Wisbech death scene 'could have been handled better', court hears

A retired fire officer has told jurors the way police treated the scene after a Wisbech woman was found dead in her home "could have been handled better".

The trial of David Newton – who denies murdering 86-year-old Una Crown – has heard from fire officers who arrived on the scene after her body was first discovered in Magazine Lane on January 13, 2013.

Mrs Crown was found with her throat cut, four stab wounds to her chest and her clothing set on fire.

David Allen - a station commander based in Cambridge at the time of Mrs Crown's death - today told jurors when he first entered her home, he noticed three areas of the house had been on fire.

Because of this, Mr Allen felt scenes of crime officers needed to attend "because it was more serious" than first thought.

But former police officer Simon Gledhill, lead investigator at the time, thought this was unnecessary.

'Career defining moment'

Mr Allen felt detectives should have been called right away, but Mr Gledhill thought this was unnecessary 'because she's had an accident'.

"At which point, I had to be more forceful and said scenes of crime officers will need to attend the property," Mr Allen said.

Mr Allen also said he overheard Mr Gledhill in conversation with a colleague and they decided not to call in forensic squads.

Mr Allen told the court his colleague - Karl Bowden, an on-call duty officer in January 2013 - said to Mr Gledhill that this decision "could be a career defining moment and it won’t be mine".

After this conversation, Mr Allen believed a telephone call was made by Mr Gledhill to a "more senior police officer".

Cause of blaze 'deliberate'

Mr Allen told jurors that crime scene officers were due to arrive at Mrs Crown's home, but said the scene had not been secured and admitted "the scene could've been handled better".

Mr Bowden had earlier told the court that when he arrived at Mrs Crown's home, "it was clear that it was a serious scene.

"The deceased person (was) in the hallway and (there was) more than one seat of fire."

Mr Bowden said that due to this, "the cause of fire is most probably deliberate".

When asked by prosecutor John Price KC if any soot was found on unprotected surfaces inside Mrs Crown's house, Mr Bowden said "yes".

Mr Bowden told jurors "sheets of newspaper" were found on the floor of Mrs Crown's house.

Mr Price asked where each of the three fires discovered had come from.

In reply, Mr Bowden said an examination of the fires found each fire "must’ve been by a heat source, most likely a naked flame".

He told the court an examination of a defective hob in Mrs Crown's kitchen found "there was not enough heat energy to ignite the newspaper nor the tea towel."

The trial continues.

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.