Participants identified a difference in the appearance of the severance after the specimen had been laundered (Table 1). The type of weapon affected the openness of the severance, the amount of fraying around the severance, and the definition of the severance (p _ 0.001; p _ 0.001; p _ 0.05, respectively) but not the dimen-sions of the severance (Fig. 2). Fabrics which had been stabbed with the Phillips screwdriver were less likely to have changed in appearance with laundering than those that had been stabbed with the kitchen knife. This may be attributable to the dimensions of the initial cut (i.e. the Phillips screwdriver left a small irregular circular cut, whereas the kitchen knife left a long slender cut).