The professor searching for secrets of the criminal mind

In the early 1990s, the actor's portrayal of criminal psychologist Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald, spawned numerous stories of the real-life Crackers. Some were little more than enthusiastic amateurs, but all claimed to be the missing link in bringing notoriously elusive criminals to justice.

Since then a slew of similar crime dramas have followed and each new episode of Waking the Dead and CSI have reinforced the idea that when a police investigation is faltering, a quick call to an expert in offender profiling and it's case solved.

"It's very misleading to think that psychologists will ever solve crimes," says Professor David Canter. "Crimes are solved by the police. What we try to do is develop a new understanding of criminal behaviour and developing whole strategies and style of carrying out what I call problem-solving research."

Despite downplaying the image of the maverick criminal psychologist, Professor Canter is the genuine article. In the 1980s, a series of rapes near to London rail stations baffled police and turned many previously safe areas into no-go zones.

In just 12 months, 18 women were attacked and when the murder of a further three women bore similar hallmarks, investigating officers were willing to try anything to secure a conviction. Amid increasing pressure from both the public and the media, the force drafted in Prof Canter, opened their many boxes of files and kept their fingers crossed.

It worked. Looking at the specific details of each attack, he accurately pinpointed the likely location of where the offender lived and gave a detailed profile of their habits and traits. Shortly after, John Duffy was arrested and while it took another 10 years for his accomplice, David Mulcahy, to be brought to justice the case of Railway Rapists had ushered in a whole new approach to police investigations.

Since then, Prof Canter has been asked to give his opinion on

everything from the psychology of terrorist bombers to the case of the murdered Leeds University student Meredith Kercher in Italy. He doesn't mind, it's all part of the job, but having recently relocated to Yorkshire he's much more interested in how the more mundane, day-to-day police investigations can be improved.

Now based at the University of Huddersfield, he is one of a number of professionals behind the new Institute of Applied Criminology and Forensic Science. The centre, which will be officially launched tomorrow with the help of former Crimewatch presenter Nick Ross, hopes to share the knowledge and work being done by computer and forensic scientists, environmental criminologists and investigative psychologists to help meet the ever-changing needs of modern policing.

"There will be times when the centre's expertise will be called on to help with very specific investigations," says Prof Canter. "These are what I call our hit and run work, the one-off cases which inevitably attract a lot of media attention, but which in truth will only be a small fraction of the work we will be carrying out."

Prof Canter, who has brought his own huge archive of data collected over the last 40 years to the university, has a particular interest in tracking the movements of offenders and logging the patterns of individual crime waves.

Geographical mapping has shown that it is not uncommon for offenders who have committed crimes far from home to eventually return to their old stomping grounds where they are more sure of potential escape routes. The method helped to explain why John Allen Muhammad, the man behind the Washington sniper attacks, returned to the scene of early attacks and the same method could be used to track down serial burglars.

"When we started out, there was very little existing research in this field and getting information from police on which to work was virtually impossible," says Prof Canter. "Now forces are much more educated; there are a lot more police officers with university qualifications and higher degrees, even doctorates and they have a much better understanding of our research and how it can contribute to investigations."

Since Prof Canter produced his first research paper, criminal investigations have changed beyond recognition. The dusty filing cabinets and index cards of potential suspects have been replaced by computer files, advances in DNA profiling have allowed previously unsolved cases to be reopened and evidence from CCTV and Automatic Number Plate Recognition system, which alerts forces to stolen cars in their area, mean it has never been more difficult for criminals to escape under the radar. However, while much of the data can be accessed at a touch of a button, many officers are now finding themselves swamped with information.

"It is harder to get away with a serious crime than ever before and many people who committed offences 20 or 30 years ago are now finding themselves in court," says Prof Canter. "However, the challenge for many forces is what to do with all this information.

"When it comes to burglary for example, if they are getting a result on one in five cases they are doing quite well and part of the problem is that they are deluged with potential evidence and information. Part of my job is to give them the methods to help them sift through the relevant details in the most efficient way possible. It's about prioritising potential evidence."

Throughout his long career, Prof Canter has also helped to track down those guilty of insurance fraud and more recently he has been working with the military desperate to find those responsible for improvised explosive devices. Roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan have claimed hundreds of lives and remain one of the biggest threats to British troops, but historically identifying suspects has been difficult.

"Although much of our work has grown out of contact with the police, it is relevant in many other situations," says Prof Canter. "In areas of Afghanistan and Iraq, the insurgents who are attacking the military aren't a terribly well organised group. Instead what you have is lots of small informal groups.

"Our initial research showed that if you approached it in exactly the same way you would a serial killer it might well be possible to pinpoint those responsible. It's about looking at the materials used and establishing patterns in where the devices are placed.

"The military were very interested in our initial findings, but since that first report we have heard nothing. That makes me quite angry. Quite possibly our work could have help to save lives, but we might never know."

Other aspects of Prof Canter's work have been controversial. Two years ago, he was involved in project to determine what turned individuals into terrorists. After interviewing a number of Islamic terrorists in Pakistan, the research rejected the idea they had been brainwashed into violence and instead concluded many were "remarkably normal and often reasonably well educated". It also said their involvement in violent acts gave them a feeling of self-worth and significance.

Like much of Prof Canter's work, his research into terrorism was inspired by a desire to separate fact from fiction. "That really is at the heart of what this new centre will be about," he says. "Programmes like CSI may be entertaining, but they are a world away from the day to day realities of solving crime."