BBC Rewind: E-fits approved in UK to identify criminals

It is 35 years since police were given the go-ahead to use computers to generate images of suspects.

In October 1988, the government approved the e-fit system for use by forces across the UK after a trial in Essex.

A BBC News report declared "the days of the old stick-on photofit will soon be at an end" as witnesses would instead be invited to help police build up "a much more realistic likeness" of a suspect.

An photofit operative in Essex said: "It no longer looks like anybody's Uncle Bill or Uncle Harry, it now looks like someone who could be responsible for a crime."