​
Areas of expertise
​
Cell site analysis
Mobile phone forensics and networking
Summary
With over 25 years’ experience in telecommunications, Nicola Haigh is a highly respected authority in all matters concerning mobile communications and cell site analysis.
From 1992 to 2002 Nicola held a number of management roles at a senior level within Vodafone Plc, during which she developed an in-depth knowledge of the radio and billing aspects of mobile telephony.
Whilst at Vodafone, Nicky also represented them on a number of GSM and ETSI committees and in working parties responsible for designing GSM and 3G. These committees were involved in bringing out new functionality and features related to the performance and limitations of the telecommunications cellular networks.
Experience
-
Leading digital forensic analyst, specialising in all aspects of mobile communications and cell site analysis, with over 23 years’ experience.
-
Senior reporting scientist, having acted as an expert witness for both prosecution and defence in over two hundred major criminal cases. These cases have included charges of burglary, murder, terrorism and major drugs offences.
-
Highly adept in supporting the defence or prosecution team, by assisting with cross-examination.
-
Leading expert in the examination, analysis and interpretation of call data records (CDRs), including finding repeat patterns in phone records, revealing hidden associations between users, identifying communication chains and simplifying large volumes of telephone billing data.
-
Leading expert in undertaking detailed cell site mapping, in order to determine the geographical locations and the movements of a particular phone during a particular ‘period of interest’.
-
Highly skilled in mobile phone attribution and connection record charting, in order to support or refute the attribution or association of a mobile phone number to a specific person or location.
-
Highly adept in the interpretation of on-site physical network radio frequency propagation surveys (RFPS), including establishing serving cells and the extent of network coverage.
-
Highly experienced in analysing and considering automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) sightings and periods of ‘radio silence’.
Committee Memberships
-
National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) expert advisor.
Notable Work
-
Designed and developed a number of applications, including a Home Office award-winning Police Administration System for Leicestershire Police.
-
Represented Vodafone on a number of GSM and ETSI committees and in working parties responsible for designing the GSM and 3G networks.
-
Product manager responsible for the design and implementation of many of the major Vodafone products, such as bundled tariffs and the first introduction of pre-pay into the UK.
-
Undertaken cell-site analysis work in multiple jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Cayman Islands.
Notable Cases
-
R v CHILTON (2014)
Nicola established the size of the relevant cells and determined whether the telephone movement supported the defence case statement.
-
R v TOMASA & Others (Cayman Islands 2013)
Established the movement of the telephones before and after the bank robbery and analysed calling patterns, in order to establish whether the calling behaviour was unusual.
-
R v SINANAJ
Conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. Analysed the telephones attribution and movement.
​
-
R v NOWAK (2013) - Murder of Catherine Wells.
Compared the calls and movements of a ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ telephone, pre and post the murder, in order to establish whether Mr Nowak could be the user of the telephone associated with the crime.
-
R v Daniel D’AGE (2012) - Conspiracy to supply Class A drugs
Nicola analysed the calling patterns and contacts between the telephones allegedly attributed to dealing, together with 25 other telephones of interest. The phone movement and frequently used cells were also analysed, in order to establish the usage of the ‘dirty’ phones, compared to the ‘clean’ phones.
-
R v FROST & ISLE (2011) - Series of 20 robberies of high value agricultural equipment.
Nicola analysed 11 telephones, showing the movement of each around the time of the robberies and comparing the findings with the serving cells at the locations of interest.
-
R v D’AGUAIR (2010) - Murder.
Nicola commented on the movement and likely whereabouts of the telephone around the time of the murder.
Recommendations
“Ms Haigh is extremely competent, has considerable knowledge of her field of expertise and has considerable skills in both interpreting material presented to her and in producing excellent materials for use in trials”.
“She is very professional in her approach to all issues that arise and is, in my view, one of the best experts in this field. I have had no hesitation in recommending her to other counsel. One of the things that has most impressed me is that she is able to get fully prepared for trials with very little lead time (always a problem as defence funding often comes late) and yet the quality of her work and thoroughness outshines prosecution experts, who have had considerably more time on the case and better funding!”
Barrister, Garden Court Chambers