Sometimes astonishingly accurate, sometimes dangerously flawed, forensic science is the cornerstone of modern justice. Read these compelling trials, and see how it all began...

Cases include:

* Dr. Sam Sheppard, inspiration for the TV show The Fugitive, tried for the murder of his wife on the evidence of their blood-soaked bedroom

* Wayne Boden, "vampire rapist" and killer of five, who was brought to justice by the testimony of an orthodontist

* Lindy Chamberlain, the Australian mother who steadfastly maintained her daughter was taken by a dingo, even after bloodstains led to her conviction for infanticide

* Edwin Bush, the first murderer in Britain to be brought to book thanks to an Identikit picture

* Albert T. Patrick, convicted of the murder of a millionaire businessman on the evidence of his handwriting