Tuesday 14 June 2011

"The position of the body when found" - the photograph

In my last post I had discussed some aspects of Annex TVP 3 - "The position of the body when found".

The third of the opening three paragraphs is particularly fascinating:

A photograph was taken by the first search officers on the scene prior to the ambulance crew attaching the electrodes to the chest of Dr Kelly.  The only people who had seen the body prior to this photograph being taken were Louise Holmes, Paul Chapman and DC Coe.

This is what the man with the camera (PC Sawyer) says at the Inquiry:


As we crested the slight rise, I saw the body lying at the base of a tree. I then said to PC Franklin and the paramedics to stop while I got my digital camera because I wanted to take a record of the scene before it was -- before we actually approached it at all. So I took a number of pictures as we approached the body, and of the body and the surrounding area; and then the paramedics asked if they could do their job, to which we said: yes.
They tried to -- they used the paddles of the electrocardiogram machine to try to see if there was a sign of life through Dr Kelly's shirt. They were unable to do so and said: could they undo the shirt?  I said: yes. I asked them to wait for a second. I took another two more reference pictures.


It is obvious that, as you would expect, PC Sawyer 'took a number of pictures'.  So why do TVP refer to just one photograph as if that is the only one PC Sawyer took.  It's barmy.  Why didn't they describe exactly what was in the picture, presumably it was of the body on its back but we aren't told. 

Conclusion viii makes mention of 'the photographs'.  What photographs?  Are we talking of the Sawyer photographs or some of those taken later in the day.

As a piece of work trying to advance an argument TVP 3 is exceptionally poor.

3 comments:

  1. "the only people who had seen the body" (para 3 of TVP3)

    The only ones who were identified as so doing at the Hutton Inquiry.

    Which leads us to conclusions iv and viii. Why would Dr Shepherd assume only one person - he points the finger at DC Coe as the only plausible causative agent - moves the body?

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  2. Felix, it's an interesting question! TVP are adamant that DC Shields and "The Third Man" didn't go back up the track at all, contrary to what the searchers said. However both PC Franklin and PC Sawyer say that DC Coe was with two uniformed officers when they come across him!

    I will deal with this last point in a new post.

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  3. Now that the Attorney General has ruled out the possibility of an inquest, a criminal investigation into the moving of the body becomes more important.

    The evidence supports that if Thames Valley Police officers were not physically involved in moving the body then they were certainly present when it was re-positioned.

    Photographic evidence exists that proves Dr Kelly's body was moved, a number of times, after it was found by the search team.

    I cannot think of an innocent reason why the body was moved but until the reasons are known there remains a strong likelyhood that this was a criminal act.

    The police have a duty to investigate all suspected crimes but I suppose when the suspects include police officers different rules apply.

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