Crime

The series is hosted by BBC Silent Witness expert Jo Millington

True crime fans do not want to miss a brand new chilling documentary series, plunging viewers into the heart of a crime, and it’s coming sooner than you think.

UK Forensic Breakthroughs is a brand new release, dropping today (September 22) on the True Crime channel. Spanning across 10 episodes, each instalment will focus on its own murder case where scientific breakthroughs and microscopic evidence secured justice for grieving families.

From the murder of a Witney local, whose investigation was the first time in the UK fibre mapping technique was used, and the conviction of a serial arsonist in Cornwall, forensic scientist Jo Millington will give exclusive access to the experts behind the investigations.

Jo Millington has been a forensic scientist for over 30 years, even working behind the scenes on BBC’s Silent Witness. An official synopsis teases: “A rare in-depth dive into the unseen world of forensic science – from ballistics and fibre analysis to forensic ecology and fire investigation. Firsthand testimony from detectives and leading forensic experts directly involved in the cases.

“Ten real UK murder cases where scientific breakthroughs and microscopic evidence secured justice for grieving family, friends and all those impacted by the crime.”

Premiering at 10pm tonight on the True Crime channel, the series will show how forensic science continues to shape major criminal investigations across the UK.

Speaking exclusively to Reach ahead of the show’s new launch, Jo Millington said UK Forensic Breakthroughs stands out from other crime shows, adding: “The first difference is that it puts forensic science at the heart of the show, which normally sits on the periphery in the shadow.

“Over a 10 part series, we’re using the programme to kind of assure a spotlight on forensic science. And more importantly, the scientists that do forensic science, every single day.”

Giving unprecedented access into the world of a forensic scientist, dubbed the “unsung heroes of investigations”, tonight’s episode will explore the story of Edwin Hiles who was found murdered in his own home, but a pioneering fibre mapping technique was used to link one suspect to the crime.

With episodes released weekly, one particular instalment viewers do not want to miss is episode 8 where teams take a deep dive into the world of forensic archaeology and forensic anthropology.

Jo added: “The teamwork that was involved in recovering Natalia Doherty’s body from a clandestine burial site is one of the most painstaking tasks that I have encountered in forensic science.

“Every layer of soil, every root system, and every fragment of evidence had the potential to reveal how her grave had been created, when it was dug and whether it had been disturbed over time.

“Caroline Sims’ archaeology team worked centimetre by centimetre – to record the grave’s construction, the position of the remains and to methodically recover every item from within it.

“Their meticulous approach ensured that the burial itself became evidence, allowing detectives to understand not only where Natalia had been hidden, but how her body had been concealed for so many years.”

TRUE CRIME is available on Sky, Virgin Media, Freeview, Freesat and Freely as well as for streaming via TRUE CRIME UK (FAST), accessible on platforms including Prime Video, Rakuten TV, Pluto TV, Plex, LG Channels, Samsung TV Plus, ITVX and 5.

UK Forensic Breakthroughs premiers tonight at 9pm on True Crime

Jason Eaton faces up to life in prison after a jury rejected his insanity defence.

A jury in the US state of Vermont has convicted a man of attempted murder for shooting three Palestinian college students in 2023, rejecting his defence that he was not guilty by reason of insanity.

Jason Eaton, 51, faces up to life in prison for the attack near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington. It left Hisham Awartani paralysed from the waist down and wounded his friends Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid.

The jury deliberated for several hours on Monday before reaching its verdict after a week-long trial that included testimony from the three men and psychiatric experts called by both the defence and prosecution.

Eaton was ordered jailed pending sentencing, which has yet to be scheduled.

Awartani and Aliahmad, who were sitting in the front row of the courtroom, smiled and hugged people around them as the verdict was read.

Eaton did not dispute that he shot the three men in November 2023. Instead, his lawyers argued that he should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

The defence said Eaton was suffering from a delusional psychotic disorder and believed the CIA and Israel’s Mossad were transmitting messages to him through FM radio.

Joshua O’Hara, the supervising attorney at the Chittenden County Public Defender Office, told jurors that Eaton believed the intelligence agencies had enlisted him to “overwatch duty” to protect a Jewish family living across the street and that God was commanding him to act.

Prosecutors rejected the insanity defence, telling jurors that a state psychiatrist had concluded Eaton did not have a mental disease or defect and that the evidence showed he intended to kill the three men.

‘He pulled out a handgun and started shooting’

Awartani, Aliahmad and Abdalhamid, now 23, grew up together in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank before moving to the US for university.

They were visiting Awartani’s grandmother in Burlington over the Thanksgiving holiday when they went for a walk near the University of Vermont campus after dark.

Awartani testified that the friends were smoking cigarettes and speaking a mix of English and Arabic. Two of them were wearing keffiyehs.

He said Eaton was standing on the porch of the apartment building where he lived before approaching the friends without saying anything.

When Eaton was about five to 10 feet (1.5 to three metres) away, Awartani testified, he pulled out a handgun and began shooting.

Awartani, then a student at Brown University, was shot in the chest and left paralysed from the waist down. Aliahmad, who attended Trinity College, was shot in the collarbone, while Abdalhamid, a Haverford College student, was shot in the right buttock.

The shooting prompted calls for a hate crime investigation, but no hate crime charges were filed.

Police later found three shotguns in Eaton’s apartment as well as a Ruger .380-calibre handgun that crime laboratory testing identified as the weapon used in the shooting.