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Background Information

Mr. Finnlay Kennedy was reported to be assaulted by two white males while he left on the Old Bull public house on evening of 28th February 2015. Mr. Kennedy sustained physical injuries on the head, precisely a broken bleeding nose and few cuts to the head. Two suspects were detained based on the eye witness’s testimony about their appearance. Selected clothing items from these suspects were sent for further investigation to Forensic Lab for blood pattern analysis under normal priority terms, following their denial of charges.

Purpose of Examination

The purpose of this examination is to find out if the 2 suspects were involved in carrying out the assault on Mr. Kennedy. The focus of this examination is to analyse the blood patterns on the clothing items of suspects. This will help to understand if the suspects got the blood stains due to normal physical contact or blood spatters because of hitting Mr. Kennedy. Another finding of this examination is to see from the DNA profiling method if the blood present on the suspects is actually from Mr. Kennedy or from some other source.

Use of Assistants

In undertaking the work in this case I was assisted by other members of the laboratory staff acting under my instructions. Their involvement is described in the accompanying forensic examination record, AR/01, and I have taken their contributions into account when I prepared this statement. The involvement of other staff is recorded in case notes available for inspection at the laboratory if required.

Technical Issues

Blood Staining

During an assault scenario, if blood is shed by the complainant, some of this may be transferred to the clothing of the perpetrator. The extent and nature of transfer depends

on a number of factors including the nature of the complainant’s injuries, the extent to which the complainant has bled and the relative positions of the perpetrator and complainant during the assault.

If an assailant kicks a complainant into an area wet with blood, then the force of the kick(s) will generate blood spatter that can be transferred onto the footwear and lower clothing of the assailant. Blood spatter is manifest as spots of blood on the surface on which it lands. Similarly, if an individual or their clothing come into contact with an object or surface wet with blood, then blood will be transferred to that individual or their clothing in the form of contact blood staining.

Since it is possible to kick an individual whilst they are not bleeding, an absence of blood spatter on the clothing of a suspect cannot be taken to mean that the suspect did not kick the assailant.

Clothing and footwear items are visually searched for blood staining using a combination of oblique lighting and low magnification microscopy on darker coloured items. Putative blood stains are tested using a presumptive chemical test, which can also be used for screening the surfaces of dark coloured items.

DNA Profiling

DNA is a complex chemical that exists in almost every cell of the human body. A DNA profile from blood staining can be compared to the reference DNA profile from any person. If the profiles do not match then the blood could not have originated from that person. If, on the other hand, the DNA profiles match, then the evidential significance of the matching profiles, if the blood is from another unrelated person (i.e. the two DNA profiles have matched by chance) can be estimated.

Examination and Results

Reference Sample

The DNA profile of Finnlay KENNEDY was determined from the reference mouth swabs, 56003127, taken from him.

Items From Mathew STEPHENS

SJC/01: Jeans

Item SJC/01 is a pair of pale blue denim jeans. Extraneous hairs and fibres were recovered from the outer surfaces of this item onto tape lifts. The tape lifts have not been examined further at this stage.

All outer surfaces of the jeans, the inner surfaces of the pockets and the inner surface of the lower 20 centimetres of each leg were visually searched for the presence of blood staining.

A contact blood stain stain was found on the front of the hem of the right leg and many spots of blood were found on the outer surface of the front and inner aspect of the lower right leg. A few blood spots were found on the inner surface of the lower right leg and on the outer surface, inner aspect of the left leg.

A contact blood stain was also found on the inner surface of the left front pocket.

A sample of blood from the contact staining on the front right hem, and a spot of blood from the inner surface of the lower right leg were submitted for DNA profiling. Complete DNA profiles were obtained, which match each other and that of Finnlay KENNEDY. In my opinion, these DNA profile are from the blood tested.

The chance of obtaining these matching DNA profiles, if the blood stains tested from the right leg of the jeans, SJC/01, were from another man, unrelated to Finnlay KENNEDY, is estimated to be in the order of one in a billion (where a billion is a thousand million).

SJC/02 & 03: Training Shoes

These items are left and right dark blue, ‘Nike’ training shoes respectively, which together, appear to form a matching pair.

The outer surfaces of both shoes were visually searched and screened for the presence of blood staining, aided by low magnification microscopy.

Extensive contact blood staining was found on the toe region of the right shoe, on both the upper and welt, and embedded in the stitching. A few contact blood stains were

also observed on the laces of the right shoe, which were left in situ. Spots of blood were found on the front upper and inner aspect of the right shoe.

A sample of contact blood staining from the toe region and a blood spot from the inner aspect of the right shoe were submitted for DNA profiling. Complete DNA profiles were obtained, which match each other and that of Finnlay KENNEDY. In my opinion, these DNA profiles are from the blood tested.

The chance of obtaining these matching DNA profiles, if the blood stains tested from the right training shoe, SJC/03, were from another man, unrelated to Finnlay KENNEDY, is estimated to be in the order of one in a billion (where a billion is a thousand million).

A few spots of blood were found on the inner aspect and the sole of the left training shoe. These stains have not been DNA tested at this stage.

Items From Andrew Cubin

REM/01: Trousers

This item is a pair of black trousers. Extraneous hairs and fibres were recovered from the outer surfaces of this item onto tape lifts. The tape lifts have not been examined further at this stage.