‘A judge might ask, ‘who is he?’ and I’d say, ‘I’m the expert’ — Former garda John Sweetman on a life in forensics

A chance trip to the Garda Technical Bureau opened up a whole new world for the ‘accidental guard’ who has written a book based on cases he helped solve

Former garda John Sweetman is the author of ‘Identity: Murder, Fraud and the Making of a Garda Forensic Expert'. Photo: Steve Humphreys

Sarah Caden

I recognise John Sweetman as he walks past me in the lobby of the hotel where we’ve arranged to meet.

He has a beard, piercings in his eyebrow and ear and tattoos on his neck, arms and hands. Sweetman is exactly as he described himself in his just-published book, Identity: Murder, Fraud and the Making of a Garda ­Forensic ­Expert, but he’s nothing like the image that ­usually comes to mind when someone says, “recently retired garda”.