Another trick, he said, is to offer very vague information initially, and then after the case is solved, "retrofit" the general predictions to accommodate the facts.

CNN: Visions of death: Can psychics 'see' what detectives cannot?

Mr Tully said he could be proved wrong and the trawl of statements could throw up something which "solved the whole case".

BBC: The then-chief whip, Andrew Mitchell, in Downing Street

"The ability to harness the true power of social media, and focus it on a case that needs to be solved will help law enforcement close cases more quickly and bring closure to the families of victims who are still waiting for justice, " said Morgan Wright, CEO and Chief Crime Fighter of Crowd Sourced Investigations, LLC.

ENGADGET: Connected To The Case to use Facebook for crowd-sourced crime solving

While none of the swabs collected in Hampshire could be linked to any "cold cases", Ms Cooper insisted it was "only a matter of time" before such a case was solved in England and Wales through the efforts of Operation Nutmeg.

BBC: A DNA autoradiogram

Wheeler still thinks about his dad--and how his four-year-old company might have solved the case a lot quicker.

FORBES: Cyber-Sleuths

Wheeler still thinks about his dad--and how quickly the four-year-old InfoGlide might have solved the case.

FORBES: Cybersleuths