Following in his father’s footsteps, Lee Blakelock is now also a police officer, serving with Durham Constabulary, UK. He was eight years old when his father was killed. Pc Blakelock and his colleague Pc Richard Coombes were attacked during the Broadwater Farm riots in Tottenham in 1985. Coombes was seriously injured but survived. They were trying […]
Archives for 2010
Vidocq presents… Scott Dickson
Scott Dickson is a crime analyst in central Texas and a former police detective. He publishes The Crime Analyst’s Blog and one day hopes to escape the normal workday world by becoming a hack writer. Scott tweets under the account name @scott_dickson. For DCC, he answered the following questions: 1: What is your most favourite part […]
Night Stalker’s DNA confirmed
The Night Stalker a.k.a. Richard Ramirez terrorized California in the early 80s with a string of rape-murders. His DNA has now finally been retested allowing San Francisco Police to close the case of the 1984 murder of a 9-year-old girl in the Tenderloin. Though the retesting of the serial killer’s DNA was largely a formality — meant simply […]
NYT Editorial on Skinner and DNA
In my post “DNA: a civil right” of March 26, 2010, I described why I firmly believe that (post-conviction) access to DNA testing for the condemned (in this case Henry Skinner) should not hinge on how formalistic the question to the courts is phrased. It should be implied. Today, the New York Times published an editorial that […]
Arrest in 1979 murder of Kathy Jo Baker
Richard L. Boswell Jr., a convicted sex offender, has been arrested and charged with murder and attempted murder in the 1979 murder of Kathy Jo Baker (20). That case was recently reopened by the Indiana State Police. He made his initial appearance this morning in Vigo Superior Court 6 to face the allegation that he abducted […]
Stephen Saloom: Texas science panel chairman John Bradley is biased
Stephen Saloom, the policy director of the New York-based Innocence Project, said prosecutor John Bradley shows “a critically important lack of objectivity” in his approach to the case of Cameron Todd Willingham. Bradley has publicly called Willingham a “guilty monster.” Bradley is the chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which is investigating whether fire […]
Vidocq presents Tim Kevan
Tim Kevan is the author of Law and Disorder (Bloomsbury) which is available at www.amazon.co.uk. The sequel Law and Peace will be published next May. The books are based on the BabyBarista Blog which he writes in association with The Guardian. He is also the co-author of Why Lawyers Should Surf (with Dr Michelle Tempest). […]
Willingham court of inquiry postponed until Oct 14, 2010
The district attorney of Navarro County sought the recusal of state District Judge Charlie Baird in a high-profile court of inquiry that was set to start today to determine whether Cameron Todd Willingham was wrongfully executed by the state of Texas for the deaths of his three daughters. The motion raised the possibility that the two-day hearing […]
Vidocq presents… Simon Steggles!
Simon Steggles is a UK data computer forensic specialist. His company, Disklabs, is specialized in hard disks and associated services. From the initial data recovery service, computer forensics were added. After computer forensics came mobile phone forensics, satellite navigation forensics, data destruction, and forensic data recovery, (specifically for law enforcement agencies). Simon tweets under the account name @Disklabs. For DCC, he […]
Arrests in 1985 Blakelock case
Pc Keith Blakelock (40), married with three children, was murdered by a machete-wielding gang during the Broadwater Farm riots in Tottenham, north London, in October 1985. Detectives believe that now the net may finally be closing in on the killers and revealed that ten people – ages 42-52 – have been questioned in recent months. […]