When talking about scene or event reconstruction, you may think of bloodstain pattern analysis or firearms ballistics, however, many cases fall under civil law rather than crime. We may be asked to assess how an accident happened or whether a product is faulty. When faced with seemingly implausible events or contentious results, one way to test if something is possible or not is to reconstruct.
Cases we've worked on include:
- Recreating a hanging to help determine if a person could have committed suicide, despite the initial “common sense” view that it was not possible.
- Testing discarded lit cigarette ends to show if a fire could occur in tissue paper within 5 minutes, as opposed to the often quoted 25 minutes.
- Recreating a window and bed configuration to see how someone could have fallen out of the window; the principal issue being whether the bed was at a dangerous height relative to the window.
- Testing strips of fabric to see if they could catch fire with the briefest touch of a candle.
If you have a case that would benefit from reconstruction, please contact Dr David Schudel on 0191 332 4999.
