The journalists quickly decided they needed expert advice on ballistics and explosives, to which end they engaged Lieutenant Colonel George Styles, GC, a retired British Army officer who had served as a bomb-disposal officer in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Styles arrived in Gibraltar on 23 March, and immediately went to inspect the car park where Savage had parked the white Renault on the day of the shootings, after which he walked through the town along what the journalists believed was the IRA members' most likely route. When asked his opinion by the journalists, Styles cast doubt on the authorities' stated reasons for the shootings. He explained to the journalists that, had Savage's white Renault contained a substantial bomb, the weight would have been evident on the vehicle's springs. Styles also felt that the potential bomb was unlikely to have been detonated with a remote detonator on account of the buildings between the scenes of the shootings and the likelihood that it would be drowned out by other radio signals in the area. Finally, the journalists asked Styles to examine the scenes of the shootings, including ricochet marks that the soldiers' bullets had left on the pumps at the petrol station where McCann and Farrell were shot.