Doctor Frank Skuse was a forensic scientist for the North West Forensic Laboratories based in Chorley

Chorley

Chorley is a market town in Lancashire, in North West England. It is the largest settlement in the Borough of Chorley. The town's wealth came principally from the cotton industry...

 in Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, England. His flawed conclusions, eventually discredited, contributed to the convictions of Judith Ward

Judith Ward

Judith Theresa Ward is a British woman known for being a victim of unsafe convictions in 1974 for the bombing of Euston Station in 1973, and of the National Defence College and M62 coach bombings in 1974. Her conviction was quashed and she was released from prison on 11 May 1992...

 and the Birmingham Six

Birmingham Six

The Birmingham Six were six men—Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Joseph Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker—sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 in the United Kingdom for the Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and quashed by the Court of...

. Others who claim they were wrongfully convicted on Skuse's evidence include Ann Gillespie, wife of MEP

Member of the European Parliament

A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...

 Pat the Cope Gallagher.
Skuse used the Griess test in which the presence of NO₂⁻

Nitrite

The nitrite ion has the chemical formula NO2−. The anion is symmetric with equal N-O bond lengths and a O-N-O bond angle of ca. 120°. On protonation the unstable weak acid nitrous acid is produced. Nitrite can be oxidised or reduced, with product somewhat dependent on the oxidizing/reducing agent...

 (nitrite ions) is detected in a sample by formation of a red azo dye.