Abstract
In September 2016, the UK adopted a new Bank of England (BoE) £5 polymer banknote, followed by the £10 polymer banknote in September 2017. They are designed to be cleaner, stronger and have increased counterfeit resilience; however, fingermark development can be problematic from the polymer material as various security features and coloured/textured areas have been found to alter the effectiveness of conventional fingermark enhancement techniques (FETs). As fingermarks are one of the most widely used forms of identification in forensic cases, it is important that maximum ridge detail be obtained in order to allow for comparison. This research explores the use of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) profiling and imaging for the analysis of fingermarks deposited on polymer banknotes. The proposed methodology was able to obtain both physical and chemical information from fingermarks deposited in a range of scenarios including; different note areas, depletion series, aged samples and following conventional FETs. The analysis of forensically important molecular targets within these fingermarks was also explored, focussing specifically on cocaine. The ability of MALDI-MS to provide ridge detail and chemical information highlights the forensic applicability of this technique and potential for the analysis of fingermarks deposited onto this problematic surface.
Highlights
Fingermark examination has remained one of the most important and commonly used identification techniques in forensic investigations for over a century[1,2]
To the results obtained in Experiment A, the two halves of the fingermark showed similar quality of ridge detail for each of the ion species selected for fingermark reconstruction (m/z 268.2, m/z 299.2 and m/z 365.2) (Fig. 2B)
It is important to note that the identification of these species is unimportant, as the primary purpose of this research was to focus on the potential of MALDI-MSI to allow for ridge detail reconstruction of fingermarks deposited on polymer banknotes
Summary
Fingermark examination has remained one of the most important and commonly used identification techniques in forensic investigations for over a century[1,2]. Polymer banknotes were first introduced in Australia in 19885, the transition into UK currency necessitates the development of appropriate techniques to allow for fingermark recovery. This has been described as of ‘critical importance to the investigation of crime’[6]. In the UK, conventional FETs employed on paper banknotes include DFO (1,8-diazafluoren-9-one) and ninhydrin[4,9] As these techniques are more suited for porous surfaces, they have proven to be ineffective in developing fingermarks deposited on polymer varieties[6]. Differences in inks, opacifying layers, coatings and security features between notes derived from different countries may have an effect on the success of the conventional FETs6
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