The ‘traumatising’ search for dead bodies in the Thames – and why dozens are found every year
There was always a “huge sense of relief” for Gill Williams when she found a body.
Working as a police diver, the most difficult part of her job was the long, tiring searches – her mind playing tricks as she felt her way forward in the cold, dark water, waiting to touch a limb.
During her 23-year career with Thames Valley Police, she says there were only a couple of occasions in hundreds of searches that bodies were found as soon as she entered the water.
Now retired, she says she doesn’t envy the task of the marine unit looking for 35-year-old Abdul Ezedi in the River Thames.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Police search river for Ezedi’s body
Ezedi is believed to have died after entering the water around Chelsea Bridge, a few hours after allegedly throwing a strong alkali on his former partner and injuring her two daughters – aged three and eight – in Clapham, south London, on 31 January.
The Metropolitan Police has said it could take up to a month to find him – but the force also admits his body may never surface due to the conditions in the river.
During the search for Ezedi, two other bodies were discovered in the Thames – unrelated to the case.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
CCTV shows last sighting of Clapham suspect
It sounds shocking but Ms Williams says sadly this is “not unusual”. She and her team would sometimes be looking for up to six bodies after Christmas and New Year, a common time for people to take their own lives.
“We have recovered bodies that were down for three months, eventually found snagged up to three miles downstream – that’s a huge, huge area,” she tells Sky News.
Between 27 and 37 people died annually in the Thames in the years 2015 to 2022 – an average of about 31 – according to the Port of London Authority, which says 90% were a result of suicide.
‘It can be traumatic’
Some are accidental drownings and the vast majority are identified – their characteristics compared with the missing persons register, then confirmed through DNA, dental records or fingerprints.
Homicide victims are very rare – the torso of a young boy, nicknamed Adam by police, discovered in 2001 has never been identified. He is thought to have been trafficked to the UK from Nigeria and possibly murdered in a ritualistic killing.
For those who recover the bodies, it can be “traumatic”, says former Met detective Nick Aldworth.
Former Met detective Nick Aldworth. Pic: PA
“I have recovered plenty in my career and some of those have been in horrific states of decomposition,” he tells Sky News.
“That in itself is traumatising and makes you physically feel unwell so it’s not pleasant.
“Every person has a different reaction, some will be very scientific and pragmatic about it, others will find it quite distressing.”
Ms Williams insists she “never found it difficult”, crediting the support of her close-knit team for being able to cope.
“Psychologically afterwards – I did it for a very, very long time – I have never had nightmares,” she says.
“I know of police divers who have had problems and had to leave the team.”
‘Massively hostile environment’
On the challenges facing officers searching for Ezedi, Mr Aldworth described the Thames as a “massively hostile environment that’s constantly moving”.
“You’re talking about a river which is 275 miles long with a tidal range of 23ft and speeds of up to 10mph,” he says.
“You can’t see an inch in front of you and the challenge you have got is where do you start.”
Ezedi was seen looking over the railings at Chelsea Bridge. Pic: PA
Jumping into water from height can be like hitting concrete, he says, and it is “incredibly unlikely” Ezedi’s body will still be near Chelsea Bridge, with the strong tidal currents likely to have taken him down river.
If someone is weighted down with clothes, their body can sink straight away, or become snagged on one of the shopping trollies, sunken boats, cars and motorbikes, trees or other junk in the river.
Read more:
What were Abdul Ezedi’s movements after chemical attack?
Relative of Clapham chemical attack suspect speaks out
Over time, as the body starts to decay, gasses inside the stomach start to expand and they start to rise to the surface, says Mr Aldworth.
It can take a long time for a body to reach the sea because the changing tides move objects in both directions, but they are less likely to be spotted past Tower Bridge because there are fewer tourists and other passers-by.
The two bodies found during the search for Ezedi were discovered within 25 minutes of each other on Saturday – one near HMS Belfast and the other in Limehouse.
Both deaths are being treated as “unexpected pending further inquiries”.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK
Zoe Ball is leaving her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show after six years.
The 53-year-old, who recently lost her mother to cancer, will present her last show on Friday, 20 December.
Ball leaves Wogan House with her replacement, Scott Mills. Pic: PA
She said she was leaving to focus on family, but will remain part of the Radio 2 team and will give further details next year.
Announcing the news on her Tuesday show, she said: “After six years of fun times alongside you all on the breakfast show, I’ve decided it’s time to step away from the early alarm call and start a new chapter.
“You know I think the world of you all, listeners, and it truly has been such a privilege to share the mornings with you, to go through life’s little ups and downs, we got through the lockdown together, didn’t we?
“We’ve shared a hell of a lot, the good times, the tough times, there’s been a lot of laughter. And I am going to miss you cats.”
Scott Mills will replace Ball on the breakfast show following her departure next month.
“Zoe and I have been such good friends now for over 25 years and have spent much of that time as part of the same radio family here at Radio 2 and also on Radio 1,” he said.
“She’s done an incredible job on this show over the past six years, and I am beyond excited to be handed the baton.”
Hugging outside the BBC building on the day of the announcement, Ball said she was “really chuffed for my mate and really excited about it”.
Ball was the first female host of both the BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 breakfast shows, starting at the Radio 1 breakfast show in 1998, and taking over her current Radio 2 role from Chris Evans in 2020 after he left the show.
She took a break from hosting her show over the summer, returning in September.
Ahead of her stint in radio, Ball – who is the daughter of children’s presenter Johnny Ball – co-hosted the BBC’s Saturday morning children’s magazine show Live & Kicking alongside Jamie Theakston for three years from 1996.
She has two children, Woody and Nelly, with her ex-husband, DJ and musician Norman Cook, known professionally as Fatboy Slim.
Ball said in her announcement her last show towards the end of December will be “just in time for Christmas with plenty of fun and shenanigans”.
“While I’m stepping away from the Breakfast Show, I’m not disappearing entirely – I’ll still be a part of the Radio 2 family, with more news in the New Year,” she added.
“I’m excited to embrace my next chapter, including being a mum in the mornings, and I can’t wait to tune in on the school run!”
Helen Thomas, head of Radio 2, said: “Zoe has woken up the nation on Radio 2 with incredible warmth, wit and so much joy since January 2019, and I’d like to thank her for approaching each show with as much vim and vigour as if it were her first. I’m thrilled that she’ll remain an important part of the Radio 2 family.”
Mills, 51, got his first presenting role aged just 16 for a local station in Hampshire, and went on to present in Bristol and Manchester, before joining BBC Radio 1 in 1998.
He’s previously worked as a cover presenter on Radio 2, but this is his first permanent role on the station.
UK
More prisoners are being transferred to less secure jails to tackle overcrowding crisis, Sky News understands
The prison service is starting to recategorise the security risk of offenders to ease capacity pressures, Sky News understands.
It involves lowering or reconsidering the threshold of certain offenders to move them from the closed prison estate (category A to C) to the open estate (category D) because there are more free cell spaces there.
Examples of this could include discounting adjudications – formal hearings when a prisoner is accused of breaking the rules – for certain offenders, so they don’t act as official reasons not to transport them to a lower-security jail.
Prisoners are also categorised according to an Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) status. There are different levels – basic, standard and enhanced – based on how they keep to the rules or display a commitment to rehabilitation.
Usually ‘enhanced’ prisoners take part in meaningful activity – employment and training – making them eligible among other factors, to be transferred to the open estate.
Insiders suggest this system in England and Wales is being rejigged so that greater numbers of ‘standard’ prisoners can transfer, whereas before it would more typically be those with ‘enhanced’ status.
Open prisons have minimal security and allow eligible prisoners to spend time on day release away from the prison on license conditions to carry out work or education.
The aim is to help reintegrate them back into society once they leave. As offenders near the end of their sentence, they are housed in open prisons.
Many of those released as part of the early release scheme in October after serving 40% of their sentence were freed from open prisons.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Overcrowding in UK prisons
They were the second tranche of offenders freed as part of this scheme, and had been sentenced to five years or more.
Despite early release measures, prisons are still battling a chronic overcrowding crisis. The male estate is almost full, operating at around 97% capacity.
Read more from Sky News:
Find out what it’s really like inside prison?
Prison recalls soar as justice system struggles
Campaigners demand IPP sentences are scrapped
Sky News understands there continue to be particular pinch points across the country.
Southwest England struggled over the weekend with three space-related ‘lockouts’ – which means prisoners are held in police suites or transferred to other jails because there is no space.
One inmate is believed to have been transported from Exeter to Cardiff.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The new government inherited a prison system on the point of collapse. We took the necessary action to stop our prisons from overflowing and to protect the public.
“This is not a new scheme. Only less-serious offenders who meet a strict criteria are eligible, and the Prison Service can exclude anyone who can’t be managed safely in a category D prison.”
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports8 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway