Crime Scene Investigator (33 page)

The disappearance of a family member is a traumatic experience for any family. The feeling of hopelessness is all the more difficult when the loved one goes missing in a foreign country, and especially when that country does not have the resources to deal with it.

In April 1997 Andrew and Caroline McGowan dropped two friends at the airport in Harare, Zimbabwe, before heading home through Mozambique. They had all been on a birdwatching and elephant safari. Leaving the airport, they made their way back along the Tete Corridor, a 460-mile track heading north to their home in neighbouring Malawi.

Andrew was a former British Army officer who was using his own money to fund a Round Table project for the reforestation in Malawi. His wife was a technology teacher at the college in Lilongwe.

They did not reach home and their family back in England heard about it and were worried. Not happy with the actions of the Mozambique authorities, Andrew’s brother flew to Harare to retrace their last known steps.

Bandits were notorious in the area and apparently white foreigners could be attacked for what possessions they had on them and their vehicles.

It was a formidable task, but asking for sightings of his brother and sister-in-law paid off pretty quickly. In one village, the locals remembered the fairly unusual event of a white four-wheel drive vehicle passing through with a white man and white woman in it. Only a short time later the vehicle drove back at speed through the village, this time with three local men wearing army fatigues in it. Another village member remembered seeing the vehicle off the side of the road at the bottom of a hill.

Andrew’s brother found the vehicle at the bottom of the hill. The vehicle was wrecked. There were no signs of Andrew or Caroline although their passports were still in the car. Also there amongst the broken glass was some blood and three sets of blood-stained battle-fatigue jackets.

Wherever Andrew and Caroline had been left having been relieved of the vehicle was not far away so Andrew’s brother headed a little further north. It was not long before he found what he had been dreading. The decomposing bodies of his brother and sister-in-law were in bushes just off the road side. They had been there for a few weeks.

The Mozambique authorities had little or no resources to deal with this matter. The persistence of Andrew’s and Caroline’s families brought it to the attention of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The bodies were returned to the UK and arrived in Surrey, where they were brought to the attention of the Surrey coroner, Michael Burgess. Any death of a British national overseas will automatically trigger an inquest by a UK coroner and certainly when the bodies of the deceased are returned to the UK for burial.

The bodies had been returned in sealed caskets ready for burial, but as far as could be determined no post-mortem examinations had taken place. Even if they had, one would have also been carried out by a Home Office pathologist on behalf of the local UK coroner.

Michael Burgess contacted Detective Superintendent Brian Woodfield at Surrey Police HQ to assist with the investigation. That is when I was called to provide crime scene and photographic personnel.

The post-mortem examination revealed that Caroline had been shot twice and Andrew once. They had both been lying down when they were shot. The cause of death in both cases was gunshot wounds.

There was still little interest from the Mozambique authorities who, although clearly concerned, had no resources to investigate the matter to the satisfaction of the families. Not wishing to embarrass the government of Mozambique, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) offered the assistance of the Surrey coroner and Surrey Police to help them with their investigation.

Brian Woodfield being the senior investigating officer in the case was naturally going to go and he appointed a detective inspector as his assistant in the matter. The FCO were going to fund the additional expenses, above that of salaries for the investigators, which would be borne by Surrey Police.

Brian and I discussed the case and identified potential areas of evidence. Examination of the vehicle was important and so was examining the site where the bodies were found. From all accounts it was an area of bush and trees, but it was most likely the murder scene.

We thought about the potential evidence we could expect or hope to find and how we might deal with it, remembering, of course, that we were assisting the Mozambique authorities and would be dealing with the local police chief.

Towards the end of the meeting with Brian, he asked me to arrange for a forensic examination kit to be put together so he could examine the scene when he was out there. I think he had in mind bottles and bags and the like. But I was not happy with that.

‘I wouldn’t let you examine a scene here in Surrey, so why should you do so in difficult conditions in a far off and foreign land?’ I said. ‘So you want a trip, do you?’ was his reply. ‘No, but I will get you the right person to go with you,’ I concluded.

I put together a case for sending a scenes of crime officer with him and his assistant. It was a complex case and not one which he was capable of examining himself. Brian put the case to the chief constable who in turn put it to the FCO. After a little persuasion they saw the merits and agreed.

Choosing the right person to go was a difficult decision. One of my deputies, a senior crime scene manager, was the natural choice. However, in Surrey at that time all our scenes of crime officers and managers were not routinely photographers of crime scenes, although it was part of their initial training. We had a highly specialised team who worked under the direction of the crime scene manager and head of forensic photography at major scenes. So my choice quickly went to Jon Young who had been trained as a scene photographer and had worked as one before joining Surrey from another force. He was young but mature and had a cool head. There was no doubt he was my first choice, much to the disappointment of his manager.

I had appointed Jon to his post a few years before. He was a big man and knew his job well. I remember at his interview he answered all our questions with ease, so much so I thought he had been tipped off, although this had not been the case. Not only did he not know anyone in Surrey, some of the questions had only been finalised immediately before the interview.

This was a difficult assignment. Although it was exciting it was not without its dangers. Andrew and Caroline McGowan had already been murdered and safety, although ‘guaranteed’, was not certain. The team was going to a remote part of Africa where there were little resources. They would have to work with the local police chief and try and ensure that any investigative leads were identified and followed through.

I was quite prepared to go myself and I said this to Jon when I spoke to him. He had a young family and asked for a day to consider it and speak to his wife.

Jon accepted the offer. I was pleased; he was the right person to go.

Jon and I met with Brian Woodfield and his DI and once again went through the details of the case. The team got the necessary inoculations to travel and within a few days they were on their way.

In preparing for the trip Jon had put together a kit specifically for the purpose, the usual examination bag and photographic kit. But it was made clear he would have to be able to carry it. I’m not sure if Brian and his DI ever offered to help but they would have their own luggage. So ‘only what you can carry’ was the order. Jon being a big guy could carry a lot and he would have to.

As we discussed the equipment list, we identified that he would probably need a metal detector to try to locate spent gun cartridges at the scene. It was then that another aspect to the risk assessment became apparent: land mines. Mozambique was full of them, left over from years of war. The murder scene was off the road and even that was a track. If Jon thought of pulling out he didn’t show it. We made plans as to how he would deal with the situation and do his research. Above all he was to take no risk if there was any doubt or lack of information about the areas he was to examine.

I arranged to make regular contact with him. The team was to stay with local British consular officials, who would also accompany them wherever possible. The consul would provide protection as the area contained armed bandits, as the McGowans had found out to their cost. They were going well and truly off the beaten track.

The Surrey team arrived in Mozambique in June 1997. They met the local consular officials and were introduced to the local police chief. He occupied a rundown police station. The buildings were in disrepair and had little furniture. His team of a few officers was poorly equipped, but they had received some guidance. To the team’s surprise they were informed that the station had a laboratory. Opening the door to a near-empty room, they found an officer sat at a lonely desk displaying a box with a few sheets of fingerprints in it, their entire collection.

They were introduced to the police chief’s driver who sat expectantly inside a room just off the front entrance to the rundown building. When it came to setting off to the scene it was suggested that the chief’s driver could lead until it was realised that he didn’t actually have a car.

The McGowans’ vehicle had been found, albeit looted. The team first made their way to the scene where the bodies had been found. Any worries about land mines quickly evaporated.

The scene was a grass area a few metres just off the main track. Within a few minutes two shell cases from a rifle were found in the grass.

Jon’s examination of the vehicle revealed some finger marks and blood, along with samples of fibres and glass. He also took possession of the battle fatigues which had been found in the vehicle.

The local police chief may not have had much in the way of resources but he had his sources of intelligence and very quickly three suspects were put forward. Left to his own devices he would have resorted to obtaining a confession by whatever means from the suspects, which clearly worried Brian and the team.

A raid was made at the suspects’ known address. They were arrested and their home searched. An AK 47 rifle was recovered along with a photograph of the three suspects wearing battle-fatigue jackets.

I made some enquiries with the forensic science laboratory here in the UK. We were hopeful that the pattern on the fatigues and the potential for it to be cut at random in production could make each jacket unique. This was dependent on obtaining information from the manufacturer, wherever that may be in the world. So we were hopeful that comparing the recovered jackets with these in the photographs could prove that the suspects had been wearing them in the past.

As we were only assisting the Mozambique authorities we considered where a laboratory examination would take place. Of course we offered to arrange and pay for the work to be done in the UK. After consultation it was arranged that the items would be examined in nearby South Africa.

The shell cases found at the scene were matched with the AK 47 found at the suspects’ address. The battle fatigues found in the vehicle matched those worn by the suspects in the photograph.

Brian Woodfield returned to Mozambique for the trial along with members of Andrew’s and Caroline’s families.

The trial lasted one very long day, at the end of which the three men were convicted of the double murder. The men were former members of the guerrilla movement. They had camped out for three days waiting for a suitable vehicle to attack.

Both Andrew’s and Caroline’s fathers addressed the court. Caroline’s father explained that she was an only child, so her murder had deprived her parents of grandchildren, and the family line ended with her. This had an effect on the local people, who honoured and respected the importance of the family and its continuity.

The three suspects were each sentenced to twenty-four years’ imprisonment. As they stood in the dock one of the victims’ fathers took a photograph of them.

The story did not end there. A few months later the convicted men escaped from prison. The lack of resources meant that no official photographs had been taken. The photograph taken at the trial was used to identify the guilty men when they were eventually arrested.

Jon left most of his consumable equipment in Mozambique for the officer in the one-desk laboratory to use. He had my blessing to do so. He came back with lots of memories and the satisfaction he had done a good job. He was the right person for the job and we had worked as a team.

Crime scene investigators, if they are good at their job, are independent; they are driven by where the evidence goes. They are almost exclusively employed by law enforcement organisations. In early 1999 I left the comfortable confines of the police service to set up my own consultancy. The prospect of offering my skills to those outside the police had been an attraction for many years. Consultancy for police forces, training of crime scene investigators and casework for defence work was to be a challenge.

Independence comes with its benefits and problems. Firstly there is the true ability to say exactly what you feel and be your own boss. At least your boss will appreciate you. There are, however, dangers, such as not pleasing your client and losing further work. The truth is the truth and you can’t change it. Some people don’t like that or are closed to the prospect, for any number of reasons. There is also the danger that you might step outside your field. I was determined to make sure I didn’t make those mistakes and my decision to undertake independent work was made because I consciously accepted this. So I stuck to what I knew best – crime scene investigation and management. I would not be involved in any direct comparison work. My skill was in finding potential evidence and putting it in front of a specialist who could realise that potential. As a manager and trainer, I would help others develop.