Pathologist
Pathologists are mainly used within a case where a murder has occurred, they are commonly known as a coroner. Pathologists are mainly laboratory based and their roles focus on conducting medical tests on dead humans to predict the cause of death and attempt to gather more in depth information regarding what happened to the individual. This means that pathologists are only involved in investigations where a human has unfortunately died, there job can vary depending on the type of crime committed for example if there is no evidence to show how the individual has died the pathologist can look at blood samples to see if there has been an intake of any harmful substances they may also explore the body in greater detail to see if there are small signs of struggle by doing this they are carrying out autopsies. By carrying out an autopsy the pathologist can also gain an image of what happened before they died, was there a sign of struggle located on the body, was the individual sexually assaulted? Once the pathologist has received the body they gain control of it and have to ensure no contamination occurs to it, this means that if the forensic analyst needs any DNA or clothing/ other types of samples from the body the pathologist must take these from the individual as it gives a chance of less contamination occurring. When a pathologist is used they will also hold the role of collecting any evidence from the body of the victim, this ensures no contamination takes places and the body isn’t damaged through the removal of important evidence. Evidence that may be retrievable from the corpse would be tissue sample, hair/ fibres, scraping from under the fingernails containing DNA from the individual that killed them etc. A main responsibility that the pathologist holds is that they must write a report on their findings; this will contain any crucial information about how the individual has died and how there death may have occurred this report will be used within court to present the findings. A pathologist will only be deemed as necessary in a criminal investigation when a person’s death has occurred and is described as being unknown or suspicious. A pathologists job will vary depending on the type of criminal investigation they are working in, for example within a murder the body may have been identified before being passed to the pathologist so the pathologist won’t need to address this line of enquiry although within a terrorist attack many victims may have been killed this will result in the pathologist needing to identify the bodies to ensure they are the people who have died.
Role of the Pathologist within the Soham Murders
The pathologist was the main step within the Soham Murders due to the missing girls being found dead, when found they were the only piece of evidence know to police so they had to be handled with care and examined correctly. The main pathologist within this case was Dr Nathaniel Cary, as both bodies were burnt they consisted of more flesh left on the bottom half of the bodies than the top most/ all organs had decomposed due to the burning of them. The bodies were examined to see how they had been burnt and a petrol fluid was lifted from them to further examine through forensic analysis, both a autopsy and test for sexual assault where carried out on the bodies. The autopsy wasn't able to predict the cause of death due to little amount of flesh being left behind, but there was no evidence to state sexual assault had occurred. Although Huntley stated that Holly Wells had fell into the bath and drowned while hitting her head and Jessica Chapman had been killed by accident while Huntley tried to control her from screaming. The allegations where false and this was shown through evidence, although the bodies couldn't state this was false other pieces of evidence could due to if Holly was to fall into the bath after hitting her head while trying to control a nose bleed her clothes would have been soaked in blood as well as water and this wasn't shown, there was no trace of water or blood located on either of the girls shirts. Compared to this case the pathologist’s roles and responsibilities would vary in other cases as the bodies may have been found at an early stage, which would mean that more flesh would have been left on the bodies which would have made it easier for the pathologist to predict what happened. In a case where the cause of death can be shown through bullet holes in an individual’s body the pathologist would examine these holes determining what type of gun would be needed to make the hole. They would also examine if there was any other cause of death to see if the gunshot wound was to hide other pieces of evidence.