465 / 494
464
following a call from Sgt. Gordon to remove those bodies from the area of
Darling Street. A further 10 bodies were taken to Taylor’s in a JDF vehicle “by
order of Insp. Elliott”.
14.111.
In paras.8, 9, and 10 of his further witness statement of 4 February
2016, Mr. Madden’s stated –
“8. Throughout the day a further twenty five (25) bodies
were brought to Madden’s by the military and constabulary
forces….in various stages of decomposition.
9. Police and soldiers who brought in these bodies in haste,
placed these bodies on the floor or on tables. This was a
temporary situation, as our staff placed all bodies in our
refrigerated storage facility as soon as they were able to do
so.
10. No name of any investigating officer was given for any
of these 25 bodies, despite various attempts by our staff to
obtain this information…..”
14.112.
It was standard operating procedure for the name and particulars
of the investigating officer to be sought since, under the contract, bodies
delivered to Madden’s must be supervised by an Investigating Officer. At the
end of 25 May, Madden’s North Street location had 35 bodies in storage while
Taylor’s was holding 10 bodies.
14.113.
With regard to decomposing bodies, Mr. Madden said at para.13 –
“Despite the insistence of Madden’s staff that there was no
arrangement in place for Madden’s to receive decomposing
bodies, the security forces maintained that Madden’s had to
receive the bodies, and simply deposited the bodies at the
North Street location.”
Four bodies were taken to May Pen Cemetery on 25 May.
14.114.
Mr. Madden saw the team from BSI at North Street, including
Supt. Gladys Brown-Ellis. The team did extensive photographing and
fingerprinting “and assigned each body an identification number”.