CRIME CLUES IN WOUNDS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 6 May 1925, Page 7

CRIME CLUES IN WOUNDS

RECONSTRUCTION OF MURDERS

SIR B. SPILSBURY’S INDUCTIONS

In a lecture on “Wounds and Other Injuries,” published in a recent issue of the Lancet, Sir Bernard Spilsbury, the Hon. Pathologist to tie Homo Office, throws some light on the fascinating problem of crime detection from its medical aspect. On countless occasions in murder trials Sir Bernard Spilsbury has given evidence which to the general public has often appeared uncannily revealing. This lecture shows bow difficult it, may be for a criminal to commit, a murder of similar crime without detection.

In discussing bruises. Sir Bernard says that if the violence is maintained until death and for a short time afterwards, there may be no escape of blood from the torn blood vessel, the only effects of the crushing force being some pitting of the skin, and perhaps slight softening of the damaged area. Usually, however, a little blood escapes at the margin of the crushed area, and the haemorrhage becomes more evident if the compressing object alters its position.

This explains the slight amount of bruising which may result from the pressure of the fingers of an assailant upon the. neck of the victim in a fatal case of throttling, although the violence may have been so great as to have led to the production of haemorrhage in the loose cellular tissue between the larynx and the spine. WOUNDING BY PROJECTILES

On the subject- of wounds produced by projectiles, the pathologist points out that if discharged within a short distance of the hotly there may he surface indications from which the distance of tlie weapon can he accurately determined, and the path of the projectile through the body enables the exact position of the weapon in relation to ! the victim to he determined.

When the projectile penetrates another object after traversing the body it may be possible to reconstruct- exactly the circumstances in which the weapon was discharged, while the firm grasp of the weapon in the hand of a victim after death gives a clear indication of a self-inflicted injury. In , cases of homicide by fire-anms, multiple injuries are more frequent than in suicide.

How important medical evidence can be in the detection of crime is emphasised by a ease of murder reconstructed by J%ir Bernard Spilsbury. It was the case of a soldier who was found dead in bed at a hut at Aldershot. A Service rifle lay on the floor close to the bed, between the outstretdhed arms of the dead man, but was not grasped. The conviction of the murderer —a soldier occupying the same hut—appeared to turn upon the following facts; examination of the trajectory of the bullet showed that the weapon must have been pointed in a downward direction; the weapon was of such a length that it could not have been fired by the hand and caused a wound of the _ nature found ; a post-mortem examination indicated that the wound must have caused instant paralysis, and precluded the possibility of the firing of the riflo by gleans of the foot and the replacing of the foot in bed.