Page 79 of The Scene of the Crime
He picked up a mobile phone and his A4 notepad from his desk. ‘This is the phone Taff found in the toilet. The surface had been wiped clean, so no DNA or fingerprints were recovered. Palmer also had a personal iPhone, which I’ve yet to examine.’
‘So, Palmer could have used that burner phone to communicate with someone else involved in the break-in,’ Taff suggested.
Guy held it up. ‘It is a cheap Android with prepaid minutes and no formal contract. I retrieved the number via the SIM card and contacted the service provider. It’s been live for seven days. No standard calls or text messages have been sent or received on the phone, but internet connections were made, the last one being early Tuesday morning, then it was turned off at eight p.m. that evening.’
‘What was its last cell site location?’ Jessica asked, opening her notebook and taking a pen from her pocket.
‘A mast in Montague Road E11, the same street as John Walsh Tower. Cell site analysis showed it was used for internet connections on Monday at four a.m. and again on the evening De Klerk was assaulted. The phone has WhatsApp, which allows users to communicate via the internet. Unfortunately, all the data has been erased, and no backup was created. WhatsApp does not store any data relating to messages or calls as everything is end-to-end encrypted.’
Taff sighed. ‘So, we’ll never know what calls or messages were made or received?’
‘I’ve got some data recovery software programs I can use. Fingers crossed, I might be able to retrieve the WhatsApp data,’ Guy said.
‘How long will it take?’ Jessica asked.
‘Not too long. I can link the phone to my computer right away and let the software run while we’re talking.’
‘Go ahead. That’s good work, well done,’ Jessica said.
‘Palmer will have difficulty explaining the phone away, especially as it was used just after the break-in and after the car was set alight,’ Taff said.
‘Baldwin will probably just advise Palmer to go “no comment” again,’ Diane said.
‘I’m not so sure that’s a good thing, now the evidence is mounting up against him. Hopefully, Palmer will see he’s deep in the proverbial and start talking in the second interview,’ Taff said.
‘If he lies about it, he’ll only be digging a deeper hole for himself,’ Guy added as he plugged the phone into his laptop.
‘Chapman said he intended to hit Palmer with all the incriminating evidence in the second interview and see how he reacts. With that in mind, do you have any other forensic updates besides the phone stuff for me to give him?’ Jessica asked.
Taff nodded. ‘I’ve examined the knife recovered from De Klerk’s back, and there were Sealskinz glove marks on the handle indicating the person holding it used their right hand. I also examined the two tumblers from the cinema room. The one with the cheetah had Johan De Klerk’s fingerprints on it, and the one with the water buffalo had someone else’s, but they were not on the database and they weren’t Michelle De Klerk’s. I didn’t find anything on the Rolex watch: it had been wiped clean like the burner phone.’
Diane took over. ‘I swabbed the inside of the watch clasp and found a minute trace of DNA, which probably came from sweat. I’m using PCR to amplify it, and hopefully I’ll get a result in another day or two, but it’s obviously most likely De Klerk’s.’
‘What’s PCR?’ Guy asked.
‘Polymerase chain reaction. It involves using short synthetic DNA fragments called primers to select a segment of the genome to be amplified. Multiple rounds of DNA synthesis follow this to amplify that segment, producing millions to billions of copies of a specific segment of DNA, which can then be studied in greater detail.’
‘Bet you wished you never asked,’ Taff smiled.
‘No, I get it . . . I think,’ Guy said.
Diane continued. ‘I’ve completed the DNA work on the items seized from De Klerk’s house but haven’t found any DNA that matches Palmer or anyone on the database. As expected, I’m seeing either Johan or Michelle’s DNA profile.’
‘What about the found cash in Palmer’s flat?’ Jessica asked Taff.
‘For now, and to speed things up, I just examined the top and bottom banknotes in the bundle. I recovered fingerprints from the two notes that matched Johan De Klerk’s using black powder suspension and infrared light. Other recovered prints were not on the database, so they could be from anyone who handled the cash at any time. I’m afraid Palmer’s prints were not on them, but I did find marks that matched the Sealskinz gloves and what I believe to be washing-up gloves.’
‘Palmer had black woollen gloves on him when he was arrested,’ Jessica told them.
‘It’s odd that the Sealskinz weren’t with the clothing in the communal bin,’ Guy remarked.
‘If he wore the Sealskinz to drive the car, he might have thrown them in the fire after he set it alight.’ Diane suggested.
‘But why then dump the other clothing in the bin?’ Guy said. ‘And what about the Adidas trainers? They haven’t been found either.’
‘On that subject, I can confirm that the trainer marks in Palmer’s flat are the same Adidas trainer marks we recovered from the De Klerk house,’ Taff said.
‘He must have disposed of them elsewhere as well,’ Diane said. ‘Having previous convictions for burglary, Palmer will be forensically aware and likely know that gloves and trainers hold a lot of sweat, which is good for raising a DNA profile.’
