The skin over the chest is cut down the line of the breastbone, exposing the ribs, which are cut in line with each side of the body with implements that look like large secateurs to allow access to the organs of the body. Samples from the organs and blood from the abdominal cavity are taken for examination and testing to determine whether or not drugs were in the body and whether or not death may have been caused naturally. Although people may be horribly injured, sometimes death may have been caused by a heart attack or stroke. If this is the case, then proving murder is complicated as the prosecutor then has to show that the heart attack was directly a result of the injury that the assailant caused — a very difficult task.
The post-mortem examination of Alan Barnes revealed that he had most likely been killed on the Friday, a relatively short time prior to his dumping on the Saturday. The absence of decay of his body also indicated this to the pathologist. He had been eating and drinking just before he was killed — about two to three hours — as something similar to a fried egg was in his stomach. Also, he had been drinking, as his blood alcohol level was high at 0.19% compared with the driving limit of 0.05%. As well as alcohol, tests revealed that he had trichloroethanol in his blood, liver and stomach. Trichloroethanol is produced when chloral hydrate metabolises in the body. Chloral hydrate is the active ingredient of Noctec. Noctec is a drug in capsule form. It is a sedative and hypnotic drug used since the 1970s for treating sufferers of insomnia. The drug allays anxiety and induces sleep but the taking of the drug can become habit forming. Alcohol increases its potency. That made things interesting. Here we were with Alan Barnes full of booze with a knock-out drug in him.
We believed he was experimenting with drugs but was the food given to him to hide the fact he was being given drugs or did he take them voluntarily? Either scenario was a possibility, I speculated.
With the other bodies, we were also left with little to go on but speculation. The internal organs of Neil Muir were missing but the brain was still present in the skull. Without the stomach and organs, the police were unable to test for the presence of drugs. We wondered whether or not the stomach was taken out to remove the presence of any drugs or food in the stomach that might have given us a lead. But that was pure speculation. The cutting up of Neil Muir, which could only be described as a complete mutilation, was still a mystery.
The same situation applied to Peter Stogneff. No examination of the organs and brain was possible with Peter Stogneff because only his skeleton was found.
Mark Langley had a stitched incision in his abdomen. The thread used to stitch the wound and the Johnson & Johnson tape provided some evidence to go on. John Woite, the other sergeant on Glen Lawrie’s team, spoke to the media after checking with different companies about which one made it. When he found that it was Johnson & Johnson tape, he showed a container of the tape to the media and asked for publicity on it, trying to stir somebody’s memory or conscience — requesting information from members of the public. Obviously, publicity about the tape also allows murderers to get rid of their supplies of their tape but we were desperate for leads and we had to take a chance.
Food was also in the stomach of Mark Langley. It was corn but because he was killed fairly soon after he disappeared and because corn was a favourite food of his, we felt that the food came from the party that he went to on the Saturday night or was already present in his stomach.
Richard Kelvin also had undigested food in his stomach, but it was hard for the scientists to determine the type. Chris Pearman, another police botanist, believed that he might have eaten an apple before he was killed. He also thought there were starches in his stomach and later tests showed those starches most likely came from cornflakes.
At the same time tests were being conducted by the chemists of the Forensic Science Centre. The initial tests were conducted on the Monday and Tuesday after Richard was found. On Wednesday, 27 July 1983, three days after Richard was found, we were called to the Forensic Science Centre. Bob Lokan, chief chemist, spoke with us.
‘We’re getting indications of drugs in Richard Kelvin.’
‘What sort?’ Trevor asked.
‘We’re still doing tests but it looks like Richard Kelvin was given chloral hydrate, just like Alan Barnes.’
‘Can you check with his parents to see if he was taking any drugs?’
The remains of the drug Noctec was found in his system — exactly the same as Alan Barnes. More similarities were found and all of these similarities indicated that the same people could be involved. The chemists weren’t wasting any time. They knew that these cases were generating an enormous amount of interest and concern.
Trevor and I drove to Rob and Betteanne’s home. They had taken time off work after Richard was found. Trevor wanted to tell them about the finding of the drug and to check about Richard’s drug use. We didn’t believe that he was a drug user but we needed to let his parents know what was happening and also to check whether or not he was taking Noctec and ask about his use of alcohol.
Betteanne confirmed our beliefs. He wasn’t taking Noctec or any other drugs but he had tried alcohol, although not to excess to their knowledge — nothing unusual there. He had tried beer but didn’t really like it; he may have
