Richard is a forensic scientist specialising in DNA trace recovery and bloodstain pattern analysis. He studied analytical chemistry and after that Polytechnic Biochemistry. He did an understudy in Canada with the Ontario Police in Bloodstain Pattern Analysis and is currently studying for his PhD on touch DNA at the University of Denver. Before his ʻAmerican adventureʼ Richard worked in several laboratories and specialised in touch DNA. As a forensic scientist he examined hundreds of crime scenes and worked closely with a wide variety of law enforcement agencies.
In 2005, he joined his wife Selma as a partner at Independent Forensic Services, a private laboratory in the Netherlands that specialises in recovery of trace evidence and Touch DNA testing. Their work in the Masters case led to the first Touch DNA exoneration in the United States.
In the Masters case, Selma and Richard were successful in the recovery of full DNA profiles in three areas of the victim, Peggy Hettrickʼs clothing. All three profiles matched an individual who was on the short list of suspects in the original investigation. In January of 2008, prosecutors agreed to vacate the conviction of Masters after the results of the DNA testing came back. Prior to that Richard was involved in the Netherlandsʼ first vindication case – the Schiedammer Park Murder. His pioneering DNA work contributed to the eventual exoneration and vindication of Kees Borsboom. In 2004 Borsboom was vindicated of the rape and murder of ten-year-old Nienke Kleiss and attempted murder of Maikel Willebrand. Most recently Richard helped to vindicate David Camm. Richard supports the Fitted-In Project.