Play it safe

Every now and then a keen gardener, a developer or a metal detector enthusiast will discover bones during their adventures.

My force, like most forces, will have a protocol for dealing with such incidents as and when they arise.

The idea is to treat any find as a potential scene until it can be determined that it isn't.

Play it safe. Works well.

I'd been in the office towards the end of my shift for an hour or so already. I was catching up on some paperwork, a regular challenge in this line of work, when the phone rang.

It was the control room for the division in which my station is based. This isn't normally the division I cover, just where my station is. I didn't know the controller so the conversation was brief.

"I've got a Sergeant over at Anytown Station who has a bone"

Now, I'm not sure if this was a deliberate play on words or not. In the split second it took me to reply, all sorts of witty comments went through my mind, shall I?

Better not. Play it safe.

"Righto. What's his number, I'll give him a call" I said.

The Sergeant was also a stranger to me, this happens a lot due to the size of my force. Even on the division where I spend most of my time, it's difficult to meet the same Officer more than once. When you do, it's like you've met an old friend!

I've learnt to make friends with the DS's and DI's. These are the people that want to know what I think when I am at a scene. It makes it easier if you are on good terms. Some CSIs I know have feuds with some of the DI's (for good reason) but it doesn't half make it awkward when they get together at a scene.

We can't like everyone, nor expect everyone to like us, we are all human after all.

I rang the Sergeant at Anytown Station and asked him about the job. He told me that this bone had been discovered at an allotment whilst they were turning over the soil.

I've heard that there are waiting lists for allotments that are longer than the waiting list to be in the audience of Top Gear.

Seriously? A shed and some soil?

 "It looks like a child's hip bone" the Sergeant said.

He doesn't want to be saying things like this for two reasons. One, it scares me, and two, it scares the DI in CID.

The Sergeant thought it'd be a good idea to put the bone in a Tesco carrier bag and take it back to Anytown Station in his car. Not a great problem if he knew it wasn't human, but he's told me already he thinks it's a child's hip bone!

I ask a few questions about the allotment and who is guarding the scene. They are rhetorical questions. I know no one is guarding the scene.

They should be.

It turns out that the allotments have been locked up and the owner is aware that we may, at any point, come back and excavate his radishes.

I ask the Sergeant to carefully bring the bone to me at CSI HQ.

"Straight away, CSI Guy." I could hear a quiver in his voice. I think he's just realised that he may actually have the remains of a person on the back seat of his panda in a carrier bag.

Really, the only person who can say whether a bone is human or not is a Forensic Archaeologist. I can have a go, but it'd need confirming.

Some forces have Forensic Archaeologists, some don't. Some are available 24/7, some aren't. It turns out that I had the number for one who was on call 24/7. I gave her a call and asked her if I could send some photos to her to have a look at.

"Go for it CSI Guy, I'll call you straight back."

This sort of service is invaluable. This Archaeologist could get a call from any one of the UK Police forces at any time day or night, to look at a bone. She is always willing to help.

I bet her husband loves her getting up at 0400 to have a look at photos of bones sent by Police Officers. No play on words, honest.

I meet the Sergeant in the car park and lead him to the examination room, he's holding the carrier bag in his hands, palms face up and at arms length.

I've mentioned before how particular I am with my photos. I like them to be right. In the examination room we have use of a copy stand, it's like a table top tripod, but isn't.

The Sergeant puts the carrier bag on the desk next to the copy stand and stands back. I can sense his relief, he's passed it to me now, not his problem.

I prepare my camera, format my memory card and fix the camera to the copy stand.

I put brown paper over the copy stand base, I don't want bones on the copy stand. I put two pairs of gloves on.

I take the bone out of the carrier bag with my right hand, there's a receipt in the bag, Walkers salt and vinegar crisps and a prawn and mayonaise sandwich.

"Not mine!" the Sergeant says.

I smile at him and raise my eyebrows.

I turn the bone around in one hand, looking at each side of it.

It looks like a hip bone to me, it looks odd though, which I hope means that it isn't human.

"I think it's human" I said to the Sergeant.

He went pale and quiet. He used an expletive. I didn't let on then I was having him on.

"Lets photograph it and get it off to the Forensic Archaeologist" I said.

He nodded in agreement. "Play it safe" he said.

It was mean I know, I shouldn't have strung him along like that.

I took a series of photos with and without a scale. I took a photograph of each side, one edge of the bone appeared as if something had damaged it. It was sharp.

The photos took about ten minutes.

During this time, the Sergeant was on the computer in the examination room, using Google to find images of human hip bones.

What would the Police service do without Google? Seriously. I use it a lot. I often use my iPhone to google names of things, locations and postcodes. It's great.

I left the bone on the copy stand. Depending on the reply from the Forensic Archaeologist, will depend on what I do with the bone.

I took my CF card out of the camera and went to the office. The Sergeant stayed in the exam room. I got to the car park and realised he wasn't with me. I walked back to the exam room and he's stood where I left him. I look at him and say "You alright Sarge?"

"Oh, I'm coming with you? Right, of course."

I emailed the photos to the Forensic Archaeologist and within ten minutes she called back.

It's a cow she said. That's the answer we all wanted. I'm sure she was a little disappointed though. Imagine how many photos she studies and how very few of them are bones from humans.

The Sergeant was distracted with his Blackberry. I put the phone down and completed my report on the computer.

I turned and looked at him. He looked up from his phone and smiled. I explained that the phone call was from the Forensic Archaeologist.

"She said it's human"

He put his head in his hands.

"I'm joking, it's a cow!"

He called me every name under the sun. Twice. He shook my hand, said thanks and left.

I'd always reccommend that Officers take extra precautions at jobs like these. It's difficult to backtrack at a later stage. It turned out that there use to be a slaughter house near the allotments and the bones are likely to be from that. It had been chewed by a rat or two over the years. No dramas.

The bone is still on my desk in a window box. I don't want to throw it away. I'll use it at school talks or training inputs.

Cultivation

You'll hear them referred to as 'farms' or 'factories', the reality is they rarely look anything like a farms or factories.

In this job I have seen hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of Cannabis plants. Probably more.

People who go and see their local dealer "Rob" or "Dave" don't realise, or choose to ignore the fact, that it is this demand that creates the need for these factories to be constructed.

Its just a ten bag.

I turned in to work in the middle of a set of shifts. It was a Sunday. I was on an earlies, 0700 start. I often find myself at my desk at about 0630 anyway. It gives me a chance to have a cup of tea and some toast.

Butter or Jam? Its a very difficult decision at this hour. An Inspector once told me that toast tastes better when cut in triangles. I think he's right.

I switch my radio on when I get in. I have a clip on my belt where the radio lives all day. Wherever I go, the radio goes. I've learnt to listen to the radio when performing other tasks. My ears perk up when I hear SOCO or CSI. It's normally an Officer adding a job to our list. Sometimes Officers will ask for advice over the air.

I heard the words 'Cannabis Factory' and 'SOCO'. That job is mine. My favourite jobs are arsons. My second favourite jobs are Cannabis factories.

I answer the call over the radio, having a 'talkthrough' with the Officer. This is a conversation over the air with another person, whilst everyone else can hear. The control room just keep quiet. It's always polite to thank the control room. I mentioned before about keeping the control room happy.

"CSI Guy to Control, thank you, over"

The other CSI I was on with was busying himself with writing a statement for CPS, that was required that morning. He was more than happy to leave me to go to the Cannabis factory.

"Crack on CSI Guy" He said, barely looking up from his keyboard as he used his index fingers alternately, to type.

I finished my cold toast and tea and sent a few replies to emails.

I got my cases and put them in the van, most things I'll need at a Cannabis factory will be in my case, the rest will be in the van.

Driving that early on a Sunday is a breeze. Journeys that would normally take half an hour can be done in ten minutes.

I stopped outside the house where the Police car was. It's a giveaway and saves me looking for house numbers.

I stood for a second and looked down the road. It was just a normal street, a row of houses on each side, most had driveways where gardens should have been. Curtains were still pulled. This street was still asleep, like most in the City on a Sunday morning.

I like to have a look at the scene before I take my cases in. I find it helpful to plan the way in which I'll do things.

I spoke to the bobby at the front door. I could smell the cannabis, I find it hard to believe that these places go unnoticed for so long. I gave the bobby my collar number and name. He'd not been there long, he was still in good spirits.

I walked inside. It was a two storey, semi-detached house. It was a nice house, normal.

Many of these factories are often booby trapped. Not always to harm members of my establishment but to keep others out and protect the crop. Before I'm allowed inside, policy says the electricity board needs to attend and confirm it's safe to enter. This often results in the electric supply being terminated.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-12655861 This is a BBC News story relating to a booby trapped house in Bedford.

To avoid detection and large energy bills, the electricity supply is often bypassed. Normally in a very poor way. It may appear a clever idea, but the reality is that it's extremely dangerous.

Inside, this place was wrecked. It was clear that this house had been rented solely for the purpose of cultivation. The landlord has no idea how much the repairs are going to cost, and most insurers will probably wriggle their way out of any claim.

My torch lit up a system of silver ducting through the walls and ceilings. The reflecting light catching the wall and ceiling as it hit the curved section of the ducting. The ducting finished in the loft space. Each and every room had plants at various stages of growth and there was soil everywhere.

The gardener wasn't very neat. I doubt he'll be getting a reference.

I placed a yellow photo number marker in each room, I number the rooms to show where I recover items from. With each room being a mini greenhouse, it's difficult to decide which room is the front room and which is the bedroom.

The kitchen was a state. It was however cleaner than some of the kitchens I've seen in 'normal' houses. There was a plate of cooked fish on the side. It was covered in flies and it stank. I see this a lot at Cannabis factories. I don't know if the people who look after the house really like fish or more likely, it's used to mask the smell.

There was a double mattress on the floor next to the rear door. This was home for some unlucky soul. There were empty Jaffa Cake boxes next to the mattress. Someone loves Jaffa Cakes as much as me.

This factory had been discovered after a break in. A neighbour had seen unfamiliar people going over the back fence with their faces covered. I wouldn't recognise someone with their face covered either.

It's a shame the local nominals found out about this place before the Police. It's just the way it happens now.


They wanted some of the plants; actually, they wanted them all.

They had of course fled before the Police arrived. One was chased and detained by a Policeman with a German Shepherd Dog on the end of his arm. I think he suffered a gentle lick or two. I'm led to believe no pain was involved.

Once the photo markers were down, I took photos from the front garden to the loft. Everything inside the house was captured at least twice on film.

I use my flashgun with a hotshoe cable, this means I can direct the flash where I want it to go. With so many obstructions, shadows can be a problem but I make an effort to eliminate as many as I can.

What was the master bedroom now resembled The Eden Project.

There were lights hanging from the ceiling, eight of them, suspended from the ceiling by thin metal chains. The light bulbs were shaped like large test tubes. Great for fingerprints.

There were probably around 25 plants in black plastic pots. There was no soil in these pots but dirty orange clay pebbles, apparently the balance of nutrients in some soil isn't as good as the pebbles.

The walls in this room were covered with plastic sheeting. The sheeting was black on one side and white on the other, I believe is the idea of this is to avoid heat detection equipment from Police helicopters.

There was a system of black boxes screwed on a piece of chipboard on the wall. These boxes were electric transformers, each slightly smaller than a shoe box. There were enough power extension cables here to light up Disneyland. There were a number of timers set to operate the lights on a cycle.

I like photographing the timers with my macro lens. I fill the frame with the timer, the detail is incredible. The period of light and dark the plants have, can determine what stage of growth it is at.

I like to try and collect a piece of evidence from each room. I don't like giving up on a room until I find something that I'm satisfied with. I wanted a piece of that sheeting, there's had to be prints on there. I knelt down to my case and took out my multi tool from the void carefully crafted into the foam in my case, it lives there.

When it's not being used, that's where it'll be.

I flicked the knife open with one hand, it clicked into place. I started to slice through the sheeting. I feel like Ray Mears. No, I'm Bear Grylls. He's awesome.


I cut out a section of the sheet, I could hear it ripping as I sliced trhough it. I stuck a small white label on the reverse. The label had the exhibit reference on it, my initials, CSI, and a number, 7. I then folded the piece of sheet up and placed it inside a tamper evident bag.

I carry a small plastic container with me into jobs like this. Jobs where I know I'll have many exhibits. This allows me to keep them altogether and clean and tidy.

After a few minutes, you get use to the smell. It's rather pungent. Sweet. The house is full of this smell. I notice it when I go in and out of the house. It stays on my clothes for hours.

Cannabis plants go through a number of 'growth' stages. I've made it my business to understand these stages and how to identify them. I'm surprised that the books I've bought from Amazon haven't triggered a knock at the door! Cannabis run through the cycle of germination, seedling, vegetative growth and flowering.

I don't like dealing with something that I don't understand. If this happens, I'll often research it.

I've got two roles at this scene. I need to collect evidence for the cultivation, but I also need to gather evidence for the burglary offence.

I often feel that I've cleaned the place up a little whilst I've been there. I stack things as I go, then I know I've dealt with them.

I know that Officers have been through this place before I arrived, they needed to make sure there were no offenders lurking anywhere. I'm always weary of noises though. A colleague of mine found the 'gardener' hiding below floor boards at one of these not that long ago.

The plants are seized by the Officers, once I've done. They take two plants at each stage of growth. The best bet is to take two from each room, the 'gardener' will often have each growth stage in a separate room.


The plants are taken out of the soil, the roots are knocked to remove excess soil. They are then placed in brown bags. If the plants are taken in pots with soil, then the Police themselves continue to cultivate the cannabis.

Not something you'd want the Daily Mail to get hold of.

I probably spent about two hours at the scene. The length of time these scenes take often depends on how big they are. A colleague of mine, just the other day, went to a factory with around 3,000 plants. He was there a number of hours.

I needed to head back to the Office to write the job up straight after this job. There was someone in custody, I needed to present my evidence to assist with any interviews or charging decisions.

I stopped at MacDonald's on the way back. I was just hungry, I could see the girl at the window look at me in an odd manner, then I realised, she could smell the Cannabis! I'm glad I'm in an unmarked van.

CSI Guy

Sexual Assault

After reading the 'Jizz Inspectors' by Sue Carney - http://www.lilaclounge.me/, it reminded me of a scene that I had attended. I haven't yet blogged about rape or sexual offences.

It's difficult to say how common this type of offence is. I work for a large force, and like other crimes, we see a larger number of rapes than a smaller force would.

I was on call on this particular day and had got home at about 2330 hours. I often work over on a late shift. There's no one to hand work to if you haven't had time to finish it.

I hadn't eaten properly during my shift, unless you count the two Fox's Custard Creams that is.

My better half had made dinner earlier in the evening and had set some aside for me. I flicked the switch on the kettle, and put my bowl of food in the microwave.

I made tea.

I sat down and put the television on. I find it difficult to go home and go straight to bed, I need time to switch off and shut down.

After a few episodes of QI on Dave, I went to bed at about 0145 and went straight to sleep.

I was dreaming about the Royal Wedding when I was rudely awoken by my iPhone vibrating and ringing, getting louder and louder.

I'd imagine that only a second had passed, but in this time I thought it was my alarm clock, and it was time to get up. Then I thought I was in the house I use to live in. Then I thought, don't ask why, that I was in fact ringing someone myself.

"Hello" I said in a panicked voice.

"CSI Guy it's CSI Supervisor, you ok?"

"I'm sweaty" I said. I'm sweaty!? What on earth possessed me to say that? This was a supervisor I hadn't even met! She didn't really know me.

"Too much information" She said with a giggle.

"Um, yea, uh, sorry, what can I do for you?"

She then went on to explain the details of the call out, the DS who wanted a phonecall from me when I got in, and the log number and address of the job. The supervisor will often ask if I have a pen, I always say yes and pretend to write things down, reading out loud what I am meant to be writing down.

"Seevvveen, Plannnt Streeeeet"

The thing is, the job will be a piece of cake to find on the system when I get to the nick, so writing this down now is pointless. I always read the log to ensure nothing has been missed, the information often goes through three or more people before I get the phone call. It does no harm in spending ten minutes when I get in to double check everything.

I hung the phone up and walked back towards the bedroom, where my uniform was.

I looked at the clock. It was only 0226, I'd been in bed for no more than 41 minutes. It had felt like I had slept for hours. I mean, in my dream, I had been to Westminster and back!

I had a quick shower and got changed. I was in the office within twenty five minutes.

The scene was inside. It's unusual to get a call out to an indoor scene. If it's indoors, it can usually be preserved until 0700 when the other CSIs come on duty. This avoids unnecessary overtime.

For one reason or another, it was decided that I was needed at the scene sooner rather than later.

A rape was reported to have taken place at an address on the other side of the City. There was a bobby on scene guard at the front of the property.

There is always an urge to get scenes processed as soon as possible, not as quickly as possible. The problem with rushing in and scooping everything up is that it can can mean that if something comes to light later on, it may be too late to change the way the scene is processed.

Some scenes can often be processed the same way, burglaries for example. I go in, have a short talk with the victim and crack on. Fingerprint everything the offender has/may have touched, take items for chemical treatment and look for other forensic opportunities.

With a rape, the full circumstances need to be obtained before I go and start the scene. This if for many reasons, reasons that probably don't need explaining here.

I had a full brief on the circumstances from the DS.

I checked that I had a condom module kit or two in the van- I did. I grabbed a few other bits that may come in useful.

The condom module kit comes sealed. There's a sterile plastic tub and lid. When the lid clicks down, it can't be removed without breaking the seal. There's a blue clip to put on the open end of the condom and a tamper evident bag to put everything in for transport.

The clip is like the sort of thing you clamp around your bag of peas for the freezer, only smaller. It keeps fluid on the inside, inside; and the fluid on the outside, outside.

I drove to the scene, past a football ground. The area around the football ground is eerie. I don't like it. The plus side is, there's a CCTV camera on each street corner. I don't like football.

I got to the scene within about fifty minutes of the call. The bobby had been there for about two hours at this point. He knew very little. About the scene that is. I'm sure he knew lots about other things.

I opened the front door and walked in, it stank. I couldn't put my finger on the smell, I don't think I wanted to.

I walked into each room, one at a time, making notes.

The kitchen, or the room that was meant to be the kitchen, was full of rubbish. I get grief when I leave a plate next to sink overnight- "It washes easier if you do it straight away..." She moans.

This place was something else. The only way this place would be clean is if a team of five gutted it out and started again.

It turns out the property was residence for a lone male. The property however was meant to be empty. I think there was some discrepancy over ownership. That was what we were being told anyway.

The downstairs living room had a single bed in one corner. There was a small coffee table next to the bed with various pieces of debris on it. There were magazines everywhere, old magazines. I saw something dated 1996.

I went through the upstairs rooms. They were full of boxes and inside the boxes were possessions. They look like possessions of an elderly person. I thought that maybe the old occupant of the property had passed or moved away. Irrelevant anyway, the offender wasn't elderly.

The bathroom was at the front of the house. It was dark, the light didn't work. The light tends to blow in the bathroom more than anywhere else in a house. I have no idea why. I know that's where I'd want a light. I used my crime lite to look around. The bright white light caught something in the bowl, it was a mix of faeces and paper. I held my breath.

The offender wasn't in custody. I had to gather evidence to be used when he was arrested. This was his residence, if you could call it that, I had to collect the evidence before he returned. The officer was there to make sure I was safe and to arrest the offender should he return. Someone's got my back.

Once I made my notes, I went back to the van. It was nice to walk into the cold night air. I had a slight sweat on. I think it's because my body knew I was meant to be in bed.

I took the gloves I had on, off. I was about to touch my camera, I didn't want anything from the house on my camera. I put two new pairs on. This meant that if I touched something dirty, I could take that glove off and still have gloves on. It makes my hands wrinkly though.

I went back into the house and took photos of each room. I take the photos so that anyone viewing the album feels like they are 'walking' through the scene. If I photograph something of interest, I will take a general shot to show it's location in the scene and then a slightly closer shot and then a close up shot using my macro lens. My macro lens shows an immense level of detail. I can take a photo so close, that the item will fill the frame.

Once I had finished the photographs I went outside. The officer was just as bored as when I had arrived. Up to this point, I had probably been there for at least an hour already. The officer had a small supply of bottled water, it was a welcome gift. I took a few minutes outside having a drink of water and talking about allsorts.

I thought to myself, "I hope he doesn't ask me about football" I haven't got a fricking clue.

We finished our chit chat and I got ready to collect evidence. I put a white suite on at this stage. This was for two reasons. The first, the property was a hole. I wanted to go home without any of the house left on my clothes. Secondly, I was going to be looking for used condoms now. I don't fancy spermatozoa on my work boots.

I had a mask on at this point as I would be close to evidence that could contain DNA. I don't want the FSS to identify me as the offender. That'd be a career buster.

The single mattress had no bed sheets on it. It had a variety of stains all over it. There's two ways of recovering these stains. I could cut the top of the mattress off and bag it up, or I could just take the whole thing. We have bags for mattresses.

I turned it over, initially to search underneath. When I looked at the underside, there was a large stain. It was a body fluid but not the obvious one. This stain gave cause for concern, this meant the mattress had to be seized, in it's entirety.

I can't get a mattress into a bag alone. I went and spoke to the bobby and helped him into a scene suit. It took us a few minutes but we managed it, though it was a bit like an episode of The Chuckle Brothers.

We struggled down the hallway and outside to the van. It was the early hours of the morning but I could still see people watching us. There was one female across the street in a first floor window. There was a net curtain, that she thought kept her from view. I could see her, watching. I wonder what she thought was in this large bag.

The Officer kept his suit on after that and stood at the door. Maybe he thought I may need his help again, maybe he liked the suit?

I searched the upstairs rooms and recovered a couple of items of clothing. These items could belong the victim. They were in my photos, to show the location.

I didn't find anything in the kitchen, amongst the piles of rubbish. I find searching rubbish both interesting and disgusting at the same time, you can tell a lot about someone by looking at their rubbish.

This guy loved chicken, KFC in particular.

Chicken bones, mayonnaise, sweetcorn, tissues, boxes, receipts, crisp packets, tea bags and a sock, a sock? There's always rubbish that you can't figure out what exactly it is.

I got to the hallway and the understairs cupboard. There were two black bin liners of rubbish, I opened the first and started to sort through it. Luckily, there was an unused bucket next to them. I put the things I wasn't interested in into this.

I wonder when the bins were last collected? Are the bin men on strike? Is this guy on strike? There was weeks worth of rubbish here.

I'd gotton used to the smell by now, this wasn't an issue. There was the odd fly that wanted to know what was in the bag too. Probably hungry, there was plenty for him to eat. I worked my way through the rubbish, I thought it was going to be a wasted task. It wasn't.

I quickly found a torn condom wrapper, things are looking good. There's got to be a condom in here somewhere, right?

Halfway down, on the side of a KFC Pepsi Max cup was a used condom. I removed a pair of gloves and took a close up photo of the condom's location.

I fastened the blue clip over the end of the condom and placed it delicately into the container. I clicked the lid down and put it into the tamper evident bag and then sealed it.

Now, I didn't know which rubbish bag was the most recent. Just because I had found a condom and wrapper, I still had to look through the rest. I worked my way through both bags. This took some time, but in total I found four condom wrappers and five condoms.

The incident I was investigating was one act of sexual intercourse. Where were these other condoms from? A girlfriend? One night stands? Other victims?

I found the last wrapper in the beans tub, inside a KFC box, inside a carrier bag.

No stone unturned.

I gathered all of the evidence together and loaded the van. I carefully took my suit off, ensuring that the outside of the suit didn't touch me, or my clothes. I put that into a brown bag I had made for rubbish and then took my gloves off, turning them inside out as I did. Gloves are always last off.

I did one last sweep of the place to ensure I had everything that belonged to me and headed off.

It only took my a short while to get everything written up and a report filed. The condoms went in the freezer.

I headed home just as the first early crew were coming in the door. Time for bed and probably Westminster again.

CSI Guy

Cup of tea?

I was on late shift, 1400-2200, I got into the office slightly early as I needed to sort a few things out.

I only had one job to go to, which is unusually a quiet start to the shift. I knew I had to get some statements typed up and sent out for a couple of serious jobs I'd attended recently. One related to a murder investigation, the DC had asked me to complete it as soon as possible. The album of photographs had already been on my desk for three days.

I like looking at my photos in print. Although the photo lab had put one of my photos in on the wrong alignment. That bugs me. I like things to be right.

It only took me an hour or so to get the statements sorted and the albums exhibited for court.

I left the office for the burglary on another division. The bobby at the job had point to pointed (ptp) me for advice.

The airwave radios we use allow us to have a personal conversaion between two users. This avoids taking up space on the normal channel, the control room can continue to despatch officers to other jobs. This is known as point to point.

It turns out the offender had been disturbed by the occupants and had run through gardens to get away. In the panic and fence hopping, the offender had dropped his woolly hat.

Bonus.

The Forensic Science Service work very hard to abstract DNA from items such as hats for me, well, us.

I gave some advice to the officer about how to recover the hat and how to preserve any DNA for me.

When I got to the address, the officer had already moved off to the next job. I fingerprinted a number of the things, including the point of entry and the games console cases dropped in the garden.

I was stood in the kitchen when the occupant offerred me a cup of tea. I could see the state of the kitchen, it wasn't like my kitchen. "No thanks, I don't drink hot drinks" Which was a complete lie. A white one however.

I quickly became aware of very distinctive glove marks. Its always disappointing. I double check that the occupants havent worn gloves inside for any reason. I never stop fingerprinting straight away when I find glovemarks, for two reasons.

The first reason, there may be more than one offender, the second offender may not be wearing gloves. It happens, a lot.

The second reason, demonstrated very well by an Officer recently. When you are weaing gloves, performing certain tasks can become difficult. It only takes one slip of the mind, to whip a glove off and complete the task without the hassle of a glove.

At this particular address, the offenders weren't inside for very long and had touched very little. I found glovemarks on all the items they handled. I sealed the wolly hat up and left.

I was passed another job to photograph a poor old chap at the local hospital who had an argument with an axe. Well, the argument was with the person holding the axe, which was repeatedly struck on his head. Blade side.

He'd been on the ward for a couple of days.

I don't like hospitals. They are full of germs. The parking is a nightmare too. I found a large box which said, NO PARKING. I parked there. I checked in with Security, who confirmed that space was often used for the 'likes of you'. The likes of you? What did he mean by that? Smile and walk away CSI Guy.

I got to the ward and spoke with some lovely nurses on the ward reception desk. They had a little joke about my Hummer and CSI:NY. I made a joke about Holby City. They asked if I wanted a cup of tea. Two offers in one day.

Now, tea at the hospital was likely to be a good idea. it would probably be in a disposable cup, which hadn't been used before and was likely to be from a machine. It would also be made by a nurse, who wouldn't do anything untoward. I didn't have time though. Injury photographs take no time at all. I told them I'll come back for the tea another day.

I'll add that ward to the list of tea stops.

The gent with the head injuries was sleeping. The nurse woke him up to take his blood pressure reading so I got in straight after that. I took a number of photos, one of his head and shoulders, so when we look at the album in months to come, we know who it it. I then took a number of close up photos of the injuries with a scale. I used my macro lens.

I enjoy taking photos, they're normally not of stapled head wounds though.

I had another two burglaries to go to after the hospital. They were both next to each other in a block of flats.

I had heard of the estate before, I knew where it was but hadn't been there yet. It's on a different division to where I normally work. I parked outside and I wasn't impressed. It looked horrid.

I got my van from the back of the van and walked towards the front door. Beer cans littered the pathway outside, there was a used condom and a distinct smell of Cannabis coming from an address nearby.

This will be fun, I thought.

I knocked at the door which swung open, it had been broken in during the burgalry. I saw a figure approach the porch door through the marbled glass. The door was opened by an eighty year old female. She was a lovely person. Her flat was tidy, clean and had lots of photos of grandchildren. One showed a young lad with a vest and shorts on at a sports day.

She saw me look at it, and said "That's Tommy. he's twelve now. He won that race"

It looked like the offenders had picked the whole flat up, shook it and dropped it back down again. There were things everywhere. She had kept coins in coffee jars in the wardrobe. She had sorted the coins into denominations in each jar. She had placed a small amount of kitche towel in the bottom of each jar. One jar had been smashed, there was glass all over the bed.

She offerred me a cup of tea and a sandwich. She reminded me of my gran. Her flat was a mess, her valuables had gone and she was alone, yet she wasn't worried about that. She wanted to make sure I was looked after. I agreed to the cup of tea, with one sugar but politely declined the sandwich. I couldn't eat her food as well as drink her tea.

She told me that she had been burgled three times including this occassion. She had toughened to it. She said "Those buggers are lucky I wasn't here, I would have given them what for with my stick"

I laughed with her.

Good thing is I left with lots of fingerpints and some items for chemical treatment.

CSI Guy

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Arson

It seemed like I hadn't been to an arson scene for months, in fact it was only seventeen days.

I had spent two nights a few months ago with the local Fire and Rescue Investigation Team. When I say team, I mean one. We'll call him Barney McGrew. No, No, we'll call him Sam. Yes, Sam. There is a number of Investigators on the 'team' but they often work solo, passing at shift change. Unfortunately when I spent two nights with Sam, fourteen hours each night, we didn't get a single job.

I read every Fire Brigade issue magazine going. Twice.

I am lucky enough to be able to investigate suspicious fires and arsons within my force area as a CSI. If a fire is obviously arson, then I will be the only investigator who will attend. If the cause is unknown, but suspicious, then I will attend along with a member of the Fire Investigation Team.

The initial decision on the cause of the fire will often lie with the fire crew who attend. If there is accelerant used or there is more than one seat of fire, then it's clear. It's deliberate. I'll be going.

I like to have everything I may need at a scene so I've put together a toolbox for fire scenes. It contains different bits and pieces for sifting through debris, removing fixtures and fittings and assisting with recovery of evidence. I keep this in my van and I allow my van partner to use it. I made him promise that if it gets dirty, he cleans it and if he removes something, he replaces it!

I'd heard the job come over the radio when the control room despatched officers to the scene:

"Control to Sierra Sierra One One, over"

"Go 'Head"

"Immediate response to 12 Camberwick Green, fire, persons reported"

"En route, over"

Persons reported isn't something you want to hear. It means that people are trapped inside. We race to the scene, but often there isn't a lot we can do to get people out of burning houses. That's Trumpton's job and they're very good at it. A lot of the time the Fire Brigade arrive before the Police as they will be passed the emergency call first.

The job went on for an hour or so from the initial call. Luckily, everyone was out and not hurt. A couple of the family members were taken to hospital for smoke inhillation, but that's as serious as it got.

It turns out it was arson. Two seats of fire and an accellerant was used, which meant I would be riding solo on this one.

Because I was listening to the job as I was busying myself at burglaries, I knew that I was going to get called. The officers at the scene hadn't asked for me yet, but I knew that when supervision attended, it would be one of the first things they'd request.

Arsons can take a long time to investigate, some last days. I hadn't eaten during this shift yet so I popped back to the nick. I had four salami and ham sandwiches in the fridge. Cut diagonally and wrapped in tin foil. Brown bread.

I have a litre thermos flask too. I filled it with hot water whilst I ate my sandwiches.

Whilst I was in the office, I had a look at the arson incident on the computer. Its always nice to read as much into the incident before your attend. There may be things on the incident that officers at the scene may miss or forget to pass on.

Half way through my second sandwich:

"Control to CSI Guy, over?"

"Go ahead control"

"Officers are at a scene of an arson and requesting you, over"

"Is that 12 Camberwick Green, over?"

"Yes Yes CSI Guy"

"No problems, ETA fifteen minutes, over"

I made a coffee in the flask and grabbed my clipboard.

I put the address in the Sat Nav and off I went.

When I arrived, I could see two fire tenders. There were a few firemen standing around. I wanted to see what I had to deal with before I got kitted up. I grabbed my clipboard from the passenger seat and walked towards the property.

As I got out of the van, I could feel the cold. It was dark, with orange streetlighting here and there.

There were three fire hoses trailing towards the property.

I could hear the radio in the fire trucks, giving out mainly static and white noise, the truck's engines were running, it was a noisy scene.

There were trails of water running across the pavement, desperately trying to find the nearest drain.

There were people on the balconies of nearby flats, stood watching.

I spoke to the chief fire officer who nodded towards the flat as he said "That's the one up there, my guys are standing by"

The Fire Brigade wanted to gut the flat, taking away all of the burnt material. This prevents the fire starting again from anything that may be smouldering away.

It turns out that the ex partner may have started the fire deliberately as way of revenge for the split. The split was three years ago.

An old school CSI once told me "It'll boil down to one of two things son, sex or money." I guess if you think about it, most things can be attributed to both.

Come to think of it, Jeremy Clarkson once said "Money and rumpy-pumpy are the twin engines powering everything we do"

Its decided. They're both right.

I love fire scenes, absolutely love them. Each one sets a different challenge.

The fire had been extinguished at this job, there were Police Officers speaking to neighbours and taking statements nearby. Turns out the ex partner hadn't been at the property for a few weeks, though they were still in touch.

My job was to establish how and where the fire had started and identify any offenders. Regardless of what I know, I must remain open minded about who or how this had happened.

I put a white suit on and some boot protectors. This was more to protect my clothes from soot than anything else.

The first thing I do, as with most serious or major crime jobs, is to document the scene as I find it. I did this with photographs, long, mid and close up photos.

Arsons tend to be very dark, for two reasons. The first is, the walls and ceilings tend to be burnt and covered in soot, the second, the electricity is normally damaged and off, so no lights.

One seat of fire was in the living room, beside the sofa. The sofa had been reduced to a wire frame with a yellow and orange mess in the middle. There was a mark on the wall in the shape of a letter V, this is known as a plume pattern- the V shape forms above a fire. The closer the fire, the narrower the V shape is, so these patterns can sometimes look like a letter U.

There are other fire patterns that help identify the development and spread of a fire, which I noted down.

I placed some photo markers in various places to help identify areas of interest, they also help the viewer of photos to get an idea of the layout of the property. If I get a number six photo marker in one shot, and then the next, It shows how each view relates to the other.

I always use a tripod, it's fiddly but more than worth it. I know some CSIs would hand hold the camera, but I wouldn't. I like using a flash extension cord, this allows me to effectively direct the flash and avoid shadows.

I photographed what I determined to be the seat of the fire, where the fire started. I indicated an area much bigger than required, to ensure when I start excavating the debris, I don't miss anything. This is known as the radius of error.

Once I had taken general scene photographs, I made some thorough notes.

I went to the van to get my tool box. It was nice to get some fresh air, it gets so warm in fire scenes, the heat builds up in the building. I took the opportunity to get a cup of coffee from my flask. I run on coffee.

I stood at the back of my van, between the two open doors to give me a little shelter from the prying eyes. People often see me and know who I am. Not because they actually know me, but because they know I'm the CSI.

There were still neighbours watching from the balconies.

I put a new suit on and went back in. I excavated the seats of the fire and recovered a sample of debris for accelerant analysis. Anything with accelerant on needs to be packaged correctly, we use nylon bags as these prevent accelerant leaking through the bag. Normal polythene bags would let accelerant through.

The exhibit is double bagged in nylon bags and sealed.

Accelerant analysis can be completed on an offender's clothing also.

I also recovered a partially burned newspaper, that days newspaper. It didn't belong to the occupant, so it may have been left by the offender.

Excellent.

I packaged this into a rigid box to enable me to safely transport it back to the office, the paper was fragile, but may hold some fingerprints.

I spent just over two hours inside the property, the photography took half an hour alone.

It was a busy scene with lots to interpret, fire scenes hold lots of information and evidence. Most people think that fire destroys evidence- not true. A lot of the time, the nature of a fire can protect a lot of evidence.

Hanging

I've been busy over the past few months and have neglected this blog somewhat. I apologise.

We've all been busy with a variety of jobs, mostly serious jobs. There's been a strange increase in the number of dead people recently. We blamed it on the full moon at first, then the snow.

I'm going to share my experience of a suicide by hanging.

Most forces insist on CSIs attending all suicides. There's two reasons, the first is that we can ensure that it is suicide. The second is that the scene needs to be recorded for the coroner.

If an inquest is held into the death then the scene will be an important aspect, as it is in any criminal investigation.

We have a new van at work at the moment. Just the one. Its on trial. If we like it then we'll have some more. The van that I share with my colleague is on it's last legs so I took the new van out.

I had a list of burglaries to go to, we call them BDH's and BOB's. Burglary Dwelling House and Burglary Other Building. I had printed the logs out and was on the way to my first job.

I got a call over the radio to ask me to attend a hanging. This would be my first hanging on my own. I'm not sure if excited is the right word, but my professional curiosity was certainly peaked.
I happily accepted the job. I stopped the van and opened the back doors. It was a new van and I was unsure as to what kit was in the back. I had a good rummage and checked I had everything I needed for a suicide.

I changed the destination in my Sat Nav. Twenty three minutes. Driving through the City is a nightmare at anytime of the day. I like to watch other drivers and silently criticise their driving. Every now and then I'll inhale deeply and say "Ooo" whilst exhaling.

Brief details were given over the radio by attending officers. I knew that the deceased person was male and had been found by a relative.

The correct procedure for any incident of suicide is that officers should secure the scene and request attendance of CSI. Sometimes, CID will attend or at the very least, a supervisor from uniform will attend.

Its very important to go to any incident of suicide with an open mind. I will listen to the views and opinions of attending officers, but it's vital to interpret the scene myself. It would be a very embarrassing error to decide a death is a suicide to later find out it is a murder. It'd also probably mean the loss of a lot of evidence.


There was something in the news recently whereby someone has confessed to murdering his estranged wife and police officer partner some 20 years ago. It appears that the scene presented itself as a suicide by carbon monoxide in a car. The offender in fact gassed both victims, dressed them and transported them to the 'scene' in the boot of a car. Have a look here for more information.


As I approached the garden path I could see there was a police officer stood at the front door. The relative had been taken away to be spoken to further.

An Ambulance Crew had been to confirm the male was deceased. The term often used is 'Life Extinct'. I don't like this, I think it's cold. I try never to refer the deceased person as a 'body' either. If I know their name, I'll use it. Its polite and it's respectful.

As I walked onto the path, I could smell the distinct smell of decomposition. The front door was slightly ajar.

The police officer appeared to be on his own. He held a scene log in his hand. Officers in my force are pretty good at securing a scene when a body is found. They'll start a scene log too. This is where everything that happens at the scene is recorded. Who has gone in, who has gone out and more importantly why.

Some higher ranking officers have a liking in my force to believe a scene is theirs and they can come and go as often as they like, touching, sniffing and pondering. I have no idea why, especially the sniffing.

I did have a warmed (as opposed to a heated) discussion with a Police Inspector a few weeks back. It was also a suicide. There were a few unanswered questions about some injuries on the deceased's body. The scene had to be preserved in case there was foul play.

The Inspector wanted to go 'have a look'. I politely declined his offer. It wasn't an offer, it clearly wasn't an offer. He knew that, I knew that. He wanted to know why he couldn't go in. I explained he needed to wear a white suit. "I've got gloves on." he said. I passed him a suit and explained he wasn't going into the room unless he was wearing that. Ten minutes later he joined me inside, fully suited.

I digress.

I spoke to the Police Officer at the door who explained what had occurred at the property prior to my arrival. He gave me a run down whilst I put on a protective suit and overshoes. I wear two pairs of gloves at jobs with deceased bodies. An experienced CSI told me why. If I need to move or touch anything with bodily fluids on, and then go back to my camera, I can take the outer pair of gloves off and still have a pair on. It works well. Body bits don't mix with a Nikon.

A relative had found the deceased male after visiting him and getting no answer at the door. This is one of the common ways of suicides being found.

People who commit suicide can be very resourceful when they have an idea in their mind. I've seen some very inventive methods since this one. I've also been to some rather strange ones.

I gave my details to the Police Officer at the front door. The door had been opened from the inside by the Paramedics to allow easy entry. The deceased male was against the hallway door. It was difficult to get through from the back.

As soon as I approached the door, I could smell it. I hadn't smelt it like this before, it smelt like pickles. I like pickles.

No, I liked pickles.

I opened the door, looking at the lock and frame for any signs of damage or forced entry. None.

I could see personal possessions about the room. Mobile, wallet, watch and an amount of cash. This male hadn't been robbed.

This male had hung himself from the top of the living room door using a belt. The belt and buckle was around his neck at one end. The other end had a knot in it. The knotted end was passed over the top of the door and the door closed. The belt was thin enough to pass over the closed door, the knot stopping it from pulling through.

Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be off the ground to hang yourself. Partial hanging is just as common as complete hanging. Hanging is the constriction of the neck by a ligature, tightened by the weight of the body. This can be achieved in a number of ways.

One thing any investigator may note when attending the scene of a complete hanging is the victim's tongue may be protruding. Due to the weight of the body, and sometimes the force applied in the 'fall' of a hanging, the constriction around the neck can force the tongue out of the mouth. Once decomposition begins, and the tongue is exposed to the environment for a period of time, the tongue becomes discoloured. Often it is black.

This male's tongue was big and black and sticking out of his mouth.

After a thorough visual examination, I came to the conclusion that he had jumped from furniture (which was underneath him) with the belt around his neck. This provided to force to make the tongue stick out. Then over a matter of days, the weight on the belt and the door was enough to make it slip. The knot pulled through the top of the door.

The heating was on in the house and it was hot. I had my normal uniform on, plus a protective suit. The suit, by design, has no ventilation. I'm not unhealthy, but I was sweating. I had to wipe my forehead a few times.

I took photographs of the scene, showing every room in the house. There were tablet and prescriptions in one room. I took photos of these. At this stage I can't tell if the male had taken tablet prior to hanging himself. There weren't many missing however. There was a receipt from a local pharmacy, it was only four days old.

The male had decomposed quicker than normal. It's likely the heat in the house was the main contributing factor to this.

I had to ensure that the male had no injuries about his body. I also needed to check pockets for personal belongings.

I had to straighten him out slightly, he was in an awkward position. I took hold of his arms at his wrists. I tried to pull his torso towards me, almost into a sitting position. The skin on his arms moved, his arms didn't.

I was going to need assistance.

I opened the front door and the bobby looked at me, I said "Are you busy?" I caught him unaware, he looked around, desperately trying to find an excuse. He couldn't.

"Can you just give me a quick hand in here?"

"Uuu, erm, yea, sure"

This is my job, I 'enjoy' working out what has happened and how this male has ended up this way. It's not the bobby's job. He likes chasing bad guys and locking up criminals. I explained what I needed him to do, and asked if he was OK with it. I explained that if he wanted to stop at any point, then just say.

I gave him the key to the van and told him where to find the suits. He got to the van "Are there any extra larges?" He said. "Top shelf, in blue" I replied.

We straightened the deceased male out, rolled him onto his left side. The bobby held him there whilst I checked his pockets and lifted his clothing to check for injuries. None. Onto the other side and the same again. None.

The bobby stayed in the suit for a while, watching me whilst I finished with some close up photos. He asked a few questions. Decent questions, not "Do you do Weddings?"

I don't mind dead bodies. In the short time I've been a CSI, I have lost count already as to how many I have encountered. I will try to recall each and see if I can come up with a number, another time. I don't mind the smell of most things; decomp, blood, urine or faeces. I have however found that I'm not too fond of vomit.

I was looking at some Journals the other day at work, and discovered interestingly that the UK has a low Suicide rate. The most recent figures I could source were from the Office of National Statistics and were dated 2008. Per 100,000 of population, The UK had a suicide rate of 6.1, Lithuania had a rate of 28.4 (the highest) and Cyprus had a rate of 2.2 (the lowest).



Now, back to that list of BDHs and BOBs I had at the start of the shift.

Murder

I came on duty at 0640 on a Sunday morning, booked on duty and sat at my desk.

I opened my emails, I had a few to get through. I had been off for four days. I often get email requests for statements, usually for volume scenes I had attended whereby an offender had been identified (an 'Ident') from the evidence I recovered.

I recently reached fifty Idents since February. Fifty separate offenders identified from the evidence I collected at scenes. I love it. I don't remember all of their names, but I hope some of them remember mine when my statement is read to them.

I was the first one in that morning. I had put coffee in the cafetiere and it was brewing on my desk. I like the smell of coffee in the morning. Another CSI came in just before 0700.

I was working my way through my emails, deleting some and flagging others to deal with later, when the phone rang. It was another CSI office, where a supervisor was. CSI Man answered the phone, he is a Crime Scene Manager (CSM)

CSMs manage major scenes, attend strategy meetings and coordinate multiple scenes. They make all the big decisions, which makes major scenes easier for normal CSIs as all the decisions have already been made.

The phone call was to ask CSI Man to attend a murder scene and take me along to assist.

We had to go straight out. CSI Man asked me to get a few things together that we'd probably need at the scene.

The incident had happened in the early hours and another CSM had originally attended the scene to secure fragile evidence, take initial photographs and give advice on how to preserve and secure the rest of the evidence. This CSM was one of the on call CSMs and was probably now at home in bed.

I'm glad I had breakfast before I got to work because today was likely to be a long day.

I didn't have time to read the log in regards to the incident and typically such an incident will have so many pages, it'd take a while to actually read it.

I went to the equipment store downstairs and got together a supply of various plastic bags, paper bags, swabs, water modules, hazard tape and knife tubes.

We got in the van and CSI Man drove as he knew where the incident was. He gave me a brief run down of what had happened whilst we drove there.

When we arrived there were two marked police vans and a marked car. The cordon was clearly visible and was around the complete outside of a small tower block of residential flats.

We got to the scene at approximately 0800. The sun was out and the sky was clear, it was warm already.

There had been officers at the scene all night. The scene needs to be secured and the evidence preserved. No one can enter the scene as it could be claimed evidence has been spoiled or contaminated.

There was a Police Sergeant from the dog section waiting for us. The flat where the incident had taken place had two dogs locked in one of the rooms. One of the dogs was believed to be a Pit Bull terrier and it was in a fighting mood.

I don't fight with dogs. They tend to win.

CSI Man asked me to go to the flat and prepare the hallway so that the dogs could be taken out without any footwear evidence being damaged in the hall.

I took a white suit from the back of the van, extra large. I'm not a large guy, honest. For some reason the suits are made in sizes that don't seem to make sense. The first time I put a suit on I chose a medium. No chance. I only just got my arms in and the damned thing ripped from top to bottom along the back.

I also wore footwear protectors. This have the word 'POLICE' indented along the bottom so if my footwear impression was recovered, we would know it was from me. I put a pair of gloves and and took a mask too.

I gave my name and collar number to the Police Officer with the scene log. This is recorded and is disclosed as part of the investigation. It keeps track of who enters and leaves the scene at what time and why.

I went up a couple of flights of stairs. There was some blood to photograph in the hallway and swab. I'll get to that after the dogs are gone.

The hallway was similar to any other tower block in the City. Bare concrete walls and stairs with the odd red tile here and there. It smelt too. I don't think that was as a result of the incident either.

I won't explain how I prepared the hallway, it was unusual. It may make the incident recognisable. That's the last thing I want.

Stepping plates are usually used to avoid direct contact with the floor. I'm sure one could imagine how difficult it could be for a Police Officer to try stepping from plate to plate with an angry dog in tow. The stepping plates were removed from the equation.

Inside the flat was a deceased male. He was fully clothed. Which I was pleased at. This would be the first deceased body I have dealt with whereby he wasn't naked.

The place was a mess. I learnt quickly not to assume that the mess was due to what had happened.

I remember a burglary I went to just after Christmas. The occupant was showing me around and explaining what had happened.

I said "They've made a right mess in here, haven't they?"

She said "They've not been in this room"

Oops.

The Sergeant came up with a PC and they had some shields, a fire extinguisher and some dog catching poles. I'm sure they've probably got a real name. The dogs didn't really struggle and were out of the building within a few minutes. People quickly cleared a path outside when they got to the front.

It appeared the male had been murdered. There was an array of weapons laying around. The male had a number of wounds about his body.

It wasn't a pretty sight. Flies were already starting to settle on his face and hands.

There was blood everywhere. The floor, the walls, the sofa and the ceiling.

There is a lot to do at a scene like this and there is no rush (most of the time) to get it done. The scene examination needs to be methodical, structured and thorough.

CSI Man had decided what we would achieve today and we set about it.

He was going to video the scene. This would be used for briefing purposes. It can be showed to the Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) and the team of DCs investigating it. This prevents them having to enter the scene and increasing the risk of contamination and loss of evidence.

Whilst he did the video inside the flat, I photographed and swabbed the blood in the hallway I mentioned earlier. Each area was marked with an arrow sticker, the location photographed from a distance and up close. I used my macro lens for the close shot. Once this was done, each was swabbed. I used a wet swab then a dry swab. The blood had dried, so the wet swab helped to removed most of it. The dry swab then scooped up what was left.

I had finished this before CSI Man had finished the video so I went outside to get some fresh air and a drink. It gets very hot in that suit. I was sweating. Maybe I should go to the gym more often. A female PC gave me a tissue, she didn't tell me that it was an Olbas Oil one, I wiped my forehead with it. At least it smelt pleasant.

I went outside and took the suit off, folding it into itself as I did. This meant any nasties I had on the suit were out of harms way. I had a drink from the van.

As I stood there looking around the estate I could see lots of people watching. It's surprising how many people find things to do outside when a scene pops up. It's early on a Sunday morning and there's people pulling weeds, brushing footpaths, washing cars and windows. I'd imagine they want to have a look at what's going on. I bet some of those weeds have been there for years.

One gent approached me and said "Is you CSI?" I think he was asking if I was a CSI.

He asked if I wanted a drink. I have only ever had one drink at a scene and that was a school canteen. Maybe it's natural, maybe its training or maybe its just instinct. I don't trust people to give me a drink in a clean cup which is made with clean things and nothing 'extra' is put in the drink. In addition to that, I can't say I've ever had the desire to drink out of jam jars.

I have a reply lined up for every time I'm asked: "No I'm fine thanks, I've just had one before I came out and I'd only need to run to the loo all day!" Laugh a little and move on.

Then it came. The real reason he approached me.

"What's happened? Has someone been murdered, I won't tell anyone?"

I'm sure he won't.

"I can't tell you mate, I'm sure it'll be on the news later"

As he left, he double checked I didn't want a drink. I just gestured my water bottle to him.

CSI Man finished and after a drink, we suited up again and went back into the flat.

The most important thing was to process the deceased male so he could be taken to the mortuary for a Post Mortem.

There was a suspect in custody for the murder. It could be relevant to compare fibres and hairs on both the suspect's and the victim's clothing. CSI Man gave me the task of taking fibre tape lifts from the victim's clothing and face.

The most effective way to do this is to lay a fibre tape, which is in simple terms a large piece of sterile sticky tape, on the body and pull it off and cover it with acetate.

I had drawn a sketch of the male and on the sketch I indicated a number which related to each tape. I wrote the corresponding number on each lift and sealed each in a tamper evident evidence bag.

I did approximately fifteen or sixteen tape lifts. Some had some very obvious fibres in, some had bits of skin and blood that had fallen from injuries. The whole time I was doing this, I was knelt next to the male. The smell wasn't too bad. It wasn't nice either. Flies kept landing on him, and moving off again when I moved. As long as they don't land on me, I'll be happy.

When I was applying pressure to the tape to pick up as much as possible I could feel that the victim's ribs were bust in a couple of places. His torso felt unusual.

Once I had done this, we both checked the floor around the victim for other pieces of trace evidence. A couple of things were recovered, which turned out to be significant. I won't mention what they were.

I had blood on the outside of my suit where I had been kneeling.

Whilst I was doing the fibre tapes, CSI Man was taking photographs of everything in the flat, in every room.

It was now time to put the victim in a body bag for transport. It's good practise to cover hands and the head with bags to ensure any fragile evidence isn't lost in transit.

The same would be done if the feet were uncovered.

I know that the victim is deceased and has been for a number of hours, however, there is something that feels unnatural about putting a bag over someone's head. CSI Man lifted his head off the floor and I pulled the bag down and tied it. We did the same with each hand. The victim was cold to touch.

As I had managed to protect the hallway earlier, we could now use the hallway to lay the body bag in. We started with the inner body bag. This appeared to be a nice new style bag. It had reinforced handles at strategic points, a pouch for documents and large zippers.

I wonder who designs these things for a living? What is their job title?

CSI Man was happy to take the torso and asked me to take the legs. It was important to handle the victim in a way that we would damage or distort any of the wounds he had. I took hold of his trousers and used them like a sling on his legs. I walked backwards into the hall and CSI Man walked towards me with the torso suspended in the victim's jumper.

It was a good fit. The victim was just the right size for the bag. Making sure all limbs were inside the bag, we zipped it up and sealed it. The seal was photographed.

We now had to lift the victim and the inner body bag into the outer body bag. This was also sealed and photographed. The undertakers had been called and were en route.

Deceased bodies really are a dead weight. It's surprising.

We went outside to change suits, the one's we were in were bloodied a lot. It looked like we'd been in a fight. As we left the building I became immediately aware of a clicking sound. It was the press. They love the white suits. They took a few shots and asked a few questions. We directed them to the press office. The press office will release relevant details to the press in relation to major incidents. There were some film cameras there also.

The undertakers turned up about twenty minutes or so later. We took them inside and showed them where the victim was and helped them get him into a further bag. He was then taken down the stairs and put onto a trolley. Their van was just outside the door so not too many people caught a glimpse of this bit. We're good at standing in the way when this bit happens.

The undertakers were followed to the mortuary by a police officer. This allows the police officer to evidence that the victim went straight to the hospital and when they do the PM, the same officer will normally attend to say it is the same seal and person from the scene.

CSI Man and I went back inside, we took some photos of where the victim had been laying. This is to show the space underneath him.

There was lots more to do in the property but CSI Man had decided that it may be relevant to wait until the PM had been done and the suspect had been spoken to. If it turns out something comes to light that is useful, it could change how we would process the scene to a degree.

For example, the PM could indicate which weapons were used from the mess of tools on the floor.

The outside of the tower block and the hallway had been searched by a support group whilst we were inside. This meant we could reduce the cordon to just the flat. A police officer would be posted there until the scene could be released. It turned out this was a few days. The officers would swap every few hours.

Two other CSIs went to the PM later that evening.

CSI Man had to go to another strategy meeting with the SIO in regards to the scene. I stayed back in the office and got my report sorted. I left the office by about 1930, so not as late as I was expecting. I should have finished at 1500 though.

I made it on the local BBC news, coming out in my white scene suit. It was my first TV appearance so apparently I have to buy cakes for everyone in the office.

Can anyone smell Olbas Oil?