Mobile phone evidence is vital in prosecuting indecent images cases but how is it done? In this article, we’ll explore how mobile phones are forensically analysed in criminal cases.
If you’re a fan of true crime documentaries, you’ll know that mobile phones often contain vital evidence which can be used in court cases, including those where somebody is accused of possessing indecent images.
Often an entire case will hinge on evidence found on a mobile phone, but how are these analysed? In this article, we’ll take a look at how forensic teams are able to analyse mobile phone content in criminal cases.
Let’s delve into it..
What are Indecent Images?
This term largely refers to photographs or videos of people under the age of 18 where that person is naked or partially naked. Possession of these images is a criminal offence in the United Kingdom and can carry a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Possession of such images includes hard copies and digital copies, such as those stored on a laptop, tablet or mobile phone.
In June 2021, convicted sex offender, Joshua Neil, was prosecuted after a raid of his home in Swansea revealed multiple pornographic images and indecent videos involving young children on his Samsung mobile phone.
The court heard that the child abuse images, and videos had been shared via an app known as Kik. Although the defendant admitted to having the app, he denied being the person who had accessed it on his phone, however, this was rejected by the judge.
How Are Mobile Phones Forensically Analysed?
In order to be admissible in court, data and images from mobile phones need to be seized, isolated, transported and stored safely according to government guidelines.
Once a mobile phone has been seized from a suspect, a Faraday box or bag will be used in order to isolate the phone from mobile networks. It will then be transported along with a power supply to ensure that the phone remains switched on.
One the phone has arrived at the lab; forensics team will get to work on examining the following:
- Call history – oncoming, outgoing and missed calls
- Contacts
- Apps, particularly those which are known to be a front for illegal activity
- SMS / Text messages
- Voicemail messages
- Photographs and videos
- Documents and other files
- Geological data
- Internet browsing history, content, cookies and search history
- Deleted data
Often, a person will click ‘delete’ to remove a file and will be under the impression that it is gone, however, this is not the case. When a file is deleted, it first goes into the recycle bin and, this can be retrieved with just the click of a button.
When the recycle bin is cleared, the header of the file is removed but not the file itself, which will remain until a point at which it is overwritten. This means that, in many cases, a user will believe that they have got rid of a file, but the forensic teams will be able to retrieve these fairly easily.
Forensics teams will aim to collate all of the above information from a mobile phone and present it as a Streamlined Forensic Report.
What Are the Forensic Processes?
The team will then use a number of analytic tools to examine the content which has been extracted from the mobile phone. One of the most important parts of the process for the forensic team is to establish a link between the accused and the content found on the phone in order for this to be presented as evidence by the prosecution in a court case.
This is important as, without this, the defense may argue that the content was acquired by somebody other than the accused.
Data and content can be retrieved from the mobile phone in a few ways and, these include:
- Manual – The forensic examiner browses through the phone to look for content such as images and evidence of searches for indecent content, and then screenshots these.
- Logical extraction – A connection is set up between the phone and the forensic workstation in order to transfer data from the phone.
- JTAG method – Used when a phone is damaged or encrypted, this involves connecting to the Test Access Ports on a phone and then instructing the phone’s processor to transfer raw data.
One or all of these methods may be used to gain access to content which is stored on a mobile phone. Once this content has been analysed, a report will be issued to the prosecution service.
The report will then be made available to the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) who will decide if the evidence is strong enough for a case to be taken to court. If the case does go to court. The prosecution will use the evidence from the forensics team in order to try to establish the guilt of the defendant.
The technology to tackle child abuse…
In recent years, there have been some high profile cases involving indecent images of children, including the convictions of musicians R Kelly and Gary Glitter and actor Chris Langham.
In all of these cases – and many more besides, forensic techniques on devices such as mobile phones have helped to secure convictions and potentially save many other children from harm.
Possession of these images is anything but a minor offence and, in many cases, such as that of Gary Glitter, the perpetrator’s behaviour will escalate to the abuse of children over time. For this reason, police services across the world are working hard to catch and convict as many of these criminals as possible.
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