CCTV cameras are placed around one location

"The combination of poor lighting, small images with low resolution and footage recorded on video tape, which is subject to distortion and noise, means generating clear and identifiable profiles is often not possible," explained Mr Robinson.

The new processing system first imports a selection of poor quality images into a computer as a series of still frames taken from different angles.

A mugshot is a composite of stills

The operator marks key features and characteristics of the face by plotting a series of markers on to the images.

An electronic "mesh" frame is then generated by the software and moulded onto the images, linking the highlighted key features and mapping the textures of the face.

A "mesh " is superimposed to get the 3D effect

Finally the program gathers common features such as the eyes, nose, mouth and hairline from the range of "mesh" models and joins them together to generate a 3D model of the face and head.

When fully developed, the process could remove the need for human monitoring of security camera footage.

In October 1998, Newham Council in London, began a trial of CCTV technology which hoped to automatically recognise the faces of known criminals and alert police.