Annual Conference Report

During a full and informative programme, delegates at the Annual Conference and AGM held at the Manchester Conference Centre on 12th September heard keynote addresses by Professor Gil Brogdon MD and ISRRT Secretary Sandy Yule. The highly successful event, sponsored by Xograph Healthcare was attended by over 100 delegates, some coming from as far afield as Ireland, the Netherlands and even Australia! 

After registration, and a welcome from Catherine Rock, Chair of the IAFR, the conference was addressed by Sandy Yule, General Secretary of the International Society of Radiographers & Radiologic Technologists (ISRRT). Mr Yule took examples from film and television to illustrate how important and interesting the world of forensics has become to members of the general public.  Sandy also made comparisons with some of the famous forensic characters from literature and television, with some of the lecturers that had kindly agreed to speak to us, proving that although the entertainment industry might make forensics look easy, the job look easy, the job does indeed get done by a wide and varying range of highly skilled and professional individuals.

Before the commencement of the main scientific session, the winner of the FUJIFILM prize was announced. This years prize was for a free registration at the conference and William Priestley an APT from the Glasgow Police Mortuary was the lucky recipient of the award. He is seen here (right) collecting his prize from Sandy Yule

The keynote lecture was presented by Professor Gil Brogdon MD, Forensic Radiologist & Emeritus Professor of the University of South Alabama and patron of IAFR.  Professor Brogdon’s lecture, entitled ‘Who are we? Where have we come from & where are we going? – Forensic Radiology: Past, Present & Future’ gave a fascinating insight into the history of forensic radiography dating back to 1896 when the first forensic x-ray was shown at a conference & demonstrated how both localisation & extraction of a bullet was helped by the use of radiography.  As a result of this, both the cause and manner of death was proved, and this would not have been possible without the use of a simple x-ray.  Professor Brogdon then continued to chart the use of forensic x-rays through history discussing how they became invaluable in cases of professional malpractice, postal fraud & false documentation as well as how they were used in cases against both a potential diamond thief and a fraudulent diamond broker.  The professor continued showing how radiography made its way into the world of forensic science and told of how, in 1921, a document was produced that first mentioned standardisation of projections, the importance of the patient’s ID on the image and the significance of anatomical markers!  The lecture entered its final stages with an insight into how imaging of the living came to take on such an important role in forensic radiology through the evaluation of trauma and in the investigation of sudden infant death.  Thoughts also turned to the future and how cross sectional imaging is making its way into normal forensic practice throughout the world and how in some cases ‘Virtopsy’ may even replace the conventional invasive post mortem examination.

After refreshments, the morning session continued with an intriguing lecture entitled ‘The Human Jigsaw Puzzle – From Bone Age to Bosnia’ which was jointly presented by Julie Roberts (Forensic Anthropologist) and Mark Viner (CEO of the Inforce Foundation & Honorary Treasurer of the IAFR). Both Julie & Mark explained how important it was to have a systematic approach to the recovery, analysis and identification of archaeological remains and they discussed the techniques used to answer very specific forensic questions, for example, is it bone? Is it human, and how old is it?  Several case studies were cited to demonstrate how the theory is used in practice in order to answer these often puzzling questions.

Dr Nicholas Marquez-Grant, a Specialist Forensic Examiner in Anthropology & Archaeology.  The lecture, ‘Age Concern – Estimation of Age in Living Individuals using Radiographic & Anthropological Techniques’ discussed some of the issues surrounding illegal immigration and the necessity of aging people correctly, particularly those who may be involved in criminal activity or those seeking asylum.  The techniques used in age assessment were discussed, these included the physical, dental & skeletal examination and Dr Marquez-Grant used case studies to illustrate how the methods were used to prove or disprove criminal cases.

The final lecture before lunch saw Alan Puxley, Director of Planning & Training for Kenyon International Emergency Services discussing the subject of personal effects and human identification in a lecture entitled ‘From iPod to iDentity’.  Mr Puxley considered the differences between items that some people might discard and what others considered to be key items of personal importance.  Alan then went on to describe how some items can be traced back to their owners when found in the melee of a mass disaster and what methods they use to catalogue, file and store the personal effects that they deal with.

At the end of the morning session, the results of the IAFR forensic case study competition were announced. The main prize was the sum of £1,000 towards the cost of sending an IAFR member to Seattle, USA to attend the annual conference of the American Association of Forensic Sciences in February 2010.  Members were invited to submit a forensic case study that they or their department had been involved in and the winner was chosen by an IAFR selection committee.  The winner was Dan Parr, Specialist Radiographer from York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and he is seen here receiving his prize from Professor Gil Brogdon.

Following lunch, the IAFR AGM was held. The proceedings of this meeting are reported in the members section of this website. Before the afternoon session began, a copy of Michale Thali's "The Virtopsy Approach", donated by the publishers ‘Taylor Francis’ was presented to one of the delegates in the form of a free raffle.  Each delegate pack had a raffle ticket attached and one of these was drawn at random.  The winner, Joy Thorpe, from the Sheffield Children’s Hospital, is seen here receiving her prize from Sandy Yule.

The first speaker of the afternoon was Graham Wheeler, DR & IT Product Manager for Xograph Healthcare, who talked in detail about the forensic challenges and digital solutions that modern equipment has to deal with in difficult forensic situations.  Graham went on to refer to how their equipment has been used in recent archaeological investigations and in war zones by the military.  The vast array of products available on the market were demonstrated and it was explained how these will be used to fit the profile of current emergency mortuary arrangements.

Claire Robinson, Specialist Forensic Radiographer at the University of Leicester Hospitals NHS Trust and IAFR Committee Member then took the stage and explained how the use of multi detector CT was used for forensic practice in elements of human identification.  Claire explained how CT could not only be used to isolate personal effects and previous injuries during the topogram stage of the scan but how 3D reconstruction can be used to assess multiple injuries & dentition, and how by using overlay software, facial features and footwear sole patterns can be easily identified.

The afternoon continued with an absorbing lecture from Jack Wild, Family Liaison Manager & Coordinator from Greater Manchester Police, entitled The Importance of Identity – Family Liaison & Human Identification.  This important insight centred on how the role of the Family Liaison Officer (FLO) came into its own and what the primary function of a FLO is, the tasks that they are required to undertake and what training they receive.  The roles of the FLO in both everyday cases and in instances of mass fatality were all discussed and it certainly left everyone with something to think about.

The final lecture of the day fell on the shoulders of John Pollard, HM Coroner for Manchester South, with the title ‘Who Are You? – How the Coroner Evaluates the Evidence’ Mr Pollard proceeded with what questions he would want answering: Who the deceased was, and where, when and how did they die?  After we learnt how the Coroner assesses all the evidence presented to him, Mr Pollard summed up by giving everyone some highly valuable advice on what would be required of us when producing a statement or report, what should be included in it and how it should be written.  Finally we were educated in what is involved in giving evidence in a Coroners Court which proved to be a real eye opener and a truly invaluable set of instructions