The Digital Witness: Evidential Wording and Guidance

When we released our first Evidential Wording and Guidance in 2023, the objective was simple: to help investigators and analysts present communications data clearly, accurately, and within the proper limits of their role, avoiding unsafe inference and evidential overreach while still enabling effective criminal investigations. 

That objective has not changed. 

The fundamental principles set out in our original guidance remain unchanged. What has developed since then is greater clarity in how those principles are now formally articulated within the Forensic Science Regulator’s Code of Practice Version 2, particularly following the formalisation of FSA‑DIG200 – Cell Site Analysis for Geolocation. 

Our updated Evidential Wording Guidance (FA‑185 v4.3, May 2026) replaces all previous versions, building directly on the principles it established. It consolidates and extends that earlier guidance, providing clearer structure, language, and practical examples that align with the regulator’s now explicit expectations around interpretation, opinion, competence, and transparency. 

 Supporting investigators and analysts to do their job.

At Forensic Analytics, we recognise the reality of modern investigations. Investigators and analysts are required to progress complex and often high-risk cases, identify and apprehend offenders, and protect the most vulnerable in society, frequently under operational pressure and public scrutiny. 

This guidance exists to support that work, not to restrict it. 

It is designed to ensure that practitioners are: 

• equipped to continue investigating crime confidently, 

• supported in making evidence understandable to the court, 

• protected from inadvertent overreach, and 

• enabled to explain limitations openly and fairly. 

The Forensic Science Regulator’s Code does not instruct practitioners to stop interpreting data where interpretation is necessary. It provides a framework for ensuring that, where Cell Site analysis activities are undertaken including where interpretation or opinion is offered, it is done responsibly, transparently, and within the bounds of demonstrable competence. 

Making implicit practice explicit 

For many years, practitioners have been providing guidance to courts on communications data, often without that guidance being labelled explicitly as opinion. Even simple outputs such as mapping a cell site carry inference and invite interpretation. 

The updated guidance makes this reality explicit. 

By clearly distinguishing between investigative use of communications data and evaluative (evidential) use at court, the guidance helps practitioners understand when their work: 

• supports lines of enquiry during an investigation, and 

• becomes standalone evidence that assists the court in assessing competing explanations. 

This clarity benefits everyone involved in the Criminal Justice System. It reduces the risk of juries being left to draw their own inferences without support and ensures that evidence is presented in a way that is fair, balanced, and capable of being tested. 

Robust evidence depends on robust support 

Producing reliable, court ready evidence does not rest on individuals alone. It depends on organisational governance, validated methods, documented competence, and quality assurance. 

To support organisations and practitioners in this space, Forensic Analytics also provides the Forensic Analytics Accreditation & Compliance Service (FAACS) a modular service designed to help organisations align with the Forensic Science Regulator’s Code of Practice (v2) and ISO/IEC 17025:2017, in a structured and practical way.  

FAACS offers a suite of focused modules covering key areas such as: 

• validation and verification of DIG‑200 methods, 

• risk assessment and change management, 

• operational SOPs for accredited casework, 

• quality management systems, 

• competence frameworks and training records, and 

• structured peer review processes.  

Organisations can engage with individual modules or adopt the full framework, depending on their requirements, maturity, and internal capability. The aim is not to impose a one‑size‑fits‑all solution, but to provide practical, real-world support that helps organisations strengthen reliability, transparency, and confidence in the evidence they present.  

Our commitment 

Forensic Analytics is committed to supporting investigators, analysts, prosecutors, defence practitioners, and the courts by providing clear guidance, trusted tools, and practical compliance support. 

Our commitment is to assist everyone involved in delivering evidence that is: 

• robust in its methodology, 

• transparent in its limitations, 

• credible under scrutiny, and 

• reliable in its conclusions. 

Above all, our goal is to ensure that evidence presented to the court adheres to the highest professional and evidential standards, while still enabling those on the front line to investigate crime effectively and protect those who need it most. 

The Digital Witness is not about technology alone. It is about responsibility, clarity, and trust. 

This updated guidance reflects that commitment and reinforces our support for practitioners navigating an increasingly regulated evidential landscape, confidently, transparently, and with the highest standards expected by the courts firmly in mind. 

You can access the handbook in the Downloads section on our customer portal, which all Forensic Analytics customers and CSAS users have access to.