Tag: 2015

Murder involving multiple suspects

Calls were made to a taxi company as part of a series of events which led to the murder and shooting of two young men.

We were instructed by the police to compare the voices of a number of suspects with the taxi caller. The results indicated that one of the men could have been the caller, while the others had very different voice and speech patterns.  The suspect identified by our testing later admitted to having made the call in court.  He was eventually found guilty and sentenced to 36 years imprisonment.

Further information about the case can be found in this article:

BBC article

November 2015; Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK

Instructed by the Crown; Dr Rhodes’ report was accepted in evidence and helped to direct the prosecutions.

Hoax 999 call which prompted armed response |

A hoax call was made to West Midlands Police about a car containing a firearm.  The call was made from the mobile phone of the suspect, Mr Sadiq.  Dr Rhodes was instructed to compare the voice of Mr Sadiq with the hoax caller. By making a reference recording of Mr Sadiq’s voice over the telephone, we were able to show very significant differences between the two voices, to the extent that the possibility of Mr Sadiq being the caller could effectively be ruled out.  The Judge Magistrate in the case acknowledged that without the voice evidence, Mr Sadiq would have been (wrongly) convicted of the offence.

August 2015; Birmingham Magistrates Court, UK

Instructed by the Defence; Dr Rhodes provided a report and gave evidence in court