The multiple personalities of Bloodstain Pattern Analysis (BPA): Investigation, Evaluation & Review Speaker: Jo Millington

Date: 09/12/19

Time: 6pm

Venue: The Gordon Museum of Pathology, King's College London

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• Students: £0.00

The role of a bloodstain pattern in an investigation can evolve significantly from crime scene to court. Through this process the BPA evidence can be considered by multiple actors with various remits, from the initial investigation and into the subsequent court process … and beyond. The investigator may initially use the distribution of bloodstains to identify possible mechanisms of production. When suspects are identified, the bloodstaining will be evaluated in light of the accounts that have been provided. Throughout the criminal justice process, the analyst will be required to present an evidence-base that substantiates their observations and supports the conclusions that they present to the court. This can include to decision-makers whose only experience of BPA is from the television. The BPA findings may also be assessed by other scientists, instructed on behalf of the defence or as part of a post-conviction review, and their role may include consideration of the original case record against a completely new set of propositions. The original bloodstain pattern analyst must therefore ensure that their records can support every stage of the enquiry. The record must be consistent, comprehensive and complete, so that anyone who reviews their work can investigate the bloodstains as though they were looking through the original investigators eyes. In this talk, Jo will discuss the role of bloodstain patterns across a number of criminal case investigations and, with the help of the audience, attempt to interpret some of the bloodstain patterns that have recently gained notoriety, thanks to Netflix et al

Jo Millington BSc (Hons) MSc PGCert MCSFS MIABPA Jo’s experience in forensic casework spans over 23 years, starting with Lothian & Borders Police laboratory (Edinburgh, Scotland) and then moving to the UK Forensic Science Service (FSS) Homicide division in London. She transferred from there to the Specialist Forensics Division of the Metropolitan Police Service, and then joined a small independent company to lead their biology team in delivering a wide portfolio of case review. Just over a year ago she set up her own company, Millington Hingley Ltd (www.millingtonhingley.co.uk), where she now works as an independent Forensic Consultant with various agencies, specialising in forensic biology, on behalf of the prosecution and defence. Over her career, Jo has collaborated with a wide range of practitioners across the criminal justice system and has given expert scientific evidence, including in many high-profile forensic investigations, in courts across the UK and abroad. Her specialism in Blood Pattern Analysis has developed since her formative training with Metro Dade Police, Miami in 1998. She was a member of the FSS’s training team and had a key role in the design, development and delivery of their core BPA training program. She continues to deliver a variety of national and international bespoke training courses to a broad spectrum of practitioners from all over the world, having most recently led a team to provide 40-hour Basic and Advanced BPA training to the Turkish Gendarmerie and Police. She was a member of the advisory board that advised the UK’s Forensic Science Regulator and led to the publication of the BPA Codes of Practice. A few years ago Jo was invited to join the Advisory Panel of Inside Justice (www.insidejustice.co.uk), a charity that investigates alleged miscarriages of justice, and their work has recently been the subject of a series of documentaries - Conviction: Murder at the Station and Conviction: Murder in Suburbia. Jo is a visiting lecturer at several UK universities, including Kings College London and the Academy of Forensic Medical Sciences on undergraduate and postgraduate programs and holds the honorary positions of Visiting Fellow at Bournemouth University and Visiting Senior Fellow at the University of Surrey. She authored the chapter on BPA in the most recent edition of the textbook Crime Scene to Court: The Essentials of Forensic Science

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