I instructed Iain McArthur on a murder trial in 2023. The case involved four 17 year defendants who were said to be responsible for the stabbing to death of another 17 year old. The prosecution presentation of the CCTV purported to identify each of the four defendants and highlighted their movements. The prosecution further alleged that the CCTV demonstrated each defendant chased the victim up a street before disappearing around a corner; stabbing him to death off camera.

I had 3 questions for Iain, was the tracking of the defendants accurate, did the prosecution presentation of the CCTV demonstrate my client chased the deceased,and lastly was it possible from the footage to demonstrate my client did not disappear around the corner onto the street where the victim was fatally stabbed.

From my initial conversation with Iain his depth of knowledge and skill in the field of digital enhancement was obvious. Once I had arranged all of the available CCTV to be sent to him he was highly critical of the way in which the Crown had handled the quality of the footage. He was able to significantly enhance it. He was highly critical of the way in which the Crown had purported to track the defendants’ movements between the different clips. Through his work on the footage he was able to undermine the prosecution’s purported tracking of my client’s movements. Due to his enhancement of the footage, we were able to demonstrate that my client did not enter the street where the fatal stabbing took place. The enhancement and tracking work alone was key to this case but Iain did not stop there.

Using distance and time measurements alongside the enhancements and tracking of my client, Iain was able to produce a presentation for the jury that clearly showed my client was not running at speed, he was slowing down as he ran, he was not running on the same side of the road as the deceased or his co-defendants and he stopped well before the co-defendants and the deceased disappeared around a corner and out of sight. This presentation was put in full before the jury and completely rebutted the prosecution’s assertions about the actions of my client. I had not asked Iain to do this, I had no idea it could be done this way, it was his idea and he went above and beyond in delivering a presentation that answered each of my questions. In 20 years at the Bar I had not seen this type of presentation used before and it clearly had a devastating effect on the trial.

The jury acquitted my client of murder, 2 of the co-defendants were convicted. Iain’s work is innovative and exceptional and I would have no hesitation in recommending him to anyone.

I have had the pleasure of instructing Audio Video Forensics and in particular Iain McArthur in relation to a number of analysis of CCTV footage.  On each and every occasion they have dealt with my enquiry not only expeditiously but professionally.  They are extremely user friendly.  They appreciate the deadlines and pressures placed upon the criminal professions.  I required a piece of body worn footage being edited with the deletion of agreed audio.  This piece of work was carried out overnight and presented to the jury the following morning.  This piece of footage, in my opinion, played a large factor in the acquittal of my client of a serious offence. 

I would highly recommend them.

Barbara Johal (CJH Solicitors)

"Operation Gnathonize was  a National Crime Agency investigation into large scale money laundering  and drug supply. In June 2019 a subject was  observed by surveillance officers utilising what was believed to be an  encrypted mobile phone. In 2020, this individual was identified as being  involved in Money Laundering and drugs supply, via the encrypted messaging Network EncroChat.      AVF comparison of images of the 2019 device helped support  attribution of the encrypted device.

Further comparison of documents seen  being passed between subjects provided further evidence. The comparison  evidence was agreed, and the defendant subsequently entered a guilty plea to Money Laundering and a Conspiracy to Supply Class B drugs."

“I have instructed Audio Video Forensics on two recent occasions and been very pleased with the standard of work produced. In the first instance his enhancement of a particularly poor quality VHS tape was pivotal in exonerating our client, a young man of good character, who was facing serious assault charges. I was impressed that Audio Video Forensics were prepared to travel to view material retained by the police and took great pains to adhere to the timetable imposed by the Courts.

In the second case he produced stills from shop CCTV at very short notice which aided the clients defence. I have found Audio VideoForensics to be flexible and a good communicator who is easy to contact either be telephone or email. They follow instructions accurately and produce clear and comprehensible quotations for their services at a competitive hourly rate. I have already recommended them to Counsel who were in need of an expert. I would have no hesitation in recommending them to any other fellow practitioners and plan to use them as my first port of call on future cases"

“Not only was Audio Video Forensics competent and qualified. They have been very easy to deal with and has shown us how they can be of assistance in future investigations in ways we would not necessarily have thought of had we not had this experience with them. They have already been instructed to act for us on another case where a speed calculation is required and I have little doubt their services will be used at points in the future again.“

“We instructed AVF in 2017 to work on a fatal accident case where a woman was hit by a car and killed outside her home address, a rural location near Inverness. Unfortunately, we had particularly challenging evidence as the footage was from a moving bus at night (Police Scotland having already been unsuccessful in their attempts to improve the footage).

AVF's enhancement of the poor quality evidence was key to the calculation of the vehicle in question and mapped out /measured all relevant points of interest/distances on the road from aerial imagery and on surveyor measurements. We were highly impressed with Audio Video Forensics detailed work which yielded a positive outcome in court. We have used Audio Video Forensics on many subsequent occasions throughout Scotland and would have no hesitation to use them on future cases"

"In 2020, we instructed Audio Video Forensics to analyse video recorded in 2002. That posed a technical challenge as the VHS tapes had deteriorated and the image had degraded. The issue was to confirm the identity of a figure seen in the video by way of comparison with a person seen in a better quality video shot elsewhere earlier that day.

AVF were able to enhance the images and present the evidence in an imaginative and persuasive way that remained consistent with the contents. AVF  closely followed our instructions and presented the evidence in a clear and compelling way. The evidence was central to a presentation we subsequently made to the CCRC who accepted our case for review with a view to a referral back to the Court of Appeal. We would not hesitate to recommend AVF and will use them again when the need arises."

“AVF came recommended through the National CrimeFaculty during 2003 when we were investigating a murder committed by a convicted prisoner during a period of temporary pre-release parole. There was no useful eye-witness evidence and no conventional forensic evidence to connect the suspect to the crime.

I cannot recommend Audio Video Forensics highly enough; in fact, should you receive any requests for enhancement of, or processing of difficult / problematical material from any officer, I would be delighted to speak to them about Audio Video Forensics work on our case.”

“I assessed all three experts and got feedback from SIO’s listed in their CV’S. I used Audio Video Forensics as I found Audio Video Forensics to be best suited to the investigations requirements. They were prompt in their responses and a pleasure to deal with. The quality of their work was high and I would use them again. Given the nature of what we asked of them they were given a very hard time at court but overall the Procurator Fiscal was happy with their evidence and we secured convictions for all four of our accused.”

“In Early 2014 I was instructed for the defence of a young man accused of being part of a murder by joint enterprise in a launderette in the Anfield area of Liverpool. The Deceased was killed with a sword and my client’s defence was alibi.

My client was acquitted in part as a direct result of your expert evidence in conducting a clear and concise analysis of the CCTV video relied upon by the prosecution. Your evidence undermined and effectively destroyed the method adopted by the prosecution expert witness and proved to the jury’s satisfaction that there was a real doubt as to the presence of our lay client in that launderette.”

“I instructed Audio Video Forensics on a number of occasions. The service was efficient and Audio Video Forensics worked diligently to assist the preparation of the defence case. Without doubt, the evidence provided influenced the positive outcome of the proceedings and I have no hesitation in recommending Audio Video Forensics.”