Angela Gallop

Her findings helped solve notorious cases such as the deaths of Roberto Calvi, Rachel Nickell, Lynette White, Damilola Taylor, and Gareth Williams.

Gallop was born and raised in Oxford, England,[2][3] and grew up "tomboyish", playing with her brothers, half-brothers and her chemistry set.

[3] She was educated at Headington School[2] but performed poorly and barely qualified for the sixth form, where a botany teacher sparked her interest in science.

[1][4][5] Gallop spent much of the early 1970s researching the biochemistry of chloroplasts in sea slugs on the Isle of Wight for her Doctor of Philosophy degree.

[3] She visited her first crime scene in February 1978, looking for clues about the murder in Huddersfield of Helen Rytka, later confirmed as a victim of Peter Sutcliffe.

[3] By 1991, when she was hired to re-examine the evidence in the apparent suicide by hanging of Italian banker Roberto Calvi, Gallop had gained a reputation for her unconventional methods.

In 2004, the Metropolitan Police commissioned her to have a look at the forensic evidence relating to the 1997 car crash deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed.

Gallop found no grounds to support the claims of Fayed's father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, that the couple were killed in a conspiracy involving the British royal family.

[6] She contributed evidence to the Macpherson inquiry, which found that the initial investigation of Lawrence's death failed due to institutional racism in the Metropolitan Police.

[6] In 2010, Gallop helped found Axiom International, which provides forensic and related advice to law enforcement agencies worldwide.

According to Irish forensic scientist Niamh Nic Daéid, "some people in the business" blame Gallop for the demise of the FSS because she started a competing commercial alternative to it, but she thinks such conclusions are "a bit unfair".

[6] In late 2021, Gallop met John Actie, one of five black and mixed-race men who had been wrongly accused of the murder of Lynette White.

[6] Gallop has reduced her involvement in frontline forensic work but has expressed an interest in taking on plenty of cold cases, including the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

[4] Gallop praised Hille's talent but lamented the lack of "lightness" and "passion" in the character, observing that scientists are not constantly "very serious and very considered".