Concluding the case

The investigative team were able to reach their conclusions through the use of analytical work, which lead to the collection of a variety pieces of evidence, thus ultimately it was the use of evidence which enabled them to come to their verdict. This is because the team consisting of detectives, scenes of crime officer, pathologist and forensic scientists all work in sync to enable to aid the investigation. The conclusion that the investigating team came too was that Guy Paul Morin is guilty for the sexual assault along with the murder of Christine Jessop, due to the incriminating evidence that was against him. However after much deliberation a re-trial was ordered as new techniques allowed further analysis on a vital piece of evidence within the case, Christine Jessop’s clothing. Ground breaking DNA analysis techniques enabled to identify that the bodily fluids found upon Jessop’s clothing did not belong the Guy Paul Morin. As a result of this new evidence, Morin was acquitted of all charges.

It can be deliberated that the conclusions the investigative team came to, cannot be justified due to the many inaccuracies made by themselves which consequently lead to an unlawful conviction. This is a result of carless exploratory work on behalf of the detectives, scenes of crime officer, forensic scientist and coroner involved, as each member made several errors when conducting their responsibilities, which in turn played detrimental effects upon the case. The evidence that was used to convict Morin was based on contaminated evidence, erroneous testimony, circumstantial evidence and like previously said carless police work.

There is a large amount of contaminated evidence that was used in conjunction with other sources within the Paul Morin case, in order to demonstrate his guilt. One being hair fibres, red animal fibres that were taken from the clothing of Christine Jessop and the vacuum bag of Morin’s car. The fibres were then analysed at CFS, which is where they are identified to be a match, this demonstrating that Christine Jessop was in the car of Paul Morin’s. However, it later came to the attention of the defences lawyers that the piece of evidence was contaminated, as the assistant who processed the evidence was wearing a red angora sweater, without a laboratory coat. This identifying that the assistant was not wearing personal protection equipment, thus questioning the reliability of the other evidence processed there.

Firstly, due to the many errors that were made within the investigation as a result of the detectives and local police force becoming extremely narrow tunnelled, which ultimately led to the unlawful conviction of Paul Morin. As initially, Paul Morin had a solid alibi that undoubtedly demonstrated he could not have committed the crime due to him leaving work and heading straight to a grocery store at the time Christine went missing. To demonstrate his alibi he provided the detectives with a receipt from the grocery store which verified the time he was at the store. This evidence was dismissed, as the detectives didn’t want to hold any information that demonstrated his innocence.

Secondly, evidence that was collected from the second crime scene that did not demonstrate that Paul Morin was guilty of the crime was misplaced by the detectives leading the case. As cigarette buds that were found at the second crime scene along with a cigarette packet, which was assumed to belong to the killer, thus implying that they smoked. However, once it came to the attention of the detectives that Paul Morin did not smoke, the evidence was ‘misplaced’, therefore couldn’t be analysed to identify if there was any DNA on the packet or buds. If the evidence would have been analysed it would have potentially indicated that Paul Morin was not guilty of the crime, and indicate the true convict.

In addition, an FBI profiler named John Douglas was called upon to help give the police direction during the investigation, as it seemed they had no more lines to peruse. The profiler was assured that the evidence given to him was objective information and that the detectives did not have a suspect in mind, however at that time they were already building a case upon Paul Morin. The profile which was constructed contained elements that fitted Morin, nevertheless a large portion did not resemble Paul Morin, such as he didn’t have a poor self-image, nor did he have an inflated ego.

Furthermore, incriminating evidence that was used within the first trial to convict Morin of the charges against him included a testimony provided by a fellow inmate of Paul Morin. An inmate agreed to provide a testimony, which stated that Morin when being held for the charges confessed to the sexual assault and murder of Christine Jessop. This piece of evidence was presented within court in an attempt to convince the judge and jury of his guilt, it played an important role within the process as it was seen as a confession by the guilty party.

The initial conclusions made by the investigative team can be considered invalid, due to the manipulation of incriminating evidence that indicated that Guy Paul Morin was guilty of the sexual assault and murder of Christine Jessop. Evidence which enabled them to come to the conclusion included, witness statements made by fellow inmates, DNA evidence. Therefore because the evidence is highly corrupted it cannot be seen as reliable, in order to convict an individual of a crime. However the conclusions made prior to the re-trial are considered as valid, as the crown service took into account that a large portion of evidence that has been previously submitted is contaminated with, as it has either been tampered with, or the procedures regarding collecting the evidence was not done effectively, which ultimately led to the acquittal of Paul Moran.

If the detectives did not manipulate the evidence they obtained, it wouldn’t highly indicate that Paul Morin was guilty of the crime; therefore they theoretically wouldn’t narrow down on the suspect and focus more widely upon the investigation. As due to the narrow vision displayed by the investigating officers, they did not follow any lines of enquiry which did not involve Morin, all of which may have had a positive impact upon the investigation.

An overall limitation regarding the investigation into the murder and sexual assault of Christine Jessop is the concept of tunnel vision. The term tunnel vision refers to the tendency to solely focus on a specific view, thus disregard any information that does not aid the view. This was evident in the case of Morin, as primarily the investigative team became extremely focused on Morin as the suspect due to him 'looking weird' when present at his mothers interview with the police. From this first appearance the investigative team narrowed down on Morin, by disregarding any evidence that didn't directly imply that he committed the crime. This was achieved by manipulating a criminal profile in order to fit the profile of Morin, altered individuals witness statements in order to dispute Morin's own accounts on the day and misplace evidence which implied he didn't commit the crime. In addition, the investigator team had many suspects under investigation but soon regarded them as being innocent without fully analysing their personnel witness statements nor exploring in great depths, in order to focus more intensely of Morin. 

In addition, a second limitation regarding the investigation of Christine Jessop is the lack of efficiency when carrying out procedures. As a large portion of procedures within the investigation were not carried out correctly which consequently had detrimental effects upon the outcome of the case. For example, initially the first attending officer did not corner off the scene at Christine Jessop's household, which potentially contained information regarding the abduction. As the household is the suspected site at which Christine was abducted from, therefore theoretically it should contain some traces relating to he abductor. As a renowned forensic scientist named Locard principle states that with every contract leaves a trace, whether it 'wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves... will act as a mute witness'. This suggesting that the perpetrator would have left a trace but due to the FAO not securing the scene the public openly walked in and potentially contaminated any evidence. Furthermore, when analysing the second crime scene the investigator team did not successfully package all potential evidence found at the scene, thus many vital pieces of evidence was theoretically dismissed to poor analysing techniques. Evidence which was dismissed may have played a vital role within identifying the suspect or providing more information leading up to the death of Christine Jessop. 

An overall strength regarding the case of Paul Morin is the communication system between different forces. As initially Christine Jessop went missing in the county of York, therefore it was the York police force which initiated the investigation into the disappearance of the young girl. As expected the local police force carried out their procedures which involved documenting information they discovered. Several months after the disappearance, the body of Christine Jessop was found in the county of Durham, thus meaning the case was then transferred to the Durham police force. This initially involved communicating between the two police forces in order to provide information York originally retrieved from their investigation. Fortunately, this went very well within the investigation, as all information was successfully passed over, with the aid of the investigators who provided their assistance in any queries the Durham police had. However, once the Durham police retrieved all the information regarding the initial investigation they discovered that the initial assessments and procedures were not completed to a high standard. 

The conclusion that the investigator team came too, was that Guy Paul Morin was guilty of the sexual assault and murder of Christine Jessop.