A murder bag is a forensics kit used by

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

s at

crime scene A crime scene is any location that may be associated with a committed crime. Crime scenes contain physical evidence that is pertinent to a criminal investigation. This evidence is collected by crime scene investigators (CSI) and law enforcemen ...

s. It was developed by

Sir Bernard Spilsbury Sir Bernard Henry Spilsbury (16 May 1877 – 17 December 1947) was a British pathologist. His cases include Hawley Crippen, the Seddon case, the Major Armstrong poisoning, the "Brides in the Bath" murders by George Joseph Smith, the Crumbles ...

, a British

forensic pathologist Forensic pathology is pathology that focuses on determining the cause of death by examining a corpse. A post mortem examination is performed by a medical examiner or forensic pathologist, usually during the investigation of criminal law cases ...

known for his work on the Hawley Harvey Crippen case in conjunction with Scotland Yard in 1924. The need for such a kit became apparent during the investigation into the

Patrick Mahon The Crumbles Murders are two separate and unrelated crimes which occurred on a shingle beach located between Eastbourne and Pevensey Bay, England—locally referred to as "the Crumbles"—in the 1920s. The first of these two murders is the 1920 ...

murder case of 1924. The murder scene was particularly gruesome for the time period, as Mahon had carved his victim, Emily Kaye, into several pieces and attempted to burn them. After the burning had proved unsuccessful, Mahon boiled the body parts, and was later caught for throwing small pieces of the body out of a

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...

. Spilsbury was called to the scene to aid in locating and identifying several missing pieces. When he arrived, Spilsbury discovered a detective using his bare hands to scoop up bloodied flesh and deposit them in a bucket. When questioned about why he was not wearing

rubber glove A rubber glove is a glove made out of natural rubber or Synthetic rubber. The term ‘rubber’ refers to durable, waterproof and elastic material made from natural or synthetic latex. Rubber gloves can be unsupported (rubber only) or supported ( ...

s for the task, the officer replied that he never wore gloves, and that no one he knew had since the formation of the murder squad seventeen years ago. After returning to Scotland Yard, Spilsbury reported what he had discovered to the then head of the murder squad,

Detective Superintendent Superintendent (Supt) is a rank in the British police and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries, the full version is superintendent of police (SP). The rank is also used in most British Overseas Territories ...

William Brown, who proposed a standardised kit to be provided to officers in the field. The subsequently produced kit was carried by all detectives responding to a homicide, and contained rubber gloves,

tweezers Tweezers are small hand tools used for grasping objects too small to be easily handled with the human fingers. Tweezers are thumb-driven forceps most likely derived from tongs used to grab or hold hot objects since the dawn of recorded history. ...

, evidence bags, magnifying glass,

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself wit ...

ruler A ruler, sometimes called a rule, line gauge, or scale, is a device used in geometry and technical drawing, as well as the engineering and construction industries, to measure distances or draw straight lines. Variants Rulers have long ...

and swabs. The kit changed as needed to keep pace with changing advances in forensics.

In popular culture

* The term "murder bag" became fairly recognisable to the British public after its use as the title of a popular television series running from 1957 to 1959. * In

Venture Bros ''The Venture Bros.'' is an American adult animation, adult animated action comedy TV series created by Chris McCulloch (also known as "Jackson Publick") for Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim. Following a pilot episode on ...

, the character Dr Henry Killenger uses a "magic murder bag" a version of the bag with mysterious properties.

References

*Evans, C; ''The Father of Forensics: The Groundbreaking Cases of Sir Bernard Spilsbury, and the Beginnings of Modern CSI'', New York, NY, Berkley Books, 2006. *Brandon, D; Brooke, A; ''London: The Executioner's City'', Sutton Publishing, 2006. {{ISBN, 0-7509-4023-9 1924 introductions Law enforcement in the United Kingdom Forensic equipment