Angela Gallop
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Angela Mary Cecilia Gallop (born 2 January 1950) is a British forensic scientist. She began her career with the Forensic Science Service in 1974. Since 1986, she has run her own forensic service companies. Her findings helped solve notorious cases such as the deaths of Roberto Calvi,
Rachel Nickell Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aunt ...
, Lynette White, Damilola Taylor, and Gareth Williams. She also took part in the investigation of the
death of Diana, Princess of Wales In the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales died from injuries sustained earlier that day in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France. Dodi Fayed, Diana's partner, and Henri Paul, their chauffeur, were found d ...
, finding no evidence to support theories of a conspiracy. She has been awarded the Order of the British Empire for her scientific contributions, detailed in her books, and has been portrayed on television.


Early life and education

Gallop was born and raised in Oxford, England, and grew up "
tomboy A tomboy is a term for a girl or a young woman with masculine qualities. It can include wearing androgynous or unfeminine clothing and actively engage in physical sports or other activities and behaviors usually associated with boys or men. Wh ...
ish", playing with her brothers, half-brothers and her chemistry set. Her parents, Eunice and Kenneth Knowles, divorced. She was educated at
Headington School Headington School is an independent girls' school in Headington, Oxford, England, founded by a group of evangelical Christians in 1915. The ''Good Schools Guide'' called Headington "A delightful school, hichnurtures and entertains its pupils wh ...
but performed poorly and barely qualified for the sixth form, where a botany teacher sparked her interest in science. She studied botany at the University of Sheffield and biochemistry at the University of Oxford. Gallop spent much of the early 1970s researching the biochemistry of
chloroplast A chloroplast () is a type of membrane-bound organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant and algal cells. The photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll captures the energy from sunlight, converts it, and stores it in ...
s in sea slugs on the Isle of Wight for her Doctor of Philosophy degree.


Career


Forensic Science Service

Seeking a more popular field as well as a less repetitive job, Gallop became a senior biologist with the Forensic Science Service (FSS) in 1974. Aside from assistants and secretarial staff, she was one of few women in the laboratory; her boss did not think she could cope emotionally but her colleagues supported her. She visited her first crime scene in February 1978, looking for clues about the murder in Huddersfield of
Helen Rytka Peter William Sutcliffe (2 June 1946 – 13 November 2020) was an English serial killer who was dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper (an allusion to Jack the Ripper) by the press. Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting t ...
, later confirmed as a victim of Peter Sutcliffe. She credits her determination "to give some relief to the family" to this case.


Forensic Access

By 1986, Gallop felt her workload was too large and her stimulation unsatisfactory, so she established her first company, Forensic Access. She intended to provide services to
criminal defence lawyer A criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer (mostly barristers) specializing in the defense of individuals and companies charged with criminal activity. Some criminal defense lawyers are privately retained, while others are employed by the various ...
s, who could not rely on the FSS expertise at the time. Her advertisements initially yielded requests for infidelity investigations, which she carried out. By the end of 1986, her business had grown enough to have full-time employees and she moved from her work from her home to a proper laboratory. She soon began investigating murder, assault, and arson cases as well as cold cases. She was commissioned by the defence in the trial of Robert Thompson for the murder of James Bulger. 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. Realizing that he shared Calvi's proportions, Gallop conducted experiments with her husband, fellow forensic scientist Russell Stockdale, that proved that Calvi could not have hanged himself and that he was murdered. Nobody has been convicted, but Calvi's family were impressed by Gallop's work and consider her findings essential.


Forensic Alliance

Gallop founded another company, Forensic Alliance, in 1997, providing service to the police. In 1999, the company solved the 1988 murder of Lynette White after finding a microscopic flake of dried blood under two layers of new paint. The police began hiring Gallop whenever they needed to review significant cold cases. She was asked in 2003 to review the evidence in the 2000
killing of Damilola Taylor On 27 November 2000, ten-year-old Nigerian schoolboy Damilola Taylor was killed in London, in what became one of the United Kingdom's most high-profile killings. Two brothers who were 12 and 13 at the time of the killing were convicted of mansla ...
. In 2004, the
Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
commissioned her to have a look at the forensic evidence relating to the 1997 car crash deaths of
Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...
, and Dodi Fayed. Gallop found no grounds to support the claims of Fayed's father,
Mohamed Al-Fayed Mohamed Al-Fayed (; arz, محمد الفايد ; born 27 January 1929) is an Egyptian-born businessman whose residence and chief business interests have been in the United Kingdom since the late 1960s. His business interests include ownership of ...
, that the couple were killed in a conspiracy involving the British royal family. Gallop's analysis of Diana's stomach content proved to
Operation Paget Operation Paget was the British Metropolitan Police inquiry established in 2004 to investigate the conspiracy theories about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car crash in Paris in 1997. The inquiry's first report with the findings of t ...
that Diana was not pregnant when she died. When investigating the Pembrokeshire coastal path murders, Gallop prevailed upon the police to fund the expensive examination of trace evidence, which led to the conviction of the murderer. She considers this the most satisfying moment in her career and believes that the case would not have been solved without fiber examination. The same method proved successful when she was commissioned to investigate the 1993 murder of Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager. 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. She was commissioned for the case again in 2006, providing key evidence that led to convictions. Gallop has also commented on the investigation into the
death of Gareth Williams Gareth Wyn Williams (26 September 1978 – ) was a Welsh mathematician and Junior Analyst for GCHQ seconded to the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or MI6) who was found dead in suspicious circumstances at a Security Service safe house flat in P ...
, the
Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
operative who was found dead in suspicious circumstances at a Security Service safe house flat in
Pimlico Pimlico () is an area of Central London in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by London V ...
, London, in 2010. Other high-profile murder cases solved with Gallop's help include that of
Rachel Nickell Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aunt ...
. Besides murders, Gallop has been commissioned to investigate other kinds of criminal cases, including suspected incest, rapes, war crimes, and bestiality; in a particularly unusual case, she confirmed the presence of boar sperm in the abdomen of a man hospitalised with a punctured colon and peritonitis. She has also worked on the investigations of alleged alien abductions.


Axiom International and beyond

In 2010, Gallop helped found Axiom International, which provides forensic and related advice to law enforcement agencies worldwide. She is the firm's chief executive. She has since worked in Libya, Iraq, Somaliland, and Kosovo. To Gallop's dismay, the UK government closed the FSS in 2012 to save funds. According to Irish forensic scientist
Niamh Nic Daéid Niamh Nic Daéid is an Irish forensic scientist, and the Professor of Forensic Science and Director of Research at the University of Dundee. She earned a bachelor's degree in Chemistry and Mathematics from the Dublin Institute of Technology a ...
, "some people in the business" blame Gallop for the demise of the FSS because she started a competing commercial alternative to it, but he thinks such conclusions are "a bit unfair". In Gallop's view, the FSS should have been "modernised and made properly commercial" rather than closed. 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. He had spent two years in prison when Gallop's findings proved his innocence. This was her first meeting with someone she helped exonerate and was filmed for a Channel 5 documentary. 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.


Other ventures

Gallop started writing to record her life's work and to highlight the lack of funding and recognition for forensic scientists. She detailed her early cases in a 2019 book titled ''When the Dogs Don’t Bark''. A second book, ''How to Solve a Crime'', came out in early 2022. She is careful about what she puts in her books and said that the inclusion of certain revealing elements of forensic technique "would make our job a lot more difficult". Gallop is a visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde.


Awards and honours

Between 2001 and 2004, Gallop was president of the
Forensic Science Society The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences (CSFS), formerly the Forensic Science Society, is an international professional society based in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1959 and is one of the oldest and largest forensic associations in the ...
and in 2011 was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) by
Nottingham Trent University Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as a new university in 1992, although its roots go back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham Government School of Design, w ...
, in recognition of her contribution to national and international forensic science in the support of justice. Gallop has served on the Independent Police Commission, chaired by Lord Stevens. Gallop was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire as part of the
2015 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...
.


Popular culture

Angela Gallop is portrayed by actor Anastasia Hille in the 2021 TV miniseries titled '' The Pembrokeshire Murders''. 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". She has also said that the cooperation with the police was not always so "very well mannered" and straightforward. Gallop was also played by Nancy Carroll in the 2021 TV miniseries ''Stephen'', a drama following the fight for justice for murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence. Gallop was a guest on '' Desert Island Discs'' on 20 October 2022. Gallop appeared on the 2023 Paramount+ show ''Murder of God's Banker.''


Bibliography

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Personal life

Gallop lives with her two Siamese cats in rural
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
. She retains an interest in sea slugs. She has been married twice and has a son. Angela Gallop and Russell Stockdale separated in 2003 but remained close. He died in late 2021.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallop, Angela 1950 births People educated at Headington School Living people People from Oxford British forensic scientists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Genetics in the United Kingdom History of forensic science History of genetics Women forensic scientists British chief executives Women chief executives Academics of the University of Strathclyde Alumni of the University of Oxford Alumni of the University of Sheffield