Indecent Images of Children  R v LS    Sheffield Crown Court April 2024

Client was charged with making indecent images of children, however our forensic analysis identified that the illegal imagery been received unsolicited via WhatsApp.  The Crown offered no evidence on receipt of our report.   Norrie Waite & Slater

Indecent Images of Children  R v RF    Woolwich Crown Court August 2023

Client was charged with making indecent images of children, however our forensic analysis identified that the illegal imagery had originated from a Police ‘lab’ SD card and not from the defendant’s mobile phone. The Crown offered no evidence on receipt of our report. MK Law Solicitors

Conspiracy to supply Class A drugs R v WM Snaresbrook Crown Court April 2023

Client was initially alleged to have been operating two Drugs lines supplying Class A drugs. Our cell site analysis showed that a third party was potentially colocating with the drugs lines more often than the defendant and, as a result, was more likely to be controlling the drugs lines. WM was acquitted on both counts.  4BB Chambers Goldkorns Solicitors

Indecent Images of Children  R v WN    Sussex Crown Court

Client was charged with three counts of making indecent images of children, however our forensic analysis identified that the Category A and B images all depicted models who could be 18 years or over, as under. The Crown offered no evidence and a formal ‘not guilty’ verdict was recorded. Sussex Defence Solicitors

Indecent Images of Children  R v IK    Croydon Crown Court, 2022

Client was charged with three counts of making indecent images of children, however our forensic analysis of his mobile phone extracted messages between the parties which demonstrated that these had all been received as part of a thirty one (31) participant WhatsApp chat group.  There was no evidence that the defendant had solicited, viewed or responded to these images. The Crown eventually conceded there was no case to answer. Berkeley Square Solicitors

Rape  R v JA    Lincoln Crown Court, February 2021

Client was charged with rape, however our forensic analysis of his damaged mobile phone extracted messages between the parties which demonstrated the relationship with the complainant. The Crown offered no evidence on the day of trial.  CDA Solicitors, Boston

Kidnap/False Imprisonment  R v MS & MZ    Sheffield Crown Court, November 2019

Clients were charged with kidnap and false imprisonment.  Our cell site analysis and mobile phone analysis showed that the Crown had overlooked critical phone calls and that their cell site analysis maps were incomplete. Our mobile phone analysis identified further inconsistencies with witness evidence.  The case resulted in a hung jury and the prosecution declined to re-try the matter.  Howells Solicitors, Sheffield

Breach of Sexual Harm Prevention Order  R v JF Worthing Magistrates, September 2019

Client was charged with making indecent images of children and breach of SHPO as the Police claimed to have captured indecent images of children on JFs computer using their ESafe monitoring software.  Our analysis and report showed that the male in the pictures, from a mainstream adult website, had a readily available online profile including his date of birth and showing that he was 18 years old.  The CPS discontinued the case once this serious failing in the Police evidence came to light.  Sussex Defence Solicitors

Breach of Sexual Harm Prevention Order  R v MH Basildon Magistrates, July 2019

Client was charged with breach of SHPO in respect of deleted web history on his mobile phone.  During the course of our examination the Police Examiner became aware that the OIC, who was unskilled and untrained in digital forensics, had completely misunderstood the evidence provided.  There was no evidence that the defendant had deleted web history and he should never have been charged.  The CPS discontinued the case once this serious error came to light.   Had no defence analysis been instructed, the defendant may well have pleaded to an offence that didn’t exist.   OBW Perera Solicitors

Inciting a minor to engage in Sexual Activity  R v KB Aylesbury Crown, June 2019

The CPS discontinued their case as the result of our mid-trial examination of a mobile phone (24hr turnaround), belonging to a prosecution witness, which cast doubt over their evidence. CDMK Solicitors

Indecent Images of Children  R v SE – Guildford Crown Court, March 2019

The defendant was acquitted on all counts relating to possession and distribution of indecent images of children and extreme pornography exchanged within WhatsApp Group Chats  Forrest Williams Solicitors

Indecent Images of Children  R v DM – Llandudno Magistrates Court, January 2019

The Court were invited to determine if there was a case to answer after our report highlighted a lack of mens rea on the part of the defendant.  The case was subsequently dismissed  Forrest Williams Solicitors

Indecent Images of Children  PPS v WJ – Belfast Crown Court, January 2019

Our examination identified malware on the computer which had the potential to cause the creation of indecent images of children.  The PPS subsequently reconsidered their case and offered no evidence.    Donnelly & Wall Solicitors 

Indecent Images of Children  R v MT – Birmingham Crown Court, November 2018

The National Crime Agency led prosecution was discontinued on receipt of our report.     Penman Sedgwick Solicitors

Indecent Images of Children  R v GM – The Old Bailey, November 2018

The prosecution discontinued on first day of trial accepting our report that the small number of IIOC where amongst a substantial quantity of legal adult pornography and that there was no proof the client had deliberately searched for them.      Lawtons Solicitors

Historic Sexual Abuse  R v PM – Southwark Crown Court, September 2018

We were able to extract metadata from photograph files and produce jury bundles, each containing several hundred photographs, which assisted the defence case.  The defendant was subsequently acquitted.     Birds Solicitors

Indecent Images of Children  R v MT – Lewes Crown Court, September 2018

The prosecution discontinued the charges relating to the very small number of potentially illegal images after we were able to show there was no evidence that they had been deliberately sought or searched for, nor that the defendant even knew he had them.    Stephen Rimmer Solicitors

Indecent Images of Children  R v JD – Ipswich Crown Court, August 2018

Prosecuting counsel decided, having read our report on the morning of trial, that there was no realistic prospect of conviction and the case was discontinued.  This was, in part, due to evidence of previous ownership of the computer.     Norton Peskett Solicitors

Indecent Images of Children  R v JW – Canterbury Crown Court, August 2018

The prosecution discontinued the charges relating to the very small number of potentially illegal images, because the Judge ruled the evidence was inadmissible as a result of our report.       Tuckers Solicitors

Burglary  R v SC – Peterborough Crown Court, July 2018

The Crown discontinued the burglary count after our analysis of the defendants ‘buddy tag’ tracking GPS data showed up inconsistencies with their complainant’s witness testimony.      Hegarty Solicitors

Indecent Images of Children  R v SB – Sheffield Crown Court, March 2018

The Crown offered no evidence after a meeting between the Experts at Court, where it was agreed there was no evidence to show that the material was deliberately or intentionally downloaded.  FOYS Solicitors

Rape  R v WO2  – Court Martial, Lincoln, February 2018

The defendant, stationed in Germany at the time of the alleged rape, was found not guilty after we were able to show the prosecution had mis-interpreted time and date stamps/time zones on video and picture files recovered from a mobile phone and laptop computer, along with the recovery of GPS data for the same.    Lynch Law – Military Law Specialists  

Indecent Images of Children  R v RK – St Albans Crown Court, December 2017

The defendant was found not guilty of making indecent images of children after we were able to demonstrate a lack of ‘guilty mind’ – searches for, or visits to websites likely to contain, indecent images of children.  The jury agreed that the search terms identified by the Police were ambiguous at best and the not guilty verdict was unanimous.   Lawtons Solicitors

Indecent Images of Children  R v SK – Coventry & Warwickshire Magistrates, September 2017

The Crown identified two indecent videos of children in a secure vault on the defendant’s iPhone.  We were able to demonstrate these were part of a bulk transfer from an earlier phone and it was not possible to show that the defendant had viewed them or was aware of their content.  The filenames themselves were not a true reflection of content.  The Crown were unable to evidence the necessary ‘mens rea’ for making offences.  The Crown offered no evidence on consideration of our report.   Howells Solicitors

Indecent Images of Children  R v SL – Luton Magistrates, September 2017

The Crown identified a small quantity of alleged indecent images of children on the defendant’s computer.  Analysis by ourselves showed that a number of the images had originated from websites displaying the USC 2257 Title 18 disclaimers, and the remaining files had bland filenames, not indicative of their content, nor were there any searches for IIoC and as such there was no evidence of the ‘mens rea’ required for the offence of making.  The Crown offered no evidence on consideration of our report.   Berkley Square Solicitors

Robbery  R v MP – Aylesbury Crown Court, July 2017

Our Cell Site Analysis showed that the defendant was some 19 miles away from the scene of the robbery.  The jury found the defendant not guilty.  Wilson & Bird Solicitors

Indecent Images of Children  R v NS – St Albans Court, April 2017

This case started with an allegation of 4,000 (approx) indecent images of children.  Our initial examination identified that the majority of the images had originated from websites purporting to use adult models and displaying the USC 2257 Title 18 age disclaimers.  The CPS accepted this report and then amended the charges to just three (3) alleged indecent images of children, not part of the original 4,000.   We prepared a further report and were able to demonstrate that these models were also of questionable age and that there was no evidence that the images were deliberately or knowingly sought.  The Crown offered no evidence at trial. IBB Solicitors

Indecent Images of Children  R v MI – Northampton Crown Court, April 2017

The Crown charged the defendant with a handful of indecent images of children.  The defendant maintained he knew nothing about the images.  Our examination of the evidence found that these images were located on a memory stick and were deleted – so the user would not know they were there or have access to them without data recovery/forensic tools.  Further the dates associated with the deleted images predated the associated computer by some considerable time and there were no associated searches or any file activity to suggest the images had been viewed on the computer prior to deletion.  The crown offered no evidence at court.   Bennett & Co Solicitors

Indecent Images of Children  R v ID – Luton Crown Court, November 2016

The Crown eventually conceded that they were unable to demonstrate the mens rea and deliberate making of the 800+ indecent images, found along with a large quantity of adult pornography on the defendant’s mobile phone. The 2002 stated case of R v SMITH and R v JAYSON applied and a reduced plea to just 11 live images were accepted.  Lawtons Solicitors

Indecent Images of Children  R v RS – Cambridge Crown Court, July 2016

The Judge requested the CPS Prosecutor reconsider their case which was ‘rather like a wedge, getting thinner and thinner’ after some of the alleged illegal images were found in un-extracted archive containers.  The Police were unable to demonstrate that the defendant had viewed the contents of these containers, nor that he had any knowledge of the likely content.  Lawtons Solicitors

President Uhuru Kenyatta – 2013-2015 (Cell Site Analysis) International Criminal Court, The Hague

Following an initial investigation for the Defence were we demonstrated that mobile phone Call Data Records provided to the Defence had been manufactured by an individual working for a well known firm of private investigators in the UK, the International Criminal Court and President Kenyatta of Kenya instructed us in 2013 as Single Joint Experts in a case of ‘Crimes Against Humanity’.

We were able to sucessfully extract data from 2006 to 2008 from old servers at both Safaricom and Airtel after they had assured us that no such data existed.

Using this data we were able to analyse the movement of hundreds of mobile phones belonging to key witnesses in the case – this evidence regularly demonstrated that the mobile phones of many key witnesses were often hundreds of kilometers away from where the witnesses claimed they were.

In 2014, the Office of the Prosecutor announced that they did not have sufficient evidence to continue the prosecution and the case with withdrawn.

We conducted further cell site analysis for the defence, in the case at the ICC against Deputy President William RUTO.   9 Bedford Row Chambers

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-30347019

Facebook – R v SM –  Cambridgeshire, November 2015

The complainant alleged that the defendant had raped her before sending her Facebook messages pertaining to the rape.  We were able to demonstrate that the Facebook account that had sent the messages was not the defendant’s account, but an account created to look like the defendants.  On receipt of our report the complainant admitted that she had fabricated the account and the CPS discontinued the case.  Hegarty Solicitors

WhatsApp Indecent Images – R v SZ –  Birmingham Crown, November 2015

We were able to demonstrate that the indecent video of a child had been received, unsolicited, via the WhatsApp application and had automatically been saved to the defendants handset.  The Crown were unable to show that the defendant had viewed the video and no evidence was offered at trial.  Slater Gordon Solicitors

Indecent Images of Children – R v SP –  Essex, October 2015

The complainant maintained that he had not sought or seen indecent images of children. We were able to demonstrate that the only searches were for adult pornography and that the majority of the pictures, alleged to be indecent images of children, were young looking adults and had originated from adult websites. The CPS eventually discontinued the case. Harris Cuffaro & Nichols Solicitors

Similarly we had an almost identical case discontinued in Bedfordshire in August 2015 and again in Maidstone in October 2015.

Web-based Email Evidence –  R v CR – Northampton, July 2015

The Crown used an untrained covert operations Officer to conduct a forensic analysis of the defendant’s web-based email account.  CR was then charged with possession of indecent images of children received unsolicited in his email account after the Police had taken control of the account.   We were able to demonstrate a number of significant failings by the Officer which resulted in the CPS offering no evidence and the Officer being referred to Professional Standards. McGanns Solicitors

Making Indecent Images of Children – R v RL – Northamptonshire, July 2014

All of the images were recovered from an external storage drive and there were no associated search terms or web history, other than for adult pornography.  Counsel argued that the Crown were unable to prove that the indecent images of children were deliberately sought (R v SMITH, R v JAYSON) and the CPS offered no evidence. McGanns Solicitors

Recognised Works of Art – R v AH – Oxfordshire, February 2013

Child Pornography case discontinued after it was shown that all images were published artworks/portfolios by photographers including Sally Mann, David Hamilton and Jock Sturges and were all available from retailers such as Tesco, Amazon and Waterstones (R v Stephen NEAL applied).  Angela Porter Solicitors

Mobile Phones – R v GT – Northern Ireland, November 2014

Our analysis of the iPhone showed that the PSNI had

  • Failed to document a ‘triage’ examination
  • Used the exhibit to take a photograph of their forensic workstation
  • Used the exhibit to place a call to the complainant (alleged rape victim)

The court ruled that the integrity of the evidence had been compromised and the case was sent for re-trial without it. The defendant was acquitted.  JM Hughes Solicitors

An earlier Hampshire Constabulary case saw a defendant charged with rape. The defendant maintained that the complainant had consented to anal intercourse and that there was a video of this on his mobile phone.  Hampshire Constabulary reported that there were no such videos on the device, however on examination we recovered the video as described by the defendant and the rape charge was discontinued.