Nominated BEST TRUE-CRIME PODCAST at British Podcast Awards 2018, The Telegraph's Top Five True-Crime Podcasts, The Guardian's Podcast of the Week and iTunes Top 25. Subscribe via iTunes, Spotify, Acast, Stitcher and all podcast platforms.
This week: homicide, what is it, how many variations of killing is there? First, understand there is a difference between homicide, murder and manslaughter, these words aren’t interchangeable.
Homicide: Homicide is the killing of one person by another, having made a decision or committed an action to bring about another person’s death, whether accidental or deliberate. Homicide is split into two categories; justifiable and criminal homicide; justifiable homicide includes self-defence, killing in war, euthanasia and capital punishment, where the death isn’t premeditated by criminal intent. Where-as criminal homicide is divided into two distinct categories, murder and manslaughter. Murder is the unlawful killing of another person with premeditation (a plan to kill) and their actions have criminal intent. Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of another person without premeditation, but the perpetrators actions are intended to cause serious harm or injury to the other person, but not death, but results in the death of another. But what other types of killing is there.
If you found this interesting? Check out the Mini Mile episodes of the Murder Mile UK True-Crime Podcast, or click on the link below to listen to an episode.
Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian, podcaster and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten curious, quirky, unusual and different things to do in London”, nominated "one of the best true-crime podcasts at the British Podcast Awards 2018", and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totaling 50 deaths, over just a one mile walk
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Nominated BEST TRUE-CRIME PODCAST at British Podcast Awards 2018, The Telegraph's Top Five True-Crime Podcasts, The Guardian's Podcast of the Week and iTunes Top 25. Subscribe via iTunes, Spotify, Acast, Stitcher and all podcast platforms.
This week: Luminol. What is it and how does it work?
Used on all crime scene shows, sprays clear liquid, lights out, florescent light, shows up blood is, invisible to naked eye, that’s Luminol, but what is it? Invented in 1928, by German chemist H. O. Albrecht who found that many substances emitted a blue glow, chemical luminescence, when Luminol (which is a white-to-pale-yellow crystalline) is dissolved in a solvent such as hydrogen peroxide. Initially it was used in lab-work by biologists to detect copper, iron and cyanides, but in 1936, Karl Gleu and Karl Pfannstiel discovered that Luminol reacts with the iron in haemoglobin (our red blood cells) and realising its potential in 1937, German forensic scientist Walter Specht first used it for the detection of trace elements of blood at crime scenes. So what is this blue glow? That’s the chemical luminescence, it happens when Luminol breaks down our red blood cells, rearranges the atoms, and as a short chemical reaction takes place, the excess energy is expelled as visible light photons, the blue glow, same chemical seen in fire-flies and glow sticks. So what are the positives of using Luminol: it shows blood stains even after they’ve been cleaned-up, it only requires trace elements of blood for a reaction, it is very cheap to make, and (although TV shows love showing Forensics with UV/black light) UV light is not needed to see the blue glow, it’s very faint but it is visible to the naked eye, in-fact using a UV light gives worse results, so a pitch black room shows the luminescence clearer. What do they use in tv shows? Luminous paint. So what are the negatives of using Luminol: it has to be sprayed evenly (otherwise the results can make trace elements appear more concentrated in one area), (unlike in TV shows) the glow only lasts about 30 seconds but you can re-apply to dried blood or semen. To accurately work out where all the blood is, forensics seal up the windows and doors to make the room pitch black, evenly spray the luminol in small patches, and photograph the entire scene using a long-exposure camera, creating one photo of the entire chemical luminescence. One big down side of using Luminol is the blue glow can be triggered by anything containing copper (including some bleaches, liver and oysters), as well as any blood in urine, most animal urine, faecal matter, excessive cigarette smoke in a confined area, and worst of all, is Horseradish sauce. Want to murder someone, have a dinner party of oysters and Horseradish sauce with several incontinent dogs and heavy-smoking chimps, engaged in a poo-throwing contest. Case closed.
If you found this interesting? Check out the Mini Mile episodes of the Murder Mile UK True-Crime Podcast, or click on the link below to listen to an episode.
Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian, podcaster and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten curious, quirky, unusual and different things to do in London”, nominated "one of the best true-crime podcasts at the British Podcast Awards 2018", and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totaling 50 deaths, over just a one mile walk
Which ordinary person was born with the same name as an infamous murderer or serial killer?2/11/2019
Nominated BEST TRUE-CRIME PODCAST at British Podcast Awards 2018, The Telegraph's Top Five True-Crime Podcasts, The Guardian's Podcast of the Week and iTunes Top 25. Subscribe via iTunes, Spotify, Acast, Stitcher and all podcast platforms.
Which poor unfortunates were born with the same name as a serial killer? Often I’ve made a little joke that Steve Wright the Suffolk Strangler and Ipswich Ripper can easily be confused with the highly respected BBC Radio 2 DJ Steve Wright in the afternoooooon” by name alone, but there are loads of other Steve Wright’s for him to be confused with. So…
#1 – Steve Wright, the Suffolk Strangler, convicted of five counts of murder in 2006, he also has a namesake who is a former NFL offensive tackler for American football team the Green Bay Packers. Steve Wright is also a professional baseball pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, a bassist for The Greg Kihn Band; a former English football player manager and trainer for Bolton Wanderers, Norwich City and Brighton & Hove Albion, and a former professional footballer for Colchester United, Braintree Town, Wrexham, Torquay United, Crewe Alexandra, Rhyl, Chelmsford City, Wivenhoe Town and Harwich & Parkeston – oh yes, all the big teams. There are also Steve Wright’s who work as a Course Leader in Fashion Design at the University of South Wales, Operations Manager at Golf Buggies GB in Wakefield, Head of Medical Services & Physiotherapy for Southampton Football Club, and (my favourite) CEO at Christys' London – no not that Christie) in charge of hats. #2 – Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, murderer of 13 woman between 1975–1980. His namesakes are a former English footballer for Manchester United, Stockport County, Port Vale, Chester, Bangor City and Scarborough. There’s also a famous racing driver, a Supply Chain Manager at Tasti Products Ltd in Auckland, New Zealand; Editor of a Special Educational Needs magazine in Lancashire, an Area Officer for The Salvation Army in central Queensland and a Pastor (no, not like tagliatelli, but the type who get drunk on Charing Cross Road and abuse paramedics by shouting “I’ve got immunity from The Vatican”), there’s a Pastor in Queensland called Peter Sutcliffe. #3 – Stephen Port, the Grindr Killer, convicted of four murders so far, and although he worked as a chef in Debtford Bus Garage, his namesakes are also a Karate Black Belt in Minneapolis, an Audit Manager at a company I read as Acast, so I assumed his job was to organise the cocaine), there are two Stephen Port’s who are chefs in the Swindon area, and according to those in the know, there are currently 26 Stephen Port’s on gay-dating app’ Grindr. Oh aren’t people witty? #4 - Dennis Nilsen, ah Dennis, serial killer, civil servant and mulled wine maker, but his many namesakes include; a former wannabe Republican senator who participated in rescue effort of the United Airlines Flight 232 which crashed in Sioux City, Iowa; there’s a Dennis Nilsen with a PhD in Politics in Washington, an Adjunct Lecturer at Molloy College in New York, the Director of Sealand Region in Denmark and (more frighteningly) a Debt Collector in Guildford called Dennis Nilsen. #5 - Ted Bundy; the crazy lady’s favourite, his namesakes also include Vice President of Marketing at Samsung Electronics in New Zealand, a Senior Lawyer in Wichita, Kansas; a Supervisor at Ollie's Bargain Outlet in North Fort Myers, Florida; a Home Building Inspector in Tampa, Florida, and a Reflexologist in London. #6 – Ian Brady, the Moor’s Murderer; his namesakes include a Talent Director at Verizon, a Bitcoin Trader in Wichita, a Customer Service Manager in The Wirral, Merseyside (ah de-dodoh-don’t-de-do), a Horse Stud Manager in Toowoomba, Australia (gday mate, let’s get those horses shagging, but first… a beer), Ian Brady is also a bus driver for Greyhound in Ontario, Canada, and – most bafflingly of all – a man with the same name as Ian Brady, the infamous child murderer is also a professional nanny and baby-sitter in Gloucester. Honestly mate, change your name. #7 - Rose West; serial-killer who (with her husband Fred) participated in the murder of her own 8 year old step-daughter, Charmaine; has namesakes including a Risk Consultant in Detroit, a Surgical Scheduler in a New York Hospital, a Special Education Teacher at a school in Ilford, and a Personal Health Coach in… yes, that place has popped up again, Tampa Florida. #8 – Rose West, husband to Fred, who was a plasterer and handyman, his namesakes include a Strategic Planner for the Jesus Film Project in California, an Education Consultant in North Carolina and (you couldn’t make it up) a Self Employed Landlord/Handyman in Cambridgeshire. #9 – Jeffrey Dahmer; rapist, murderer and cannibal of 17 young men and boys; there is a Jeffrey Dahmer who’s an engineer at IBM in California, a cashier at SAMS CLUB in Cedar Park, Texas; a UPS driver in Kitchener (Canada) – (knocks “open up, it’s Jeffrey Dahmer, I’ve got something for you?” and oddly, there is a Jeffrey Dahmer from Georgetown Texas, who works in “human resources”. Yes, I’ll repeat that, there’s man with the same name as the Milwakawe Cannibal, who works in “human resources”. And finally, #10 – John Reginald Christie, (as Reg) “lothario, tea-makers and star of Murder Mile”; now there is only one John Reginald Halliday Christie, and very few John Reginald Christie’s, but there are quite a few John Christie’s, such as John Christie, CEO of Tesco International in Thailand “I wondered if you’d like a nice Thai Green Curry?”, the Assistant Attorney General for the District of Columbia, the Legislative Director at U.S. House of Representatives, CEO of Christie's International Real Estate (check the back garden first), Secretary at Gloucester Speakers Club and John Christie is also a Doctor at St Martins Village Medical Centre in Sydney, Australia. “I wondered if you’d like a nice mug of beer, mate? It’s a cure-all”. John Christie was also a Scottish footballer, a goalkeeper for Southampton FC, an artist, a climate scientist at the University of Alabama, an architect for the Southern Pacific Railroad, Principal of Jesus College in Oxford, minister of the Church of Scotland, Mayor of Johannesburg in 1920-1921, recipient of the Victoria Cross, and an American engineer and inventor of the Christie suspension system as used in tanks during World War II. And although, all of these people, are without question good and decent people who just happened to have the same name as a serial killer, sometimes parents need a good slap. In 2018, a British couple - Adam Thomas (22) and his partner, Claudia Patatas (38), were tried and convicted of stirring up racial hatred, after (amongst many other things including being members of an illegal group, being in possession of terrorist documents and distributing articles of racial hatred) they chose to give their child, the middle name of Adolf, after the Nazi despot and one-balled fascist Adolf Hitler. This came to light after the couple were seen posing for a photo, in their home, clutching their baby, whilst proudly displaying a flag with the Swastika on it. Thomas was jailed for six years and six months and Patatas for five years. And to be honest, I think the child’s middle name is going to be the least of its problems. If you enjoyed that, we’ll return next week with some more innocent people who unfortunately share the same name as a serial killer and murder. Oh, and if you’re wondering; although BoJo the Clown is currently our Prime Minster; there are also a Boris Johnson who is a Local Authority Specifyer at York Council, a cleaner at McDonald’s in Brighton, an astronaut for NASA and – as he was born, not in the UK, but in the US of A, there’s a chance he could also be the next US President. Mwah-ha-ha-ha. Oh you poor buggers.
If you found this interesting? Check out the Mini Mile episodes of the Murder Mile UK True-Crime Podcast, or click on the link below to listen to an episode.
Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian, podcaster and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten curious, quirky, unusual and different things to do in London”, nominated "one of the best true-crime podcasts at the British Podcast Awards 2018", and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totaling 50 deaths, over just a one mile walk
Nominated BEST TRUE-CRIME PODCAST at British Podcast Awards 2018, The Telegraph's Top Five True-Crime Podcasts, The Guardian's Podcast of the Week and iTunes Top 25. Subscribe via iTunes, Spotify, Acast, Stitcher and all podcast platforms.
This week, with the extortionate cost of drugs in prisons, we’ll discuss how prisoners get around this by making homemade drugs.
#1 – Nitrus Oxide or Laughing Gas, also known as “Hippy Crack” is sold in those nasty little finger-sized silver canisters you see crushed on the ground outside schools, which is meant for making whipped cream and inflating balloons, but any numpty without a brain inhales it to get high. Such is the UK Law, it’s legal to buy nitrus oxide… but it’s illegal to supply it for human consumption, as although Nitrus Oxide brings about feelings of euphoria and relaxation, it also bursts brain cells and can lead to anaemia and serious nerve damage. Nitrus is easy to smuggle into prison, but again, the canister will smell of a man’s ass as will the gas. #2 – Chemically-Laced Photographs or Paper; to buy-pass the prison screening process, families and friends send prisoners photos of family photos or children’s drawings laced with cocaine, ecstasy, heroin or spice (or in the USA, it’s mostly Subutex, as the country is riddled with an opioid epidemic), many prisoners soak the paper in water or alcohol and drink that, they can crumble it up and smoke it, or they simply eat the paper. Prisons are aware of this and all letters/photos are screened. 3. Spice, the synthetic cannabinoid, also known as the Zombie Drug, which can create a feeling of relaxation, but also delusions, paranoia and psychosis. Homemade spice has been made in prison using all manner of lethal substances such as cleaning products, insect repellent and nail varnish remover. Once soaked on paper, it is then dried and smoked, causing hallucinations, nausea, confusion and psychosis, with a credit card sized piece of spiced paper selling for £20-50. 4. Toilet Wine; a strong and disgusting homemade alcohol made from water, fruit, sugar and mouldy bread to make it ferment, and although it can be very potent, many prisoners have been hospitalised, suffering from all kinds of sickness from stomach cramps, all the way up to botulism, which can cause severe paralysis. Kurt Cobain? (unintelligible) “ehyyyyy”). Well… if you say so. 5. Medications. Many prisoners are prescribed medications for disorders such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar and insomnia, as well as addiction to heroin or amphetamines, and these drugs are highly prised on the prison black market. And although their distribution is supervised, even if the drugs are administered by the prison doctor and dissolved in a cup of water, prisoners have been known to spit it back out in private, dry it and re-sell the drugs. 6. Crack Sticks. With many UK prisons having gone smoke-free since 2008 and some buying in vape kits to pacify those with a nicotine habit (urgh dirty), some prisoners make what they call a crack stick, where they remove the vape’s filter, giving them a stronger nicotine high and replace it with all manner of noxious substances, like cleaning products, alcohol or spice. And finally 7. Parachuting. This is a cheap homemade high where prisoners soak a piece of paper in black coffee until it is completely saturated and then smoke that.
If you found this interesting? Check out the Mini Mile episodes of the Murder Mile UK True-Crime Podcast, or click on the link below to listen to an episode.
Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian, podcaster and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten curious, quirky, unusual and different things to do in London”, nominated "one of the best true-crime podcasts at the British Podcast Awards 2018", and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totaling 50 deaths, over just a one mile walk
Nominated BEST TRUE-CRIME PODCAST at British Podcast Awards 2018, The Telegraph's Top Five True-Crime Podcasts, The Guardian's Podcast of the Week and iTunes Top 25. Subscribe via iTunes, Spotify, Acast, Stitcher and all podcast platforms.
What are the types of illegal and handmade weapons which have been made in prison?
#1 – A Shiv / Shank: Deriving from the 17th century word “chive” meaning a knife, a shiv is an improvised stabbing weapon made from literally anything; metal, wooden handles, toothbrushes, tiles or combs, with razor blades or pins embedded into the object, or it shaped into a sharp blade. They’re designed to be thin, flat and easy to make, conceal and destroy. Some prisoners have even melted boiled sweets and fashioned them into a shank, which is easy to make and tasty to destroy. #2 - Lock Sock or a Ball Mace. Again, easy to make, prisoners can take a sock and place in it anything weighty that they have access to, perhaps a padlock or a pool ball. Separately they’re two harmless and everyday objects, but when the Lock Sock is swung, it can do serious damage to an inmate’s skull. #3 – The Millwall Brick. Named after the North London football team whose fans were infamous for being unable to fart without fighting, a Millwall Brick is a simple cosh made from lots of layers of tightly rolled wetted and dried paper. It sounds stupid, but (given enough layers) it can be made as hard as a wooden club. #4 - Floss Wire. Very few prisoners have access to dental floss, as (when multiple strands are wound together) it can be used to garrotte an inmate, and has been used to saw through prison bars. #5 – Tin Can Tops: As anyone who’s ever cut their finger opening a can knows, they can be very sharp, and as prisoner’s can purchase tinned goods in the prison shop, these have been used as weapons. Those were the standard weapons found in prison, and here’s some bizarre ones… The Razor Whip: Discovered in a Hamburg Prison in 1996, the Razor Whip consisted of a large wooden stake onto which was attached a metre long leather strap, weighted at the end by bolts and along the strap was three razor blades. It was discovered before it was used, but it could have been lethal. Homemade Guns: Dummy guns have been crafted in prison to fool the guards into thinking the inmate is armed, but many working guns have also been made inside. In a Canadian prison, a working .22 calibre handgun was made just using hobby-craft tools. In Folsom State Prison, one was made using a stapler. And in Germany, a double-barrelled shotgun was made from scrap metal from the prison workshop, it was loaded with ball bearings and ignited by AA batteries, matchheads and a lightbulb, and the shotgun was so effective, it blew a hole in a pane of bullet-proof glass. The Toothbrush Crossbow: A Canadian prisoner made a full-working crossbow using 10 toothbrushes, a cigarette lighter, a ballpoint pen, a coat hanger, a pair of metal tongs, rubber gloves, string and a few screws. It was never used, but when tested, it fired steel bolts as far as 40 feet away. A Radio Bomb. After his incarceration, serial killer Donald “Peewee” Gaskins was asked by Tony Cimo (a fellow inmate) to kill another prisoner, Rudolph Tyner who had killed Cimo’s mother and stepfather. Somehow, Gaskins got hold of some C4 explosives (as you do), he put it into a radio, gave the radio to Tyner telling him it was a walkie-talkie so the two of them could communicate with each other, when he returned to his cell, Tyner switched it on and BOOM! Tyner’s cell was repainted a new coat of red. And according to most prisoners, the best and most effective weapon to immobilise another prisoner is the food; it’s lumpy, it’s lethal and (as a cunning disguise) it almost looks like real food.
If you found this intersting? Check out the Mini Mile episodes of the Murder Mile UK True-Crime Podcast, or click on the link below to listen to an episode.
Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian, podcaster and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten curious, quirky, unusual and different things to do in London”, nominated "one of the best true-crime podcasts at the British Podcast Awards 2018", and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totaling 50 deaths, over just a one mile walk
Nominated BEST TRUE-CRIME PODCAST at British Podcast Awards 2018, The Telegraph's Top Five True-Crime Podcasts, The Guardian's Podcast of the Week and iTunes Top 25. Subscribe via iTunes, Spotify, Acast, Stitcher and all podcast platforms.
So, what are the useful pieces of kit used by Crime Scene Investigators and Pathologists. Let’s start with some simple things which crime scene investigators carry:
The standard kit that all crime scene investigators carry with them includes; stationery (such as pens, pencils, a notepad, graph paper, a small ruler, permanent markers, spray paint and chalk) to mark the scene, evidence and make any notes. As well as a torch, a camera, flares, a tape measure, a small set of scales, a latent print kit, a bodily fluid collection kit, a footwear casting kit, bindle paper, tweezers, syringes, knife-tubes and biohazard bags (all used to safely collect and retain evidence, using labels, tapes and seals) as well as the protective equipment they will be wearing (including gloves, booties, hair net, overalls and mask) to prevent cross-contamination. Crime scene investigators also carry Police tape, but the crime scene will already have been sealed-off by the first responders. These are just the basics, but what other fancy tools do they have at their disposal. The Bullet Puller; in any shooting, it’s important for the investigator (at the crime scene) to establish what type of bullets they are, who made them and when, and the gunpowder and the wadding used is vital to determine this. The problem is that when bullets are ejected from a casing, the wadding is often lost or destroyed. But if unfired cartridges are found, as it is difficult to remove the wadding without damaging the casing, the investigators can remove it safely using the Bullet Puller. It’s like a plastic hammer with a hollow head, and once the bullet is loaded in, the cartridge is whacked hard, the bullet, the casing and wadding separate and the three components are undamaged. Anyone can buy a Bullet Puler, in fact, they’re available via Amazon. Phenolphthalein: way before a CSI attends a crime scene and sprays objects with Luminol, a chemical which reacts with the haemoglobin in blood causing it to become florescent (as discussed in Mini Mile 1) and a substance which can corrode or destroy evidence if used incorrectly. Each CSI comes equipped with a simple blood testing kit, so with a very small swap of Phen-olph-thalein and hydrogen peroxide, they can determine from the sample’s PH balance if it is human blood; if it turns a bright pink, it’s blood, and they won’t have compromised the crime scene or the blood itself, as Luminol can do. Gas Chromatograph–Mass Spectrometer. This is not something CSI’s have in their car, but back at the lab. It’s a very technical bit of kit, so I’ll explain it as simply as possible. In short, a GCMS can take a tiny sample of any unknown substance, and when the sample is placed inside the GCMS’s isolation tube, gas pushes the chemical components of the sample slide at one end of the tube to the other, and by determining the speed, weigh and density of these components hitting the sensor, this tells them what each of the chemical components are. Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (known as LA-ICP-MS, let’s call is Laz-Abs): When broken glass is found at a crime scene, although visually you can take an educated guess at how it was broken, it’s hard to accurately tell what direction, speed, angle, height and with what object the glass was broken. But by analysing the atomic structure of each fragment, the Laz-Abs is able to compare and match each fragment, to give the specialist a clearer picture of how the glass would have looked at the point of impact. Alternative Light Sources (known as ALS): before an autopsy takes place – a procedure which is incredibly invasive and can destroy evidence if it is not spotted) – so without moving or disturbing the body, even at the crime-scene (in a limited capacity) a forensic nurse is able to assess the physical damage to a human cadaver by using ALS. As you know, light is made up of different bands, covering visible and invisible light rays, ultra-violets, infra-reds etc, and as different objects, colours and temperatures give off different light signatures, these can be seen by using different filters on a camera. So if there is bruising underneath the skin, not visible to the naked eye, it will be visible in ALS. Digital Surveillance For Xbox (XFT): For those who love playing video games, inside all games consoles which have internet capability is a hard-drive which stores all useful stuff like high scores and positions in the game, but also the dates, times, location and duration of your game-play, as well as the images and sound of your game play. This is a system accessible by digital forensic specialists and these recorded sessions have been used to prosecute people in court trials. Video Spectral Comparator 2000 (you know it’s very technical as it’s suffixed by the numbers 2000, wow, I bet it uses a “laser”). The VSC 2000 is a Super Resolution Imager which allows investigators to examine a piece of paper at a macroscopic level to identify the paper’s origin, quality and type, and identifying the unique signature of a person’s handwriting, any alterations or deletions, even if the paper has been damaged by fire or water. The VSC 2000 has since been replaced by the VSC 8000. I know! 8000, that’s four times better. Wow! Phenotyping. Phenotyping is a process of predicting genetic information based on the DNA sequencing, this allows the investigator to predict a person’s hair and eye colour based on 24 DNA variants and six genetic markers. It’s not fool-proof yet, but the HIrisPlex system can predict blonde hair 70% of the time, brown hair 79%, red hair 80% and black hair 88%, giving any investigator a set of parameters to work from, based on a small sample of DNA. Microbiomic Identification. It currently isn’t accurate enough to use in an investigation, but as our bodies have roughly 37.2 trillion cells each, and twenty times more microorganisms known as microbiomes than we have cells, and everyone’s microbiomes are unique to each person, and each colony of microbiomes is unique to a specific part of their body – phew - investigators are currently trialling a system of identifying a person by a single microbiome. It’s early days but it is believed to be the cutting edge technology to help convict those who commit sexual assaults. Tattoo ID. For no fathomable reason, loads of criminals seem to think it’s a genius idea to get very distinctive tattoos, often on their hands or face, and although these are often obscured by clothing or are difficult to see on poor CCTV, TattooID is a high-resolution spectral imaging system which scans the finer details of tattoos taken from CCTV, collects them into a database and (as each tattoo is drawn by hand, therefore they are all unique) it is proving to be as accurate as fingerprinting. Palynology. No matter where you walk, whether a forest, a field or a street, there are a wide variety of trees, plants, weeds, flowers, fungi and grasses, drifting through the air seeking places to settle and spawn, but often they land on your clothes, your hair, your skin and your shoes. And although they might seem insignificant, these pollen biomarkers give off a specific “signature”, linking a unique collection of pollen to not just a place but also to a time. Pollen Biomarkers were effectively used to determine the origin of hundreds of victims found in mass graves in Bosnia. Vehicle Systems Forensics (VSF). Every criminal knows not to use their mobile phone when committing a crime as the phone stores all kinds of data such as date, time, speed and location, as well as what you’ve searched for. But as phones get smarter, so do our cars. Most modern cars, not only contain inbuilt GPS and infotainment systems, but also a telematic system. This is a small hidden box complete with 70 interconnected electronic control units placed throughout the car, which informs the driver about all manner of interesting details; such as, if doors are open, seatbelts unbuckled, air-bags, air-con, engine speed, distance, direction and duration…but this data is also collated by the system for diagnostic purposes… and can tell any crime scene investigator where you’ve been, when and how. So, if you’re a criminal, who spends all day in a field of wild flowers, scratching the microbiomes off your head, driving whilst texting and instagraming your entire escape from the Police, having got a tattoo of your name, address and a list of crimes on your face (although I wouldn’t put it passed some of the numpties out there), you’re screwed. If not, you’re still screwed.
Nominated BEST BRITISH TRUE-CRIME PODCAST 2018, iTunes Top 50 Podcast, Crime Read's "Essential Crime Podcast of 2018", The Telegraph's Top Five True-Crime Podcasts and The Guardian's Podcast of the Week
Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian, podcaster and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten curious, quirky, unusual and different things to do in London”, nominated "one of the best true-crime podcasts at the British Podcast Awards 2018", and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totaling 50 deaths, over just a one mile walk
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AuthorMichael J Buchanan-Dunne is a crime writer, podcaster of Murder Mile UK True Crime and creator of true-crime TV series. Archives
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