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A Summary of the Inadequacies of the Investigation
Crime Scene
The German police report concerning Jeremiah's death states that there
were two incidents in which Jeremiah ran in front of cars. It was claimed
that Jeremiah hit a car with sufficient force to knock off the external
wing mirror, was then tossed high into the air, and landed on the ground--but
then recovered sufficiently to run for another 10 minutes before being
killed as a result of a second incident. The coincidence of the first
incident with the later alleged fatal incident was used by police as justification
for the conclusion of suicide. We believe that neither alleged incident
was sufficiently investigated.
The assumption of suicide made by non medical personnel
prevented a comprehensive investigation to establish cause of death.
Gaps in the Investigation - the First Alleged Incident
- No formal witness statements or photographs were taken.
- Two different makes of car were cited by police as being involved
in the first incident.
- No injuries relating to this first incident were recorded; however,
injuries would have been inevitable. Medical statistics suggest that
he would most likely have been killed instantly --but at the very least,
would have been severely injured.
Click here
(PDF) :
extract on medical statistics on a pedestrian hitting a car.
Gaps in the Investigation - the (Second) Alleged Fatal Incident
- The drivers of the two cars apparently involved when Jeremiah was
found dead were allowed by the German police to leave the scene before
the investigating officer arrived at the scene--and therefore no
witness statements or signed oral testimonies were taken, in
a complete breach of police procedure.
- All information gathered about and from the drivers was passed on
indirectly from police officers. This constitutes third-hand hearsay
evidence with no verifiable source.
- The German authorities decided that a post mortem was not necessary.
- A doctor came to the side of the road and testified that Jeremiah
was dead.
- This doctor carried out no examination of injuries to the body but
confirmed in his report that a post mortem should be carried out, However,
as mentioned above, the German authorities decided that no post mortem
was necessary, in as much as Police Inspector Schaecher declared the
death a suicide by traffic accident.
- There was no medical examination of injuries carried out anywhere
at any time. This can be confirmed by witness statements. It is assumed
from Inspector Schaecher's report that he undressed the body, took photographs,
and described the injuries. It is not known why a doctor signed the
death certificate, while the Police Inspector"presumably not medically
trained and certainly not medically qualified--performed the doctor's
job of examining the body.
- Jeremiah's clothes and shoes were destroyed before
investigations were completed, despite the family's request to have
his items kept. Even without such a request, it is unheard-of in police
procedure to destroy possible evidence in his way. This shows how the
case was closed so quickly that no time was allowed to properly investigate
the death--surely be a violation of the laws of any democratic country
in the world.
- The German Prosecutor states that there was no need for a medical
examination by a doctor, nor was there any need for the clothes and
shoes to be kept as evidence, because this was not a suspicious death.
In logic, this is called assuming what is to be proved. Clearly, Jeremiah's
phone call before his death makes plain that the circumstances of this
death did indeed require investigation.
Further Inadequacies Regarding the Suicide Conclusion
- Inspector Schaecher appeared not to know that Jeremiah had phoned
both his girlfriend and his mother shortly before his death telling
them he was in danger and frightened, asking to be rescued. This strongly
suggests that even the minimal work to ascertain the background to the
death was left undone by the police.
- No investigation was made into the LaRouche Organization and no official
statements were taken from the people who were with Jeremiah in the
hours before he died.
- Inspector Schaecher told the parents he did not wish to investigate
the Schiller Institute and that this was because it was a respectable
organisation.
- The people last with Jeremiah gave misleading information to the effect
that Jeremiah was a mental patient being treated at the Tavistock Clinic
and that Jeremiah's girlfriend has spoken of earlier possible suicide
attempts. These untrue statements were used as justification for a premature
verdict of suicide, while the opinions of those closest to Jeremiah,
his friends and family, were disregarded.
- Inexplicably, Frau Ortrun Cramer, Manageress of The Schiller Institute,
had possession of Jeremiah's passport--later tests proved that the passport
was stained with Jeremiah's blood. This astonishing fact was also never
investigated at the time.
- The German police informed the local press and the local radio that
Jeremiah had committed suicide for personal reasons. This was done before
the family was even notified of his death.
- There was no attempt to investigate either alleged traffic accident.
Jurgen Burg made a written statement saying
he only attended the scene to reconstruct how the alleged accident had
happened.
- A trained crime scene investigator was not appointed to examine any
of the evidence or the scene of the alleged incidents.
Contradictory Evidence Found From Further Investigation
As a result of the discrepancies referred to above, Jeremiah's
family conducted their own investigations. The most compelling result
was the report of a commission of a number of independent experts who,
from 79 photographs of the crime scene and the unclothed body, agreed
upon the following:
- The tyre treads of the cars reported as being involved in the alleged
incidents did not match any of the tracks on the road.
- The final position of Jeremiah's body on the road is not consistent
with the outcome alleged by the German police report.
- After analysis of the damage to the cars, experts have expressed doubts
about how this damage could have been caused by a human body.
- Experts stated they saw no traces of blood,
hair, human tissue or clothing on the cars, nor deposits on the road
which would be expected to be present if such an accident had taken
place, and the German traffic expert also wrote in his report there
were no traces on the cars alleged to have been involved.
- Jeremiah's shoes were still on his feet, despite (as is claimed in
the German police report) his body allegedly having been hurled through
the air and then run over.
- There was no evidence of tyre marks on Jeremiah’s body or clothes,
or evidence of how Jeremiah would have been dragged across the road
or run over.
- In the photographs of the scene, there is a yellow substance visible
on Jeremiah's shoes, on the side of one car, and on its wheels, but
this does not correspond with any similar colour soil on either side
of the road.
"The face looks bloodied and bruised but does not look crushed as
if run over by a vehicle. I can see no traces of glass, metal or any other
debris on Jerry's body in the photographs." Paul Canning,
Forensic Expert
Further Contradictory Evidence and Inadequacies Raised by
a British Post Mortem and Inquest
- The authorities in the UK conducted only a basic post mortem and not
a forensic one.
- A pathologist was not called to give evidence or to be questioned
at the Inquest.
- The UK pathologist, Dr Shove, who performed the post mortem in England,
met with Erica Duggan. He looked again at, and read, the report he had
signed and agreed he had performed this post mortem. He then stated that
from looking at what he had written in the report, Jeremiah died because
of severe beatings to the head. Dr Shove reported that from an examination
of Jeremiah's body there was no evidence to show that he had been hit
by or run over by a car.
- Dr Shove stated that he did not know the death was supposedly a result
of a traffic incident. He made no mention of a traffic incident in his
post mortem report.
- Dr Shove confirmed that there were no tyre marks and no glass, and
confirmed that if he had seen them, this would have been noted in the
post mortem report; he confirmed that he would have been duty-bound
to note them.
Further pathologist’s forensic evidence from the British
post mortem questioned whether Jeremiah died from a collision with cars.
This cannot be fully revealed as it is part of the case and will all be
made public at a public Inquest.
German Professor of Criminal Law and Justice writes to
German authorities: This case should be investigated and those persons
who participated in the Schiller Organization at the time should be questioned.
Click here (PDF)
for letter.
RIGHTS OF THE DECEASED:
There exists an obligation upon all states that
have signed the European Convention of Human Rights to investigate whether
there has been a violation of the right to life of the deceased. In that
respect the right is a personal right that relates posthumously to Jeremiah.
The family of the deceased have standing to participate in the proceedings
on the basis of safeguarding their interests. The obligation falls on
the State to carry out such an inquiry, whether the family instigate it
or not. There now remains a threat to life as there has been an unfair
delay in instigating a full investigation in Germany
or the UK.
The Court of Human Rights recognizes the right of
the family to know what happened to the deceased.
There has now been a four-and-a-half-year violation
of human rights in this case in Germany, and it therefore falls upon the
the British authorities to uphold the rights of Jeremiah
Duggan, who was a British citizen and whose death has been allowed to
pass without a full and thorough investigation. There has been an affront
to the dignity of the individual by a failure to fully disclose to the
family information possessed by those last with Jeremiah.
They had a duty of care relating both to the nature of Jeremiah’s
stay within an organization and a duty of care to fully co-operate in
any investigation by the authorities. Any acts to mislead or obstruct
constitute violations of European Human Rights Law.
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