Endorsements

Major Crime

"As a Senior Investigating Officer, I have had occasion to utilise the services of Jan Richardson on several major incidents. Jan"s undoubted quality as a police artist and cognitive interviewer has made significant contributions to these enquiries bringing about successful conclusions."

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Spick S.I.O.
Homicide and Major Crime Team
Northamptonshire

Operation Mallard - Northamptonshire Police

In September 2005 James Davies was convicted of a series of sex offences that he committed in 3 counties between 1998-2000.
The main evidence in the case was the link in DNA evidence and during a cold case review in 2006 Davies name was generated through Familial DNA.
During the post arrest research a passport photo was loaded into a facial recognition system with several hundred other pictures.
The passport photo was dated from around the time of the 2000 offences.
The artists impression produced by the witness through Forensic Artist Jan Richardson in 2000, was then loaded into the system for comparison and Davies passport photo came up as the 7 th most likeness. As Senior Investigating Officer of the case at the time, this provided me with additional confidence to have reasonable grounds to arrest Davies and not merely seek his voluntary swab for elimination.
It is very clear from the passport photo of Davies and the impression on this website that there are clear similarities in particular the eyes and nose.

The investigation also benefited from Jan"s initial cognitive interview with the victim that was conducted by putting the victim back in context with the crime scene and this produced valuable new lines of enquiry

Thomas Manson Detective C/Inspector 28 April 2006

Beata Bryl Murder - Thames Valley 29th. July 2006

....identifying her on CCTV was one thing; we still didn"t know who she was.

We undertook a mass circulation using the stills from the CCTV footage. Within a week two men turned up at their local police station in London and claimed to know our victim. Her name was Beata Bryl and she came from Poland.

Interestingly enough, they had seen your drawing in a Turkish paper in London and it was that and the tattoo that convinced them it was Beata

Detective Constable 4000 Paul Woodham
Major Crime
Thames Valley Police

"I was Senior Investigating Officer relating to an armed robbery where three men entered the home of a woman there alone. She was threatened with a hand gun, tied up and locked in the bathroom. I sought advice and support of Jan Richardson to conduct a cognitive interview to provide composites of two suspects seen to leave the house. On publication the victim stated that one of the impressions bore a striking similarity to the ex-boyfriend of her daughter. During the course of an interview with the suspect and being shown the impression, his reply was "That"s me.""

Inspector Paul Fell
Northamptonshire

Operation Comet – 08/06/04  Thorpewood Cambridgeshire

A telephone call was received from one of the investigation team to say that the offender was identified outside the county and when arrested looked very much like the composite which was produced by the witness.

Distraction Burglary – 05.05.04   Northampton

‘As a result of the image an arrest was made and subsequent file sent to CPS for consideration’.

DC 1096 Sterling – Northampton CID

Armed Robbery – 12.09.03  Duston Northamptonshire

‘Witness identified offender on video identification and a person charged with the offence. The drawing assisted me to ensure I arrested correct offender.’

DC M Griffin  SW Sector CID Northampton

Section 18 Wounding - June 2003

I was the officer in case for a horrendous assault on a male who was attacked whilst out jogging. A witness to the assault was an 11 year old boy who proved to be a fantastic witness to the offence and as a consequence you completed an artist impression with him.

On 12 June 2003 PC Davis was conducting enquiries in the area of the assault when she had cause to speak with ****** ******. She immediately identified him as the attacker and this was purely based upon the impression that you completed with *******.

***** ****** was duly arrested and interviewed and at first denied his involvement in the offence. However he was then confronted with the impression, he changed his story and made a full and frank admission to the offence. He was charged with Wounding with Intent and is currently awaiting sentence at Northampton Crown Court.

I can confidently say that without your impression this crime may still have been undetected. I know that you are only as good as the witness, however, your ability to cognitively interview a witness in order to elicit specific details from a person and then transfer that image in the witnesses mind onto paper was the overriding factor in this particular enquiry.  Thank you again for your assistance in this matter.

DC Russ Hunt - Northampton East

Inflicting Grievous Bodily Harm – 02.06.03   Northampton

An Officer making enquiries into the offence, as a result of viewing the composite sketch, recognised someone in the vicinity of the attack, who ran off when confronted. After no comment interview the sketch was shown to the suspect who admitted the offence.

DC Jo Davis – Northampton CID

Armed Robbery – 14.01.03 Northampton

"Please accept my thanks for your help with the case of the Attempted Armed Robbery at the music school Northampton. The composite sketch was seen by an Intelligence Officer who recognised the distinctive facial image as being a strong likeness of a known offender in a different part of the county. The man was later arrested and convicted. At Leicester Crown Court Judge Peter Morrell sentenced ****** ***** to four years for the offence. I know that had we not used your skills in producing an outstanding artist"s impression of the suspect we would not have been able to detect the crime."

DC Angela Hefford – Northampton CID

Witnesses with Learning Difficulties

"On 2 January 2001 a street robbery occurred in Northampton where a lit cigarette was held to the face of a victim and his money stolen. The victim had a learning disability, which affected his ability to read and write. There were no witnesses at all and the incident initially looked undetectable. An excellent result followed a drawing obtained from the witness by Jan Richardson. It immediately was noted that it resembled a likeness to a known offender and on a second taped interview that suspect admitted the charge and appeared in Court. The victim"s parents stated how impressed they were by the patience shown by the Police Artist."

WPC Jacky Dimmock
Sector Office - Weston Favell

Prolific Crime

"In early 2000 one of our divisions suffered an inordinately high number of rural burglaries. Various names of suspects had been put forward. A composite sketch was obtained from a witness by Janet Richardson, which I immediately recognised as a particular offender and who after questioning, admitted to all 150 burglaries. I believe the high quality of the composite drawing brought this enquiry to an early completion."

W. Logan
Northern Area Intelligence Co-ordinator
Northamptonshire

High Value Crime

"A witness was interviewed by Jan Richardson who prepared a composite sketch in relation to a high value lorry theft. Further enquiries in Lancashire and Manchester located an offender who was later arrested and charged. It was noted that the sketch was a good likeness of the offender."

Detective Constable Paul Greener
CID Corby

Cognitive Interview

"I conducted a reconstruction of the route taken from the victim"s home to the scene...This style of reconstruction by a trained Cognitive Interviewer is now recognised as good practice by the National Crime Faculty. This interview resulted in a vast amount of new evidence including description of clothing and details of the suspect"s vehicle. Jan Richardson"s skills were invaluable in progressing lines of enquiry and obtaining details of the incident not previously given by the victim."

Detective Sergeant Tommy Manson
CID Corby