Forensic Inference from Telecommunication Records

Abstract

The data stored on mobile phones is a common source of investigative and evidential material, but there may be further useful information available such as Call Data Records (CDRs), held by network operators for billing purposes. Historic Cell Site Analysis involves the analysis of these records, in conjunction with other information such as survey and geographic data, to determine areas where a mobile device may, or may not, have been at the time of call activity recorded by the network. Provision of Cell Site Analysis evidence to the criminal justice system has taken place in the absence of scientifically peer-reviewed material, resulting in potentially unsafe methods and methodologies becoming standard practice; this unfortunate situation is addressed by the outputs summarised within this thesis. My peer-reviewed published papers contributing to this thesis, taken as a whole, present a model for provision of Cell Site Analysis that is forensically legitimate. This scholarship presents a logical structure by which an examination can be progressed, propose technical methods, some of which are novel, and include detailed technical assessments to inform on the reliability of those methods. These publications present a structure in which balanced, logical, transparent and robust opinion can be provided at the end of the technical process. The papers, when combined, offer a sound scientific basis for the field and are a proposal for Best Practice.

Date of Award	Mar 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Coventry University
Supervisor	Huma Shah (Supervisor) & Faye Mitchell (Supervisor)