Photographer Jules Angel started her career in forensics at an exciting time.

It was 1987. DNA profiling in the police had begun just a year before, and Colin Pitchfork - currently serving 30 years for the rape and murder of two 15-year-old girls - was the first man to be caught through fingerprinting.

The 43-year-old, who now lives in Ohio in the US, landed a job as a crime scene photographer for Scotland Yard and over the course of 10 years worked on more than 2,500 cases - taking over 12,500 photographs.

In her first year, she specialised in fingerprints at the serious crime unit in Lambeth.

"I would photograph fingerprints in blood or other visible residues, blood spatters, shoe marks - any evidence which could lead to the identification of a suspect,” she said.

"I also took pictures of bodies, road traffic accidents, general scenes of crime such as break ins and victims of crime."

Perhaps the most high profile case Jules worked on was the Marchioness disaster in 1989 when the pleasure boat sank in the early hours of August 20, 1989, killing 51 of its 130 passengers.

The boat had been hired by Portuguese merchant banker, Antonio de Vasconcellos, to celebrate his 26th birthday, but as it sailed down the River Thames it collided with the dredger, Bowbelle near Cannon Street Railway Bridge.

It took just 30 seconds for the boat to capsize and 24 of the dead were recovered from inside the wreck.

Jules spent four days at the mortuary photographing the bodies after the disaster - many of which had to be identified by their clothing, tattoos or jewellery.

"Some of the bodies had been in the water for four days and were almost unrecognisable," she said.

"It was a hard job to do, but you get used to it. You can’t let every case get to you."

She was also called to the scene of a bomb which went off on a railway line in Wandsworth in the early 1990s.

"I actually heard the bomb go off from my house at 7.30am and an hour later I was there taking pictures of the scene. Luckily no one was hurt," she added.

However, the strangest case Jules worked on involved stolen dinosaur eggs.

"I had to take pictures of a bunch of dinosaur eggs which had been recovered from the scene of the crime, which was a particularly odd experience," she says.

Jules now works as a forensics teacher and on a cold case recovery team in Ohio and says the technological advances in forensics have been astonishing since she was on the job.

Now scientists are able to retrieve human blood from a mosquito to get an ID, and even take DNA from a suspect’s relatives to trace it back to them.

There are lasers that make fingerprints easily visible and chemical treatments which experts can immerse objects in to find evidence.

The only concern Jules does have is with digital cameras.

"Before digital technology photographers didn’t have the luxury of looking at the pictures before they left the scene," she said.

"We just had to hope we had the shot. My concern now is memory cards in cameras.

"How long will they last? In 20 years time, without negatives, how do we know we can access a picture when we need it?"

She also warns those wanting a career in forensics that its not as glamorous as it is portrayed in televisions shows like CSI.

She added: "At a crime scene it’s a lot slower and more meticulous than on the show.

"People only have one or possibly two specialities, not 10, and things happen over months, not minutes.

"But it is a very rewarding career and there are now specific forensic photography courses.

"I would say to anyone interested to go for it."

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