Feasibility of using damage to body armour as evidence to prove the degree of intent of wounding

It has become standard practice for Police Authorities to issue stab resistant body armour to all officers who are placed at risk of knife assault. Subsequently if the officer is subjected to a knife attack it has been difficult to prove the degree of intent of wounding by a suspect. Arguments that no real harm could be intended, as the officer was protected by armour, are presented in court to mitigate any sentence of intent to wound. Several Police Forces have requested that damaged armour from attacks be forensically examined to determine the extent of damage and directly relate this damage to the forces of the impacts in an attack.This paper assesses the feasibility of using damage to body armour worn during an incident as evidence to prove the degree of intent of wounding. The study compares the different weapons used, variation in damage caused by blades of different dimensions and damage related to tip and blade sharpness. The relationships between force, energy and damage, the effect of armour construction and how all these factors effect the type of damage expected are also investigated. This work highlights the fundamentals necessary for the development of a forensic protocol to investigate damage to stab resistant armours so that the results could be accepted in evidence.