http://pub11.bravenet.com/forum/935997904/fetch/470482/Mr Jim Bates a Computer Forensic "expert" has been the subject of a recent article in the UK's Private Eye magazine
Credible witness?
PRIVATE EYE Issue 1137 22 July 2005 - Page 26
Forensic Expert.
http://www.private-eye.co.uk/ Jim Bates, a forensic computer expert who has given evidence in some of the country’s most sensitive trials, including Operation Ore, is himself being investigated by police because of concerns over his professional qualifications and credibility.
Until a few days ago, anyone searching for a computer expert via the UK Register of Experts or Institution of Analysts and Programmers (of which Mr Bates is president) would have found a profile of him citing his BSc (Eng) qualification. But Jim Bates has no such degree.
Mr Bates is the latest forensic expert to have been caught out for misleading people over fake qualifications.
Earlier this month the crown prosecution service (CPS) ordered a review of all court cases which had heard evidence from Jessica Rees, a lip-reading expert, after it emerged that instead of gaining a BA in English at Balliol College, Oxford, she had not completed the course.
Jim Bates did not go to university at all; but he told the Eye he believed he was entitled to suggest he had a BSc because in 1965 he obtained a qualification from the Association of Electronic Engineers in Leicester and it had sent him a letter saying this was equivalent to a BSc.
He said he could not reproduce the letter because it had got lost in a house move. The only Association of Electronic Engineers the Eye can trace is in Hong Kong and there is no evidence that the Eye - or Mr Bates - can find to prove that it ever existed anywhere in the UK, let alone Leicester.
Mr Bates’ lack of qualifications was raised during a trial in Croydon last year; but it has not yet led to any review of court cases with which he has been connected. Bates said the judge was satisfied the issue did not affect his ability to give factual expert evidence.
A CPS spokeswoman said the CPS would consider any material presented to it, but at the moment it did not have anything that caused it “concern about his competence”. That may change if Inspector Knacker presents a dossier.
Mr Bates told the Eye that although he mistakenly believed he was entitled to the qualification, he had not actually used it for court work or in CV’s - contrary to documents seen by the Eye - and claimed that people were out to “pillory him”. He pursued a similar theme on his website earlier this month.
“Recent events have produced some mud-slinging concerning non-existent academic qualifications. For the record I do not have a university degree and I have never attended a university as a student. The only post nominals (sic) that I use are FIAP (CMPN). That means fellow of the Institute of Analysts and Programmers and I was elected to this in December 1997.”
Meanwhile, Eye readers may recall that Mr Bates is no stranger to mud slinging himself. When the child porn case against DC Brian Stevens, liaison officer in the Soham murders, collapsed because a prosecution expert had made mistakes in his analysis of the detective’s laptop, Bates bayed for blood. He called for an inquiry into all the other cases carried out by Brian Underhill, a former policeman, and said:
“Any solicitor worth their salt will be looking to see if they can get their case thrown out simply because he is listed as an expert witness. And who can blame them?”
Who now can blame anyone for looking at cases in which Mr Bates has been involved?
