2005 IRISH SCIENTIST YEAR BOOK

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Queen's University Belfast
Alastair Ruffell & Jennifer McKinley
What lies beneath: how geoscience aids criminal investigations

Recent criminal cases such as the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman relied on evidence provided by geoscientists. So how can we assist in criminal investigations? The School of Geography at Queen's is currently focussing on the geophysics of graves, the detection and excavation of illegal toxic waste dumps and the spatial analysis of criminal activity using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is often used in forensic geophysics as its success does not rely on metallic objects. Most GPR applications have been over loose ground (Ruffell & McKinley, 2004 1 ). However, we have been deriving data in freshwater environments in order to better inform the searches for victims of drowning and body deposition ( Figure 1 ). GIS is used to analyse crime patterns at various scales, with a view to prediction and police resources. Other social factors such as street layout, housing type, and deprivation can be combined using GIS to assist planners.


Figure 1. Ground-penetrating radar as operated from a boat. In this instance, the antennae were placed in the base of the boat, dragged over the target (presumed to be partly-buried on a lake floor) and the results analysed as a radargram, or kind of x-ray of the lake.

The golden chalice of a single soil fingerprinting technique does not exist, but the multi-proxy or conjunctive method already does. The School of Geography at Queen's was involved in a case of a body weighed down with slabs of conglomerate where, in order to provide a comparison to conglomerate found at the suspect's house, over seven different analyses of the conglomerate were made. In court, multiple analyses stand a better chance of being accepted by a judge or jury than a single method. In another recent case, a suspect power-hosed his boots to remove evidence. Whilst this washed most soil from the exterior, he was not aware that in running through a stream during his escape, micro-organisms and clay particles that were unusual to that stream had been captured in the fabric, indicating he had been on the escape route rather than his alibi location. We have found our range of analyses can also be applied to materials such as concrete, bricks, lime, cement, plaster-board and matches seized in connection with serious crime.


Reference:

1. Ruffell, A. & McKinley, J. 2005. Forensic geoscience: applications of geology, geomorphology and geophysics to criminal investigations. Earth Science Reviews, 69, 235-247.

Contact: Dr Alastair Ruffell or Dr Jennifer McKinley,
School of Geography, Queen's University, Belfast;
E-mail: [email protected]