Forensic key in the search for 2,000 children

FACIAL reconstruction techniques and other advances in forensic identification, developed at Dundee University, are being used to help Turkish police investigate the disappearance of almost 2,000 children.

Ozgur Bulut, of the Turkish Forensic Police Laboratory, spent a year in Dundee to gain the skills needed to bring a new approach to countering his country's child abduction problem, training under Professor Caroline Wilkinson.

Prof Wilkinson has led research into improving facial identification techniques and has acted as an expert witness in high-profile court cases.

A university spokesman said: "Age progression is the process of modifying a photograph of a person to represent the effect of ageing on their appearance. It is commonly used by law enforcement agencies in many countries as a forensics tool and can be used to show the likely current appearance of a missing person from a photograph taken many years previously.

"Turkey has a particular problem with child abductions, and hundreds are currently missing in the country. Turkish Police saw the potential of the Forensic Art programme at Dundee."