News
28-June 2010 –
LGC
Forensics responsible for DNA analysis
success on WW1 casualties at the Imperial War
Museum
LGC Forensics’ DNA analysis produces scientifically outstanding
results in the identification of First World War casualties –
Imperial War Museum
Exhibition
LGC
Forensics, the largest independent provider of forensic
services, has been working closely with the Australian and British
Governments, Commonwealth War Graves Commission and
Ministry of Defence on the specialised recovery and identification
of soldiers who fell at the Battle of Fromelles in Northern France,
on 19 July 1916.
For the first time, unique modifications of modern day forensic
DNA techniques have been used by LGC Forensics to match DNA from
potential relatives with samples extracted from soldiers’
remains.
From 250 recovered bodies, just under 100 have been positively
identified using the modified DNA analysis in conjunction with
artefacts, anthropological and historical data.
This is a significant scientific achievement for LGC Forensics
and for all those involved with the project. Steve Allen, Managing
Director of LGC Forensics is delighted with the results, “We
are proud to have played a key part in this important project. By
combining the ingenuity of our forensic scientists with LGC’s
strength in research, we have been able to develop new methods of
analysing DNA to help identify the soldiers at Fromelles.
“
A ceremony to dedicate the new cemetery and to bury the final
soldier is being held in Fromelles on 19 July 2010, the 94th
anniversary of the battle.
The Imperial War Museum in London has
recognised the value of this work and its significance to Britain’s
war history by showcasing it as part of a new exhibition at the
museum entitled Remembering Fromelles, which will be on display
until January 2011. The exhibition provides a comprehensive account
of the Battle of Fromelles, showing battle scenes and memorabilia
recovered from Fromelles, and will be opened to the public by HRH
The Duke of Kent, President of the CWGC. The Exhibition will be
open to the public from 1 July 2010.
-Ends-
Notes to
editors
About LGC Forensics
LGC Forensics (www.lgcforensics.com) is the
division of LGC with specific expertise in a broad range of
forensic services, to address the simplest to the most complex of
cases, in major crime. We provide casework and analytical services
in DNA techniques, controlled drugs, toxicology, ecology,
questioned documents, digital crime, firearms and ballistics and
forensic pathology in support of modern policing.
With eight forensic laboratories across the UK and two in
Germany, LGC Forensics is able to provide a range of bespoke
services at a local level, therefore attracting a wide variety of
customers drawn from police forces and other law enforcement
agencies, HM Coroners, government departments, defence lawyers, as
well as private corporations and individuals.
LGC Forensics has access to a wide range of other specialist
teams across the LGC Group including a close working relationship
with the largest group of Home Office Pathologists, Forensic
Pathology Services and a unique Victim Identification and Mass
Fatalities Team. LGC Forensics laboratories are located in
Teddington (Middlesex), Bromsgrove (Worcestershire), Culham
(Oxfordshire), St. Neots (Cambridgeshire) Runcorn and Risley
(Cheshire), Tamworth (Staffordshire), with a specialist firearms
facility in Leeds. German operations are located in Cologne and
Berlin.