Witness interview | First account

This session addresses the remainder of the interview, from first question to closure. All interviews are an exercise in assisted recall, where the interviewer is helping the witness search their memory for relevant information. They should strive to ask as few questions as possible, aiming to prompt the witness to provide narrative answers and saving probing or closed questions for specific detail not provided in response to open questions.

The structure that we recommend is based on these principles. The interview structure has a First Account phase which is where the witness provides their first recall of the relevant information and a Topic phase where the interviewer returns to areas of the first account that are relevant and probes for more information and detail. There is a separate handout in the handout sheet called PETALS that provides more information on topic identification.

The effective identification and exploration of Topics depends on the interviewer’s investigative skill, in knowing which areas will provide the detail that helps to progress the case.

The penultimate part of the interview is where the interviewer addresses any discrepancies or anomalies identified in what the witness has said. This can be differences between what they said at different times in the interview about the same subject or differences between what this witness has said and any evidence. This part of the process called a FAIR review is not about getting the witness to change their version, it is about exploring the reasons for the difference.

There is a handout for this session.

Running time 13:40