Forensics: The Real CSI - Series 3

Episode
Episode 8 - Body In The Freezer
Broadcast Info
2024 (59 mins)
Description
West Midlands Police are called after staff working in a tip yard make a grisly discovery: a decomposing body in a freezer which has been brought in for disposal following a flat clearance. A forensics team attends the scene and the body and freezer are both removed for forensic tests. West Midlands Forensic Co-ordinator Sonia Parkinson must first attempt to identify who the deceased is, and look for evidence of how they might have ended up in the freezer. Although the body has decomposed, the effects of being sealed in the freezer mean that it is well enough preserved for the initial post mortem to confirm that the deceased is an elderly man, and that there are marks on his body suggestive of trauma. Detectives Nicola Parry and Stu Mobberley begin to investigate the case as a potential murder. DC Parry traces the freezer back to a flat in Birmingham and discovers that the tenant is 71-year-old John Wainwright. However, John has not been reported missing and the body is too decomposed to make a formal identification, so the investigation turns to forensics to identity the body. Using 3D imagery of the skull and teeth, Odontologist Roland Kouble is able to confirm that the dead male is John Wainwright. Enquiries at the flats reveal that John’s friend was recently evicted from John’s flat, after causing a disturbance. This man is identified as 50 year old Damion Johnson, who had also been acting as Wainwright’s carer. Damion is arrested and brought in for questioning. The investigation takes a significant turn when Damion admits that John died in 2018, a year and a half before the freezer containing his body was discovered at the tip. Damion denies causing John any harm, claiming John died of natural causes; but he does admit that he placed John’s body in the freezer after John’s death left him distraught with grief and unable to let him go. It is now down to forensics to determine the truth of Damion’s claims. Did John die naturally as Damion asserts? Or did Damion kill him and put him in the freezer to cover up a murder? In the meantime, detectives discover that the suspect has been claiming benefits for caring for John and continued to withdraw money directly from John’s account even after the date he stated that John had died. Further financial analysis of Damion’s transactions also reveal that he bought the very freezer that he placed John into at the time of the death. Pathologist Dr Matt Lyall must carry out further tests on the body to establish a cause of death to determine whether John was in fact murdered for financial gain.
Genre
Criminology; Policing; Forensics

How to cite this record

The Open University, "Forensics: The Real CSI - Series 3". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/248727 (Accessed 09 Jan 2025)