I was a crime scene investigator for 30 years – you won’t believe what criminals leave behind

A FINGERPRINT expert has revealed an inside look at crime scenes - and how criminals can be caught with just a bead of SWEAT decades later. 

Diane Ivory, a crime scene expert with more than 30 years experience with the Met, has been trained to find evidence barely visible to the human eye, whether it's a tiny fingerprint on a surface, lip marks on a window or cloth fibres stuck to a fence

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And the mum-of-one revealed how no matter how hard they try, criminals can be caught with just a drop of evidence tying them to the scene.

Speaking to the Sun, the mum-of-one said crimes could be solved thanks to the smallest bit of DNA - just as how detectives finally caught sick murderer and necrophialic David Fuller.

She said: “Even if you touch your phone you will leave your DNA, your fingerprints, any contaminants – even if you have a cup of tea, it’s all there.

“DNA back when I started was so much more in its infancy, now a speck of blood, a speck of dandruff, a bead of sweat could solve a crime.”

Diane first started training as a fingerprint expert with the force in 1987, then turning her hand to Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) in the 90s before hanging up her hazmat suit in 2016.

She explained: “We look for any sorts of physical trace evidence. “We’re looking for shoe marks, fibres, DNA, fingerprints – and anything that can be dropped accidentally. 

“It’s amazing what people leave behind, even things like lip marks when people look through windows.”

Discussing how there is always evidence left behind, no matter how meticulous the criminal is, Diane added: “There was a French criminologist called Edmund Locard and he came up with Locard’s Principle, that every contact leaves a trace.

“Wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves, even unconsciously, will serve as a silent witness against him. And I absolutely, absolutely believe it."

But she said some were easier to catch than most.

The 56-year-old told how one idiot gang of thieves even printed business cards with the name of their outfit and all of the mobsters’ initials.

She added: “I had one group, they were hilarious – they got business cards printed up with the name of their gang and all their initials in the corner.

“It said ‘Please tell 999.’ They were that cock-sure of themselves.”

Discussing how there is always evidence left behind, no matter how meticulous the criminal is, Diane added: "There was a French criminologist called Edmund Locard and he came up with Locard's Principle, that every contact leaves a trace.

"Wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves, even unconsciously, will serve as a silent witness against him. And I absolutely, absolutely believe it.

"Even if you touch your phone you will leave your DNA, your fingerprints, any contaminants - even if you have a cup of tea, it's all there."

SCENE THERE DONE THAT

She added: "DNA back when I started was so much more in its infancy, now a speck of blood, a speck of dandruff, a bead of sweat could solve a crime."

Diane's comments come as murderer and sick necrophiliac David Fuller admitted murdering two women - he was linked to the crimes three decades after their deaths following a major breakthrough in DNA evidence.

Diane explained when she first joined the force that she was one of a just handful of female officers.

But now just over 29 per cent of Met Police officers are female, according to the Home Office.

She said: "I remember in 1991 going to a guy's house to look for fingerprints and he said 'Oh I wasn't expecting a woman.'

"It was just like how could I possibly be in the job as a woman!"

Diane said working her way up through the investigations unit required a brave face and a stern attitude to just getting on with her job.

But she added sometimes at particularly grim crime scenes that you can't get too serious, even if you sometimes laugh at something silly like tripping over your hazmat suit to lighten the mood.

Diane said: "There was just one occasion in my career where I had to go home. My son was just 18-months-old at the time and there had been a fire where two young children had died. 

"I just said, 'I just need to go'. But mostly my mind is just sorted into different boxes and I try to keep a lid on them all."

And addressing recent coverage of some particularly bad cops driven by twisted misogyny like evil Wayne Couzens and the two PCs who photographed the dead bodies of murdered sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, Diane said cops have a duty to be visibly good.

She said: "In any industry there are always going to people who are not very nice but in the police you have to be accountable, it has to be visible.

"It's despicable what these people have done."

Diane now runs a business delivering forensic investigation-themed experiences at Forensic Minds,.

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