A Parliamentary Killing

The evidence

Law enforcement in the middle of the 17th century was ad hoc. Policing was mainly the responsibility of local military groups working for land or property owners. They represented the interests of the people who paid them and could not be seen as independent investigators. In the 17th century there was a small step forward when the City of London began paying watchmen to guard the streets at night. They were often elderly men and were not very effective.

It is a peculiar paradox that a fictional character who is long dead should stand in the public mind as the most able revealer of the truth. Yet it was Sherlock Holmes, brought to life by his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the late 19th century, who laid down a simple, but beautifully succinct approach to solving crime: 'It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data.'

Broadly speaking, evidence falls into two categories:

• Human: eye-witness accounts, background information about motives and opportunities and identification.

• Forensics: the scientific examination of evidence, both physical (weapons, toxins, fingerprints) and human, for the courts of law.

Methods for gathering human evidence have remained little changed throughout history, although the police may now be more careful about allowing their own prejudices to cloud witness statements. The methods for analysing that evidence, through various branches of forensics, have changed considerably.

The history of forensic science stretches back as early as the 7th century, when the Chinese used fingerprints to identify documents and clay sculptures. A ground-breaking Chinese book dating from 1248 — Hsi Duan Yu (the washing away of wrongs) — applies medical knowledge in determining whether a person was drowned or strangled.

Incrimating information

Matching evidence from a crime scene with evidence found on the accused is now an accepted part of detective work. But the first documented person to be convicted using this technique was John Toms in 1784. A torn newspaper piece discovered in Toms’ pocket was found to match a scrap in a pistol and he was convicted of murder in Lancaster, UK.

It was only in 1810 that the first detective force was established. Eugène François Vidocq struck a deal with police in France to waive his arrest for a crime if he would establish a force. The famous Paris Sûreté was born.

Identity card

Clearly one of the most important methods in detection was to identify one person from another.

Fingerprints were consistently recognised as a characteristic of individuality, a trait confirmed in 1686 by University of Bologna anatomy professor Marcello Malpighi, although without crime solution in mind.

In the 1890s Hans Gross pioneered schemes for fingerprinting, microscopy, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, zoology, botany and anthropometry (taking scientific measurements for identification of the human body).

And by 1892 Francis Galton had produced the definitive research book Finger Prints, which set up a classification system under the same name.

Other landmark developments came with the 20th century, such as hair and gun type identification systems and ways of analysing dust particles to connect suspects with the scene of a crime. In 1915 Leone Lattes, professor at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Turin Italy, developed an antibody test for ABO blood groups.

The Central Research Establishment, set up in England in 1966, was the first laboratory dedicated to forensic science research.

DNA tests are now increasingly used to link suspects with material found at the scene of a crime. In 1984 Sir Alec Jeffreys developed the first DNA profiling test — which became known as DNA fingerprinting — using the unique pattern from samples of semen or blood to link victim and perpetrator. This process was first put to use in identifying the murderer of two young girls in the English Midlands. It can also be used to rule out a person as a suspect.

Body of evidence

With most crimes, the victim is the chief witness. Murder is necessarily an exception to this rule, but that does not prevent the victim from being the source of the most valuable evidence. Recognising this, coroners have been legally required to investigate the circumstances of unnatural, sudden, suspicious deaths and prison deaths since 1194.

For these inquests, the coroners' court hears evidence from witnesses, people close to the victims and, perhaps most importantly, the doctors who carried out the post mortem (now for about one in every four deaths), to determine whether there was foul play. In the case of suspicious deaths, a Home Office forensic pathologist will carry out the post mortem.

Until 1926 all coroners' inquests were held before a jury. The verdict may range from accidental death (caused by some incident or person unintentionally), death by misadventure (where the incident is one in which the deceased played a part by consent, such as surgery), suicide, natural causes, unlawful killing (murder, for example), death due to lack of care (neglect) or an open verdict (no decision can be made).

Records of reported deaths are closed for 75 years and any request to see them must be directed to the appropriate local coroner's office. Certain records are designated for permanent preservation — indexed registers of deaths reported, all papers dated before 1875 and cases of general public, scientific, forensic, social, local, industrial or historical interest along with papers relating to treasure trove.

Inquisitions related to murder and manslaughter trials were retained among the assizes and Central Criminal Court records, and are kept with the indictments.

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