A leading scientist has told a rape trial that he believes the State Forensic Laboratory is “unwilling to accept” the results of a test which appear to contradict the prosecution’s case.

A government-commissioned study has reportedly found that crime detection in Ireland has seriously suffered because of poor resources at the State Forensic Laboratory.

A TV police series is making the study of crime detection techniques popular with third-level students.

THE family of a young man who died after an incident in a garda cell are to be allowed bring their own forensic experts from Britain to examine his clothing and personal effects.

THE public’s fascination with criminal investigation techniques has led to a course in forensic science being offered at Limerick Institute of Technology.

DETECTIVES attempting to smash a multi-million pound IRA cash racket will go international in pursuit of the money trail, Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy pledged yesterday.

GARDAÍ yesterday said it could take months before files are sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to people arrested as part of the money-laundering investigation.

THE smallest of samples could provide the breakthrough. It could be hair samples, clothes fibres or the tiniest splash of blood.

CIVIL liberties groups and legal experts have expressed concern at provisions in a bill extending the powers of gardaí.

THE hunt for the man who sexually assaulted a four-year-old boy is hampered by laws preventing gardaí from taking DNA samples from suspects against their wishes, the country’s top forensic officer warned.

THE horrific sexual assault on the four-year-old boy in Dundalk has raised the question of whether a suspect in such a case should be compelled to give a DNA sample.

A Cork man who was stabbed in the groin lost his entire volume of blood before being rushed into the operating theatre, a medical witness told a murder trial jury today.