In 1986 the world of forensics changed forever when a British scientist discovered that patterns in some regions of a person’s DNA could be used to distinguish one individual from another. 

For a CSI like Cass Sutherland, it meant changing his whole approach to investigating a crime scene and learning how this new evidence should be interpreted. 

For an author like Lynda La Plante, it changed crime writing more than anything else in her long career. 

For bloody pattern analysis expert Dr Peter Smith, it meant retraining in a whole new skill: using different tools to find bodily fluids, identifying new types of evidence and ultimately understanding how DNA could be made to stand up in court. 

In this episode, Lynda and Cass unravel the scientific breakthrough that changed criminal investigation forever. 

Over seven episodes, Lynda and Cass will investigate seven branches of forensics: discussing their own experiences, talking with experts, hearing how real life crime scenes are worked, exploring the latest innovations and demonstrating how CSI fact is even more thrilling than CSI fiction.
  If you want to know what criminal investigation is like in real life, then get ready for a podcast that puts YOU at the crime scene. 

Subscribe now!
 
 Discover more at: www.lyndalaplante.com/listening-to-the-dead/



 Credits
 This podcast was made by Bonnier Books UK
 Director: Jon Watt
 Assistant Director: Laura Makela
 Producer: Chris Attaway
 Theme music: Game Over by Magic in the Other
 Interview music: Sweeney by Mike Relm