Post Mortem

[bloggs and son]

For that to work you have to assume there was a top and socks, assume there was blood on them, and then assume the blood was that of the victims. That's a lot of assumptions.

So why else would someone cold soak their clothes instead of just putting them straight into the washing machine?

[Bridget]

Why on earth would you come to the conclusion that the clothes in the bucket had menstrual blood on them?
Oh Anne Eaton said so

Egap did her own test a couple of weeks ago and came to the conclusion you wouldn't be able to tell where the blood came from there is a good chance it came from Neville

Bridget is wasn't tested was it
Anne had taken it home like the silencer got taken home

I would think you would be able to tell if it was a period type mishap just by looking at the knickers, depending on what colour they were.

[Bridget]

So why else would someone cold soak their clothes instead of just putting them straight into the washing machine?

There was blood on them, it was late and washing machines are noisy.

[bloggs and son]

Roch, honestly, I do believe LD tests are pretty much hokum. I don't believe anything Egan said was intended to be supportive of the LD test. If JB had scored more highly on Egan's test I would not be linking it with the LD test. I'll give you this though, I think that JBs willingness to do the test at all says more about his belief in his innocence than the test itself does. I still think he was an idiot to take it though.

Why do you think that Bridget?

[Nuala]

AE qualified this statement by referring to this blood as menstrual blood, but I believe that AE was mistaken about this.

In my experience, the amount of blood staining that you might get with menstrual blood is minimal and the same is true of the smell of this menstrual blood once items stained with it are soaked in a bucket/buckets of water.

Menstrual blood does have a distinctive, hormonal scent to it (sorry about this, chaps), the hormonal content, however, and the menstrual blood are washed out and highly diluted once items stained with this are soaked in water.

The effect of this dilution is to remove any smell that the bloodstained areas might previously have had.

As the blood that AE detected in the bucket/s, by its scent, cannot have been menstrual blood, this begs the question of what exactly was the origin of this blood that AE could smell on the clothes steeping in the bucket/s?

And why was there so much of this blood in the bucket/s that, despite the bloodstained clothing being steeped in water and the blood being diluted by this, AE could still smell it?

[bloggs and son]

There was blood on them, it was late and washing machines are noisy.

So you accept that the items of clothing were put into the bucket late at night then and not earlier in the evening?

[Bridget]

Why do you think that Bridget?

Because whether he was guilty or innocent a failed test would have finished his campaign, because of the number of people out there who do have faith in LD tests.

[Bridget]

So you accept that the items of clothing were put into the bucket late at night then and not earlier in the evening?

Probably around the time she went to bed would be my guess.

[Bridget]

As the blood that AE detected in the bucket/s, by its scent, cannot have been menstrual blood, this begs the question of what exactly was the origin of this blood that AE could smell on the clothes steeping in the bucket/s?

And why was there so much of this blood in the bucket/s that, despite the bloodstained clothing being steeped in water and the blood being diluted by this, AE could still smell it?

Why can't it have been menstrual blood?

[susan]

Chochok Eira  Clothes soaking in buckets of water would not have any different smell than ordinary blood the water would have diluted the blood it seems to me that even if some of it was menstrual blood not all of it would have been and indeed could have come from June or Ralph.  We shall never know will we.

[bloggs and son]

Because whether he was guilty or innocent a failed test would have finished his campaign, because of the number of people out there who do have faith in LD tests.

Don't you think they would rather take your approach and just say that LD tests are inaccurate?

[susan]

Hi Bridget  Some of it could have been but maybe not all.

[Bridget]

Don't you think they would rather take your approach and just say that LD tests are inaccurate?

Who do you mean by "they"?

[Nuala]

There was blood on them, it was late and washing machines are noisy.

WHF is a large, period house with many rooms and was built to stand for centuries. It has three staircases and walls around one foot thick. I believe the washing machine was in or near the back kitchen ( a sort of storeroom and utility area) and well away from the living and sleeping areas. No one would have been disturbed by the sound of that washing machine, in my opinion.

This suggests, doesn't it, that there were reasons other than the noise of the washing machine for soaking those clothes in a bucket or buckets of water rather than just popping them into the machine and washing them?

Everyone hates having buckets of clothes soaking in their kitchen or storeroom, they're a mess and accidents waiting to happen. The sole reason anyone soaks clothes is because they have to, because these clothes are so badly engorged with staining that they require pre-soaking.

As AE stated that the clothes smelled of blood and soaking is solely used to remove staining, this has to be the answer: those clothes were sufficiently stained - with blood - to require pre-soaking to loosen the stains.

The clothes were also so badly stained that AE could detect the smell of blood on them even after the blood was highly diluted by soaking.

Perhaps AE and the officer could even see that blood because the water in the bucket/s was tinged red or straw coloured by it?

[Roch]

Roch, honestly, I do believe LD tests are pretty much hokum. I don't believe anything Egan said was intended to be supportive of the LD test. If JB had scored more highly on Egan's test I would not be linking it with the LD test. I'll give you this though, I think that JBs willingness to do the test at all says more about his belief in his innocence than the test itself does. I still think he was an idiot to take it though.

I'm giving up trying to crack you for now.  I will return to have another crack soon no doubt