While Bishop was being interviewed at the police station, Dr West was embarking on the saddest task of all – carrying out Nicola and Karen’s post mortem examinations.
Mortuaries are soulless places. Their ethereal grey, steel gurneys and ever-present stench of blood combined with disinfectant rob the dead of any remaining dignity. I won’t describe the process of a post mortem – out of respect for the families – but suffice to say most officers only attend these when they absolutely have to.
Under the watchful eyes of senior police officers, scenes of crime officers and photographers, pathologist Dr West set about his work. Both girls’ clothes were covered in mud and vegetation, as were the exposed parts of their bodies. Karen did not have her jumper or knickers on but was otherwise fully clothed, as was Nicola except her knickers were inside out. Dr West lifted loose material from both girls’ clothes and skin, using sticky tape and then fixing it to acetate, locking in the evidence. These tapings would become critical. On Nicola he noted some hairs and a piece of fibre on her lower abdomen.
Both girls’ faces were flushed with blood and had petechial haemorrhages (tiny blood spots indicative of strangulation or suffocation) across them. Both, too, had suffered significant bruising and grazing all over their little bodies. Nicola had grazes and bruising to her face, extensively to the left side, suggesting she had been slapped or punched.
They both showed signs of having been sexually assaulted, but not raped. In Nicola’s case Dr West believed she had been molested both before and after death. There was undigested food in their stomachs which would be relevant to their time of death as the girls were seen eating chips just before their last sighting.
The pathologist concluded that both had been strangled, probably by hands rather than a ligature. Karen’s loss of consciousness was possibly rapid, but death would not have been instant. Nicola would have remained conscious for longer than her friend, which might only have prolonged her terror.
Given the hugely variable factors involved, and contrary to popular belief, pathologists now rarely provide times of death. If asked, they will say that death occurred sometime between when the victims were last seen and when they were found. Dr West, however, plumped for between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.
A short while later, a completely devastated Barrie was escorted by a family liaison officer to identify and say goodbye to his darling Nicola. He could not understand why she was covered with a sheet up to her neck, but the penny dropped when he was gently reminded she had been examined. He could see her facial injuries but only imagine her horror. Not being allowed to give her a final kiss and cuddle goodbye, he slipped fifty pence of pocket money into her hand, and left a broken man.
Post mortems over, Detective Superintendent Bernie Wells was coming to terms with the enormity of the task that lay before him. The nation was horrified by what had been coined in the press as the Babes in the Wood murders. The community, not just of Moulsecoomb but of the whole of Sussex, felt horrified that such innocence could be so brutally robbed on their doorstep.