The Forensic Science Service is turning to insect experts at the Natural History Museum to help them to solve murders and other crimes.

Insects present on the bodies of murder victims can help to establish times of death, sometimes more accurately than standard pathology. But scientists say that squeamishness and a false perception that it is a crude technique have led to forensic entomology being undervalued.

Now the Forensic Science Service (FSS) has enlisted a roster of experts, including scientists at the Natural History Museum in London, who will be available to assess criminal evidence.

Martin Hall, an entomologist at the Natural History Museum, is working with the FSS on the new service. In court lawyers tend to label it as an inexact science, he says. “But it’s as precise as any other biological evidence.”

Dr Hall draws comparisons with the use of maggots in medicine, which sounds “a bit Victorian”, but is now recognised as a highly effective tool.

Previously, insect evidence was admitted in court. But to obtain an expert opinion police had to approach individual academics directly or employ private companies, which the FSS claims are subject to little regulation. “People can call themselves a forensic entomology service, but there could be quality issues,” said Andy Hart, an FSS scientist.

He said that the new service would raise the profile of the technique within the police force and provide a reassurance of quality.

Forensic entomology has played a critical role in a number of big cases, including the investigation of the Soham murders. In particular, it can be a more reliable means of establishing time of death.

Dr Hart said: “Under some circumstances, such as when a body has been burnt, or if it is badly decomposed, it can be difficult to ascertain a time of death using traditional pathology techniques.”

Typically, entomologists measure the development of insects and the number of generations present. Insects might include blowfly and their larvae, beetles and ants. Taking into account the weather, they can then work out the age of the insects present, which gives a minimum time that the body has been at the site.

The technique can also be useful in cold climates, in which little decomposition takes place. In one disappearance case, a man who had last been seen in November 2003 was found in a ditch in February 2004. A pathologist estimated that he had been there for two weeks. But entomological evidence showed that he had died in mid-November, around the time he went missing.

This helped establish that the man had accidently fallen into the ditch and died from a broken spine.

Insects can also offer clues to the cause of death. In the case of drug intoxication, for instance, the body might be too decomposed to obtain a blood sample. But traces of the drug might still be detectable in insects that had been living on the body.

Times Recommends

• Margot Fonteyn: In her footsteps
• Forget beautiful people, let's have wonky Brits
• Fundamentalist brew: faith and power