Forensic Document Examiner

Forensic Document Examiner is a small but efficient company for scientifically examining forensic documents in the UK. Our primary scientist, Kate Strzelczyk BSc (Hons), MSc, RFP is one of the few experienced and accomplished Forensic Document Examiners available in the UK to scientifically assess the validity and authenticity of a document.

Kate has examined thousands of cases involving disputed documents in the UK and Ireland, for both the prosecution and defence, and also as a single joint expert witness.

A forensic document examiner studies documentation which is suspected of being forged or counterfeit in order to present their findings in a legal context. A court-worthy report is then prepared which can be used as expert witness evidence in a court of law. Often expert reports are read to the court and occasionally experts are required to attend court to present their own evidence and answer questions in person. Cases involving internal company investigations or family disputes can also be examined on behalf of private corporations and members of the public.

If you have a forensic document query, please contact us on 07583 019421 or seek the advice of a trained solicitor who will advise you on the legal issues of your case. Your solicitor can then contact us, either by e-mail, post or phone to discuss the best way to submit your case. Your solicitor will need to include a covering letter formally instructing our expert, together with the items for examination. Please also refer to our guidelines on how to submit a case to ensure that your paperwork is packaged correctly and dispatched to us safely.

Questioned Documents

Cases involving questioned handwriting or signatures may include items such as wills, threat letters, cheques, company accounts, job applications and letters of reference, contracts of sale, marriage or divorce papers, invoices, insurance paperwork, bank account applications and graffiti.

Paperwork may bear suspect date entries or amounts in figures or words, such as those found on financial documents. Simple examination techniques may reveal alterations made in a different ink or by a different individual's handwriting.

Please remember that wherever possible our expert will need to examine the original versions of all paperwork, rather than copy documents, to obtain the best evidence possible in your case.

Document Analysis

Forensic document analysis is the scientific study of handwriting, signatures, typed, printed or photocopied information, and can involve the examination of partial characters for the presence of alterations, paragraphs of text for insertions, through to whole bound volumes for added pages or to detect forgeries.

Invisible evidence can also be revealed by examining a page for the presence of indented impressions of handwriting, that have been created on the pages below while the page that is being written out is resting on top of the other pages. Impressions can sometimes be recovered several pages below the one written out, and can survive for well over 30 years. Such evidence may link documents or suspects, indicate the age of a document, detect alterations or discover re-written paragraphs or pages in existing documents such as tenancy agreements or police statements.

Ink analysis can also reveal evidence of alterations or additions to word or amount entries, or the insertion of sentences or paragraphs of text where a different ink formulation has been used.

Forensic Handwriting Expert

Experts should be qualified to degree or ideally postgraduate degree level in science, and have completed two years in-house training as a trainee document examiner at a recognized forensic laboratory.

Over this time they will practice with mock cases and shadow the real case work of a mentor; they will continue to be supervised with real cases until their senior practitioners are satisfied with their scientific observations, analyses, findings and final strength of opinion levels reached. They will also undergo mock expert witness cross examinations and accompany colleagues to court hearings.

Forgery of Signatures

In today's financial crisis and with the growing number of cases of identity theft and fraud, individuals need to protect their personal identity information more than ever.

If you have a document that has been called into question, or paperwork which bears a suspicious signature, it may reveal crucial forensic evidence when examined by a trained professional. Contested wills, business contracts, sales receipts, company paperwork and items of personal correspondence can all be analyzed to determine a signature's authenticity.

Handwriting Analyst

The main focus of forensic document examination casework is the study and comparison of questioned handwriting and signatures. The original document will need to be examined microscopically and then compared to known sample material from the suspects in the case. It may also be necessary to examine writing samples from the victim of a crime in order to authenticate their writing or exclude them from possible authorship, depending on the circumstances of the case.

Authentication of documentation

Where official paperwork needs to be verified, our expert will study microscopic features of the inks and paper to determine whether the documents are genuine. Items such as passports, bank notes, degree certificates, celebrity signatures, tickets, driver's licences and other certification can all be sent in for analysis.>