Legal Case Study: The Red Ford Focus Case
Case study
Case Overview
Three men were arrested following a public appeal where a red Ford Focus was stolen from Bournemouth town centre, and used in an armed robbery of a bookmaker in Winton. Two of the men deny any involvement in the crime and the third admits to being the getaway driver. During the robbery the masked man carrying the sawn off shotgun fired it into the ceiling demanding everyone to lie on the floor. He then assaulted the store manager using the shotgun and forced him to open the safe, then placed the money in a cloth bag. The men left the scene in the vehicle reported stolen an hour earlier. The stolen vehicle was recovered two hours later in a wasteland near Bournemouth international airport. Forensic evidence was lifted …show more content…
This could have been due to the timeframes or weather.
Footwear impressions and evidence available on the exterior of the crime scenes are recoverable depending on the weather, so in some instances they will not be recoverable as heavy rainfall could destroy footwear impressions but a dry environment may not produce viable impressions (Langford et al 2010 p.171).
DNA evidence may no longer be recoverable as it may have degraded, however it should still be recoverable from the items found in the vehicle. The suspects may have washed their clothing and persons -reducing the possibility of finding GSR, fibres, hairs or glass particles. GSR lasts a varied amount of time on skin from three to twenty four hours (Jalanti et al 1999 p.48). The tests can come back negative because GSR had been rubbed away due to general movement (Borghi and Hartner 1996 p.52). Hairs and fibres can be lost fairly quickly under certain conditions, so may not be recoverable after two days (Fisher 2000 p.204). Hicks determined that glass fragments were still discoverable after eight hours however, most fragments were lost after thirty minutes (Hicks et al 1996 p.107), therefore perhaps unlikely to have been recovered after 2 days. Fibres can last up to a week depending on whether the items had been washed. Salter and Cook believe not all fibres are removed after washing, therefore leaving the possibility of recovering some (Salter and Cook 1996
Case Overview
Three men were arrested following a public appeal where a red Ford Focus was stolen from Bournemouth town centre, and used in an armed robbery of a bookmaker in Winton. Two of the men deny any involvement in the crime and the third admits to being the getaway driver. During the robbery the masked man carrying the sawn off shotgun fired it into the ceiling demanding everyone to lie on the floor. He then assaulted the store manager using the shotgun and forced him to open the safe, then placed the money in a cloth bag. The men left the scene in the vehicle reported stolen an hour earlier. The stolen vehicle was recovered two hours later in a wasteland near Bournemouth international airport. Forensic evidence was lifted …show more content…
This could have been due to the timeframes or weather.
Footwear impressions and evidence available on the exterior of the crime scenes are recoverable depending on the weather, so in some instances they will not be recoverable as heavy rainfall could destroy footwear impressions but a dry environment may not produce viable impressions (Langford et al 2010 p.171).
DNA evidence may no longer be recoverable as it may have degraded, however it should still be recoverable from the items found in the vehicle. The suspects may have washed their clothing and persons -reducing the possibility of finding GSR, fibres, hairs or glass particles. GSR lasts a varied amount of time on skin from three to twenty four hours (Jalanti et al 1999 p.48). The tests can come back negative because GSR had been rubbed away due to general movement (Borghi and Hartner 1996 p.52). Hairs and fibres can be lost fairly quickly under certain conditions, so may not be recoverable after two days (Fisher 2000 p.204). Hicks determined that glass fragments were still discoverable after eight hours however, most fragments were lost after thirty minutes (Hicks et al 1996 p.107), therefore perhaps unlikely to have been recovered after 2 days. Fibres can last up to a week depending on whether the items had been washed. Salter and Cook believe not all fibres are removed after washing, therefore leaving the possibility of recovering some (Salter and Cook 1996