Investigating Leads

This stage involves analysing and pursuing new leads that arise from conducting lines of enquiry, therefore this stage is not carried out just the once. This meaning that throughout the investigation there may be a series of new leads that emerge, therefore they will have to be investigated at that time. There is a variety of ways the police force investigate new leads, typically it depends upon the investigation they are investigating.  The different ways it as follows;

Forensic strategy- this involves analysing any pieces of evidence that were found at the crime scenes, by analysing a piece of evidence it may identify any potential suspects who were at the crime scene. For example if they discovered a murdered weapon and fingerprints were found on it, they have a potential suspect.

House to house enquires- this requires the police force/detectives going from house to house within the neighbourhood of victim or the crime scene. It involves them questioning the occupants of the house, to gather any information from witnesses that may be of use for the investigation. For example at witness may report a suspicious looking car driving around before the time of the incident, therefore they officials will have a new line of enquiry to pursue.

CCTV- surveillance can play a vital role within the investigation, this is because if the crime was recorded on CCTV then it gives the officials a specific time that the crime was committed, it can show who was involved in the crime and any potential witnesses that may provide evidence. 

Pathology results- this involves identifying what was the cause of death, this can be vital as it can determine if a specific object was or the cause such as a golf club, or whether it was drugs or gunshot wounds. If it was gunshot wounds they are then able to send the bullets off to forensics to identify what gun was used, and then potentially link it to a suspect.

Trace/interview/elimination strategy- this involves tracing a potential suspect, bringing them into the office to interview them. Once they individual has been interviewed they may be eliminated as a suspect as they could have a strong alibi, therefore it rules them out.

Referring back to the Paul Morin case many of these leads were investigated which played a vital role within the case. Firstly evidence acquired from Paul Morin’s car was analysed within the laboratory, which was then identified as fibres from Christine Jessops. From this new information, the police force then targeted Paul Morin and the main suspect in the abduction case. However later on during the investigation process  once the body of Christine Jessop was found it came to the attention of a detective that the laboratory where the fibres were analysed was in fact contaminated, therefore the evidence could be counted as reliable. Unfortunately the defence team wasn’t aware of this information, and this evidence played a vital role in convicting him.

Once it turned from a missing person’s case to a murder, due to the discovery of the body a post mortem was carried out.  The pathology results concluded that the young girl had been sexually assaulted before her death due to wounds that consisted with rape cases. Therefore half of the semen stained clothing was sent to a laboratory in Boston were it was then analysed. However at that time technology was not advanced enough to identify to whom the semen belonged to, therefore the results were inconclusive.