Thanks to the Dorset Police forensic team, Trish Vickers’ wish was fulfilled
Many people associate forensic professions with negative things like murder cases, or fighting crime with 21st century surveillance techniques. This week, Forensic Assessment have learned about another use of forensics. Its role in fulfilling the wish of a dying mother, to get her first book published.
Over the last six years, Trish Vickers drafted what would become Grannifer’s Legacy. After losing her sight due to diabetes, she didn’t let blindness get in the way of her ambition. Being unable to read braille, she added rows of elastic bands to her paper. This enabled her to start writing with a pen, with the elastic bands being tactile lines. On drafting her novel, 26 pages in, her pen had ran out.
Thanks to a call to Dorset Police’s forensic team at Winfrith, they deciphered the marks that were made with the pen in the blank pages. The digital copy had attracted the world’s press and her local newspaper, The Bridport and Lyme News.
In February 2017, Tricia announced she had finished Grannifer’s Legacy. But the news was tinged with sadness: she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. A crowdfunding campaign had been set up to get her book published. This attracted the attention of local publishers, Magic Oxygen.
On the 09 March 2017, Grannifer’s Legacy was published, in eBook and paperback formats. A donation for the South West Talking Newspaper is included in the price of each copy sold or downloaded. On the day of its release, Tricia passed away peacefully. As well as Tricia’s determination, the book was made possible thanks to local cooperation, including the forensic team at Dorset Police.
You can order a copy of Grannifer’s Legacy from the Magic Oxygen website. The paperback edition is priced £12.00, or you can download the eBook for £3.99. The eBook is free to download if you purchase the paperback version.
Forensic Assessment, 17 March 2017.