Maltese scientist makes forensic breakthrough

The fight against crime has taken another step forward thanks to a Maltese forensic scientist in Scotland. Kevin Farrugia, 29, worked with a team at Strathclyde University on a technique to enhance ‘invisible’ or light shoeprints left on clothing and flooring at crime scenes. Dr Farrugia, of Mosta, recently made international headlines for his findings. “Shoeprints can provide useful information because everybody walks differently and, as a result, the shoe sole acquires what we call random and individual characteristics,” he explained. “Although this is less individual when compared with DNA and fingerprints, it can provide useful intelligence and link suspects to crime scenes or connect multiple crime scenes together.” Footwear marks can be left on the clothing of murder victims, on the carpet or on other types of flooring at a crime scene. Dr Farrugia made the breakthrough by tweaking existing forensic techniques and applying them to fabrics as part of his PhD research. Fabric is considered to be a challenging surface for the recovery of marks because the porosity and surface topography are highly variable. “Most scientists did not believe that it was possible to recover marks...