**Trigger warning** Title edited by MNHQ forensic team complaint? (upsetting subject)

[APerson]

Hi, not sure if this is the right place and I've NCd so as to not be identified and tried to keep it a bit vague. Sorry if any of this upsets anyone.

The deceased died very suddenly at home alone 3 weeks ago. It was accidental but there needed to be a police investigation which took over 2 weeks. DP of the deceased was not at home at the time and has only just got entry to their home.

They did not clean up the accident scene. DP was faced with it as soon as she entered the house. DP was not warned. DP knew the cause of death from the post mortem but these reports dont say anything about the scene. Again sorry if this is upsetting.

DP's upset and angry that the house wasn't cleaned and that DP wasn't prepared. The DP and DP's family had to do the cleaning.

Is the DP unreasonable to complain? DP also feels there was a lack of sympathy and understanding from police / forensics also.

I am so sad for them all, the whole experience has been horrific.

When you say cleaned up do you mean blood and bodily fluids etc or furniture tipped over and that sort of thing?

They should have been forewarned and offered contact details for cleaning crews.

But sometimes, as I'm sure you know, when you're grieving it's easy to lash out at others.

Sorry, just wanted to add, in the UK it is the responsibility of the property owner to hire a company, eg Rentokil to come and clean up after a crime scene. Forensics are there to collect evidence, not clean up, nor are the police.

Agree that it's not any part of forensics job to clean up, but liaison officer really should have forewarned, and given details of commercial specialist cleaning crews.
Suggest they complain along these lines.

That is horrendous but sadly doesn't surprise me at all, my friend had a similar experience when someone took their own life in one of her farm buildings. She had to clean it up herself. I couldn't believe it.

We had this, plus broken glass too, however, we were warned and it was actually better than we had expected, so it helped. We cleaned up ourselves.

Yes there's blood etc that the DP had to clean up. Yes we thought they'd at least give warning and suggest a cleaner.

It's so upsetting to even think about it. I couldn't stay living there.

Sadly, it isn't really the job of the police to clean up - but it would have been nice to give some warning about the state of the home.
There are cleaning companies who specialise in cleaning up after a death. It might be helpful for your relative to stay somewhere else and get someone in if they can.

I would have expected them to warn about the distressing evidence left behind and provide contact details for crime scene cleaners.

OH how horrible for you and DPs.
It can not be left up to the police or forensic team to clean up but yes they certainly should of warned you and given you a list of company's that could do the job for you .

This is not something I would want to trust to Google and other peoples recommendations to find the right one .

sending hugs

I am very sorry someone close to you has suffered this.

I am shocked that it isn’t the responsibility of the police liaison officers or some other agency to prepare relatives or at least give some practical advice. It is either a gap in provision, or someone didn’t fulfil their responsibilities.

A letter to the M.P asking what provision there is or what should have happened? Or asking that the gap be closed?

Awful for you all. I’m very sorry. My parents had a similar experience. My mother’s elderly aunt died in her own home (which was the other end of the country so my mum wasn’t popping in all the time). My mum’s aunt had obviously struggled as there was furniture overturned and a lot of blood and fluid where her body had been for a week. The police informed my parents and after all the usual proceedings they were given the flat keys. No warning about what they’d be confronted by and no simple list of names of cleaning companies. My elderly parents had to get down on their hands and knees and clean themselves (and they never told me until later). We didn’t expect the police to take responsibility but some kind of warning. My mother was very traumatised by it. I’m so sorry it’s happend to others and it does indicate a gap in protocol which even a simple list of companies or agencies that could help would have made a difference. And I do think the nature of the scene should always be explained.