Episodes

1. Soil and Insects

Soil analysis helps solve a 37-year-old murder investigation in Scotland. In Huddersfield, analysis of insect life on a body found on the moors helps detectives catch a killer.

2. Blood Under Paint and Gait

Blood traces hidden under paint allow an expert witness to find a killer and free five men from suspicion. An unusual gait identifies the murderer of an office worker.

3. Forensic Imaging and MSN Chat

Marks left by the tread of a shoe help detectives catch a killer terrorising Rochdale, and a forensic linguist deciphers messages written in slang, revealing a murder plot.

4. Fibre Trails and Diamonds

A team of expert witnesses follow a trail of fibres and DNA to solve three cold cases in Pembrokeshire, and a fraudulent diamond investment scheme is exposed by a gemologist.

5. Pollen in a Field and Fibres in a Car Crash

A body left in a field prompts the examination of pollen, establishing a new forensic discipline, and fibres fused with car wreckage prove who caused a fatal traffic collision.

6. DNA, Fibres and Bones

After 32 years, expert fibre analysis helps bring the killer of two Brighton schoolgirls to justice, and the analysis of bones found on a Yorkshire moor helps find two killers.

7. Aging Insects and Fake Fairies

Insect evidence helps crack the case of missing Warrington teenager Shafilea Ahmed, and a series of convincing John Anster Fitzgerald forgeries are uncovered by an art expert.

8. Soil on a Spade and Stones in a Shoe

Soil on a spade helps catch the killer of a young woman from Swindon, who for years evaded justice and a stone stuck in the sole of a shoe helps solve a murder in Manchester.

9. Cerium and CCTV

A wrongful conviction is overturned by re-examining microscopic particles on a van seat and an attempted murder outside a nightclub is solved by a facial comparison expert.

10. Pollen, Bones and DNA

Pollen and bone experts help identify the remains of a murder victim found in a sports bag. And advances in DNA help find the killer of a Bradford pensioner after 22 years.

11. Text Messages and DNA

Analysis of text messages reveal a husband's plot to cover up his wife's murder and traces of DNA on decades old evidence helps bring justice to the family of a murdered woman.

12. Pollen, Chalk and DNA

How expert analysis of nettles and chalky soil helped catch the killer of Soham schoolgirls and how advances in DNA techniques finally solve the murder known as Beauty in the Bath

13. Insects and Bones

Insects establish an accurate time of death, helping to prove a husband killed his wife and analysis of burnt remains in Leeds, uncovers another husband's cold murder of his wife.

14. Paint Materials and Blood Patterns

Forensics analysis by an art expert prove paintings by a well known cornish artist are fake, and blood spatter patterns in a hotel bedroom, help catch the killer of a father of 3.

15. 60's DNA and Fibres Around the World

A fifty year old cold case murder is solved by DNA and the tenacity of an expert witness. And a murder investigation is solved by tracking unusual blue fibres around the world.

Overview

This dramatic true crime series reveals how some of the UK’s most serious and complex cases were solved by the expertise of a band of unsung heroes – the expert witnesses.

Details

Cast

Ashley John-Baptiste