AP0503 – Bodily Fluids & Blood Pattern Analysis

Lecture 1

Elements of Crime:

Proof of crime requires two elements working together simultaneously:

- Actus reus: Guilty act

- Mens rea: Guilty mind
o Intention
o Recklessness
o Knowledge

Homicide & Assault

- Homicide
o Actus reus = destruction of life
o Mens rea = Intention to kill or wicked recklessness
- Assault (ABH/GBH)
o Actus reus = Attack, sufficient to cause alarm in a “reasonable person‟
o Mens rea = Intention to attack or recklessness

Key investigative questions

Forensic science addresses the key elements of the crime by answering six key
investigative questions: 5WH
- What happened? – Corpus delicti
- Where did it take place? – The scene or scenes (including a person)
- Who was involved? – Victim, perpetrator, witnesses
- When did the incident occur? – Time & sequence
- Why did it happen? – Motive & criminal intent
- How did it happen? – Modus operandi

Blood basics:
- Blood is composed of red blood cells (~45%), white blood cells (<1%) and plasma (~55%)
- Plasma comprises 92% water, 8% protein and trace amounts of serum albumin, hormones,
electrolytes, CO2, blood clotting factors
- White blood cells: Immune response; Source of DNA
- Red blood cells: Transportation of oxygen; No DNA
- Platelets: Blood clotting; No DNA
- RBCs contain haemoglobin: haem has a peroxidase activity which is used as the basis for
most presumptive tests

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AP0503 – Bodily Fluids & Blood Pattern Analysis
Lecture 1

Methods for Blood Detection:

 Colour tests (KM/LMG)

o Kastle-Meyer (Phenolphthalein)
o Leucomalachite Green
 Light-producing tests
o Luminol
o Crime-lites
 Serological/Immunological tests (Is the blood of human origin?)
o Precipitin test
o RSID blood
o ABAcard® Hematrace®
o Hexagon OBTI

Confirmatory Test for Blood

- Two factors provide an opinion that a stain is blood

o Overall appearance
o Positive presumptive test
- Both needed as not all positive results have blood appearance. (blood, horse radish)
- Distinguish between animal and human can be done using serological tests.
- Some higher primates can also test positive with the precipitin test for human blood, hence
false positives may be detected.
- This limitation can be overcome by DNA analysis of sequences specific to humans (E.g.,
analysis of human mitochondrial cytochrome b gene; autosomal STR profiling etc)

If bloodstains located

 Need to address:
o Type of bloodstains
o Direction that blood travelled before landing
o Distribution of bloodstains
o Identifiable patterns
o Versions of events
 We will need knowledge of Fluid (Blood) Dynamics to address these questions.
 Key physical parameters include:
o Viscosity
o Surface Tension
o Velocity
o Properties of target/impact surface
AP0503 – Bodily Fluids & Blood Pattern Analysis
Lecture 1

Blood Dynamics
Viscosity
- Blood is a non-Newtonian fluid, its viscosity can change:
o Increased temperature decreases blood viscosity (4.4𝜇 at 37℃; 6.3𝜇 at 20℃)
o Increased haematocrit (via RBC) increases viscosity.
o Species dependant; animal blood at 37⁰C can range from 3-20𝜇
- Viscosity (𝜇) is a measure of a fluid’s resistance to a change of shape or flow
- The viscosity of blood is important as it governs its behaviour which is relevant to BPA
- At 37℃ the viscosity of human blood* (4.4𝜇) is 4x greater than that of water (0.7𝜇) and
therefore, blood is more resistant to external influences that can change its shape
- The higher the viscosity, the higher the energy of stress needed to change its
flow/deformation
- “In relation to BPA, viscosity dampens the shape oscillations of drops in flight and resists the
spreading during impact.” (Attinger et al., 2013)
- Viscosity will increase slightly as the temperature of blood is reduced once it is outside of the
body.
- This is further complicated, as the viscosity of blood also changes in response to the stress
(force / shear rate) applied to it.
o The greater the applied stress, the lower the viscosity of the blood.
- “Blood appears more viscous when it drips from a wound than when it impacts a target at
several metre/second.” (Attinger et al., 2013)

Surface tension
- Measure of the surface energy between two immiscible materials (blood and air)
- Surface tension (𝜎), in the context of blood dynamics, is a measure of the energy required to
change the interfacial surface (shape) of blood.
- Surface tension of blood is an important factor when considering how blood behaves when
travelling through air and when landing on surfaces.
- Surface tension between blood* and air can change:
o it decreases in response to increases in temperature (20℃ 6.1𝜎, 37℃ 5.2𝜎);
o it can be altered by the presence of different chemicals within the blood.
o surface tension of water is slightly higher at 7 - 7.3𝜇, dependent on temp
- Surface tension affects:
o drop formation
o break up of jets
o oscillations of the shapes of drops
o Surface tension acts to keep the drops spherical when in flight
Velocity
- The velocity of a falling blood drop is determined by:
o the height of the ‘fall’
o the size of the blood drop
o the ‘drag’ (air resistance) against it
- Such that the smaller the blood drop, the slower it travels in comparison to a larger blood
drop subjected to the same parameters of fall and drag.
AP0503 – Bodily Fluids & Blood Pattern Analysis
Lecture 1

Velocity and Splashes

- Splash refers to the features observed at the edges of a stain.
o E.g., spines that are projected outwards from the circumference of the stain
o Splash spines are associated with high velocity impacts
o Scalloped edge occurs from a low velocity splash, with no liquid released from the
edges
o Very low velocity stains have a smooth circumference
AP0503 – Bodily Fluids & Blood Pattern Analysis
Lecture 1

Target surface: Blood drop onto a solid surface

- Drop lands on a surface, forming a spherical disc shape

- This creates a spine like boundary layer called the lamella
- This boundary layer spreads radially whilst the main central stain remains spherical
- Depending on the landing surface, the lamella may extend then recede inwards
- Therefore, on absorbent surfaces the final stain will be smaller than that attained when the
lamella spread
- It is the dynamics of the lamella that determine the final size of the stain

Target (landing) surface

Physical properties of a surface can influence the appearance of bloodstain that has landed upon it:

- Elasticity – can influence the splashing of the drop

- Permeability – measured by the pore space available for a fluid - affects the ability of the
blood to flow;
- Roughness – measured by a deviation away from absolute flatness. As well as increased
velocity, the roughness of the landing surface influences the presence of splash spines
o Smooth, polished surfaces will reduce splash spines
o Porous and / or rigid surfaces will also suppress splash spines
- Wettability – which influences the motion of a fluid along the surface and, in BPA terms,
bloodstain size and drying time. Therefore whether a surface is hydrophobic
(oily/waxy/plastic) or hydrophilic (clean glass) it influences a bloodstain’s appearance

Examples:
AP0503 – Bodily Fluids & Blood Pattern Analysis
Lecture 1

Blood dynamics

In summary, what influences blood pattern analysis (BPA) is the relationship (or balance) between all
of the individual factors (measures) such as: viscosity, surface tension, velocity, and the target
surface.

When faced with a distribution of bloodstains, it is the role of the blood pattern expert to consider
the appearance and distribution of the stains to enable them to reconstruct the event(s) that
created the stains.
AP0503 – Bodily Fluids & Blood Pattern Analysis
Lecture 1

Bloodstain Particles – Morphological features

These are dried blood particles that have lifted off a bloodstained surface.
- E.g., through movement of the item or have transferred to the fibre tape lifts during the
fibre recovery process.
De Wael & Lepot (2015) have reported observing:
- Structural features, representing the original deposition site, on blood particles, this led
them to investigate the deposition and retention properties of different fabrics. Depending
on the surface characteristics, blood will ‘sit’ or penetrate the substrate structure. Such
characteristics are wettability and imbibition (taking up of fluid)
Non-porous substrates (artificial leather and skin)

- The wettability of the surface determines the shape of the formed droplet (on deposition)
and subsequently the shape of the stain left behind.
- Cracks are observed in the larger stains (>4.5mm) but may be lost when the stain flakes.

Porous substrates (textile fibres)

The wettability and imbibition determine the shape:
- Non-absorbent woven fibres (polyester) - blood dries on the surface and creates a ‘cast’ of
the fabrics texture
- Absorbent fibres (cotton, wool, silk) - blood is absorbed into the fibre structure
- Therefore, absorbent fabrics such as 100% cotton do not shed blood particles and they will
not be expected to be recovered/detected on fibre tapings from such garments
- Woven fabrics shed larger particles than knitted fabrics due to higher imbibition of knitted
fabrics (and rougher surface)

Factors affecting the creation of blood particles.

- Porosity of substrate
- Smoothness of surface and closed texture of the weave
- Quantity of deposited blood
- Application of a water repellent coating can completely change the original properties of a
textile fibre
AP0503 – Bodily Fluids & Blood Pattern Analysis
Lecture 1

Case Study – Murder of Damilola Taylor

- Damilola Taylor found at 4:45pm on Monday 27th November 2000

- COD blood loss, caused by single stab to his left leg, caused by broken bottle.
- When the Met Police began submitting items to the lab in Dec 2000, the London forensic lab
(FSS) was already dealing with 200 murders and 200 rape cases.
- For this case alone, during the first two months, almost 400 items were submitted to the lab
for forensic examination, all but 3 were marked as urgent.

Examination strategy
• An examination strategy involves the prioritisation of examinations
- details the propositions to address in an investigation
- the prioritisation of the available evidential material and what investigative questions they
will address (5WH);
- what evidence can be generated from the exhibits
- what tests/analysis you will carry out and the expected results considering both prosecution
and defence hypothesis and how it will assist the investigation
• Damilola Taylor key exhibits
- APR 60 Blue Reebok trainer (from one of the Preddie brothers)
o 2 bloodstains found on the trainer.
o A KM screen had been undertaken on the uppers, soles, sole ridges and laces of this
trainer (and its pair)
o DNA analysis:
 one bloodstain = Danny Preddie (suspect and wearer of trainer) one
bloodstain = gave no DNA profile result
- APR 35 Georgio Black Sweatshirt
o No visible blood staining.
o Item was KM screened and no blood was detected.

4 years later…
- All the exhibits were re-examined by a different forensic company – LGC Forensics
- A single, obvious, drop of blood was found on the back of the trainer.
o It gave a DNA profile matching that of Damilola Taylor
o The bloodstain also had a trapped fibre - which could have originated from
Damilola’s trousers.
- A bloodstain (3 x 3.35cm) was located on the right cuff of the sweatshirt.
o It gave a DNA profile matching that of Damilola Taylor
- The Preddie brothers were convicted in 2006 of Damilola’s murder.

What went wrong?

The original examining assistant agreed that the blood was visible on the trainer and presumes it
wasn’t detected as it must have given a KM-ve result when tested.
- The scientist cannot remember looking at the trainer outside of its packaging.
AP0503 – Bodily Fluids & Blood Pattern Analysis
Lecture 1

Independent review (17th April 2007): Outcome

- Two interchangeable terms, which often led to confusion:
o Re-examination: a second, complete scientific examination
o Checking: has many variables and can depend on the nature of the item/case
- Not feasibly, or financially possible, for all items to be re-examined.
- ‘Best Practice’ not detailed in any SOP. However, the responsibilities of the scientist make
clear that they are accountable for the work undertaken but do not stipulate the level of
checking or re-examination that they should do to ensure the work is correct.

Recommendations
- There is a need to accept that for the tests available, human fallibility exists
- Best Practice and the need for checking should receive a more focused treatment in lab
manuals and the need for co-operation between the assistant and the scientist emphasised.
- Availability of a complete second re-examination should be considered as an option - for
items where no blood was detected.