Professor Patricia Wiltshire (born 16 February 1942 in

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

) is a forensic ecologist,

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and palynologist. She has been consulted by police forces and industry in almost 300 investigations in several countries and has been instrumental in solving several high-profile crimes, including the killings of Sarah Payne and Millie Dowler, the

cold case ''Cold Case'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series. It ran on CBS from September 28, 2003, to May 2, 2010. The series revolved around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes in invest ...

of Christopher Laverack, the

Soham murders The Soham murders were a double child murder committed in Soham, Cambridgeshire, Cambridgeshire, England, on 4 August 2002. The victims were two 10-year-old girls, Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Amiee Chapman, who were lured into the home of a l ...

, and the Ipswich serial murders.

Early life and education

Wiltshire was born in 1942 in the coal-mining valleys of

. When she suffered severe burns in a home accident at the age of seven, followed by repeated chest infections that permanently damaged her lungs, her education was put on hold. She spent her convalescence reading encyclopaedias. After working as a medical laboratory technician (1960–1964), she moved on to a career in the business world and then studied botany at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

(1970–1973). She lectured there for several years in microbial and general ecology before taking up a post at the Institute of Archaeology at University College London. She was later responsible for setting up a Masters' course in forensic archaeological science which ran successfully and continued after she left UCL.

High-profile cases

As a forensic scientist in the Soham murder inquiry, Wiltshire's analysis of soil and plant evidence from clothing, footwear, and a vehicle, yielded trace evidence that linked Ian Huntley to the place where the victims (Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells) were found. Observation and experimentation of plant growth at the deposition site enabled her to estimate the time that the girls had been placed in the ditch very accurately. Her evidence was important in the conviction of Ian Huntley. In the 2007 Christopher Laverack murder case, three decades after the nine-year-old's murder, Wiltshire linked the unusual pollen and other plant matter on the victim's clothing, along with the ornamental brick used to keep him submerged after death, with that found on the property of his uncle, Melvyn Read, thus providing substantial evidence to implicate Read. The investigation, spanning three decades, was

Humberside Police Humberside Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the East Riding of Yorkshire, including Kingston upon Hull, and northern parts of Lincolnshire, including Grimsby and Scunthorpe. History Humberside Police was created ...

's longest-running unsolved murder case, and was solved in 2012.

Other activities

Wiltshire is an Independent

Councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

on Mole Valley District Council, along with her husband, David Hawksworth.

Bibliography

* ''Traces: The memoir of a forensic scientist and criminal investigator'', Blink Publishing, 2019

External links

The Life Scientific: Patricia Wiltshire on how pollen can solve crimes

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

, 7 January 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiltshire, Patricia 1942 births 20th-century British botanists 21st-century British botanists 21st-century Welsh memoirists 21st-century Welsh women writers People from Monmouthshire British criminologists Academics of King's College London Welsh feminists Academics of University College London Living people Alumni of King's College London British women criminologists Palynologists Women forensic scientists Forensic anthropologists British forensic scientists