Cell Site Analysis in 2019

We have seen more cell site analysis this year than ever before. We have always taken on a large number of cases and as we approach the end of 2019, we are recruiting again for further Analysts to join the team.

This year we have taken on our fourth cell site analysis expert, John Tarpey who now joins Greg Robinson, Robert Knight and John Mallinder who between them can service the need for cell site analysis experts nationwide. They are supported by four analysts in preparing cell site reports for police forces, criminal defence lawyers, Social Services and Insurance companies. We have also been instructed privately on a number of cases this year including high profile fraud cases.
We have seen a change this year, as a number of years ago the police started to do the majority of their cell site analysis work in house so we mainly worked on criminal defence cases. Things appear to have gone full circle now and we are conducting more police work than ever. This is partly due to cases like R v Calland and police forces should now instruct an expert to undertake attribution of mobile phones when using cell site evidence.
We did state that 2018 was the worst year to date in relation to disclosure issues, late service and the speed at which we had to prepare our reports. We were wrong, 2019 has seen us instructed weeks into trials due to LAA delays in granting funding. Funding has been refused on at least one case for the defence as the Crown has an expert!
We have been refused access to original call data records on a number of cases where the defendant disputes the attribution of a phone. In another case we are told that under no circumstances can we have access to the call data records in a case but are welcome to go and view them at the relevant police station! This has yet to be resolved.
We can only hope that 2020 will be a better year for disclosure and funding but we are not so sure!
Many thanks to everyone who has instructed us this year and we look forward to working with you again in the future.
If you require advice regarding cell site analysis, mobile phone attribution or call data analysis please contact Denise on 01527 467467 or denise@footprintinvestigations.com