Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Thursday February 27 2020, @06:28AM   Printer-friendly
from the put-an-arrow-in-the-map dept.

A recent murder trial involving the most medieval of weapons has recently concluded with a guilty verdict, thanks to some high-tech sleuthing.

From the BBC's report:

Some modern, expensive cars are installed with electronic systems which can track and store information about its movements. This so-called telematics system can be used as a tracking device if the car is stolen. It can also tell when a car's engine is started or stopped and even when a window, door or boot is opened and closed. When combined with evidence of owning a crossbow and bolts of the type used in the murder, it was enough to secure a conviction.

Like a mobile phone on wheels, the system uses a SIM card. Nick Harvey, risk data manager for Plant-I telematics company, said data is live constantly and GPS tracking could be accurate within 5m.

He said over the past 10 years, such tracking had become more commonplace in car technology and security systems and could now help with investigations. "Wherever a vehicle is going, it is sending into a cloud - no matter what happens to that vehicle there is always data behind," he said.

A car belonging to the defendant was found burned several miles away two weeks after the murder, but the incriminating data had long since been sent to the cloud. It placed the owner outside the victim's house at the time of the murder, with timestamps indicating details like the engine being turned off, and when the doors and boot (trunk) were opened and closed.

The complexity of the case saw it generate 5,500 documents and involve a team of 50 police officers before going to a trial lasting five weeks.

"If it wasn't for the electronics, the black box in the Land Rover - which didn't just record information but sent it to Jaguar Land Rover, [the defendant] Whall would have got away with his lies," the jury was told.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday February 28 2020, @03:13PM

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Friday February 28 2020, @03:13PM (#964128) Journal

    Marked insightful. But there are some issues with every one of the items...

    Use someone else's car with their permission and then they know. Steal a car and risk being caught (especially in an age of automated license plate scanners), although this is less risky than the murder. Hopefully you aren't pulled over after committing the murder with your crossbow in the vehicle still.
    Don't burn the car and risk leaving trace evidence, like your DNA, behind.
    Don't take your cellphone and you need to know whatever was happening wherever your cellphone was. ("I'm sorry, sir, but cable service in your neighborhood went out during the whole time you say you were watching the SuperBowl on your TV".)
    Don't drive past any security cameras is impossible in the UK, but if you were to do so wear a mask of someone else. It almost worked for Dabney Coleman's character in Columbo episode Murder of a Rock Star...
    Using cash for your purchase may make you even more memorable to the staff wherever you bought the crossbow at. Buy used (far less traceable), or use someone else's credit card that you've stolen (a much lesser crime).
    You can touch the bolts with bare skin, just wipe them down with a protein denaturer that also degreaser before firing. Or buy bolts with a surface that will not pick up prints and skin flakes.
    And as you say, no guarantees. Just because you aren't the murderer doesn't mean the police and prosecuting attorney can't turn your life into a living hell that would make you accept a plea bargain even though you didn't do it.

    --
    This sig for rent.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Interesting=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3