Nowhere to Hide

This is a fascinating collection of biggest the criminal cases that have been solved by the development of forensic profiling in Britain. Fibers and DNA evidence proved crucial in the investigation of M25 rapist, Antoni Imiela, in the biggest linked police inquiry since the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper 20 years ago. Imiela was caught and convicted of seven rapes, kidnap and indecent assault on victims as young as ten, and was given life in prison. When the mutilated body of 90-year-old Mabel Leyshon was found laid out in her home in a ritualized fashionwhich included the removal of her heartpolice were left with only a partial footprint to go on. But when they looked closely at the saucepan that was used to collected the victim's blood, they found the presence of a lip mark on its edge. This macabre finding gave the police an insight into a motive that was ultimately linked with vampirism. Matthew Hardman was later arrested and sentenced to life. Amazingly, from thousands of individual pieces of evidence collected from crime scenes, the most significant can be as small as a single dog hair or as random as a flake of paint.

John McShane has worked as a journalist and editor for both The Daily Mirror and The Sunday Mirror.