Inside Forensic Science

What did our experts and the jury of the day decide? How can people make a decision when experts disagree and who can be an expert in criminal cases? This episode covers all of the details and also answers the question of what happened to Scott and Monson after the trial.  

Join us on Facebook to see further resources and discuss the podcast or visit our website. 

Inside Forensic Science is an Adventurous Audio Ltd production for the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science (LRCFS) at the University of Dundee and was funded by The Leverhulme Trust. 

The series is narrated by Pennie Stuart. 

Content warning: graphic descriptions of injury and death involving a gun and mention of suicide 

Accident or murder? To determine which is the most likely explanation for Hambrough’s death, experts in both 1893 and the present carry out experiments to test what distance the shot could have come from. What exactly can these experiments tell us about what happened on that fateful day and what are their limitations? 

Join us on Facebook to see further resources and discuss the podcast or visit our website. 

Inside Forensic Science is an Adventurous Audio Ltd production for the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science (LRCFS) at the University of Dundee and was funded by The Leverhulme Trust. 

The series is narrated by Pennie Stuart. 

Alfred John Monson is accused of the murder of young Dudley Cecil Hambrough. For over 3 years Monson had acted not only as Hambrough’s tutor and guardian, but as his friend. What motive could there have been for Monson to commit murder? The prosecution say money. 

Join us for this episode as we scrutinise personal accounts, financial documents and the arguments made by both the prosecution and defence regarding Monson’s motives for murder. 

View our Facebook page for further resources and discuss the podcast or visit our website. 

Inside Forensic Science is an Adventurous Audio Ltd production for the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science (LRCFS) at the University of Dundee and was funded by The Leverhulme Trust. 

The series is narrated by Pennie Stuart. 

Content warning: this episode contains graphic descriptions of the autopsy process.

A young man has been shot dead on a hunting trip; his two hunting companions are suspected of murder. With Monson arrested and Scott in the wind, attention turns to the body. What can an autopsy tell us about how someone died? Can the postmortem and knowledge of ballistics tell us whether this death was truly a murder or an accident? 

Join us on Facebook to see further resources and discuss the podcast or visit our website. 

Inside Forensic Science is an Adventurous Audio Ltd production for the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science (LRCFS) at the University of Dundee and was funded by The Leverhulme Trust. 

The series is narrated by Pennie Stuart. 

This is a bonus episode designed to accompany Episode 2 of Series 3. It features an interview between Pennie Stuart and Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science Senior Research Engineer Vincenzo Rinaldi about the application of Virtual Reality in forensic science. 

The police believe the death of Cecil Hambrough was no accident. His tutor Alfred John Monson is arrested for his murder 20 days after the incident. Scott, the last member of the hunting party has disappeared. Now it is up to the experts to gather what evidence they can from the scene. But after all that time, is there any evidence left to find? 

This episode discusses what evidence may have been lost from the Ardlamont scene and what steps we take today to preserve a crime scene. 

Join us on Facebook to see further resources and discuss the podcast or visit our website. 

Inside Forensic Science is an Adventurous Audio Ltd production for the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science (LRCFS) at the University of Dundee and was funded by The Leverhulme Trust. 

The series is narrated by Pennie Stuart. 

The early morning of Thursday 10 August 1893, a party of three men leave to hunt rabbits on the Ardlamont estate in Tighnabruaich—only two return. The youngest, Lieutenant Dudley Cecil Hambrough has died from a bullet to the back of his head. The local doctor decrees the death an accident, but is the story really so clear cut? 

In this episode, we question what evidence might have been lost following Hambrough’s death and what steps investigators take today to confirm whether a death was accidental or the result of a crime. 

Join us on Facebook to see further resources and discuss the podcast or visit our website. 

Inside Forensic Science is an Adventurous Audio Ltd production for the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science (LRCFS) at the University of Dundee and was funded by The Leverhulme Trust. 

The series is narrated by Pennie Stuart. 

This third series of Inside Forensic Science delves into our most complicated historical case yet: the Ardlamont Trial. 

On 10 August 1893 a young man dies from a gunshot to the back of the head while hunting on the Ardlamont Estate. Was this incident an accident or did one of his hunting companions seek to benefit from his death? Inside Forensic Science interviews forensic scientists including ballistics and medical experts to determine what might have happened today.  

It's now time to put all the pieces of this puzzle together. Do you believe Madeleine Smith is guilty of poisoning her lover? Only Scotland has a ‘not proven’ verdict. What does this mean for a jury and for those who receive this judgement?

Join our Facebook group to see further resources and discuss the podcast or visit our website.

Inside Forensic Science is an Adventurous Audio Ltd production for the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science (LRCFS) at the University of Dundee and was funded by The Leverhulme Trust.

The series is narrated by Pennie Stuart.

Our experts were:

Experts

Dr Jonathan Morris, Scottish Police Authority Forensic Services

Dr Richard Shepherd, Forensic Pathologist

Professor Eleanor Gordon, Affiliate (School of Social & Political Sciences). University of Glasgow

Professor Niamh Nic Daeid, Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science, University of Dundee

Dr Lorna Nisbet, Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science, University of Dundee

Donald Findlay KC

Lady Dorrian, Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland, Scottish Judiciary

Our actors

Joe Reilly, Phil Latin, Craig Swan, Ian Boffey, John Harding, Andrew Thomson, Lynsey Moyes, Alan Richardson, David Bryce, Erica Holland, Russell Mullen, Alice Jenner, David Stuart, Iain McDiarmid, Dan Holland and Mark Stephen.  Madeleine Smith was played by Keira Lucchesi.

Content warning: this episode discusses suicide.

There are unanswered questions around the circumstances of Emile's death. What can the forensic toxicology evidence tell us? Was everything carried out at the time that could have been and how would that differ with an investigation today?

Join us in our Facebook group to see further resources and discuss the podcast or visit our website.

Inside Forensic Science is an Adventurous Audio Ltd production for the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science (LRCFS) at the University of Dundee and was funded by The Leverhulme Trust.

The series is narrated by Pennie Stuart.