Recent Book: On the Slab: Post Mortem Procedures
| Published date | 01 January 1980 |
| Date | 01 January 1980 |
| Author | Trevor Zutshi |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8005300126 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
FRANCIS
E.
CAMPS:
Camps on Crime.
David &Charles £4.95
Professor Francis Camps was a
fascinating and respected pathologist in
the British tradition. While not of the
same calibre as Sir Bernard Spilsbury,
the
almost
legendary
forensic
pathologist, Camps was a man of ability
In
his chosen profession and humanityin
his pursuit of justice.
This is Camps' last publication. In it,
one can seethe broad vista of his interests
in criminology, forensic science, medical
history, and, of course, forensic
pathology. The essays that make up this
book are drawn from his many articles
and lectures covering a twenty year
period of time.
A reading of the table of contents
reveals the diversity
ofthe
subject matter:
"More
about
Jack
the Ripper," "The
Mummy of Rhyl," "The Bonnyman
Case," "Science and Crime Detection,"
to name a few. "The ColchesterTaxi Cab
Murder" explores the forensic aspects of
the murder of an English taxi driver by
American soldiers during the Second
World War. Through co-operation
between English police and the U.S.
Army C.I.D., the guilty parties were
convicted on the basis of scientific
evidence.
In "The Mummy of Rhyl" case, Camps
provided evidence for the defence in
showing that the mummified remains of
an old woman may not have indicated
murder. In this fascinating case, a 65 year
old widow was accused of having killed
an elderly woman tenant in 1939 and
hidden her body in a cupboard until it
was found in 1960. She wassubsequently
found not guilty of 'murder,
'but
was
convicted of falsely obtaining two
pounds a week between 1940 and 1960 as
a result of a court order by pretending
that the old woman 'was alive.
Other cases concern death by drugs, by
carbon monoxide poisoning, and by
electrocution. The final chapter on
"Science and Crime Detection" sums up
the advances in this field during the last
seventy years. An appendix is included
on the social and pharmacological
problems involvingdrugs of dependence.
The articles reprinted are for the most
part interestingand instructive. Some are
dated
and the lack of an index and
perhapsabibliography limits the value of
the book to the forensic scientist.
DANIEL P. KING
G.
A.
GRESHAM
&A.
F.
TURNER:
Post Mortem Procedures.
Wolfe Medical Publications Ltd.
There is a Japanese legend which tells of then went on to dictate astatement
a leaf hanging by a spider's thread; the lasting two and a half hours which was a
wind blows, the thread breaks and the confession not only to the above murder
leaf flutters to the ground. The falling but also of fiveother people, all of whose
leaf startles a passing horse, and the bodies he had similarly destroyed after
horse rears up throwing its rider to the first having drunk a glassful of their
ground. The rider is a great General in blood. Mrs. Durand-Deacon's body was
the army and the fall causes himto break destroyed with concentrated sulphuric
his leg. His injury prevents him from acid. Afterfourdays, decomposition was
leading his troops in the forthcoming complete. The contents of the tank were
battle, and without his skill the battle is then dischargedon the ground. Hissecret
lost. Because the battle is lost the and confession came seven days later.
kingdom islost, alldue to the breaking of Professor Keith Simpson was called in
a spider's thread. as the Forensic Specialist and he
Medicine and detective work have recounts in his excellent autobiography
much in common. The
doctor
has to sort
"Forty
Years of Murder" how he
out from the mass of misinformation "pondered on what parts of the body
given by the patient, the few grains of might conceivably have escaped
truth which lead him to make a destruction." The ground was rough,
diagnosis. Painstakingattention to detail with many small pebbles lying on the
is as necessary for us as it is for the police earth. He picked one up. It wasthe sizeof
officer..
a cherry and looked very much like the
John
George Haigh admitted to other stones except
that
it
bad
polished
Detective Inspector Webb that his facets. He said, "I think that's a
victim, Mrs. Olive Durand-Deacon no gallstone." Professor Simpson com-
longer existed. He said, "1 have destroyed ments that he was looking for gallstones
her with acid. You will find the sludge because humans of Mrs. Durand-
which remains in Leopold Road. Every Deacon's age and habits -69 and fairly
trace has gone." A pause.
"How
can you plump - are prone to gallstones which
prove murder if there isno body?" Haigh are covered with a fatty substance
that
January 1980 Police Journal 93
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