In our first case, father of four, Pat McCormick, goes missing in Comber, Northern Ireland, leaving his family desperate for answers. Police suspected he’d come to harm but struggled to find proof without a body. Then, six weeks after his disappearance, they made a shocking discovery – the man’s body was found stuffed in a wheelie bin and dumped in a lake. They soon had two prime suspects, but detectives needed to find a way to place them and the victim at the same place at the same time. They enlisted the help of Paul Hope, a cell site expert, who by analysing their mobile phone network data was able to track their movements on the night of the murder and help prove their guilt. With emotional testimony from Pat’s daughter Morgan, who still misses her beloved father. \n\nTraces of soil are often used to answer the ‘where’ questions in an investigation. Where something happened? Where something went? Where an investigation might lead?\n\nIn our second case, which took place in Scotland, 63-year-old grandfather Tony Parsons was on a charity cycle ride but seemed to vanish into thin air. His disappearance became a major missing person's inquiry, but with no clues as to his whereabouts, his body wasn’t found. When police get a major tip-off three years later, they turn to soil expert Professor Lorna Dawson to help unearth the truth about what really happened to him and lead them to the suspects. With fascinating evidence about the case from crown prosecutor Alex Prentice.
Source: BBC 1
Series 4: 7. The Boy In The Woods - The Murder Of Rikki Neave
In 1994, six-year-old Rikki Neave was found dead in woodland near the Peterborough estate where he lived. He’d been strangled and left naked in the open. Police enlisted t ...
01-05-2025
BBC 1
Series 4: 6. Murderers, Messages And The Breakfast Killer
In this episode, we take a look at how phone data can unlock a case and provide a solid link between the suspects and a horrific murder. \n\nIn early 2023, emergency call handle ...
30-04-2025
BBC 1
Series 4: 5. Catching A Cold Case Killer
Now more than ever, forensic science is opening up the possibility of catching criminals for crimes that have remained unsolved for years. In this episode, a case that had lain ...
29-04-2025
BBC 1
Series 4: 4. Cracking The Killer's Code
Our first case concerns a young man, Dolton Powell, fatally stabbed by an armed gang after a party. A group of suspects are arrested and questioned, but they remain tight-lipped ...
28-04-2025
BBC 1
Series 4: 3. The Wheelie Bin Killer
In our first case, father of four, Pat McCormick, goes missing in Comber, Northern Ireland, leaving his family desperate for answers. Police suspected he’d come to harm bu ...
24-04-2025
BBC 1
Series 4: 2. The Body In The Suitcase
An expert witness uses scanning technology developed for the manufacturing industry to find vital evidence that convicts a killer. \n\nIn a Birmingham canal, a truly shocking di ...
23-04-2025
BBC 1
Series 4: 1. The Murder Of Sarah Payne: Fields Of Evidence
True crime documentary series that reveals how expert witnesses helped solve some of the UK's most complex major crime cases. \n\nThis programme travels to Sussex to investiga ...
22-04-2025
BBC 1
Series 3: 15. Grave Secret And Lockdown Tragedy
Evidence unearthed by a forensic archaeologist helps to catch the killer of a young woman from Wiltshire. And a case of harrowing neglect suffered by a Welsh teenager is reveale ...
14-02-2025
BBC 1
Series 3: 14. Fragments Of Truth And Wall Of Evidence
A forensically trained dentist’s expertise helps police to connect a man to the disappearance of his wife. And the diligent analysis of a soil expert helps to bring convic ...
13-02-2025
BBC 1
Series 3: 13. Facing Justice And Language Of Terror
When a decomposed body is washed up on a Dutch beach, a UK facial reconstruction expert helps uncover the identity. And a forensic linguistic specialist leads an international h ...
12-02-2025
BBC 1
Series 1: 1. Soil And Insects
This episode travels to Edinburgh to look at the fascinating story behind one of Scotland’s longest-running investigations, the World’s End murders, a double murder ...
18-07-2022
BBC 1
Series 4: 13. Unearthing The Truth
In 1984 in Hull, the body of schoolboy Christopher Laverack is found floating in a canal after being reported missing. He was sexually assaulted, beaten to death and wrapped in ...
19-11-2024
BBC 1
Series 4: 4. Cracking The Killer's Code
Our first case concerns a young man, Dolton Powell, fatally stabbed by an armed gang after a party. A group of suspects are arrested and questioned, but they remain tight-lipped ...
28-04-2025
BBC 1
Series 1: 9. Cerium And Cctv
We reveal how the power of forensic science not only found a killer, but also freed an innocent man. Forensic evidence is a powerful tool. So powerful, that if it’s misint ...
05-08-2022
BBC 1
Series 4: 3. The Wheelie Bin Killer
In our first case, father of four, Pat McCormick, goes missing in Comber, Northern Ireland, leaving his family desperate for answers. Police suspected he’d come to harm bu ...
24-04-2025
BBC 1
Series 1: 13. Insects And Bones
Insects establish an accurate time of death, helping to prove a husband killed his wife, and analysis of burnt remains in Leeds uncovers another husband’s cold murder of h ...
10-11-2021
BBC 1
Series 2: 5. Body In The Woods And Murder At The Post Office
This episode follows two shocking criminal cases in Yorkshire, each involving a woman murdered by her partner, and two expert witnesses with very different disciplines in forens ...
15-09-2023
BBC 1
Series 3: 2. A Watery Grave And The Dangerous Date
When the body of a farmer is found in a lake, a bioarchaeologist helps police reveal how he got there. Meanwhile, when a man is accused of intentionally spreading the HIV virus, ...
23-07-2024
BBC 1
Series 4: 5. Catching A Cold Case Killer
Now more than ever, forensic science is opening up the possibility of catching criminals for crimes that have remained unsolved for years. In this episode, a case that had lain ...
29-04-2025
BBC 1
Series 4: 6. Murderers, Messages And The Breakfast Killer
In this episode, we take a look at how phone data can unlock a case and provide a solid link between the suspects and a horrific murder. \n\nIn early 2023, emergency call handle ...
30-04-2025
BBC 1