Fascinating images from crime scenes that were the first of their kind used by famed French detective to crack murder cases

• These crime scene images were all taken by pioneering detective Alphonse Bertillon in 20th century Paris
• Bertillon joined the police in 1879, and by 1884 he was known across Europe for his work with photography
• In 1888 he invented the mugshot, and developed a method of identifying criminals by body measurements

Alphonse Bertillon

These are the remarkable images from crime scenes that were the first of their kind - used to crack cases in grisly murders at the turn of the 20th century.

The unsettling photographs taken in Paris and credited to famed detective Alphonse Bertillon detail graphic crime scenes of the past.

Some pictures show scenes of chaos, where you can clearly see a struggle has taken place and injuries to the victim. However, in others a figure lies in a perfectly neat room, adding to the mystery of the atrocity.

These crime scene photos from early 20th century France are both fascinating and macabre in equal measure, and the work of pioneering French murder detective Alphonse Bertillon. Pictured is the murder scene of Madame Veuve Bol, in Paris, and dated 1904. The caption reads: 'Inspection on a horizontal plane'

Another view of the body of Madame Veuve Bol. Crime scene investigation in the late 18th and early 19th century was a developing art, one which Bertillon made all his own. His genius was to recognise that seemingly insignificant details such as the position of the body and objects in the room could all be vital in solving crimes

The body of Madame Veuve Bol, with a wider view of the room. At first Bertillon faced a lot of pushback for photographing bodies, which was viewed as sinister and disrespectful to the dead. But eventually his results forced his critics to agree with him as he solved case after case using the evidence his camera captured

The image left is simply recorded as 'discovery of a corpse', date unknown. The victim on the right is Madame Debeinche who was found dead on the floor of her apartment at 9 rue Chalgrin, Paris, on May 8, 1903. 

Monsieur Bertillon was among the first to apply photography to his detective work, and invented the modern police mugshot

Monsieur Falla, murdered in his sleep, in the corridor of his apartment at 160 Rue du Temple in Paris, 1905. Around the edge of the picture is a measuring scale, which was another part of Bertillon's technique. He took precise notes, not just about his victims, but also the killers he caught so they could be identified in future

Assassination of Madame Lecomte at 74 Rue de Martys, Paris, France, 1902. Bertillon became so well known in his time that he was given a nob by the most famous detective of all. In The Hound Of The Baskervilles, one of Sherlock Holmes' clients tells him that he is 'the second highest expert in Europe' - prompting Holmes to praise 'the work of Monsieur Bertillon'

Pictured left, a body in a hotel, Paris, France, 1903. Right is the assassination of Mrs. Tusseaux, 6296 Avenue Marie-Laure, Paris, France, 1902. 

As well as creating the mugshot, Bertillon also pioneered a technique for preserving footprints and ballistics evidence and invented the dynamometer which measured the amount of force used during a break-in

Alphonse Betillion, was a French police officer and biometrics researcher, he invented an identification system based on physical measurements. He also invented the modern mug shot, using both profile and side-on views and standardised lighting.

Bertillion was so famous that in the Sherlock Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, a prospective client tells Sherlock he is only the 'second highest expert in Europe' in criminal matters to him.

Fictional detective Holmes admits himself that: 'To the man of precisely scientific mind, the work of Monsieur Bertillon must always appeal strongly.'

Bertillon was the first to recognise the importance of using photography to document a crime scene. 

It may seem obvious now but his genius was recognising that the position of the body, the murder weapon, the footprints and personal artifacts left behind were all imperative to solving cases.

Bertillon (pictured) was far from the first detective to photograph criminals - that credit goes to prisoner officers in Belgium in 1843, with England following suit shortly afterward in 1848. The Frenchman's invention, in 1888, was this style of mugshot, including both profile and side-on views with standardised lighting that is still used today

Left, is the discovery of a corpse on Rue Moreau, Paris, France, date unknown. Right is the discovery of corpse in the corridor, Paris, France, date unknown. 

While Bertillon was known as a great detective, he was also a key witness in the trial of Alfred Dreyfus in what would become known as The Dreyfus Affair - one of the most infamous miscarriages of justice in history

Pictured, assassination at number 7 Rue de la Lanneau, Paris, France, date unknown. Bertillon was called by prosecutors in the Dreyfus case where he provided evidence about the suspect's handwriting that saw him sentenced to 10 years in the imfamous Devil's Island jail. But Bertillon's evidence was later debunked as pseudo-science and the conviction quashed

An image of the body of Julia Guillemot, 6 rue des Boulets, Paris, France, 1903. While Bertillon's genius at detective work is well-recorded, he was also known as an eccentric, described as a 'necromancer' by one observer and 'certainly not in full possession of his faculties' by another

Another view of the body of Julia Guillemot, in which she has been rolled on to her side. Bertillon also pioneered a system of measurements to identify criminals, which was eventually superseded by fingerprinting, a method he laid the foundations for toward the end of his life

Writing about the image on the left, Bertillon said: 'On August 9, 1913, an elderly woman was found lying face down at 31 Rue des Rosiers in Saint-Ouen. The birds seen in their cages in the background seem to have been the only witnesses to the crime.' Of the right-hand image, he says: 'The knife held by the victim suggests a suicide, but the investigation proved that Mademoiselle Ferrari was killed by her lover, Monsieur Garnier, who stabbed her in the heart'

Assassination of Madame Lecomte at 74 Rue de Martys, Paris, France, 1902. Bertillon was among the first detectives to apply techniques of scientific observations and measurements to his work, and achieved fame across Europe for his success

Left, a body in a hotel, Paris, France, 1903. Right, an unidentified body found in Paris, France. 

Just five years after Bertillon joined the French police, the royal commissioner of police in Dresden wrote that Paris was the 'Mecca of police and Bertillon their prophet'

At the time there were those who doubted the relevance of photographing murder victims - considering it ghoulish and disrespectful to the deceased.

However, it soon became apparent how such macabre photographs helped solve crimes and Paris' police quickly became the envy of the world.

In 1884, the royal commissioner of police in Dresden wrote that Paris was the 'Mecca of police and Bertillon their prophet.'

Bertillon's anthropometric system would later be superseded by fingerprinting, but mug shots remain standard practice today.

Left, an unidentified murder scene with a corpse in Paris, France. Right, the bedroom of Madame Debeinche found dead on the floor of her apartment on 9 rue Chalgrin, Paris, France, on May 8, 1903. 

This image captures the aftermath of an attempted assassination - a bombing at the Louvre in a bid to murder the King of Spain Alphone XIII and President of France Emile Loubet. Twenty people were injured and one horse was killed

The caption of this picture reads 'the bedroom of the victim', without any further information. Bertillon's genius was recognising that it was not just motives and witnesses that led to solving crimes, but tiny details such as how the apartment was left after a crime

The body of Mrs Guerin found in Courbevoie, Paris, France, 1903. The caption does not make it clear where in this disordered apartment the corpse was found. Bertillon's photography also coincided with the birth of the press, and proved extremely useful in making public appeals for killers

This scene shows the methodology used to photograph a cadaver as part of a anthropometric identification prior to the autopsy. Bertillon developed the method for identifying both bodies and criminals, which involved nine precise measurements. It was later overtaken by fingerprinting

The messy appartment of murdered Madame Lecomte at 74 Rue de Martys, Paris, France, 1902. Perhaps unsurprisingly given his fastidious nature, Bertillon began his career in the police as a copyist and developed his investigative methods in his spare time after becoming exasperated with poor record-keeping in the department

The caption for the left-hand picture reads 'discovery of corpse in a pit' (bottom right), date unknown. Shown right is a murder scene in Paris, France, with no more details given

The caption for this undated picture simply says: Where the corpse was found. While Bertillon was known for his love of accurate descriptions and precise observations, it seems he did not apply this to every photo he took

The caption of this picture read: The house of the victim. Bertillon died in Paris in 1914, but the legacy of his work lives on to this day, not just in his techniques, but also in fiction. He has been name-dropped in many crime works, including modern-day TV series Archer and Sherlock-inspired show Elementary

An unidentified murder scene in Paris, France, 1903. While some of Bertillon's photographs reveal the violent nature of the murders in them, perhaps the most startling are the ones where no struggle appears to have taken place.

(The Mail, UK)