Mobile Phone Forensics is increasingly becoming an integral part of many criminal and civil cases and perpetrators are becoming wise to the fact that their phone will be automatically seized by Police on arrest.
Some may even be taking extra care to delete any incriminating text messages upon receipt and to regularly erase their call records.

Unfortunately for them, developments in mobile phone forensic software mean that this deleted information can be retrieved as part of the forensic analysis process in most circumstances.
It is already possible to retrieve data from a SIM card and from several of the more popular and older handset makes.  There have been a number of recent cases where the recovery of deleted text messages and other data has proved to be the vital clue in a criminal case.

This is because many people do not realise that digital forensics companies are now able to recover this type of information and believe that they have destroyed all incriminating evidence by deleting data such as call lists, text messages, contacts and photos form their mobile phone.
One recent case involved a man who had plotted with his mistress to murder his wife.  They sent details of their plan to one another by text messages, with the defendant ironically simultaneously messaging his wife in an attempt to create himself an alibi.  The suspect believed that he had deleted all traces of his actions from his mobile phone, however sophisticated forensic techniques were able to recover this damning evidence.

The problem with recovering information from mobile phones lies with the sheer volume of mobile phone manufacturers and the frequency with which the latest models are released.  This provides forensics laboratories with the continual challenge of trying to ‘keep up' with technological developments.
The latest version of computer forensics' most popular software, EnCase, is set to include a package focused on mobile phone analysis for the first time and it will be eagerly received by the forensics community and law enforcement agencies.

There are countless incidents of mobile phones being used as evidence in cases ranging from minor drug dealing and petty theft to rape and murder.  They provide vital data, from where they have been to who they have been speaking to and everything in between.

The analysis of a suspect's mobile phone can often lead to new clues to a case being discovered and the recovery of deleted data will strengthen the evidence available even further.