About Us

Welcome to Forensic Excellence UK

 

General

Forensic Excellence UK provides a wide spectrum of Forensic services primarily to Criminal Defence Solicitors, but also to other Solicitors firms, businesses and individuals who require our services. Our services are most used  within the area of Criminal Law, but we are also involved in Civil matters and act on behalf of Solicitors or individuals as expert witnesses on a single joint expert (SJE) basis in civil litigation cases.

Our services are provided on a nationwide basis, and our experts will travel to any region of the UK to enable us to undertake whatever examinations / analyses that is required in light of our specific instructions and the circumstances of a particular case.

We offer a confidential, extremely efficient and Professional service at all times, and a simple telephone call, email, or letter to either of our offices in London or Manchester will enable us to establish if we can be of assistance to you, and also to provide you with a formal quotation in respect of our costs for the preparation of a fully comprehensive expert report dealing with the issues in question.

Quotes for Our Services

The vast majority of our cases are in relation to criminal matters, and our instructions in criminal cases are exclusively from Criminal Defence Solicitors, and as such, their clients will most likely be subject to some form of legal aid representation order. In awareness of that fact, we provide formal written quotes for our services in all such cases, and these are in full compliance with the various current expert rates / fixed fees as imposed & specified by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) in England and Wales.

Of course, we also undertake casework from Solicitors that deal with other aspects of law, businesses and individuals, and in such cases we also provide formal written quotations.

Our quotes are almost invariably sent to you by email within 24 hours of receiving a request for a quote together with the information we require to provide the quote

The Role of Forensic Excellence UK within the Legal Process

In England & Wales, the external Forensic services provided to the Police are currently almost exclusively fully privatised, and in addition many Police Forces, such as Metropolitan Police, West Midlands Police, and Lancashire Constabulary to name just a few, now have “In House” Forensic facilities that provide a range of Forensic services, including the initial screening of exhibits prior to samples being taken and then submitted to a formal “private” Forensic Laboratory such as Cellmark Forensic Services, LGC Forensics and Key Forensic Services, if necessary.

In our view therefore, that in many cases it is a necessary requirement to instruct a Defence Forensic Scientist to conduct a thorough, robust and critical evaluation of the reasoning, reliability, validity and conclusions of Forensic evidence, if that evidence is to be used by the Prosecution in support of allegations against a defendant. Our findings may have to be considered in light of information provided by a defendant in respect of the charge(s) he is facing.

This very often, but not exclusively, requires our experts to attend at the various external private Forensic Laboratories utilised by the Police, and also the various Police “in House” facilities, throughout the UK, to examine exhibits and thoroughly evaluate the scientific case records / analytical results, together with any recovered evidence.

Of course, there may be items that have not been Forensically examined, and the Defence Solicitor requires these items to be examined for various reasons, and we can also assist with this type of request.

In certain cases such as alcohol back calculations, technical defence drug / drink drive issues, drug valuations and drug usage issues, to name but a few, there is no requirement to examine exhibits or scientific case records, and these reports are simply prepared in house as paper exercises based on statements and other information provided to us.

In addition, certain types of cases may involve a crime scene examination (for example murder and fire scenes) and our experts can also undertake an independent examination of the scene, if it is still possible to do so, or alternatively we can still evaluate the scene by relying on statements, photographs and DVD recordings of the scene.

As would be expected from a highly Professional team of Forensic experts, all of our reports including findings, interpretation of findings in light of the circumstances of a particular case, and conclusions,  are reviewed by a colleague and fully validated prior to being signed and sent to our Instructing Solicitors.

Why Use Forensic Excellence UK?

Forensic Excellence UK has been working very closely with many Solicitors and Barristers throughout the UK for some 12 years and we have prepared a very large number of expert reports covering a wide spectrum of case types that involve some form of Forensic evidence.

Our experts, who each have between 16 – 35 years experience in their respective fields of expertise, have successfully challenged Forensic evidence in many cases, provided Forensic evidence in cases where no such evidence was sought by the Prosecution, and in many other cases we have also considered Forensic evidence in light of accounts provided by defendants.

Our experts will readily have a telephone conversation with a Solicitor or Barrister to discuss Forensic issues in a particular case both within and outside normal working hours.

We consider ourselves to be highly efficient and will ensure that we will honour any guarantee that we make in respect of providing a report within a specified time scale and / or in advance of a trial date.

When considered with the wide spectrum of Forensic services that we offer, it is our view that the foregoing are excellent reasons for using Forensic Assessment.