The toxicological examination of the victims of the British Air Tours Boeing 737 accident at Manchester in 1985

The results of toxicological analyses of the body fluids of the victims from the accident involving the British Air Tours Boeing 737 in August 1985 are presented for carboxyhemoglobin, cyanide, and volatiles. All the victims except one had raised concentrations of carbon monoxide. All the victims had raised concentrations of cyanide. All the victims showed the presence of volatile substances in the blood. Autopsies revealed that all the victims had carbon particles in the trachea and bronchi. Thus, all the victims must have inhaled fire products in the burning aircraft cabin. Six victims had concentrations of carbon monoxide or cyanide in the blood that were neither fatal nor incapacitating; therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that these six victims survived for a comparatively short time and that there may have been other causes, in addition to toxic fumes, for their deaths. The other 48 victims must have survived long enough in the fire to accumulate incapacitating or fatal concentrations of carbon monoxide or cyanide or both. The effects of these substances found in the blood of each of the 48 victims must have combined to produce an insurmountable impediment to escape from the aircraft.     

THE FULTON COMMITTEE'S MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY GROUP: AN ASSESSMENT OF ITS CONTRIBUTION

Early access to the papers of the Fulton committee of 1966–8 and to the still unpublished oral evidence that the committee received, which has been Officially granted to the author, enables the contribution of its Management Consultancy Group to be studied fully for the first time, that study being complemented by interviews with the surviving members of the committee, its secretariat, and of the group. The article argues that the group was innovative in that, by means of its report, and through such impact as it had upon the Fulton committee and its report, it put the adoption of the bat private sector management practice into a prominent place on the Fabian socialist agenda for civil service reform and, hence, added an extra dimension to the Fabians' traditional concern about greater efficiency.     

The use of personal computers for the mathematical processing of the results of chemical-toxicological studies]

Three programs in BASIC and SUPER BASIC language for personal computer are suggested. The first program makes it possible to calculate the degree of substance extraction and factor of its distribution between two liquid immiscible phases. The second program is designed to make calculations on distribution of substance in the organs of experimental animals. The third program is designed to determine specific and molar factors of light absorption. Results of calculations are presented as tables. Programs can be also used in mathematical processing of results obtained in the course of scientific research.     

The analysis and comparison of blue wool fibre populations found at random on clothing.

Fifty-eight garments were taped and searched for mid to dark blue wool fibres. These were then removed from the tapings, mounted on slides and examined using a high-power microscope (400x). A total of 2,740 blue wool fibres were identified and visible range microspectrophotometry (MSP) was performed on them. Three hundred independent blue wool populations were identified on 56 of the 58 garments searched. The lack of control fibres meant the spectral range of each population was unknown. The number of populations may have been underestimated by grouping together the fibres that had broad single peaks and a lack of distinguishing features in the spectra. Although blue wool is considered to be a common fibre type, 300 unique spectral shapes were identified by the use of microspectrophotometry alone. This demonstrates that the dyes used in the dyeing of blue wool are variable. Showing that many different populations of blue wool occur on a range of garments should ensure that the forensic scientist does not underestimate or understate the strength of evidence in cases where blue wool is found. Hopefully this work will enlighten scientists and enable them to also assess the true value of their findings when other commonly occurring fibres are encountered.     

A simple logical approach to questioned envelopes examination.

This case report outlines research undertaken as the result of a document examination case in which two envelopes were involved. The combination of the circumstances of the case and the results of the examination allows a simple application of a logical approach to pre-assess the probability that an envelope (or a package) potentially recovered at a suspect's home comes from the same batch (same source) as questioned envelopes. This highlights that it is useful to examine envelopes.