The Trail of Text Messages that Trapped a Killer

A Senior detective has told The Cumberland News, how “cutting edge” forensic analysis helped trap a Carlisle man who murdered his girlfriend in their city flat.

Kieran Grieve strangled Miss Flanagan in a “jealous rage” after discovering that she had a secret lover.

He then went to extreme lengths to cover up his crime, even cutting Lisa's fingernails to remove any forensic evidence that may have linked him to the killing. Grieve then set about sending a series of bogus text messages from Miss Flanagan's mobile phone in an attempt to give the impression that she was still alive when he fled with Holly to Portsmouth.

Detectives turned to three specialist companies in an attempt to discover how what Grieve claimed had happened compared with what the mobile phone evidence revealed.

Using tracking techniques used in the Madrid bombing investigation, experts were able to show that Grieve lied about where Miss Flanagan was when messages were sent. The text messages he claimed she sent from the city centre were almost certainly sent from the couple's flat by Grieve himself."

emily | 2:23 PM | SMS used as evidence in court |
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