What does an Investigator do - Radio Show BRMB

Last Friday Emma (legal services) and Tony (Director of Operations) attended a 3 hour show where they did their best to explain to the listening public, what exactly it is that an investigator does !

Where do you start, was the obvious answer.

Being a late night Radio show, I think they were hoping for slightly more juicy revelations.

So thank you to Emma & Tony for keeping it all above board, and keeping a professional air about things, whilst being surrounded by off the wall editors / DJ's and even the odd belly dancer !!!

BBC - The Big Question

One of our Directors attended York last Sunday to be a contributor on the BBC 1 show The Big Question, hosted by Nikki Cambell.

The question being asked was Should marraige survive infedelity.



Our Director took the line that it can survive, based on many years experience in dealing with marital/relationship issues with clients - but the question was, should it survive.

The answer to that is very personal, what one person is able to forgive or move on from, will differ from the next person. A marraige and/or partnership is quite often more complex.

Not always bad news

Infidelity is often a hard fact to discover, but it is not always bad news.

Even when a clients' suspicions run high, and they turn to us for advice, with all the normal tell-tail signs, you can get it wrong...

This was the result of a lovely outcome on a case this week.

The client had all the "normal" warning signs, and we had to agree, something did not add up, except the obvious.

Unfortunately the client having been in this position in their previous relationship, read all the signs wrong.

On our advice, they took the drastic step of setting the scene, so to speak, several weeks ago.

The client went away for the weekend, leaving their partner to their own devices, with no possible chance of them returning early. So all the opportunity to be unfaithful was there. With our agent in readiness waiting for any callers to the home or to conduct surveillance, if the subject left the house.

In addition to this, the client was able to place a listening device within their family property and monitoring equipment on their family computer, together with a tracker on their family vehicle.

This was a great deal of effort, and in certain aspects slightly overkill for the situation, but .. needs must.

To the delight of the client, the outcome of the enquiry was - nothing to report. Which actually is never the case, there is always something to report, even if just the postman arrived at 08.15 hours ! just nothing of a suspicious or damming nature.

The subject left the house once over the weekend to visit the shopping centre, where they visited two shops, only speaking with 2 passers by and an assistant whilst they were out.

No mobile telephone calls were made or received, whilst the subject was out.

The only visitors to the property, who was later identified as a long standing friend of the the client, with their partner, and the conversation was as would have been expected.

The only other conversation to be heard within the property was the radio the television or the subject discussing regular issues with another friend.

The computer was only used for searching for expensive holidays.

So the client returned home happy and relaxed about things, and now the element of doubt has been satisfied, the relationship has taken a turn for the better.

So in this case knowing the facts has allayed all suspicions.

Not always good news though

It is a sad fact of life that some people cheat.

This is usually devastating news, so when this ends a marriage of some 30 years, it can be even more difficult. What has been even more devastating for our client to come to terms with is when the subject of enquiry is deceased.

Who's truth should you believe....

The client's life is already shattered by the loss of their partner, and then to discover that all was not as Rosy in the garden as one had assumed.

So who's truth do they believe. The 1st wife, the mistress, the silent business partner, the family they never knew about ???

The only truth to believe is the facts... The cruel hard facts. In our advice to the client, this must be the only way they can move forward. The what ifs, the whys, the maybes all those questions that they have, that will never be answered by the only person that could.

This is a case that has been on-going now for several months and will be on-going for many more to come, as each piece of information is obtained and delicately relayed to the client. and the client's and subject's adult child.

The case for Insight started as a rumour told to the client that the subject had family that were unknown to the client. - Yes fact - Proven.

The next line of enquiry was to establish a previous marriage. - Yes fact - Proven.

The next line of enquiry was to search for any other children, outside the clients marriage. Yes fact - Proven.

Not wanting to believe hard facts in ink, the client asked us to obtain a photograph of the deceased, from their army career, just in case it was a case of mistaken identity.

Showing the faded picture, now some 40 years old, to the client, there was no doubt in the client's mind that it was the subject in question.

Our line of enquiry has now taken us down the route of the siblings of the 1st marriage.

How far the client and their' Daughter wish to proceed along this route , we shall have to wait and see.

Their journey is not over yet, let us just hope Insight can bring some good news to then along the way.

At least if they were alive, the client could have the pleasure of dealing with matters as they though best, this will never be the case here. No matter what truth comes forward, good or bad, going back over many many years, it will just have to be taken in.

Romance is still alive

Another success here at Insight.

Not being an actual working investigator, you get to see all manner of cases, and the one highlighted to me yesterday was a good one. My colleague is not a "blogger", so I will relay this for her.

Several months ago a middle aged client called us, wishing to trace his girlfriend from over 30 years ago.

The story goes...

They were young, inexperienced, and parents intervened, as they do.

Many years down the line, after a marriage and several relationships later, the client knew why things with others would just not work. He was still in love with his childhood sweetheart.

So, the client contacted Insight and employed us to trace the lady, with just a maiden name and a 30yr old address !!

Tall order - yes - result - traced !!

The news we had this week, was that the client had now made a visit overseas to see the lady, and surprisingly enough her life story so far, read very similar to the client's !!

We wish them every luck and future happiness. Good job done.

Camera update

The cold reality ...........

of this job is sometimes very disturbing even if eventually good is done.

The results of the covert camera assignment came through today for the client who was concerned about her children.

What a horrible world it can be !! Poor woman. At least she now has the evidence she requires and the offender is already in custody.

Hard hitting as it is placing covert cameras within a clients property if you look at the up side if there can be one in such circumstances, clients suspicions have been confirmed and damage has stopped!!

The legalities of such an assignment can always be an absolute mine field. Suffice to say the Police liaison officer that deals with such matters everyday of the week, has praised our agent for the manner in which the investigation was handled.

I am just glad that we have investigators on board that have realistic but sensitive natures and are able to deal with matters appropriately.

No doubt this will eventually lead to a court case, and in the modern day, technicolour evidence is hard to dispute.




　

Law Exibition

Today I have agreed to let three members of the Insight Birmingham Team attend the WAPI stand at the forthcoming Law Exhibition at the NEC Birmingham, on October 14th and 15th 2009. They tell me it is all good for P.R. !!

Difficult decision

The question of Female agents reared it's head again in the Operations/Process Serving Department today. I am against it, always have been. It is a debate that will continue to rumble in my humble opinion, and this is written by a female, who has been in the industry for 30 years !! Why should a female be in a position of danger and why should I agree to put here there. I suppose you could say it is sexist and somebody will wrap my knuckles for it, but to resolve the situation, I sent a male and a female agent. Thereby keeping everyone happy, especially the client.