Ep 22 - CSI Justine Shanahan: From True Crime Books to Real Crime Scenes

This week we’re joined by Justine Shanahan — a CSI with over 25 years’ experience and a part-time lecturer at the University of Lincoln.

Justine takes us back to the beginning: a teenager spending her pocket money on true crime books (long before CSI was cool), arranging her own attachments, and attending a post-mortem at just 17.

And then comes the moment every new CSI fears most: her first night on call — and she’s deployed to a double murder!

In this episode, Justine shares:

- What it was really like starting as a CSI in the early 2000s

- Major crime investigations early in her career in a “quiet” county

- The long-term impact the job can have on mental health

- Why she loves teaching and what she thinks CSI will look like in the future

- The one case that still haunts her — the unsolved murder of Alan Wood (2009)

As always, we take you back under the barrier tape — real stories, realities, and the parts of the job TV never shows.

🎟️ Don't forget you can come to see us at CrimeCon UK! Birmingham (25 April 2026) & London (3–4 Oct 2026). Use code INSIDERS for 10% off your ticket at crimecon.co.uk.

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