Beverley East began working in Jamaica in 2003 when she returned to the island of her birth to complete research on the 1957 Kendal train crash. She discovered that there was no other examiner with her level of expertise on the island. On completion of her novel Reaper of Souls she opened her handwriting and document examination consultancy, Strokes & Slants.

In the past 19 years the company has worked on many large complex cases in Jamaica. The most significant case was the Manchester Municipal Money Laundering matter. Ms. East examined more than 6,000 documents including 1,347 cheques. She testified before Judge Grainger for three days, and months later the final judgement on this tremendous white-collar crime found five of the seven defendants guilty.

Ms. East has testified before 46 judges in six countries. She has consulted many banks, financial institutions and law offices in this field.

Strokes & Slants has been in The Pan Jam Building in the heart of business district of Kingston Jamaica, near the Jamaica Tourist Board since late 2018. Currently, Ms. East works primarily between the Washington, DC, and London offices.

Jamaica Staff — Robert Farr

Mr. Robert Farr is Operations Manager for the Jamaica office. He has been practicing handwriting identification and document examination since July 2018 when he joined Strokes & Slants. He trained with Ms. East and qualified as a Certified Question Document Examiner in February 2021 having excelled in his qualifying exam. He is a member of the International Association of Document Examiners (IADE) and is the Co-Chair of Membership for IADE.

During the last three and a half years Mr. Farr has worked with Ms. East on over seventy cases involving a variety of handwriting identification issues such as verifying the authenticity of signatures in relation to checks, wills, contracts, and land transfers.

Mr. Farr accompanied and assisted Ms. East to examine original documents at National Land Agency, MOCA, the Montego Bay Parish Court, and other organizations in Jamaica. He also assisted Ms. East in court testimonies and training programs on handwriting identification. He has conducted onsite examinations at the Parish and Supreme Courts of Jamaica.

In 2019 he presented at the International Association of Document Examiners annual conference on “Points of Truth.” He currently attends a weekly continuing education class presented by the past president of IADE.

Mr. Farr is a trained Investigator; Intelligence Officer and Analyst having spent over twenty years developing cases for investigation. He successfully prepared Revenue and Corruption Cases for prosecution and a Tribunal as well as testified in both. He has attended many courses including advanced investigations and Intelligence gathering. Mr. Farr holds a Diploma in Business Administration from the University of Technology and a Post Grad Diploma in General Management from the Management Institute for National Development (MIND).