It is a myth that criminal defence solicitors can only use digital forensic experts to challenge prosecution evidence.

Yes, this is the majority of the work these experts carry out, but the potential of enlisting an expert proactively shouldn’t be underestimated. For example, a client may be accused of a crime such as a burglary which happened in a particular location at a specific time.

Forensically analysing their mobile phone may be able to attribute them to the phone at the time of the incident. Furthermore, cell site analysis may be able to prove that the phone was not in the vicinity of the offence when it took place. Dependent on the particulars of the case, it can even narrow down to a very small area where the phone would have been operating.

This service is readily available to the defence – and should be seriously considered as a means of proving someone’s phone was, or was not, present at a certain place and time. The prosecution may not have used cell site or mobile phone evidence as part of their indictment, but the weight it can carry in court, can potentially challenge what evidence has been put forward.

If the prosecution has carried out its own analysis, there may be a merit in instructing an expert to review the data and the conclusions reached to ensure that proper procedures have been followed and that the person preparing it is suitably qualified.