The thesis presents experimental work conducted on environmentally altered bloodstains over four distinct experimental stages. Bloodstains that have been exposed to and altered by the environment are frequently encountered in crime scene analysis and developing accurate methods of quantitatively identifying, interpreting and analyzing them is important for crime scene reconstruction. Over the course of the four experimental stages bloodstains were progressively exposed to a range of environmental conditions and their responses to this exposure recorded. During the first stage stains were dried at a range of temperatures between -10 and 50oC in order to establish the influence of temperature on stain appearance. In the second stage stains were longitudinally exposed to natural environmental fluctuations over the course of a 6-month experimental period. In the third stage stains were exposed to a variety of extreme environmental conditions, including fire, freezing, freeze-thaw and extreme heat, in order to establish the influence of these conditions on stain appearance and behavior. In the final experimental stage the influence of environmental conditions on stain drying time was examined. During the course of stain analysis a new quantitative method for digitally capturing and measuring bloodstain colour was designed. The findings of the experimental work conducted represent the first empirical confirmation of relationships between the environmental conditions explored and bloodstain appearance and behavior. Quantitative confirmation of these relationships has direct implications for developing methods of spatial and temporal crime scene reconstruction from bloodstain pattern analysis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:631982 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Miles, H. F. |
| Publisher | University College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1443244/ |
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