The Collection of Evidence and The Issues of The Case.

Procedures that secure a scene:

There are ten basic stages that are carried out to secure a crime scene when a crime has been committed and these are,

1.       Approach and protect the scene (First Attending Officer). FAO

2.       Survey the scene and find the boundaries to where there no longer is any evidence to be preserved. 

3.       Evaluate the evidence present (Scenes of Crime Officers). SOCO

4.       Write down a description of the scene.

5.       If needed photograph the scene.

6.       Take a diagram and sketch of the scene.

7.       A detailed search is needed to find all evidence present.

8.       Record and collect evidence (Forensic scientists or SOCO).

9.       Conduct a final overview.

10.   Once everything has been found and all evidence is preserved close the scene.

Procedures carried out wrong
An interview was carried out on Sion Jenkins’s children with the presence of Lois Jenkins, although the social worker was unable to be present at the interview. This was where the police that where doing the interview gave prejudice remarks to the children about their father and this information was passed verbally from the officers saying ‘it was likely that your father killed Billie-Jo, so when it came to the court hearing the judge made it clear that concern should have been explicitly stated; due to this being so early in the investigation it caused problems over the next few years.

There was a doctor that was involved who wrote a report on Sion Jenkins and his daughters but because this doctor had never met him or his daughters, substantial evidence was missed like the constant check-ups on Billie-Jo from social services and the fact that social services was never mentioned in the report; also the doctor never looked at any reports on social services. All the evidence that was placed into this report was from the two officers that interviewed the children; this then became very damaging towards Sion Jenkins and the investigation.

Two out of the four witness statements (explained below) where ignored by the police but the strange thing about these two witness statements is that they show a potential fact that there was someone else present when Billie-Jo was murdered, one of the statements show that there was a man that was in the park opposite the house who looked suspicious which made one of the witnesses go the opposite way. The other witness statement that was ignored shows that there was someone running from the scene after Billie-Jo had been murdered.

During the year of Billie-Jo’s murder there was times where the Jenkins family didn’t feel as though they were safe in the house that they had lived in for many years, earlier that year there was an issue that arose where an individual tried to break through the patio doors which lead to them feeling unsafe in their home; but when it came to the trial this information was not issued out.

Types of evidence found

- Tent spike (Murder weapon)
- Jacket (had 72 spots of blood)
- Pants (had 76 spots of blood)
- Left shoe (10 spots of blood)
- Witness statements (Four collected)

Professor David Southall was a paediatrician that didn’t have the knowledge on how older children/teenagers breathing patterns, so when he declared that Billie Jo couldn’t of produced a spray of blood from her mouth when she was dying and said that this was impossible. But because of his inefficient knowledge this professor should not have been able to give the evidence, the evidence should have been provided by the original choice of a neurosurgeon that has the knowledge to be able to explain in more detail about the trajectory of blood when a person is dying.

There was a forensic expert that was involved with the case and his name was Adrian Wain, he came up with the evidence that provided the blood splatter evidence that was found on Sion Jenkins jacket, trousers and left shoe. Wain explained how using the tent spike to blatantly cave Billie-Jo’s head in would leave non-visible specs of blood that would splash onto the person, leaving small spots of blood not visible to the naked eye; which is why Sion Jenkins was treated as a suspect due to the 72 spots of blood on his jacket, 76 spots of blood on his trousers and 10 spots of blood on his left shoe. So due to Wain’s ‘expert’ opinion it was conclusive evidence but the way it was proven had flaws, the flaws that where found with this evidence was that to explain how blood splatter was to occur a pigs head was used. The reason why the pigs head was used is because it was to resemble a humans head, but the issue with a pigs head is that the skull it thicker than a humans and it’s not as fragile as a human skull. Also another issue with the pig’s skull is the fact that the respiratory system isn’t the same as a human, which would mean a different outcome. Finally the last flaw that was involved with Wain’s evidence is that the pig’s head had no blood present, which would mean that the court wouldn’t be able to see how blood would splatter.

During the case there were four witness statements that had been carried out for the police, the first one was from a woman called Anne who said she spoke to Billie-Jo and her sisters before Sion Jenkins left the house which proved that Billie-Jo was still alive at this point of time. The next statement came from a woman called Lottie who noticed that a side gate was closed when Sion left for the DIY shop but when they returned the side gate was then open, suggesting that someone was present when they were gone. The third witness statement was from a man and his son saying that there was a strange figure opposite the house in a park, which made them change direction as he didn’t feel as though it was safe. The last statement was from a neighbour which spoke about hearing a man in distress that was running away from the Jenkins household, where there was a passage for an escape.

How evidence is preserved
This is a serious procedure that takes place in investigations the reason why is because the evidence found maybe vital to the investigation as it could determine suspects for the crime, there are 6 steps that are involved when preserving evidence and these are.

1.       Don’t move any evidence unless it is necessary.

2.       Don’t contaminate any evidence.

3.       Photograph or video record the crime scene including individual pictures of any evidence.

4.       Record any evidence that has been found or moved.

5.       Record the identity of the person who is in possession of the evidence from the scene.

6.       Keep all evidence separate to stop cross-contamination. (A paper bag for blood stained evidence).

In the Billie-Jo Jenkins case there was four pieces of evidence that where collected, three of the pieces where from Sion Jenkins and the fourth piece of evidence were the murder weapon. The way that these pieces of evidence would be collected and placed in separate bags to each other, the reason for this would be to stop cross-contamination between the evidence. The clothes that were taken from Sion Jenkins with the Blood spots present would have been wrapped in paper and placed in a brown paper bag, the reason why the clothes would be preserved like this would be to stop any evidence becoming lost or damaged. The tent spike that was used for the murder should be placed in a plastic container so that no damage can be done after the evidence is collected and also so that the evidence can be damaged or lost.

References

Crime-scene-investigator.net. (2016). Crime Scene Response Guidelines - Organization and Procedures for Search Operations. [online] Available at: http://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/respon3.html [Accessed 11 Mar. 2016].

Csc-scc.gc.ca. (2016). Preservation of Crime Scenes and Evidence. [online] Available at: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/acts-and-regulations/568-4-cd-eng.shtml [Accessed 11 Mar. 2016].

Justiceforsionjenkins.org.uk. (2016). Justice for Siôn Jenkins - The Facts of the Case. [online] Available at: http://www.justiceforsionjenkins.org.uk/facts.html [Accessed 11 Mar. 2016].