SENIOR PATHOLOGIST SUSPENDED PENDING APPEAL FOR FAILING TO SPOT
MURDER
A senior pathologist has been suspended from Police work pending appeal after a disciplinary tribunal found that he had failed to spot that a man had been murdered.
The National Policing Improvement Agency tribunal heard that Dr Peter Acland had concluded, in a first post-mortem, that diabetic Mervyn Fletcher had died from head injuries caused by what Dr Acland believed to be a diabetes-induced fall at his home near Walsall in 2004.
The tribunal then heard that Dr Acland carried out a second post-mortem examination, when he reportedly concluded that some injuries were consistent with a heavy fall but said there was no convincing evidence of a direct assault, although one could not be discounted.
But weeks after Mr Fletcher's death, police found money was still being withdrawn from the pensioner's bank account, with a man they later arrested, Mustafa Abdullah, admitting to using the man's bank cards.
Mr Fletcher's body was exhumed and a third post-mortem carried out, this time by a second pathologist.
Abdullah was convicted of murder in March 2007.
The NPIA panel accepted nineteen of the twenty one charges against the Home Office registered pathologist.
It is not yet known whether Dr Acland has exercised his right to appeal the panel decision.
ENDS