Justice for Sale?

There was an episode of Panorama on the BBC this week about the Expert Witness industry which we found very disappointing to watch as I am sure did many others in our field.

Unfortunately, it is probably the fact that this particular programme only scratched the surface of the problems surrounding the Expert Witness industry.

Aside of dishonesty as was seen in the documentary, there is the problem of the ‘pseudo expert’ as we call them, also described as charlatans.

The Cell Site Experts at Footprint Investigations are passionate about the work that they do and pride themselves on all cases being handled with the highest integrity. Our Cell Site Analysis Experts are qualified and experienced, however as Cell Site Analysis is non-regulated then it is apparent that anyone can set themselves up as an ‘expert witness’.

Whenever we get an enquiry regarding instructions to conduct a cell site analysis report on a new case, we always send a copy of the CV of whichever expert is likely to conduct the case, as well as a court history. It is concerning that we are not asked for these as a matter of course and have only been asked a handful of times for details of cases the experts have given evidence in, as well as being asked whether they have a relevant background in the planning or optimisation of cell sites.

The reason we are not asked for the above, we suspect is because it is assumed that if you advertise the service of cell site analysis, then you must have someone who is qualified and has the relevant experience to produce a report. This is definitely not the case as many companies who advertise the service actually use computer or mobile phone experts to conduct the highly technical cell site analysis with very worrying results in many cases.

The prosecution now do a lot of work in house, which means more and more defence teams are choosing to challenge the cell site analysis evidence as the police analyst will always state that they are not an expert and cannot give evidence of opinion, only evidence of fact. Therefore it is imperative that if you wish to challenge the credibility of the opposing expert then you need to make sure that your expert cannot be attacked for the same.

For a CV and court history are available on request email enquiries@footprintinvestigations.com