Drug Importation Conspiracy

Mr D was charged with conspiracy regarding the importation of drugs.  The police recovered documents from his computer including labels that had been used on parcels of drugs.

My expert witness report listed evidence to show that the computer had been used by people other than Mr D.

Charges against Mr D were dropped.

Personal

1. This report was prepared by Graham Dilloway of 39 Conham Hill Bristol BS15 3AW.  I am a Member of the British Computer Society, the chartered professional body for the computer industry in the UK.  I am a member of the Academy of Experts.  I have worked with computers for more than 30 years.  This work has all involved the implementation and configuration of computers, their operating systems and the core software applications of a computer environment (e.g. word processors and spreadsheets).  I have worked with personal computers almost exclusively for more than twenty years.

Instructions

2. My instructions have been discussed with S Solicitors and I understand my instructions to be that I should prepare a report discussing the evidence regarding access to and use of a computer that I understand to have belonged to Mr D..

3. I received items from S Solicitors and from the Serious and Organised Crime Agency that include:

•  Witness statement of Mr B dated 30 July 2010
•  CD Exhibit 2 and CD Exhibit 1.

User Access

4. In his statement dated 30 July 2010, Mr B says, at Page 656, "I identified there was no password associated to the profile 'I', since the profile is not password protected this would mean that any user with access to the computer would be able to access the data and software programs …"

5. From Mr B's description of the computer and of the profile "I", I would expect that a password would not be requested when the computer is switched on.  I would expect that it would be possible to switch on and use the computer without any knowledge of the computer's owner or other users.

6. In his statement dated 30 July 2010, Mr B lists the names of various files and other information obtained from the computer.  For example, the top of Page 660 lists files and the lower part of the same page lists information described by Mr B as being from "Internet History".  The name "I" appears in the names of the files and in the "User" column of the Internet History.

7. From Mr B's description of the computer and of the profile "I", I would expect that the default action of the software on the computer would be to associate the creation of files and other actions with the user name "I".  I would expect that it would be possible to switch on and use the computer and for any such use to be associated with the user name "I".

8. In his statement dated 30 July 2010, Mr B says, at Page 673, " … a user had booked return flights from London Gatwick to Alicante for 'PH' …".  This may be evidence that the computer is being used by a person other than Mr D.

9. I have seen nothing to show that the inclusion of the name "I" in the names of folders and elsewhere is evidence that the computer was being used by someone called "I".

Computer Use

10. The files found by Mr B and exhibited on CD Exhibit 2 are in two categories:
· User created documents - These are documents created by somebody typing at a computer keyboard and using software such as Microsoft Word and Excel to create documents.
· System created files - Software automatically creates files that are used to ease or to speed up the operation of the computer.  An example of a system created file is a "link" file as described by Mr B at Page 658 of his statement dated 30 July 2010.

11. Only one of the user created documents on CD Exhibit 2 appears to have been deliberately saved on the computer.  The document called "latest A&L_statement_p(1).xls", and described by Mr B at Page 657 of his statement dated 30 July 2010, is saved in a folder that is consistent with the document having been created and saved on this computer.

12. I have seen no evidence to show that any of the user created documents referred to on CD Exhibit 2 were created, edited or stored on the computer with the exception of the "latest A&L_statement_p(1).xls" spreadsheet.

Microsoft Publisher

13. In his statement dated 30 July 2010, Mr B says, at Page 667, " … these documents had been created on a version of Microsoft Publisher that had been registered in the name 'PH'".  Other files are described in a similar way on Pages 666, 664 and 669.

14. I would expect that "Microsoft Publisher that had been registered in the name 'PH'" would be on a computer belonging to person named PH.

15. I would expect that documents that had been created with "Microsoft Publisher that had been registered in the name 'PH'" would have been created on a computer belonging to a person named PH.

Dates

16. It is my understanding that all of the material on CD Exhibit 2 is alleged to be related to the illegal importation of drugs.  It is also my understanding that the material on CD Exhibit 1 includes material related to legitimate business enterprises.

17. I have prepared a table that shows some periods of computer activity based on date times from CD Exhibit 2 together with examples of documents that are not on CD Exhibit 2.  The table shows periods of alleged drug related activity in the two leftmost columns.  The rightmost columns show dates, times, file names and a description of file content for files that have been accessed at about the time of alleged drug related activity.  It is my understanding that the files in the rightmost columns are related to legitimate business enterprises.

Time and subject of computer activity from CD Exhibit 2. Example of document not present on CD Exhibit 2.
Table content omitted.
The same document appears twice in the table because documents are duplicated on the computer or because documents have different created and modified dates.  

Summary

18. From Mr B's description of the computer and of the profile "I", I would expect that a password would not be requested when the computer is switched on.  I would expect that it would be possible to switch on and use the computer without any knowledge of the computer's owner or other users.

19. I have seen nothing to show that the inclusion of the name "I" in the names of folders and elsewhere is evidence that the computer was being used by someone called "I".

20. I have seen no evidence to show that any of the user created documents referred to on CD Exhibit 2 were created, edited or stored on the computer with the exception of the "latest A&L_statement_p(1).xls" spreadsheet.

21. I would expect that documents that had been created with "Microsoft Publisher that had been registered in the name 'PH'" would have been created on a computer belonging to a person named PH.

22. I understand my duty to the Court and I confirm that I have complied with and will continue to comply with that duty.

23. I confirm that insofar as the facts stated in my expert witness report are within my own knowledge I have made it clear which they are and I believe them to be true, and that the opinions I have expressed represent my true and complete professional opinion.

Graham Dilloway 1 October 2010
Expert Witness
39 Conham Hill
Bristol  BS15 3AW