Cross-source linking
The same event often appears in WhatsApp ("running late"), SMS ("on my way"), and a dashcam timestamp. We collapse them into one timeline node so the judge sees the truth, not the chaos.
How it works
Six data sources. One narrative your case can stand on.
Family disputes hide in inboxes, group chats, voice notes, photo libraries and shared docs. We treat all six as one body of evidence, governed by the same chain of custody.
The pipelines
Each data source has its own ingest path and its own quirks. Here's what we do with each.
01 WhatsApp
Group + individual chats, iOS + Android.
- Accept .txt and .zip exports (with or without media). Auto-detect 12h/24h formats.
- Reconstruct the timeline, deduplicate quoted-reply fragments, attribute every message to an author.
- Resolve sticker, voice-note and media references against the export's media folder.
- Voice notes are transcribed (Whisper-class) and slotted in inline with their original timestamp.
- OCR any forwarded screenshots so their content is searchable too.
- Flag deleted messages, edits, and group-membership changes, judges care about these.
02 Email
.mbox, IMAP, Gmail/Outlook .eml dumps.
- Thread reconstruction across multiple replies and "Fwd: Fwd: Re:" chains.
- Header analysis: spoofed senders, delayed deliveries, BCC patterns, all preserved as metadata.
- Attachment extraction: spreadsheets parsed, PDFs OCR'd, images metadata-stripped (then re-attached).
- Link expansion for short URLs so you see what was actually shared.
- Calendar invites converted to time-line events automatically.
03 SMS / iMessage
iOS backups, Android exports, carrier dumps.
- Read iOS sms.db extractions and Android XML/CSV exports. Carrier PDFs OCR'd.
- MMS picture and video messages preserved, transcribed where audio.
- Cross-reference with the user's contacts so "+44 7..." becomes the right name throughout.
- Detect and flag two-factor codes and automated marketing so the human-to-human signal stays clean.
04 Audio recordings
Voicemails, handover recordings, mediation sessions.
- Transcription with speaker diarisation ("Person A said:" / "Person B said:") and confidence scores.
- Time-aligned highlight clips: jump straight to the relevant 12-second segment.
- Background noise and silence trimming for a cleaner courtroom playback.
- Cross-reference recorded statements with chat messages from the same window.
05 Video
Doorbell camera, dashcam, mobile-phone clips.
- Audio extraction → transcription pipeline (same as audio recordings).
- Frame-level OCR for any on-screen text or timestamps burned into the footage.
- Object/scene detection: handover scenes, vehicle plates, presence of children, surfaced as evidence tags.
- Stamp metadata preservation: original timezone, device, GPS, codec, all retained for authenticity.
06 Photos
Camera roll exports, shared albums, forwarded screenshots.
- EXIF: date, time, GPS, device, edited/not-edited. Critical for "when and where was this taken".
- OCR for any text in the image: handwritten notes, receipts, screenshots of websites.
- Reverse-lookup against the chat timeline: was this photo sent or just stored?
- Optional facial detection (consented use only) for "who appears in which photos".
What happens after ingest
Pattern detection
"Late handovers": automatically flagged when promised and actual times diverge by more than 15 minutes across multiple events. Same for missed payments, ignored medical decisions, school-pickup failures.
Bundle export
A page-numbered PDF, indexed and paginated to the standard court bundle format (family or civil). It carries an exhibit list, a chronology and a source manifest, and every page carries an SHA-256 hash so the other side can verify it has not been tampered with.
The output
What makes a document “court-ready”
A court-ready document isn’t just a tidy PDF. In UK proceedings it has to satisfy the court’s rules on bundles, authenticity and disclosure, and survive challenge from the other side. Here is the anatomy LegallyHeard builds into every export.
Anatomy of a court-ready bundle
- Front sheet & case heading — court, case number, parties, and what the document is.
- Paginated throughout — continuous page numbers so any line can be cited as “p. 47, line 12”, aligned to the court’s bundle expectations (e.g. Family PD 27A).
- Index / table of contents — every section and exhibit listed with its page.
- Chronology — a dated, neutral sequence of events with a source reference for each entry.
- Exhibit list & labelling — each piece of evidence given a reference (e.g. “Exhibit JS-1”) and cross-referenced from the statement.
- Source manifest — what was ingested, from which device/export, when, and its original file hash.
- Message extracts in context — clusters, not cherry-picked single lines, each with a full timestamp (date and time).
- Statement of truth block — the wording a witness signs to verify the facts, ready to complete.
- Integrity / authenticity — a SHA-256 hash on every page plus an audit log, so the other side can verify nothing was altered between intake and export.
- Redaction layer — irrelevant third parties, minors and sensitive data removed on a controlled, logged pass.
LegallyHeard formats the document to these conventions. Whether a specific document is admitted in a specific hearing is always a matter for the court, and LegallyHeard does not provide legal advice.
IN THE FAMILY COURT SITTING AT [•]
Case No: [••••••]
BETWEEN:
[Applicant] — Applicant
and
[Respondent] — Respondent
EXHIBIT “JS-1” — CHRONOLOGY OF MESSAGES
28 Feb 2025 18:33Respondent“don’t make this about me”
28 Feb 2025 18:37Respondent“keep it up and I’ll make sure you never see her again”
28 Feb 2025 18:39Applicant“That’s a threat. I’m keeping this message.”
SHA-256: 9f2c…a71e
Page 47 of 112
Statement of truth
“I believe that the facts stated in this document are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.”
Signed ……………… · Dated ………………
Illustrative sample. Placeholders shown in [brackets].
Want to see the pipeline run?
Our in-browser demo runs the WhatsApp leg of the pipeline live on your machine, with nothing uploaded.