Hi-tech spotlight put on murder

The microscope is currently being used in 10 murder investigations

A state-of-the-art electron microscope at a Cornwall university campus is being used by police officers conducting murder inquiries.

The high-powered equipment analyses soil samples and can link a suspect to a crime scene.

The £500,000 Qemscan microscope, used by staff at the Camborne School of Mines, is one of just 16 worldwide.

It is currently being used in 10 murder investigations nationwide and has already helped secure two convictions.

Analyses x-rays

Dr Duncan Pirrie, a reader in geology at the school, regularly gives evidence in court.

"We have carried out a number of forensic investigations for a range of police forces in the UK," he said.

"We are used where there is a need to try and link soil evidence, which might be present on a victim or a suspect, particularly in murder inquiries, back to a particular place," he said.

Qemscan works by scanning an electronic beam over non-organic material and analysing the X-rays that are returned to identify the sample's mineral composition.

Each analysis is fully automated and takes just five milliseconds, meaning the machine can perform tasks in an hour that previously took human researchers days.

The instrument has been in place at the school's Tremough campus near Penryn since October.