The body's discovery
The prosecution forensic report stated that the body position when found indicated that two men had
carried or dragged it, one at the head and the other at the foot. One of his shoes had come off and was
lying between his legs. If this were the case, the man holding the top end of the body could not have failed
to have been heavily bloodstained from the massive head injuries. No bloodstained articles of clothing were
found aside from Wood's gloves - which were not offered as evidence. Considering the disturbed nature of the
deceased's jumper and T shirt, it is perhaps more likely that the body was dragged by the feet by one man and
the arms arranged in position later.
Examination of a cigarette end found next to the body was inconclusive, many brands sharing the same type and
size of tip.
The injuries
An independent pathology report, commissioned by Frank's solicitor at the time, stated that some of Raffle's
injuries could have been caused by kicking rather than by blows from a blunt instrument. Against Frank's
wishes, this report was never presented in court. Had it been raised, it would have made it even more
significant that no blood was found on the boots Frank was alleged to have been wearing that night.
The plaster
On the dead man's finger was found a sticking plaster and wrapped around the outside of this plaster was a
piece of black insulating tape. Adhering to the underside of the sticking plaster, the sticky part, was found
a green acrylic fibre which matched fibres that constituted an army-style jumper taken from Frank's house.
Fibres from the carpet of the Ford Sierra were also found on the sticking plaster. Numerous other fibres were
found on the sticking plaster which were probably the accumulation of several days.
A great deal of importance was attached to the green fibre, until it was established in court that the
plaster and tape had been seen around the dead man`s finger at least two days prior to his disappearance and
so was not any indication as to who had committed the murder. The fibres from the Sierra were meant to prove
that Raffle had been taken to Kielder Forest in the car. Yet it was accepted at the trial that Raffle had
been working under the dashboard of the Sierra that weekend. This was an obvious explanation for the carpet
fibres and for the green fibre, which could easily have arrived there innocently when Frank had helped pull
Raffle from the Sierra during the course of this work.
The dead man's clothing
Odd fibres found on the dead man's clothing matched fibres from
two
pairs of gloves taken for examination from Frank's house. Considering the fact that there was regular
contact between Frank and Raffle, both socially and through working together, and that they had been working
together over that weekend, it was no great surprise that fibres from the clothing of one should have arrived
innocently on the clothing of the other - as was accepted by the Prosecution team itself.