Now with new technology around are old un solved case files re opened and examined or only done so if new evidence comes to light?
Those Silent witness programs i love them find them very interesting.
Roughly how many old cases have been solved from new technology?
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My local force ran an operation in which old cases were re-examined in the absence of any new evidence.
There were successful prosecutions of several sex offenders.
It seems these were mainly due to improved DNA analysis techniques.
Samples taken at the time, say 20 years ago, yielded nothing.
But the samples were kept on file and a match found when they were analysed again.
In one case, the rapist was matched because he had committed an unrelated offence ten years later.
Had he raped the girl then kept his nose absolutely clean he would never have been captured.
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'm sure I've read of a cold cases unit which does exactly that.
One such case was mentioned in here recently, that of Lesley Moleseed. She disappeared in around 1977 at the age of 11 while running a shopping errand. She was taken from the street sexually abused and murdered.
A junior civil servant, Stefan Kisko, was fingered or the crime, found guilty and sentenced. Kisko was eventually released after over a decade in prison when scientific evidence, with held at his original trial proved he could not have been involved. The hell Kisko, who was borderline special needs, went through in jail labelled as a 'nonce' can only be imagined. He died shortly after release.
Modern investigative techniques, including DNA testing were applied to the clothing etc samples retained at the time. They were eventually matched to the perpetrator when he was caught for an unrelated offence. He was jailed some 25 years after the crime.
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i still feel so sorry for kisko and his poor mother
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...i still feel so sorry for kisko and his poor mother...
And as a civil servant with borderline special needs he was no doubt destined for high office. :)
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>> And as a civil servant ... :)
not funny at all in this context iffy IMO
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...not funny at all in this context iffy IMO...
Anyone who has ever locked horns with bureaucracy would probably describe it as accurate.
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>> And as a civil servant...
In very poor taste, iffy.
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...In very poor taste, iffy...
Lighten up, it's clearly a dig at meddlesome bureaucracy not Mr Kiszko.
His memory is assured.
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>> ...In very poor taste, iffy...
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>> Lighten up, it's clearly a dig at meddlesome bureaucracy not Mr Kiszko.
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>> His memory is assured.
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Crass old chap.
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>> And as a civil servant with borderline special needs he was no doubt destined for
>> high office.
I think he worked for the Inland Revenue in the grade we then called Clerical Assistant. The entry requirement I think included a couple of GCE passes but it was possible to be promoted from the messengerial grades. They would do filing, postroom stuff & in the County Courts operate the Addo-X record card machines that terrified those of us in the executive grades!
Most larger offices would have a few who'd clearly reached their limit at that grade and also had one or two eccentrics. Shelter, structure and meaningful work were provided; it seems to risky to do that sort of thing now.
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>> Most larger offices would have a few who'd clearly reached their limit at that grade
>> and also had one or two eccentrics. Shelter, structure and meaningful work were provided; it
>> seems to risky to do that sort of thing now.
>>
>>
I came across many people who would fit that description in "government" jobs, cleaners, mail room workers, etc. Their work colleges were usually ferociously protective and the work allowed them the dignity of earning a living, and as Bromptonaut says gives them structure to their lives. They are each worth a dozen benefit scroungers.
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Before the bashers pick up on ON's reference to 'government' jobs I don't think the practice of employing people in this way was just done by the public sector. There were people in warehouses, sweeping factory floors etc in the private sector as well. I worked for a while in my teens pricing goods in the store warehouse of a northern supermarket chain. There were two or three there in the same category. I guess a few were probably 'shell shock' or similar from the war & there was a justifiable 'social obligation' to employ them.
Fortunately retirement saw most away before the fad to 'multi-skill' had a chance to humiliate them.
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...I don't think the practice of employing people in this way was just done by the public sector...
True in my experience.
The now shut Vaux Brewery in Sunderland used to employ a couple of fellas who each pushed a broom around the brewery yard and helped out generally.
Benevolent capitalism in operation.
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Work is the cure for most ills.
Being 'busy' and operating within structured parameters offers some form of security and purpose for most (of us).
This Country has it all wrong and further divide and unrest await us all. Bookmark this because I will be proven right as will anyone with half a mind.
Peace...........MD
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Martin you've been listening in to a conversation I had a few minutes ago - exactly what I've come to realize !!
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...exactly what I've come to realize !!...
Getting a job then?
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...Might do...
Most coppers I know who have retired well-set in their early 50s take a job after a few months.
Not having to go to work is great in some respects, but all of a sudden being a 'nobody' is hard for many people to take.
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I'm more than happy being a "nobody" as you put it. In fact that is one of my goals that I've actually achieved.....oh no I'd be quite happy with a job where I'm a nobody !
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...I'd be quite happy with a job where I'm a nobody !...
But that's the point, with a job - however low in the pecking order - you are a somebody again.
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Yeah I suppose but not the "somebody" I was once perceived myself to be. I no longer aspire to be anyone, other than me. A slightly modified me from around 1980 possibly, without the flares for a start.
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I mentioned a while back that I'd like to work in a forest driving one of those gert big logging things. Then some days I'd like to have a Caterham/Westfield dealership in rural Scotland. I'd quite enjoy taking the three potential customers a year out for a test drive demonstration and seeing if they could still speak afterwards. In both cases I'd need to have an independent income I suppose.
Oh well...
:-)
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Thinking about this - although should probably in another thread - I always had a sneaky respect for the Protestant work ethic and as manifested in the Huguenots. I may find a slot in a shop or cafe this spring.
Last edited by: Pugugly on Sat 5 Feb 11 at 21:59
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If I was going to do something like that I'd want to work in a petrol station I think. That way you'd get to see an interesting motor now and then rather than coffee swilling desperate ( looking ) housewives.
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i would rather twist my own neck off than work in a petrol station
if you know your own attendant as i do this last 20 years
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A former colleague of mine cut his earning teeth working the late shift in a garage - he was a sort of a smaller more soft focus version of BiggerBadderDave - top place for totty he reckoned.
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... I may find a slot in a shop or cafe this spring...
I see from the Pete's Eats website, there is a business opportunity in the building opposite.
Cutting the story short, his own plan for the building was scuppered after the banks withdrew in the credit crunch.
He is now looking to sell or for some external 'soft' finance.
No where might that come from?
Possibly from a couple who had a bit of spare cash after selling two houses to buy one.
Quoting from the site:
"If a sale is not made Pete’s may look for some external ‘soft’ finance to at least get a basic hostel for 30 people up and running so the building does not deteriorate further.
"If you are in any way interested please contact Pete by email."
www.petes-eats.co.uk/static/bistro.asp
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It occurred to me. Shame really though there was a first class Bistro in that building before he bought it - on a par with anything in any city in the UK - the guy retired and Pete bought the place as a going concern. The main caff would be a better venture...may wander down there know you've mentioned it.
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...the guy retired and Pete bought the place as a going concern...
Quite why the concern was not kept going is not explained on the website, unless Pete always planned to close it and do his own thing.
I note his plan was financed entirely by grants and bank loans.
No harm taking the grants if they are still available, but a plan using those and some real money might have a better chance of getting off the ground.
Presumably Pete must be getting on a bit now, so the main caff might be available.
Shouldn't try to read too much into the information on the website, but it may be the owners are having to work on for a few years to make up for the money they've lost on the building opposite.
Last edited by: Iffy on Sun 6 Feb 11 at 09:18
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It's not explained locally either. It was a really good business. There is an angle at Pete's Eats but it's not for a public forum.
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...It's not explained locally either. It was a really good business...
Whatever happened in the past, it appears the building is now semi-derelict, and a lot of money would need to be spent to bring it back into use.
Llanberis may be a nice little place, but it's hardly a commercial property hotspot.
I'm guessing, but you might need to buy the building for next-to-nothing to make the refurbishment project viable.
The owners are not going to be keen to take an enormous hit on what they paid, making any deal difficult.
This could be why the building currently stands empty.
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Pete himself owns the building from what I gather, I have seen a planning application to turn the site into town houses. Llanberis is sadly a dump (albeit one set in the most beautiful area you can imagine) the village is very down at heel compared, say, to villages in the Lakes - they don;t seem to spend their money wisely here (same as any other place I suppose) - 2.5 million in one town on "improvements" and 4.5 million in another, if they spent a quarter of that in Llanberis just to tidy up the dilapidated buildings.....it's a real shame it could look a bit like Ambleside if they really worked at it. There was a local venture using private cash to build a world class indoor ski centre here but seems a lack of imagination and a fear of change put a stop to that. There are thousands of visitors to Llanberis every year, but they avoid the village and stick to the (very good) slate museum and the Snowdon Railway side of the town. £8m was found to fund the new summit cafe - but it may as well be on another planet for the very local economy - Pete's Eats seems to be the only village centre attraction.
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...Pete himself owns the building from what I gather...
Yes, I'm sure that's right.
But he now finds himself with an asset worth very little.
If, sorry, when the building begins to fall down, his asset will become a liability.
Not so many years ago dozens of houses in a poor area of Sunderland were progressively abandoned by their owners because the cost of upkeep was more than they were worth.
Sounds daft to anyone from down south, where even in poor condition, the properties would be worth many tens of thousands.
In the former pit villages in County Durham I've known run-down but habitable houses change hands for under £10,000, and that's within the last ten years.
The council in Sunderland compulsorily purchased the abandoned houses and whole streets were demolished.
In many cases, nothing was paid because the owners simply could not be traced.
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THREAD DRIFT AGAIN...........................
What the hell has all the above got to do with the original topic.!!
HJ is starting to look more interesting.
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...What the hell has all the above got to do with the original topic.!!...
I blame the moderator. :)
We did at least wait until you'd had a few replies and the thread was starting to run out of steam.
But as we didn't say in the old place, back to cold case reviews....
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Sorry got carried away. HHIS.
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Past unsolved murders and similar serious crimes are normally regularly reviewed by police forces, especially if DNA is available.
See, for example:
www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2008770_new_tricks__to_solve_old_crimes
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3232744.stm
The American police in particular enjoy a remarkable number of solved crimes long after they were perpetrated.
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When fingerprints and DNA are taken by the police, are they automatically run against any previous crimes?
I don't know how much computing power it takes, and how much the police have. However, I understood that the police are going to start carrying portable fingerprint machines to ID people, so presumably those prints are compared to the police database, but not sure if it is just the database of offenders or also the database of unsolved crimes.
With the US requiring fingerprints for entry, it would seem that there would be a lot of scope to catch undetected offenders then (although if that started happening I suppose they would stop trying to enter the US). Not sure if you have to provide fingerprints for biometric passports too.
Last edited by: SteelSpark on Sun 6 Feb 11 at 10:48
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Speculative searches are run on DNA and prints - which is why occasionally cold case hits are reported in the press.
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>> Speculative searches are run on DNA and prints - which is why occasionally cold case
>> hits are reported in the press.
Right, I wasn't sure whether it was new prints/DNA being run against old cases or old cases regularly being run against new prints/DNA, if you see what I mean.
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Most forces have (or did have) a cold case officer -usually a retired cop or two doing agency work - digging out old undetected stuff and re-submitting stuff for examination in a local sort of way - DNA and fingerprints are largely computerized. Offenders' prints can be scanned and checked against databases in short timescales in order to confirm identity. Brunstrom planned for all NWP roads policing to be kitted with hand-held scanners to check the identity of drivers they stopped. So the f/p comparisons are done very quickly. Cold case arrests can vary between finding long term "wanted" persons all the way to the fictional type stuff on the goggle-box. I won't divert this thread again but I'll post an excellent radio programme that went out yesterday shortly which is connected with how forensics work.
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...When fingerprints and DNA are taken by the police, are they automatically run against any previous crimes?...
I think the answer is sometimes yes and sometimes no, and there could be regional variations from force to force.
A few years ago, a man was arrested in the North East for urinating in the street.
Northumbria Police ran his DNA past some old cases and solved themselves a rape from several years previously.
It seems unlikely every arrested person's DNA would be run, so in this case I suspect an alert copper might have thought the guy was the right age and shoe size.
Last edited by: Iffy on Sun 6 Feb 11 at 10:59
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They are even investigating whether Tutankamen night have been poisoned, so there appear to be no time limits on a case being reopened.
The mystery of Napolean and the wallpaper was quite a recent one.
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www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-12396506
Today's news.
I would suggest that this is a "cold case" investigation bearing in mind the offender if dead and unlikely to have been arrested for anything else at this time !
Last edited by: Pugugly on Wed 9 Feb 11 at 08:48
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A question for the police man. - Iffy
