Known as Alfredo, Piera is an expert in many fields of forensic science, including radiology. He has given evidence several times in courts in Spain and his work has appeared in numerous scientific publications. Piera is married with two daughters and lives near Picassent a village close to the historic Mediterranean port of València.
His home includes an external office and laboratory too where he conducts important experiments, especially on entomology. He lectures online in several countries (see http://www.luciabotin.com/). The courses are accredited by University of Madrid.
Alfredo’s expertise in forensic entomology resulted in his valuable contribution to a British case – one The Fitted-In Project believes to be the Cardiff Five of forensic science. Piera is not yet a household name in British legal circles, but that looks set to change thanks to the extraordinary case of Neil Sayers that The Fitted-In Project brought to his attention through our CEO.
Vital evidence in Sayers’ case was treated appallingly. Maggots were not only of scientific value in that case, they were the only realistic method of establishing when a significant event – the partial burning of the body of Russell Crookes – took place, but the treatment of those maggots became a classic example of what not to do.
The maggots were collected and the live sample was left to die in the fridge without being reared as basic forensic entomology demanded. The fixed sample was thrown away. It took years and the insistence of The Fitted-In Project to locate and test the maggots. Expert opinion not validated by evidence resulted in the wrong question being asked and the maggot evidence being misinterpreted again.
Evidence suggested that the partial burning had occurred much later than prosecution suggested, but the maggots appeared to rule that out, or did they? It was Alfredo’s task to answer the question of whether they did or not through reconstruction experiments. He explains how he set about this task for The Fitted-In Project in the video The Importance of Evidence which is accessible on this site.
The prosecution had been misled about the extent of fire-damage and misled the jury too. Evidence strongly suggested that the damage was far from extensive, raising the possibility that the maggots had survived the fire.
This possibility had been proven in experiments, but never in actual forensic casework. That was set to change. In 2009 Piera conducted experiments to test whether the maggots that Dr Mark Benecke and Dr Martin Hall had examined could have survived the fire.
The experiments showed that maggots could have survived the fire and opened up other scientific issues in a case that remains fascinating for students of forensic casework. Alfredo will repeat those experiments next February for a wider audience. He also has an intriguing method that is set to revolutionise the sciences of forensic entomology and forensic pathology too. Alfredo Piera y Pellicer is an enthusiastic supporter of The Fitted-In Project.