Digital evidence · reports drafted for London courts
A report gets paid for its survival. Across the desk there is someone who has been paid to look for a loose thread in your documentation, and a document written with the sole intent of making its instructing party happy will not survive the morning. CPR Part 35 establishes the order of loyalty before anyone starts: the court comes first, above the client, the solicitor and the fee note alike, and PD35 describes the shape. A criminal instruction instead runs to Part 19 of the Criminal Procedure Rules 2025, which replaced the previous 2020 version. Both forums wish to have the same items included: the method described, an exhibit history, two declarations, and the accreditation position put at the top instead of being left for the other side to find. There is no UKAS schedule here, and no ISO/IEC 17025 certificate either. For civil, family, employment and insurance instructions the rules require neither of these: only in criminal proceedings in England and Wales does the Regulator's statutory Code extend, with DIG 100 covering capture and DIG 300 examination. As such, when instructed on a criminal matter, whether or not we can take it is determined on the first call and is not something that will be decided at trial. London solicitors and insurance companies receive the same document, at an amount agreed upon first, from £800 + VAT.
Talk it over with an engineer, in confidence
0203 0868633
| Which of them | What it is there for | What sits inside it |
|---|---|---|
| A stand-alone findings report | Early advice, an HR decision, a question to the board | What the machine contained, how that was verified, and the implications of that, clearly stated |
| Report upon a claim under a policy | Where cause, extent or liability is disputed | Findings, exhibits and causation of damage |
| Expert report pursuant to CPR Part 35 | Civil claim in England or Wales | The duty at the head, the substance of the instructions, the entire method and two signed statements: truth and compliance |
| Expert report pursuant to CrimPR Part 19 | Matters on their way to a criminal court | Qualifications, the material upon which a bench determines reliability, a declaration on credibility, and the scope of the Code settled prior to acceptance |
| A single joint expert report | One examiner instructed by both parties | A single joint expert report supplied to both parties simultaneously, the duty running directly past both parties to the court |
Our forensic charges start at £800 + VAT. The amount charged depends upon the size of the task at hand, and that is determined in the course of our first telephone conversation: dates and events in dispute; machines and accounts involved; what needs to be demonstrated. There is no charge made for the initial telephone call. Furthermore, nothing that you would be billed for commences until a written fee quotation has been delivered to you.
CPR 35.10 requires the substance of the instructions to be set out within the report, and privilege does not protect that summary. Alongside it goes whatever is relevant to credibility, starting with the most basic item available: an independent laboratory holding no accreditation at all. That is far preferable to display on page one than to have it produced as part of testimony when the witness is in the box.
Each stage is documented and recorded as if the opposite examiner were already hunting for weaknesses, which is exactly what they have been told to do. No conclusion provided in this report leans towards whoever settles the invoice.
Form follows forum. Civil work is produced under CPR Part 35 and PD35, and criminal work under Part 19 of the Criminal Procedure Rules 2025, which replaced the 2020 version. Regardless of the forum, there is written documentation of the method used, the exhibits, a custody history and dates documented without a gap, and both declarations. Conclusions come first, and technical detail is annexed.
Hand the opposite side a finding they have no way to verify, and the argument is theirs. So the bundle contains everything: each exhibit numbered, the hash values for each, dated and countersigned handovers, the images used for the conclusions reached, and the bench notes created whilst the work was ongoing. Repeat the steps and the result does not change.
One question worth asking every expert you shortlist: under Part 19, an expert must disclose any matter on which the court may fairly impugn the expert's credibility, and an unheld accreditation counts as such under CPS guidance. Say nothing and it becomes the client's problem at the worst possible time. We set it out on page one, above the method that carries it.
One shared folder was accessible by two firms, and one set of accounts within that folder existed in two versions that nobody could reconcile. Forensic images of each of those machines demonstrated which changes were made by which party and in what order those changes occurred, and that order settled the differences in opinion between the parties. The dispute was closed within the month.
A findings report answers only two questions: what was held by the machine, and how it was shown to have been held. A court report contains both and adds the items insisted upon by the rules: an exhibit history from the day received to the day returned, the method used by the expert, your instructions in substance, the duty owed to the court, two statements requiring signature, and any item the opposing side might put to the expert.
The court's. Who paid makes no difference to that. The obligation ranks ahead of any obligation to the instructing party, and that ranking is what gives the document any standing in front of a judge at all.
Yes. A single report based upon a single set of conclusions, delivered to both parties at the same moment. No drafts are provided to either party prior to delivery, and therefore neither party has any control over the word usage.
It is mandatory that this be declared, and therefore it will always sit atop page one. The court places great importance on how a report is prepared (method), and that is where this bench puts its work. A report will collapse if it claims more than its supporting evidence can support, and no certificate will save it. Criminal matters are different: the Regulator's Code sets ISO/IEC 17025 under DIG 100 and DIG 300, so whether or not your matter falls within our scope for taking will be established at the outset.
Regardless of what contains the evidence, turn off electrical power to it before doing anything else: a recorder still operating overwrites its oldest evidence every hour. Once power is removed, secure a price quotation (either by phone or through submitting a form), then post us just the disk or drive (do not include the recorder or computer), or drop it off at our Guildford intake lab, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm (no appointment needed). Evaluation costs nothing; work on recorders costs £400 + VAT and forensic analysis starts at £800 + VAT, both prices agreed to in writing beforehand. What sits on that disk stays here.