Contact & FAQ

Yes.  SRC accepts Legal Aid Agency (LAA) funded cases.   Sam will provide you with a fully costed and detailed estimate at the allowable hourly rates.    

SRC also accepts private paying clients and other funding (e.g. via insurance/Police federation/CPS) via an instructing solicitor.   Due to strict expert rules relating to fees, SRC does not accept direct payments from the public.    

SRC does not provide any fixed fee work since all cases are different and Sam tends to work on the more complex cases (with minimum hours applying - see "Do you only work on complex/larger cases?" below).   A free no obligation estimate will be supplied for the amount of time that will be required, based on the circumstances of the case and complexity of the evaluation.  

No.

Thank you for finding SRC.   However, digital forensics cases are complex, requring appropriate legal advice and disclosure.    As an expert witness, Sam can only deal with the technical aspect of the case.   It is important that the appropriate case advice is provided by a legal team and that your solicitor provides the instruction to SRC.    This will also ensure the instruction is subject to Legal Privilege and that it adheres to strict Expert Witness rules.   

Sam can discuss directly with legal professionals your case, including providing free initial recommendations/requirements.    Please provide SRC's contact details to your legal team:

Contact:  Sam Raincock

Telephone:  01434600635

Email: sam@raincock.co.uk

CJSM: sam.raincock@src.cjsm.net

Website: https://www.raincock.co.uk

No.

First and foremost as an Expert Witness, Sam's duty is to provide expertise in an objective and independent way to the Court.   She takes instructions from a legal team, however, her answers to the instructed questions reflect what she finds in the data regardless of if this assists/is detrimental to the instructing party.    It is a strict obligation of the Expert Witness rules, that this duty overrides any obligations to the party by whom she is engaged/paid by.   Sam cannot accept any payment terms nor otherwise, that depends on the outcome of her work.

Sam accepts instructions from defence legal teams, as well as accepting instructions from the police/CPS.

Yes.

SRC accepts instructions in cases involving alleged indecent images of children, extreme images and prohibited images.    Instructions are also accepted in terrorism cases including assessment of alleged mindset material and possession of articles.

SRC also accepts instructions in cases involving alleged sexual offences against persons including involving minors.    Sam is aware of the sensitivities of such cases and prepared an article in the Independent discussing this area (link opens in new window).

To obtain data in these cases, SRC will liaise directly with the police, since they will require Sam to sign appropriate Memorandum of Undertakings (MOUs) and for SRC to adhere to appropriate security procedures (which are already in place).

SRC accepts instructions from throughout the UK including Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands, and can organise data collections and otherwise as required.    SRC is based in Hexham, Northumberland.   

The advent of CVP within Courts, often means that the distance of an expert is of less significance than in the past, and SRC can provide telephone/online case conferences as is required.

Although Sam has worked on several large case in the ROI in the past, currently SRC is not accepting any instructions from Ireland.   SRC also does not accept instructions from abroad due to insurance requirements and differing legal systems/data laws.

Pretty much.   Sam loves complexity and she is best at cases where she has the opportunity to explore things fully and review the detail.

Usually instructions are a minimum of 25 hours work.   Although smaller cases may be viable if in the North East.   Sam can also review cases involving more comprehensive analysis - in the past she has worked on cases involving more than 200 hours of casework or collective projects within cases.

Sam got her calculator out and found that for cases which are only several hours of work, SRC was making a loss since cases require large amounts of admin time, and reserving time for Court and other provisions.   Hence, to ensure SRC is a viable business going forword, it is usually not possible for Sam to work on small cases.  However, SRC will not exclude small cases/later in the case discrete expert instructions, in the event a client would like Sam to work on their matter.  However, in such an instance, SRC will need to work to a minimum number of hours (or the equivalent hourly rate thereof) of billed work.

In the majority of cases which involve expert level assessment, the data has already been obtained by the police.   Sam can advise you what is required and liaise directly with the police to obtain the correct data and sign appropriate agreements/MOUs.

Any data obtained by Sam will be fully checked to ensure it complies with the correct standards including reviewing seizure and other details.

Sam is a forensic specialist and works on cases requiring detailed analysis to determine why?, when? how?, where, who? with respect to data.    She can find data on devices (since she needs to be able to do this to address such analysis), however, she no longer performs extractions/data recovery.   She can work with several other known analysts/experts (where necessary) to achieve the requirements of your case.

No.

Since 2nd October 2023, computer and device forensics including at an expert witness level, requires Compliance with The Code of Practice from the Forensic Regulator (362 page PDF Document opened from an external site).       

SRC follows strict procedures in terms of securely reviewing cases and data storage.   Sam also fully reviews the underlying raw data and otherwise to ensure all reports are prepared accurately.   She does not provide forensic software report "push-button" based forensics.   However, SRC is currently non-compliant with The Code of Practice, and does not have ISO17025 accreditation.   A full discussion of this will be provided prior/at the point of estimating, and where the instruction is accepted, the required non-compliance declarations made.   SRC can work within the ACPO Guidelines as is appropriate (although these guidelines are outdated).

Not often.  Although Sam has worked on such cases in the past, she is now primarily a criminal practitioner specialising in complex technical cases.

Sam may accept civil/family instructions in the event they involve the investigation of a death or involve children.   However, note that for any case, it will be essential that you ascertain written permission for access to the devices and data in full (for handsets/computers this will be everything stored including possibly deleted data) since without this SRC will be unable to progress the case.   

Please provide case details when contacting and Sam can advise you accordingly.

Sam Raincock Consultancy (SRC) is based in Hexham, Northumberland, and has been in operation now for over 15 years.    The company was formed by Sam Raincock in 2009 and incoporated in 2011.

The company details are: Sam Raincock Consultancy Limited

Registered Company in England and Wales No.: 7550353

Registered office (not for correspondence): Applause Accountancy Services, 60 Beamish View, Birtley, County Durham, DH3 1RS

VAT Reg No.  GB 983 9495 47

Contact:  Sam Raincock

Telephone:  01434600635

Email: sam@raincock.co.uk

CJSM: sam.raincock@src.cjsm.net

Website: https://www.raincock.co.uk

If you require correspondance address details, contact Sam.

The westie on the Sam Raincock page is due to Sam loving the wee dogs.  She has a little (but big personality) westie called Oscar.  He sometimes features in experiments in her reports.

Please see SRC's Privacy Policy in terms of use of this website. For legal instructions, handling of case data is often complex, sensitive and subject to various legal and other conditions. Also as an expert witness, instructions are generally subject to Legal Privilege (if via a legal professional) and the Expert Witness rules.  Sam can discuss with legal professionals directly, the potential requirements and usual process with respect to obtaining and use of case data.

SRC will require specific information depending on your case in order to be able to recommend the best approach and also provide accurate cost/time estimates.

Details of what is required depends on the area, and as a guide, click on one of the following:

• Computer cases
• Telecoms cases
• Location forensics
• Cell site analysis

Alternatively, contact SRC and Sam will provide you with free bespoke guidance of what she will require.