dr Roger Ide, Forensic Consultant, West Midlands described how potentially use- ful information can be obtained from the examination of knots. Details of his examination of ligatures in relation to the West case were outlined.

In 1992, Fred and Rosemary West and their children were the subject of a child abuse investigation lasting nine months. In August, five children were removed from the West home and placed in care. During this time, brief com- ments were made to social workers about the family joke of 'Heather being under the patio'. Heather, Fred and Rosemary's eldest daughter, could not be found. Early in 1994, when all enquiries to trace Heather were exhausted, it was decided that formal witness statements should be obtained from social workers closely connected with the West children. With the evidence contained in those state- ments, together with the result of other police enquiries, a search warrant was issued to search 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester for evidence relating to Heather's whereabouts.

Number 25 Cromwell Street was a semi-detached, three storey house. A large single storey extension had been added to the property and the majority of the rear garden was covered with a patio. The West family had lived there since 1972. On 24 February 1994, the warrant was execut- ed. Approximately fifteen specially trained search officers commenced digging in the rear garden. Two days later, a human femur was recovered and identified by Professor B Knight. Heather's remains were discovered a short time later but when both her femurs were found it became clear that an additional body was present in the garden. As the search progressed the parameters were extended to include the entire house, including the front garden.

A girl called Linda Gough had left home to stay with Fred and Rosemary. Her parents had called to visit her but Rosemary told them she had moved to Weston-super-Mare. A witness reported that Rosemary was wearing Linda's slip- pers and cardigan and Linda's night clothes were hanging on the washing line. On 2 March 1996, Fred West was inter- viewed about the disappearance of Linda Gough.

On 4 March 1996, Fred passed a note, via his solicitor, to DISupt Bennett admitting approximately nine killings including Linda Gough, his first wife, Rena and their eldest daughter Charmaine who was born in 1963.

The entire ground floor of 25 Cromwell Street and the gar- den were excavated to a depth of 6-8 feet below ground level. A total of nine remains, including those of Heather West, were recovered from various areas of the house and garden. Binding, ropes and ligatures were associated with some of the victims. These were wrapped around the head and the limbs of some of the victims. Their locations were videoed and all the material recovered from the excavations was logged and documented. These findings would be important in the trial. Prof B Knight attended the removal of each set of remains.

Prior to moving to Cromwell Road in 1972, Fred and Rosemary West had lived at 25 Midland Road since July 1970. On 4 March 1994, a warrant was obtained to search 25 Midland Road in connection with the disappearance of Charmaine.The search began on 26 April and the house was

returned to its owners on 2 June 1996. Excavation of the kitchen area required a concrete floor to be removed and metal sheet reinforcing cut through. Five feet of impacted rubble was then cleared before the previous coal cellar area could be searched. Charmaine's remains were recovered.

On the 10 April, the remains of Fred's first wife were found buried in a field at Kempley. The remains of Ann McFaul were found in an adjacent field on 7 June 1996.

Throughout all his interviews, Fred did not directly impli- cate Rosemary. Fred was charged with twelve murders and Rosemary with ten. Rosemary consistently claimed her innocence and denied all knowledge of her husband's actions. Fred West was found dead in his cell on 1 January 1996.

The identification of the recovered remains was carried out by Dr Whittaker. The skulls, including the teeth and mandibles were transferred to the dental school at the University of Wales. Identification in these circumstances had to commence with the determination of firstly, the sex and, secondly, the age at death. These discriminators pro- vide a suitable filter and narrowed down investigations in relation to missing persons. All of the remains were female. Ageing was determined from each individual's teeth; the mean preferred age and the standard deviation was calcu- lated in each case.

Unusual features of the teeth such as rotated teeth, missing teeth, teeth with unusual morphology were recorded. In addition, an assessment was made of the treatment which each of the individuals had received during life. This included an assessment of the type of restorations, the mate- rials used and the style of dentistry involved. All informa- tion was passed to the investigating officers so that should putative identees be identified and dental records be made available, these features could be adequately checked. It became apparent, however, that only in one or two cases would dental records be available due to the length of time since death. Consequently, it was suggested that reconstruc- tion of the facial appearance of each of the missing individ- uals should be carried out.

Currently there are three techniques available to aid with reconstruction and comparison of unknown individuals, and each has their limitations. The first involves clay recon- struction, the second computer simulated reconstruction. The third and preferred technique was to use photographic superimposition. Details of this process, which is by no means straightforward, were presented.

As the prosecution case developed it became apparent that the positive and accurate identification of the remains of Charmaine, along with an assessment of the time of death, would be crucial in the prosecution case against Rosemary. This was because Fred had spent some time in prison at or around the time when Charmaine had disappeared. Photographic superimposition was problematic mainly because all available photographs of Charmaine were inade- quate. Fortuitously, after the inquest, the prosecution discov- ered that additional photographs of Charmaine taken by a professional photographer on 29 April 197 1 were available. By comparing the status of the teeth of the remains with this photograph of Charmaine it was possible to offer the opin- ion that Charmaine died soon after the photograph was taken, i.e., almost 1-2 months rather than, say, 4-6 months.

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MEETING REPORT

Since it was believed that the twelve murders had occurred between May 1967 and June 1987, and that they had occurred at a number of different locations, the role of the forensic scientist was more informative and investigative, rather then providing direct association or exclusion evi- dence against Fred and Rosemary. The main thrust was to assist in victim identification, identify artefacts recovered with the remains, provide information on the circumstances of death or burial and to highlight factors which might be common to the different burial sites.

In the early stages of the enquiry efforts were directed at identifying some of the remains using DNA tests but since dental work and other evidence resolved the issues of iden- tification, this work became unnecessary. A number of masks constructed from adhesive tape were examined for fingerprints and physical links to each other and for simi- larities of construction. It was also important to demonstrate wherever possible that the tape was applied to the victim when the victim was alive. Similarly, ligatures recovered with the some of the remains were examined, identified and compared.

The final presentation by Roger Ide outlined how the mode of tying knots and an examination of the material in which the knot is tied can provide significant evidence relating to the expertise of the person who tied the knots. In the West case, using Fred West's suicide knot as a control a knot chandler, on examination of the ligature knots recovered from the victims, gave the opinion that two different people had tied the knots associated with the victims.

This presentation provided an insight to the information which can be gleaned from such examinations but clearly highlighted the difficulties and limitations of such examina- tions. One of the many requirements for such a comparison is that of a good control sample. In the case of Fred West only his suicide knot was available. The opinion of this speaker when approached by the Gloucester police was that a high degree of objectivity is necessary in examinations of this type.

In concluding the Meeting, Dr Weston said that the papers presented by police officers, crime scene examiners, finger- print experts and forensic scientists had gone a long way to confirming that the spirit embodied in the title of One Willing Person was alive today. Times had changed and the pressures on all were different to say the previous ten years. Across the board we all suffer from the pressures of finan- cial constraints which could probably be summarised as 'cost related activity profiling'.

Nevertheless, there was still scope for the individual, and this had been amply demonstrated in the three days of this meeting. In England and Wales the letters P.A.C.E. were very familiar, standing as they did for the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. Dr Weston suggested that all areas of the forensic sector should keep these four letters in mind but with the alternative meaning of Positive Attitudes Create Excellence.

Andrew Davidson Stella McCrossan Penny Griffiths Joy Satterthwaite June Guiness Sammy Warnakulasuria Gerry John Andy Williams

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