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Forensics: The Real CSI
On a Monday afternoon in an affluent Birmingham suburb, a husband rings 999 to say he has killed his wife. The man is covered in blood when he is arrested outside his home but when he is brought to police custody and interviewed, he initially claims not to remember anything. Both houses are sealed off and it’s the job of crime scene coordinator Jo Ward to lead the search for forensic clues that could prove or disprove the suspect’s account. Forensic scientist Phil Field goes to the scene to carry out Blood Pattern Analysis to help map out the sequence of events surrounding the attacks. The investigation takes a significant turn when digital forensics experts manage to crack the suspect’s mobile and an insight into his motive is revealed.
When a 15-year-old teenager is fatally stabbed in a park in Coventry, the forensic team must identify the murderers through evidence left behind at the crime scene. But with the murder weapon nowhere to be found, the investigation relies on two key pieces of evidence: a mobile phone found a short distance from the body and the victim’s blood-soaked jacket. Through fingerprint enhancement, DNA testing and a pioneering partnership between academic researchers and the forensic team, West Midlands Police utilise a wide range of expertise in an effort to identify the killers.
A 34-year-old man is fatally stabbed as he visits a group of friends who are socialising in one of the bedrooms of a multi-occupancy property in Birmingham. With vital evidence compromised during the attempts by paramedics to save his life, detectives use CCTV and financial transactions to track their suspect and apprehend him just before he boards an international flight out of the country. The forensic team employ a mixture of traditional and digital methods to try to determine whether or not the witnesses are telling the truth.
Police respond to a call from a residential area of Dudley, where a woman reports that a house is being smashed up and a group are beating someone up outside it. When the forensic team from West Midlands Police arrive shortly afterwards, the attackers have fled. They find the body of a young man and a complex crime scene with evidence that a series of violent incidents have taken place over several hundred yards. Soon afterwards, a second man, brought to hospital from the crime scene, is declared dead. When strange puncture wounds are discovered on the bodies of both victims, a detailed forensic investigation is mounted to piece together a full picture of how and why the men were killed, what the murder weapon was, and who is responsible.
Forensic scene investigator Drew Birtles is deployed to lead the search for evidence after a woman in her 50s phones 999 to allege that an engineer who visited her home by appointment to fit a smart meter has indecently exposed himself. Facing a case that is difficult to prove, Drew sets to work using forensic light sources and DNA evidence to build a picture of what went on in the woman’s house.
As the victim of a violent knife attack fights for his life in hospital, Crime Scene Coordinator Jo Ward is dispatched to his home in Birmingham to lead the forensic investigation into identifying his attacker. The victim is unable to tell police what happened because he has been put in a medically induced coma, and the investigation becomes more challenging when no witnesses are prepared to give a statement to the police. Jo and her team work to gather vital evidence that could help police quickly identify and arrest the attacker.
West Midlands Police need forensics to identify the killer of two men found dead in a car. Police respond to a call of a shooting in a carpark. As dusk sets in, crime-scene coordinator Simon Flanaghan attends to find a car set back from the road, with multiple bullet holes and two men dead inside.
