Forensic Criticism: Crime Scene – Respectful, Important

When 32-year-old Harleen Kaur was found stabbed to death at her home in Headingley, Leeds, on September 5, 2022, her ex-husband Satpreet Singh Gandhi was arrested the same night. Officers arrived at the address and found her bloodstained clothes, a blood-covered knife, and handwritten notes detailing his grievances with her. He confessed instantly, although he later refused to comment in interviews.

Even with such an apparent wealth of evidence, Channel 5 Forensics: Crime Scene showed that justice can only be served if the most meticulous police work is carried out. Following homicide investigators as they pieced together what had happened to Harleen, the documentary was given stunning access, from the “golden hour” – the ideal time to gather evidence in the immediate aftermath of a crime – to lab tests, CCTV analysis and interviews with the suspect.

There was no wild speculation or twists and turns. Instead, it focused on the minutiae of the investigative work needed not necessarily to secure a conviction (Singh Gandhi pleaded guilty) but to prove premeditation and thus ensure that a fair sentence was handed down.

The film clearly wanted to be a responsible and respectful addition to the true-crime genre, but that noble ambition was undermined by the repeated showing of the devastating, bloody crime scene—there was an hour and a half to fill, after all. And while the cops spoke with empathy and humanity about Harleen as a victim, we didn’t learn enough about her as a person (at least until the victim’s statements to her family in India at the end).

Anyone who has watched a Sunday night police drama knows how easy it is for poor evidence collection or storage to derail an investigation and Forensics: Crime Scene emphasized the meticulous care taken by the officers at the scene. While it was comforting and commendable to see the team scrupulously bagging the murder weapon and bloody clothes in Singh Gandhi’s apartment after tracking down and photographing blood spatter at Harleen’s, it didn’t exactly make for compelling TV. More information about the logistics of collecting forensic evidence would have been welcome.

The team’s quick realisation that this was not just an argument gone horribly wrong was much more illuminating. Harleen’s relatively tidy flat suggested that there had not been a prolonged struggle, and the fact that the gun was not from the flat implied that it had been brought there specifically for the purpose of causing harm. But suggestion and implication were not enough. Extensive CCTV footage was needed to prove that Singh Gandhi was, in fact, stalking Harleen.

In WhatsApp messages to his family, he lamented that she was making new friends, called her a “bitch” and admitted hacking her phone and physically assaulting her. During the week before stabbing her, he had bought a pack of knives from a local Asda in preparation.

The story the police uncovered was all too familiar: a man who controlled, abused and ultimately murdered a woman over whom he felt ownership. The overwhelming evidence and the guilty plea meant Singh Gandhi received a sentence of 23 years and four months. The good police work we saw paid off.

But as the film’s coda reminded us, two women a week are killed by a current or former partner in England and Wales. In some of these cases—where there isn’t such a clear history of abuse, or such compelling evidence, or the police aren’t as diligent and compassionate—justice may not be served as it was for Harleen Kaur.

Until we find a way to combat the deep-rooted misogyny that has turned violence against women and girls into a national emergency, there will be many more people like her who will pay the ultimate price.

‘Forensics: Murder Scene’ continues next Monday at 9pm on Channel 5.