Conclusiones Parciales

A young male adult, part of military platoon, was involved in civil defence work as part of larger military operations within the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic

in 1980. The landscape was almost entirely rural and consisted of scattered coastal settlements typically with populations of around 60 persons and a small number of outlying farms located for the sheep industry. There were no roads as such, transport being by four-wheel drive vehicle across inconsistent trackways. The individual went missing from one of the small communities in 1980 after a local party which took place the night before the platoon’s depart by boat. His absence was only noted when the boat had left its berth early the next morning. A subsequent military enquiry came to the conclusion that, having been drinking, he had slipped from the jetty during the night and had been swept out to sea.

Local gossip, subsequent investigation of the sea movements at that point, and further police enquiries suggested that he had met a different fate, that he may have been involved in a fracas at the party in the early hours of the morning which resulted in his death, and that his body had been disposed of locally. Three local men were subsequently arrested, but were later released. All had moved out of the settlement at the time of the search. With no dominant starting point, the search was necessarily restricted to the general environment of the incident (Figure 2.6). This consisted of the immediate settlement locality (some 25 small houses, the estate manager’s house and garden, outbuildings, sheds, and substantial sheep shearing facilities), a small number of outlying farms and sheds, and some 250 square miles of low-lying uninhabited landscape containing open plains, rivers, streams, gullies and rock outcrops.

The search design was drawn up by a combination of local police familiar with the scenario, the landscape, and the history of the disappearance, and other specialists including an archaeologist, a body dog handler and a GPR operator. The police made all their files available to the search team and underwrote the costs of a 3-week pro-gramme of search based out in the settlement and arranged appropriate logistics of vehicles, transport, accommodation and provisions. A general plan was drawn up and reviewed on a daily basis at an evening debriefing for all concerned. The search group numbered approximately 10 personnel.

The disappearance occurred in mid-winter when the ground was frozen and vehicle movement difficult. The time-frame of the relevant events was known and it was possible to map two circles of radii c.15km and 20km respectively around the settlement repre-senting the minimum and maximum likely distances that a vehicle could travel in that time and in those conditions. Part of the area could be eliminated immediately as being inaccessible even by four-wheel drive vehicle, and another part could be given priority on the basis of a witness account. The search began in the settlement itself: certain buildings and their gardens associated with potential offenders were targeted, and the estate manager’s house with its outbuildings, stables and extensive gardens was given particular attention. Accounts and photographs of the settlement at the time of the disappearance enabled an assessment of suitable areas of concealment to be more accurately focused. Open areas such as gardens were then evaluated using fieldcraft techniques and subsequently vented for the dog. Enclosed areas (e.g. sheds, garages, etc.) which showed evidence for replaced or repaired floors were scanned by GPR and any significant anomaly drilled to allow venting. Much of the locality consisted of a hard near-surface geology. Areas of softer ground were limited, notably ditches, cultivated areas, and the local graveyard, and it was essential to have local (police) involvement in the search who were familiar with the vicinity, its land use and its history.

The search team also consulted building records to see if structural changes or alterations

Figure 2.6 Case 1. Top: aerial view of the settlement and the wider environment of search.

Bottom: detailed search taking place in one of the secluded gardens

had been undertaken since the event, and as a result a small number of domestic dwellings were also searched for flooring or sub-flooring anomalies. Some ‘public’

structures were also involved including the Community Hall where the party took place, the various sheep shearing and storage sheds, and external sheep dip facilities.

Search was also made of other structures that might have deterred investigation at the time, for example, the extensive kennels for sheep dogs in the estate manager’s grounds.

It is almost impossible to eliminate fully a settlement of even relatively small size from a search. The only sure method of elimination is to raze the village to the ground, sieve the debris and take a machine across the whole area to look for disturbances – clearly, an impractical solution. Offenders familiar with a local environment will know exactly where the best disposal locations may lie, and the only realistic way to counteract this is to identify key areas of concealment, flooring and suitable patches of soft land available at the time, preferably with access to local knowledge. This is the best that can be done unless other information is forthcoming.

However, even a small population centre such as this is not a safe disposal environ-ment: buildings change hands; developments occur; too many individuals may witness disposal, and a less central location may be more appropriate for a permanent disposal.

The rumour surrounding the event supports this view, namely, that the body was hidden briefly in the settlement until it could be moved to a permanent location elsewhere, probably early the next day. However, an aerial search conducted by the military during the days that followed observed no disturbance of the ground in the vicinity. Nor was any carrion bird activity seen that might indicate a surface disposal.

Outside the settlement, the search concentrated on fixed landscape points adjacent to trackways, the assumption being that disposals are not random, but occur in places which are specific to perpetrators in that the locations are known to them. Knowledge can be through familiarity of workplace, leisure or simply through travel, but allows the place to be returned to for checking and peace of mind. Even uninhabited open landscapes have reference points and, as far as possible, these were investigated using both field craft, the dog and GRP. It was a fairly thankless task and, at the time of writing, the marine still remains undiscovered. The dog responded in areas of peat cuttings at the edge of the settlement, but no remains were forthcoming and the response was eventually attributed to methane released from the peat bogs. It is difficult to see where any search might move next. The primary starting point was that of the settlement, subsequently moving outwards and taking into account known events at the time. The ‘obvious’ locations have now been eliminated, but any renewed search would need (1) new information or (2) a specific detail of landscape on which to con-centrate. The strongly held belief of the search team was that the marine’s remains had not been missed, but that the correct area had yet to be targeted.

Case 2 Search for two juveniles in the gardens