# Child Dies In Channel



## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

A two year old boy has died after being found floating in the water off Littlehampton West Sussex.

The child was wearing a lifejacket. He is believed to have been with his father. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the boy who has not been identified died at Worthing Hospital.

Police said the search for the boys father, who is understood to have been with the child, possibly in an inflatable dinghy resumed at 0600 BST on Monday. It is thought they were from London and not familiar with the area.

Is this yet another tragic accident that I saw year in year out in my job which could have been avoided?. At least the child was wearing a lifejacket, but sadly did not save him. However, I would think that hypothermia killed him.

The weather was pretty good as far as I know so one can only speculate as to what happened. But it is a timely reminder as the summer holidays approach that the sea is a very dangerous place even when calm due to tides and currents which people not from the area would not be aware of.

This fuels my claims that people should not be allowed to take to the seas without some kind of certificate so say they are competent to take any sort of craft out from dinghy to a bigger vessel. I know that many members disagree, but please tell me how else you avoid tragedies like this. And mark my words, it will not be the last this summer. David


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## dom (Feb 10, 2006)

*dom*

sad as it is David, people die whether they have a certificate or not,there is no garantee to a full and happy life,i feel for the people left behind


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## billyboy (Jul 6, 2005)

so damned easy for irresponsible people to go out and buy an inflatable these days.
My heart goes out to the mother of this unfortunate child.


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## Steve Woodward (Sep 4, 2006)

My first thought this morning that this was one of these needless beach tragedies, the child was not wearing a life jacket but was wearing one of those neoprene/ synthetic sun screen suits.
It may also have been a yachtsman on his way out to or back from his boat in the dinghy, been there done it myself without safety gear and learned my lesson.
Whatever this is a real tragedly and my thoughts go to the family concerned.


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## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

I know that proving ones ability to take a craft of any size out will never convince some, perhaps even many. But try driving a car with no licence, no tax, not insurance kill a person and not expecting a very long jail sentance.

Unfortunately those killed so needlessly off the shores of our peacefull and pretty shores will leave relatives living a life sentance of sheer hell.

I hear what you say Dom. There is no guarantee to anything. But unless we try to get to grips with allowing anybody to take to the waters we will continue to have such tragic deaths which could so easily be avoided.

I have not heard exactly what life saver the boy was weraing, but in water as cold as it is at the moment he would have only survived for 30 minutes or more whatever he was wearing. At that age, his body would have been too frail to withstand the cold water for long. He would have almost certainly suffered hypothermia.

One can only assume that his father was not weraing a lifejacket. He is still missing.

There can be all the warnings in the world, but as long as people can just jump in a boat of any size we will achieve nothing except yet another message of sympathy.

These tragedies tend to happen to people who do not live by the sea.

So what do we do to at least try to stop some of them. Nothing has worked since I began performing autopsies on these people.

I am wide open to ideas as to how these avoidable deaths be curtailed if not stopped if members don't think the same rules of driving on the road should apply to taking a boat of any size to sea. Why do we treat the sea with such contempt allowing anybody loose on it?. David


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## sparkie2182 (May 12, 2007)

can anyone confirm the u.s. coastguard does have statutory rights to act on in this context?

sparkie2182


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## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

The boy was not wearing any buoyancy aid, but was wearing a sunblock suit. We will possibly never know what happened. David


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## SeaStoryWriter (Dec 31, 2006)

Heartbreaking. I never take a small child without a PFD, and those neoprene swim suits are even better-cold protection and "lifebelt" all in one. Here in CA we have a small boat captain certificate for power boats up to 21 feet. It's voluntary of course; it's a mail away offered by the Dept. of Motor Vehicles (they also do boats for CA)-better than absolute zero. USCG also offers classes via their Power Squadron (USCG Aux.). It should be mandatory-the ocean is much less forgiving then even a bad road.


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## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

I totally agree SeaStoryWriter, voluntary is better than nothing although mandatory would save more lives. Not all, there will always be exceptions just like on the roads. But if we do nothing, we will achieve nothing.

Those neoprene swim suits sound good. One heartbreaking part of my job was that a person often survived an accident only to die of hypothermia which I would suspect was the case with this poor little boy. David


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## Steve Woodward (Sep 4, 2006)

The Royal Yacht Association (RYA) do very well in training for small craft be it day skipper or Yachtmaster ocean going, and there are any number of privately run training schools ( Ellen McArtheur started at my,then, local one in Hull) . So education is available, sadly we seem to think we, as an Island race, are natural seamen.
I have seen pictures of the dinghy concerned and it is a well found RIB type with outboard and oars.


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## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

The body of the father has now been found. There could be clues as to what happened, but I doubt it. Nothing wrong with the boat it would seem, so on the face of it looks like another tragic accident so familiar at this time of year as people head for the coast. David


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## SeaStoryWriter (Dec 31, 2006)

We have a similar problem here, but it's with swimmers. I live near Pismo Beach, CA; a very popular tourist destination, and all summer we have vicious rip tides. Most of the tourists are from the Cenral Valley (where today it's 100 degrees F plus) and they learned to swim in a pool, or not at all. Recipe for tragedy. WILL


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## ddraigmor (Sep 13, 2006)

The 'well found RIB' was a 5' zodiac dinghy. It was fitted with oars and a small outboard engine - at that size, it would be unlikely to be above 5HP. The engine was in the 'stop' position and the oars had not been unshipped when recovered. There is no evidence. yet revealed, of the boat carrying flares or VHF radio (handheld or otherwise). No distress messages or asignals were reported. What happened did so quickly. Tragic - but, as many are saying on here, avoidable with basic awareness and a short course on emergencies afloat.

A note on survival. Majority of deaths are _not_ via hypothermia but by 'cold shock' entry. The average person will not cool rapidly enough to die from hypothermia in less than thirty minutes. Cold water shock is the actual killer - it causes blood vessels to constrict on the body's exterior resulting in an increase in blood pressure, causing a relflex stimulation of the heart which results in heavier cardiac output - a lot of victims die of heart attack before hypothermia or drowning occur.

Breathing is also affected. The sudden cooling results in that huge 'gasp' of shock which can result in 'dry' drowning or may cause hyperventilation resulting in airways being vulnerable to water entry, usually followed by 'wet' drowning. Again, water ingress due to that natural reflex to gasp creates complications which lead to 'wet' drowning.

When I did my sea survival (4 day) and followed it up by training with MoD (4 day) and the RNLI (regularly) , and a 5 day Fast Rescue Coxswain's Course (Commercial) the rules on water entry - which affects most casualties at sea - were: 

Mentally Prepare for the event. 
Cover as much of the body as is possible (avopid skin contact with the water). 
Wear as much clothing as you can - thin layers are better than one thick one. 
Wear an immersion suit with insulating clothing under for work in exposed conditions - definitely when working with small boats - or have one close to hand when working.
Wear an efficient, type approved lifejacket - best are those with splash hood and airway protection. Bouyancy aids, flotation aids are just that - aids. They are NOT life preservers.
When in the water, relax allowing your body to co-ordinate its own movements with the motion of the waves, control your breathing and allow heart rate to ease before attemting any strenuous escape plans.

Now, you can say 'easier said than done' and that I was a 'trained professional' - but survival should be the key priority of anyone who goes out to sea, for pleasure, leisure or reward. 

This accident was down to a majority of features, one contributing factor has to be the size of the dinghy and tha fact that it happened inthe early evening (cooler air temperature affecting skin temperature, especially when wet), with sea conditions rising slightly - but enough to make a 5' infltable not the best of craft to deal with it. Inflatables 'bounce' - go out in an inflatable in even a small swell to understand that and how violent and unexpected it can be unless (even if) you are trained for it. Even RIB's have a violent movement at speed which you cannot always allow for and which has caught many people unawares. In a dinghy like the Zodiac, you have a very thin skin of rubber between you and the sea surface - and any jar could easily produce a trampoline effect - and a 5 year old unsecured child could easily be bounced out into the sea.....

This tragedy will be repeated around the coast this year and then again the next. We need a small boat law which does not allow anyone to take a vessel on tidal waters without having passed a basic training course. 

How would you police it? Same as with a bike - unless you have a CBT certificate, you cannot buy one to take on the road. As for purchasing second hand, the seller has to see sight of that certificate or they will be held responsible.

When you have recovered the body of a child in a situation similar to this, you know what needs to be done. The galling fact is, it continues to happen.

Jonty


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## Peter4447 (Jan 26, 2006)

I feel sure that I speak for all of our members when I say thank you Jonty for your post which brings home to us all just how easily this tragedy could have occured. 

I am also very mindful that your post high-lights the fact that the sea is a dangerous place and although accidents will always happen, until and unless we are preapred to accept some form of legislation these sad events will continue to occur. 

Many will argue, of course, that having to obtain a certificate will not alter the problem and that it would infringe upon our 'civil liberties'. As you so rightly point out, however, you cannot drive a car on a road without a licence so if it does nothing else, having to obtain such a certificate would at least make people aware of the dangers.

Whether the political will is there is another matter but as Confucious said: "It is better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness". I can only hope that your post, the post of one who has clearly witnessed these tragedies many times, together with the posts of other members of this site who share your experiences, may indeed be read by those with the power to take positive action towards reducing the needless and senseless tragedies that occur every Summer around our coasts.

Thank you again Jonty for sharing your thoughts with us.

Peter4447


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## Steve Woodward (Sep 4, 2006)

Jonty, 
my appologies on the 'well found' statement, what I meant to say was this not a cheap plastic beach toy dinghy but just the sort I and many fellow yachtsmen use to get out to our boats on moorings.
Many of us have narrow squeaks in them ( myself included) unfortunately when we are enjoying ourselves we seldom think the worst, I learnt from my lesson. 
Would certification help? difficult to say, I have sailed small boats since the age of five and still did something daft.
I guess people will always make errors of judgement sadly resulting in upsetment for others.
Rgds
Steve W


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## ddraigmor (Sep 13, 2006)

Well, would certification help?

If you look at training. The RNLI inshore crews undergo on-the-job-training at their local station and then attend the course which is a very good one, believe me! Then add to that my own 'experience'. To get my BOT (now DTp) Lifeboatman's Certificate, I had to row around Albert Dock in Liverpool, take the tiller for a row around the dock, answer a few questions - and there you go, I was a fully fledged BOT Certificated Ship's Lifeboatman!

For my FRC Coxswain's course with MRI I had a week. During that time we were exposed to boats, capsizes, beach landings, close inshore work, boat to boat work etc. It was pretty intensive and again, well organised. With the MoD I worked with helicopters so that part of the training involved intensive work with helio's in all manner of situatins - into the wind, cross wind, winching (helio) from astern etc.

Sea Survival was a 4 day course at Fleetwood - in a pool - but was a 'wet' four days as you spent almost all the time in the water with liferafts and jackets,. immersion suits etc.

Then, I was a 'pro' as well as a volunteer and training, as expected, would need to be intensive.

Meanwhile, Joe Average goes to the seaside, buys a boat for under £30 and reckons because it is calm, he'll be OK - with no knowledge of tide, winds, survival, assistance........

Like you, Steve, I have also had my share of 'slip up's in small boats and you learn - very fast - about how dangerous it can be. I once took a 'D' class ILB into the tide race off South Stack, Holyhead and it was easy work - until a huge bruiser appeared and I recall two crew members looking at me with trepidation in their eyes and me thinking 'Oh F***' as it was a potentially dangerous situatioon. In the end - we're talking split seconds here - the training cut in and I was able to recover the boat safely and head back to station! Without that knowledge, she would have either broached or flipped and without the dry suits and kit supplied, you'd have been looking at fatalities. I made the mistake of taking conditions for granted - and the sea, as the sea always will, showed that she is a hard and often cruel mistress. Even those of us who know the sea can be lulled into thinking we know it well. Until we face something like that........

Certification would be an answer but would it prevent casualties? I am inclined to think not as there will always be someone who goes out in a small boat and takes what can be the fatal chance of not returning. They gamble - but the stakes are their own lives.

There are responsible individuals out there who take courses because they take the sea and their lesuire on it seriously - however, in my experience, for every one of them there are ten more who simply think it would be an infringement of their 'rights' to use the sea as a playground.

We need much stiffer legislation, better enforcement, more awareness and perhaps 'free' courses for anyone intending to use the sea for pleasure to remind them of the dangers that are out there. Not maybe - are.

Jonty


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## James_C (Feb 17, 2005)

Jonty,
The 'free' angle may be the best way to go about it in my opinion. I'd also suggest that those who Hire out/Sell these small boats to Holidaymakers should at the very least give them some sort of safety briefing, complete with some leaflets/bumpf etc. A degree of supervision wouldn't do any harm either.
Go Karting tracks for example work very well in this regard, and everyone is keen to listen because the dangers are highlighted.
I think making everyone who wishes to go on the water take the requisite RYA etc. courses is a non starter, as enforcement would a be a nightmare.
I see from the latest edition of 'Lifeboat' the Institution are investing in a new type of sign etc. for placement near the water, complete with relevant local info, what to do in an emergency etc. That's another step forward, though I believe the cost should be shouldered by Local authorities and not the RNLI.


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## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

Jonty

I have read you post regarding how people die of heart attack when they fall into cold water. What you was taught is all very good in theory when doing survival courses, but does not always work out that way in practice unfortunately, but you state your case well.

I personally have performed more autopsies on people who died at sea than I can remember. Litterally hundreds. As a teaching hospital, I had all organisations visit who had a specific interest in a particular autopsy from those involved with rescue at sea as well as on land. Many were surprised at our findings which did not add up to their training whether paramedic, first aider or whatever. The cause of death was not what they thought at the scene, not so easy to identify when seeing inside, or did not add up at all to their training. Oddly enough, none including nurses learn from real bodies at autopsy. It is not part of their training as it was us and other doctors. Their training was from books, and drawing in classrooms and dummies. When they saw the real thing, many were very surprised and often disorientated saying it looked nothing like drawings etc. Some had watched operations, but the small amount they see there is nothing like we did. 

Firstly, there is no such thing as a heart attack in medical jargon. Doctors try to avoid it. It is a loose laymens term that covers many heart related problems. It is commonly used when a person has an myocardial infarction or MI(see below), but never used as a cause of death. If I wrote that, I would be in trouble?!. 

We knew exactly if a person died of hypothermia. The signs are without question. I know exactly what you mean when falling into ice cold water. But of all the cases I dealt with, I cannot reacall a case where we told the coroner that death was heart related due to falling into cold water without taking more tests. Visual signs such as coronary thrombosis, where one of the two main coronary arteries were blocked was not there. We can tell straight away if a person has had an MI new or old. In normal cir***stances a person who has an MI survives. But in case of drowning, it would be what came first. I cannot recall seeing one of these, but it is possible in theory. But in my job theory was not enough, we had to give and demonstrate an actual cause of death, add I don't recall seeing a new MI in a drowning case or coronary thrombsosis, but we often saw histology changes possibly as a result of heart failure as you describe. But we were not sure, so drowning was recorded.

Clinical shock which I assume is what you are referring to is brought on by a reduction of blood supply to vital organs including the heart. It is more difficult to demonstrate this and cannot always give a cause of death at source. We would need to take samples for histology as mentioned above.

I could however demonstate hypothermia. 

Usually, we recorded drowning, but often came back with a histology report which may have picked up what you desribe without changing the cause of death. 

We can also tell if a person drowned before or after they died. But I won't tell you how we can tell that. It is the same as knowing if a person hanged themselves, or was killed and then strung up to make it look like hanging.

Nothing is so clear cut as what people think. Just ask those who visited my mortuary during my 20 years there?!.

As for the young boy, I said in an earlier post that he could have died of hypothermia. Because he would have had so little fat on him at that young age, hypothermia could come on within 30 minutes in those temperatures. He is said to have been still breathing when found. I have since heard that drowning was the cause of death, but I would suspect they found hypothermia as well. 

I hope this explains things in more detail, but I suspect it has caused even more confusion?!!. David


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## ddraigmor (Sep 13, 2006)

David,

Not at all. I am not a medical man despite working within a forensic environment with GP qualified Psychiatrists!

As a layman, a person is dead - by whatever means - when there is no sign of life. The usual signs - blue lips, dilated pupils, sometimes that 'deathly pallor' or sometimes - in one case - completely flushed in the face. No matter. The HMA - if you had him or her aboard - would pronounce 'life extinct' at a given time or 'time of death' - it was up to the autopsy to determine the actual cause. In the log w put ' recovered casualty'.

Only a doctor could a) pronounce death and b) offer likely cause.No-one else.

Hypothermia will occur when the body heat is allowed to fall below 35 degrees and conduction - heat loss - is some 25 times faster in water than in air. At 35 degrees you would be experiencing disorientation, at 30 degrees pupuils dilate, the pulse is weak and breathing is weak enough to mimic death in some cases as it is impossible to asses. At 25 degrees you are well into the 'Failure to revive' phase and death is usually guarenteed.

Cold water imersion might be more common than you think David! Certainly one rig - the 'Ocean Ranger' which capsized off Canada's East Coast lost 84 people (all hands) - the majority of deaths being attributed to the temperature. I believe it was -I degree air temp and -4 degrees sea temperature. However, there were also 70 knot winds inforce and seas of approx 9 metres. The rig was served by ships and helicopters - but events overtook the incident and the deaths were due to lack of survival suits, inadequate training, poor drill procedure. Men aboard the 'Seaforth Highlander' went out on deck and threw lines to men in the water - there was no response. A lifeboat was brought alongside by the 'Seaforth Highlander''s Master - no-one made any attemopt to escape it, despite it being occupied and six men coming out to stand on its gunnels, it simply capsized alongside the AHTS. 9 men who surfaced and hung on to the rails of the upturned boat did not respond to lines being thrown. That is cold water or immersion shock, David. The fight or flight syndome is run down to almost zero and the mind believes holding on to something (the 'security' phase) is the safest option. I have seen people refuse to let go of what they are using to float on despite encouragement, cajoling and loss of temper. In the end, someone had to go into the water and prise their fingers off - resulting in serious panic and often violence. Psychologically, that is a huge step to take for someone in dire steps. They feel safe and secure and the prospecty of letting go of something they believe is holding them up is. That is not just panic, it is irrational fear - or disorientation. Once safe, and knowing they are, they invariably break down as the emotion kicks in. 

It is an extreme case - but shows, very clearly, that the fatal combination of immersion contact and wind strips the body of heat rapidly and those in the water quickly lose orientation and fall quickly into the coma state just preceeding death itself. Autopsies showed that some men - the older ones - had suffered MI's - possibly due to the shock of immersion (-4 is very cold).

Nothing, indeed, is clear cut - but do you recall Fastnet when they had the gale? I believe that three or four people dies from heart failure as a result of being winched up from cold water. The US Coastguard do not lift vertically but use a basket in heliciopter transfers and RAF / RN winchies always have the casualty in a semi sitting position. No-one expected the MI result at Fastnet but they learned, quickly, that the combination of cold water shock and then the trauma of a fast vertical lift out of thesea produced fatal results.

Cheers for the reply.

Jonty


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## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

Jonty

You are correct that a doctor pronounces death, but your GP friends will tell you that if he cannot write a death certificate, the body is reported to the coroner. And it is us who give the cause of death.

There are many reasons that a GP or hospital doctor cannot sign a death certificate and have to report the death to a coroner who orders people like my former team to perform an autopsy. I was head of my pathology department which is why I say my or we. Others, are automatic coroners cases such as those who fall into the sea etc.

I note, you mentioned MI, well I too mentioned that in my last post.

As I say, unless a new MI can be seen, there is often no other visible signs that the person died of heart failure if plunged into cold water. When then rely on tissue taken for histology. We take small slices, put them onto a slide, and examin them under the microscope. 

And Jonty, cold water immersion is not more common than I think, I have seen or heard hundreds of cases. Our system was fed into our colleagues countrywide. I know exactly what you mean by falling into icy cold water.

But you must also understand it is not GPs or hospital doctors that give the cause of death at autopsy, but us. They may have an idea, but that is all. In fact, some of the clinical cases I dealt with where GPs or hospital doctors claimed to know the cause of death, and wrote a death certificate as such, asking us to research further, we found that the cause of death was wrong, or the person had something they did not know about which proves how vital autopsies still are in finding out the true cause of death in accidents or whatever. 

In coroners cases we are not supposed to discuss the case with the persons GP or hospital doctor. In reality it happens, but in law we are working for the coroner and cannot legally discuss the autopsy with anybody. It is the coroner who gives the cause of death to the public, often at inquest. 

In some cases hypothermia was the cause, although this was more of a problem in elderly people shore side during the winter. 

So what happens in cases of hypothermia. Well, in short without going into clinical detail it affects the pancreas. If we suspect hypothermia, we go direct to the pancreas. For specialists such as ourselves, we can see it straight away but usually take samples for confirmation. We will find all we need there. Once esablishing the cause, we go through the motions examining all other organs. 

For the benefit of other members, I will not go into anymore gory detail. But when somebody dies at sea, others has to sort it out and come to a conclusion as to the cause of death when of course the body is found and who's patch it turns up on. That, when landing on the island was the job of my department, nobody else. David


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## ddraigmor (Sep 13, 2006)

David,

As I said, I am no medical person - even though I have to have a fairly good knowledge of mental health physiology and its biological / organic / pathological aspects! I rely heavily in the ex GP Consultant Psychiatrist I work with for the fine print in cases I work on - but then, he is the expert, and I mean that with all respect as I admire him and have a great respect for his knowledge and skills.

I digress. The HMA (Honorary Medical Advisor) very occasionally came out in the boat but was usually on shore when a body was recovered. I say usually as they are GP's and can sometimes be elsewhere. In 99% of the rceovery cases, we handed over to the ambulance crews when a doctor was in attendance to pronounce life extinct.

You are correct sir - as you should be! - on what follows. Life extinct merely confirmed the fact that the casualty was dead. Cause was the Coroners job. The autopsy would reveal cause of death and that would be the pronounced verdict. Bodies recovered from the sea were not all 'drowned' as you would expect, but the cause of death varied. Eg. a climber recovered from under a cliff died as a result of falling and striking rocks before landing in the water. He was dead before he went in so cause of death was internal trauma. A motorist whose car was found under a cliff died of an MI before the car careered into the sea and whilst the body had been down for a week, he did not drown.

The whole survival subject fascinates me and it is what I wanted to do before I was diagnosed diabetic - I was aiming to get more involved in survival and recovery. Hey ho, c'est la vie! The Cosmic Joker pulled an ace and look at where I am now!

Nowadays I am more of a cause and effect' practitioner - why did they do what they did, what drove them to do it, what were the triggers, were illicit substances to blame, were there extenuating cir***stances - and then round it al off with a recommendation as to treatment viability mixed with criminal risk and come to a conclusion that ensures safety of the public and then the individual. Invariably, recommending that a section of the Mental Health Act with treatment is the best option.....always mindful of the restriction of liberty, treatment vs punishment and Hunman Rights Act along the way!

There are times, however, when I miss the whole sea thing.....however tragic the cir***stances you found yourself in, there was always the satisfaction in knowing that someone got their loved one back - many more don't.

Thanks for the info, David. My partner is an Admin Officer at the Home Office Forensic Criminal Unit in South Oxfordshire. Her boss advises on the BBC's 'Silent Witness' series.

Jonty


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