I have worked exclusively as a cell site engineer and expert witness for almost 14 years. During this time, I have worked for many Police Forces and also many defence Solicitors and have completed in excess of 700 cell site reports. I have given evidence in many of the principal UK courts on numerous occasions. It is my background and qualifications in electronic engineering, along with working in the radio communications and mobile network engineering industries giving a combined experience of over 30 years, that provides ‘expert’ credentials. In response to recent publications and scrutiny regarding expert witness credentials, and from an increasing level of experiences in court situations, I would like to provide the following observations;
During the emerging years of cell site analysis, (the late 90’s and early 2000’s) there were just a few specialist companies offering the service. During my early years in this career, from 2005, I encountered several cell site experts from these companies in court on a regular basis. As it was a specialist role, there were not many of us and we frequently met with each other and were often invited into a conference room to discuss matters and provide areas of agreement. Each of the cell site experts I encountered were qualified engineers, with a background in radio communications and mobile telecommunications, mostly with 20-30 years’ experience in the industry.
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There was an article in The Law Society Gazette today following on from the recent collapse of the carbon credits fraud trial. The collapse of the case was due to disclosure issues and the fact that the ‘expert witness’ was found not to be qualified.

It is stated that experts will undergo intensive assessment from June 2019.
The issue of ‘expert witness’ is nothing new. In fact, most of the hard work has already been done, I will explain in due course. However, it is worrying that proposals may simply create a register of witnesses who have been through an ‘intensive assessment’.

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