Brighton, as the saying goes, looks like a town that’s helping the police with their inquiries.

And it was this undercurrent of criminality that was to the fore at this enthralling Brighton Science Festival event.

The scenario was a simple one: a scuffle between two men, a stabbing and a corpse on the ground. It’s something that, sadly, happens every weekend somewhere in the UK.

Two police officers - one retired, one active - take us through the procedures followed, giving us a taste of the type of work involved, especially the painstaking approach to evidence gathering.

“Don’t think it’s like Morse,” we were told.

And it quickly became plain that it took more than a couple of pints and a mulling over of the Times crossword to crack a crime.

The real eye-opener was the wide range of responses from the audience to the event they witnessed.

As one of the officers remarked wryly, there are not many murders with 150 witnesses. Yet few observers could give an accurate picture of the assailant.

In truth, there was little science involved in the evening and it would have been good to hear from a forensic specialist too.

But this was a fascinating insight into a world that we all hope will pass us by.

Four stars