Botanist tells how nettles helped solve Soham murders

Patricia Wiltshire reveals how her forensic knowledge helped secure the conviction of Ian Huntley for the 2002 murders

Botanist Patricia Wiltshire has revealed how her knowledge of stinging nettles helped police solve the Soham murders in 2002 – a case which concluded in the conviction and a life sentence for their school caretaker Ian Huntley.

Wiltshire, who is a palynologist – a pollen expert – was speaking to Lauren Laverne on Sunday’s episode of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. She discussed her early life in a Welsh mining village, her lifelong love of nature, and the secrets that plants can reveal.