Machine to distinguish handwriting.
A machine that recognises handwriting could be perfected within a year.
Scientists say the computer will be accurate enough for use in court cases.
Threatening letters and forged cheques could be linked to suspects and used as evidence.
The machine was originally designed as an automatic address-reading system by postal workers.
Experts at the University of Buffalo in the US have programmed it to pick out differences in writing samples.
They claim the technology is accurate 98% of the time according to Beyond 2000.
A spokesman for the university says: "The idea that everyone's handwriting is different is taken for granted. What we have done is to develop purely scientific criteria for that premise".
