Can rope knots hold forensic clues?
…asks Brendan, SA Answer from Robin Napper: A. The answer is yes. You may not realise but left handed people tie knots in a different fashion to right handed people. This is because one hand is more dominant than the other. I have been involved in cold case reviews where the poor victims have been tied up then murdered. Analysis of the knots can tell you the dominant hand of the assailant ie: Are they left or right handed. A combination of knots indicates that there may be more than one individual trussing up the victim. Also if the attackers are not wearing gloves, because of the force needed to restrain another person, the inside of knots can be very fertile ground for DNA where skin cells have been deposited. And not being on the outside, this DNA can last for much longer. I have just done a cold case review from 1967 where the forensic scientist was able to extract low copy number DNA from the inside of a rope binding. Knot experts I have dealt with have come from the sailing ind
