BBC iPlayer’s Bones in the Forest is a chilling and meticulously detailed documentary that examines how forensic pathology helped solve one of south Wales’ most disturbing murder cases, the killing of Tyrone France in Wentwood Forest near Newport.

Dr Richard Shepherd, Home Office forensic pathologist (Image: Web)

Presented by former Home Office forensic pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd, the programme focuses on the power of pathology to uncover the truth when little physical evidence remains. Shepherd’s central belief that “the dead never lie” underpins a case where less than 10 per cent of a body ultimately led police to justice.

A discovery in Wentwood Forest

The documentary begins on a May evening in 1996, when forestry workers discovered a small, smouldering fire in a secluded area of Wentwood Forest. Among the ashes were fragments that appeared to include part of a human skull. What initially looked like the remains of an illicit campfire quickly became a sealed crime scene.

A painstaking forensic search recovered 343 fragments of bone, human teeth, personal items and later, spent 9mm bullets. There was no intact body, no........

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