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- R-v-Anthony F – Impact of The Alteration of Digital Evidence
A public service worker was accused of possessing a number of unlawful images that were identified on a multi-access work computer. The Defendant denied knowingly downloading the unlawful material. The presence of the images was confirmed, however, the actions taken by the organisation in the detection and investigation of the computer prior to Police involvement were found to have significantly altered the reliability of the evidence. The Defendant was found not guilty of the allegations following a 5-day Trial at Crown Court due to the procedures taken by the Audit department.
- Data Theft – Confidential and Client Information
An investigation was requested by an International recruitment agency to conduct an examination of a senior employee who had left the company. The company suspected that the employee had forwarded contact client information and confidential data to his personal e-mail address shortly before his departure. An examination of the computer revealed that prior to deleting his e-mails, contact and client information had been sent to his personal e-mail account as well as an individual within his new company. From the evidence provided by Athena’s investigators proceedings were taken against the previous employee.
- R-v-Matthew T – Possessing and Making Indecent Images of Children
The Defendant was accused of making and possessing unlawful images that were identified by Police on his home computer. An expert from Athena examined the origins of the images and identified that they had been created as the user browsed the Internet. During the browsing activity a number of items of malicious software had also been encountered. A review of these items by Athena experts revealed that they were likely to have caused the creation of the images. The Police examiner agreed with this and the Prosecution case was dropped.
- R-v-Graham S – Making Indecent Images of Children and Child Grooming
An Investigator at Athena forensics was instructed to examine computer evidence on behalf of Hampshire Police for unlawful images. The examination revealed the presence of a significant number of unlawful images as well as chat messages and e-mails to implicate the accused in further offences. The Defendant pleaded to all of the charges at Crown Court.
- Employment Dispute – Unfair Dismissal
The case involved an employment tribunal of an employee of a British based manufacturer who claimed that they had been unfairly dismissed. The case centered on whether an e-mail had been sent by the employee to his manager. An examination of the computer failed to identify the presence of the e-mail using standard techniques. However, using specialist forensic techniques, Athena investigators were able to identify the partially deleted e-mail within an area of the hard drive that is not normally accessible. The evidence was provided and a settlement was then made between both parties.
- Probate – Deletion of Documents
An investigation was requested of a company laptop computer by a UK based design company for evidence to indicate the deletion of a file that contained the will of its deceased Managing Director. The investigation recovered a relevant word document that had been deleted following the parties death.
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