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Hi-tech mortuary set to ensure no one gets
away with murder
£783,000 spent on new facilities to help investigations into
suspicious deaths
CRIME fighting in Westminster received a boost when the Home Secretary opened a new forensic mortuary.
Sherlock Holmes would struggle to recognise many of the instruments in the new £783,000 facility, which will be used exclusively for the post-mortem examinations of suspicious deaths.
The new building, named the Iain West Forensic Suite after the Home Office forensic pathologist who led the investigation into the 1999 Paddington rail crash, is an extension to the existing mortuary in Horseferry Road and is equipped for mass fatalities with storage capacity for 102 bodies.
It also features a “bio-hazard” room and CCTV-viewing areas so detectives can watch pathologists at work.
Jacqui Smith said: “Westminster’s new forensic suite will greatly enhance the quality of forensic evidence in cases of suspicious deaths in central London and its surrounding boroughs by maximising forensic technological advances to find and punish criminals – and give victims the justice they deserve.
“We have invested over £780,000 in the new facilities and we remain fully committed to the use of advances in technology to solve crimes and convict offenders.”
Members of the Metropolitan Police’s forensic unit demonstrated the new facilities to the Home Secretary, using a mannequin to illustrate a scenario where a victim had been shot and stamped on during an attack.
Officers used mobile X-ray machines to reveal how they can track the trajectory of bullets.
The new facility has been welcomed by police. DCI Tony Nash said: “With issues of DNA and fabric transfer, the less people present, the less chance of contamination and the stronger the evidence is. It will make a big difference to us.”
Westminster coroner Dr Paul Knapman, whose court is attached to the mortuary, said: “The upgrade to a forensic mortuary is a welcome reflection of the more sophisticated scientific techniques employed in homicide investigations these days.
“There would have been a coroner in this area dealing with murders for around 800 years, so it is completely appropriate for Westminster to be at the forefront of forensic pathology.”
Westminster Public Mortuary deals with around 600 deaths a year. The land on which the mortuary sits was given to the council by the Duke of Westminster in 1893. |
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