The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river
Historic placenames along the River Thames in London once summed up its macabre past. There was Dead Man’s Dock at Deptford, Dead Man’s Steps at Wapping, and Dead Man’s Hole, which still exists, at Tower Bridge. They evoked stories of people who were executed, murdered or killed themselves.
News that during the search for the chemical attack suspect Abdul Ezedi the river had surrendered two bodies unrelated to the case, serves to highlight its gruesome present.
On average, about 30 bodies are retrieved from the river’s dark waters in London each year.
The job falls to the marine policing unit (MPU), responsible for policing 47 miles of the river between Dartford and Hampton Court.
Last year, the MPU retrieved 45 bodies. Not all were from the Thames, as the MPU also polices lakes, reservoirs and 200 miles of canal in Greater London. But most will have been found washed up on the river’s mudflats and shingle beaches, or floating in its fastflowing current.
Metropolitan police figures show that in 2021 23 bodies were found in the urban stretch of the Thames covered by the MPU. In 2019 there were 27, in 2017 there were 30 and in 2015 there were 38.
It is estimated that along the full 213-mile course of the Thames, a dead body is washed up once a week on average.
Few make the headlines; those are reserved for incidents such as the discovery in 2001 of the torso of a young African boy, called Adam, believed to be the victim of a ritual killing, or the 1989 Marchioness disaster in which 51 people died.
Had it not been for the high-profile Ezedi search, the fact that two other bodies had been found might have passed almost unnoticed, consigned to a paragraph or two in the local press.
One member of MPU team said: “The number of bodies we recover has been pretty consistent for about 50 years. Around 28-40 a year. The mean is probably about 30.”
Like the RNLI, whose Tower lifeboat station at Victoria Embankment is the busiest in the country and which works closely with police in retrieval, the MPU’s mission is to save lives. The unit deals with roughly 2,000 calls a year. Of those relating to the river, the vast majority of those will involve people threatening to jump.
Not all are suicidal, some have personality disorders and are known to the NHS and emergency services from previous incidents, according to the officer, speaking on condition of anonymity. A small number of incidents are accidental drownings.
Almost none are homicides. The MPU does recover bodies or parts of bodies that are homicides, but not from the Thames, rather from reservoirs and canals. The reason: “They could pop up because of the tides.”
The tidal range of the Thames was around 7 metres, the officer said. “That is massive. Twice a day. In and out. The tide could be 5-6 knots.” If someone jumps at Westminster Bridge, depending on weather, within seconds they could be 100 metres up or downriver.
The strong tide is one reason why even the MPU’s hugely experienced team of 10 trained divers can only dive in the river in certain circumstances. It is too dangerous: up to 20 metres deep in places and dark. They usually only dive in “slack water” between tides, or around piers and docks.
Once someone is reported to have jumped, invariably they must wait for the body to pop up. Often it is a ship’s captain on the river who spots them and calls emergency services, as is understood to be the case with one of the two bodies discovered last week.
And, despite the folklore surrounding Dead Man’s Dock, Dead Man’s Steps, and Dead Man’s Hole, so named because it was believed there were certain places bodies would more commonly wash up, there are no particular places where they might be found. “It’s random,” said the officer. “It’s not an exact science.”
Jumpers and accidental drowners will suffer cold shock from the freezing temperatures below 1.5 metres. The muscles freeze, the mouth opens, they take in the water and they sink to the bottom. Only with decomposition will they begin to float.
“In the Thames, they may drop to the bottom. They hit the bottom. We can’t dive that. It could be 12 or 13 metres deep. You can’t see. Then the tide is moving all the time so they can end up 2 or 3 miles down the river. Several miles.
“There have been people that have jumped off Dartford Bridge and ended up in central London.
“Even though we are experts, and we know the river, and we know it really well, it’s 47 miles of River Thames. It’s like a needle in the haystack.
“Over the years I’ve had DCIs contacting me and saying, ‘Where is the body?’ and I say, ‘I don’t know. If I did I’d go and find it.’”
Sometimes a body gets entangled in old piers. One snagging point is a pontoon by the London Eye. They can get caught in rubbish catchers, which are like big bins with mesh to catch river rubbish. They can get trapped under barges, which would mean they are not discovered for some time.
In one case, the Guardian was told, it took a year for a body to surface. Others may get taken out to sea.
Once police know someone has gone in the river, they will generally carry out a low water search for three days, as the levels drops 7 metres or so, and bodies can sometimes then be found on the mudflats. Otherwise, it is a wait for the body to surface.
As Jon Savell, the commander in charge of the Ezedi inquiry, said last week: “At this time of year, the Thames is very fast flowing, very wide and full of lots of snags. It is quite likely that if he has gone in the water, he won’t appear for maybe up to a month and it’s not beyond possibility that he may never actually surface.”
Once a body is recovered, it is often transported to a temporary morgue on Wapping Pier at the MPU’s HQ, where the process of identification takes place. Officers are “passionate” about the dignity of the person in their handling.
With advances in DNA, and better reporting of missing persons, almost all are identified. Occasionally there will be a John or Jane Doe, usually a transient person from abroad, whose identification is problematic.
The MPU, the RNLI and the Port of London authority (PLA) are the main organisations involved in the retrieval process. They work closely with the NHS, and are partners of the Tidal Thames Water Safety Forum, which is committed to reducing the number of people who drown in the river, either accidentally or by suicide.
According to emergency service data PLA data, at least 847 incidents were brought to the attention of the emergency services on the river in 2022. At least 109 people entered the water and survived, while 27 people died.
The Thames is cruel, bodies can be severely mutilated by boat propellers, nails in piers, river debris, or by being scraped back and forth along the riverbed with the tide. Sometimes, relatives are advised not to request to look at photographs. The welfare of officers involved is taken very seriously.
It is unpleasant work for the 70strong MPU team, and makes up only a small proportion of their duties. “But it’s really important work. Families need closure,” said the officer.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
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Miski Omar is a speech pathologist, writer and director from Sydney. Watch her episode of the ABC iView series Westerners on YouTube.