Digital evidence · court reports for Nottingham
The value of a report is its ability to stand up to scrutiny. Somebody on the other side is paid to find the weak link, and a report produced to please whoever gave the instruction will likely fall apart by lunchtime. Part 35 sets out an order of loyalty before anyone starts work: the court first, ahead of client, solicitor and fee note. Criminal instructions follow Part 19 of the 2025 Criminal Procedure Rules instead. In format both open the same way: method in writing, exhibit history, two declarations, and the accreditation position at the top instead of waiting to be found. There is no UKAS schedule here, nor an ISO/IEC 17025 certificate. Nothing in the rules asks for either on civil, family, employment and insurance instructions, as the Regulator's statutory Code only extends to the criminal justice system in England and Wales: the detection and investigation of crime, and criminal proceedings. Solicitors and insurers across Nottinghamshire receive exactly the same document, at a figure fixed first, from £800 + VAT.
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| Which document | What it is used for | What goes inside it |
|---|---|---|
| A findings report, standing alone | Early advice, HR decisions, questions at board level | What was on the machine, how that was established, and what it amounts to, simply put |
| A report on an insurance claim | Where cause, extent or liability is disputed | The findings, the exhibits, and the cause of loss |
| An expert report under CPR Part 35 | Civil matters in England and Wales | The duty at the head, the instructions in substance, the entire method and both signed statements: truth and compliance |
| An expert report under CrimPR Part 19 | Matters bound for a criminal court | Qualifications, the material a bench assesses when judging reliability, and credibility declared: the criminal form |
| A single joint expert's report | Both parties instructing the same examiner | A single report issued to both parties at the same time, with the duty running past each of them directly to the court |
Forensic costs start at £800 + VAT depending on the scope of the job, as identified on your first call to us: what time frame and specific dates are in dispute? What equipment or accounts are involved? What evidence is needed? Your first call to us is free. Nothing is charged until you have our quote in writing.
Under CPR 35.10, the substance of the instructions must appear in the report, and privilege will not protect that summary. Alongside it goes any information bearing on credibility, starting with the most basic fact of all: an independent laboratory with no accreditation whatsoever. Much better placed near the top of page one than unearthed through a witness's testimony at trial.
Each step is completed and documented as though an opposing expert were already searching for the report's weakness, which is exactly their instruction. The conclusions do not slant towards whoever pays the bill.
Forum dictates format. Civil reports follow CPR Part 35 along with PD35; criminal reports follow Part 19 of the 2025 Criminal Procedure Rules, which revoked the 2020 version. What stays constant: the method in writing, the exhibits themselves, custody and dates recorded without a gap, and the two declarations. Conclusions come first, with the detailed technical data annexed.
If you give another party a result they can't verify themselves, then you have given them grounds for argument. So the bundle contains all the information: exhibit numbers, hash values, dated handovers (signed at both ends), the image each conclusion came from, and the notes taken while working at the bench. Run it again and you get the same answer.
A question worth putting to every expert on your shortlist: Part 19 requires experts to disclose anything a court could fairly count against their credibility, and CPS guidance states that not holding an accreditation is such a matter. Leave it undisclosed and it becomes an issue for the client at the worst time. Ours is disclosed at the very beginning of every document we produce, with the method it rests on directly beneath.
One shared folder, two firms, and a set of accounts that existed in two versions nobody could reconcile. Imaging both machines forensically determined which edit had been made where and in what order, and that order was the answer. Within the month the dispute was settled.
A findings report sets out two things: what the machine held, and how that was shown. A court report contains both, then adds all that the rules demand: the expert's duty to the court, the substance of your instructions, the method used, exhibit history from receipt through to return, the two statements that must be signed by the expert, and any points the other side might raise about the expert.
The court. Regardless of what anyone has paid, the obligation sits above whatever is owed to the person giving the instructions, and it is that ordering which gives the document any value before a judge.
Yes. Both parties are given one report, with one set of conclusions, at the same time. Neither receives an advance copy of any draft, and neither can amend the wording.
It is required to declare this, so the declaration appears at the head of page one and not in small print. A courtroom gives weight to method, and method is where the work goes. The reports that fall apart are the ones claiming more than their evidence can support; a certificate would not have saved them.
Remove power from the DVR before you do anything else: as long as it is powered, it keeps writing, and the oldest footage goes first. Then get a quote and post the disk in. The first look is free. CCTV and DVR work is £400 + VAT, quoted in writing before any work starts, and anything recovered from the disk goes no further than our bench.