Sniffer dogs search for missing mother

6 December 2004
Western Morning News

Special police dogs trained in sniffing out human remains searched the site of a new housing development over the weekend in the hunt for missing Plymouth mother Julie Crocker.

The two dogs and their handlers have been drafted in from South Yorkshire Police to carry out an extensive search of the part-constructed site at Carew Gardens in Honicknowle.

Frankie, a border collie, and springer spaniel Eddie, are the only two dogs in Britain capable of locating human blood and body fluids in small quantities.

Continue Reading... Labels: Eddie, Frankie, John Ellis, Julie Crocker, Keela, Martin Grime, South Yorkshire Police

The dog that could sniff out Julie

4 December 2004
Evening Herald
Jayne Freer

Police dogs trained in sniffing out human remains were today searching the site of a new housing development in the hunt for missing mum Julie Crocker.

The two specialist search dogs and their handlers have been drafted in from South Yorkshire Police to carry out an overall search of the part-constructed site at Carew Gardens in Honicknowle.

Plymouth police officers leading the hunt today insisted the search was to 'rule out' the site as a possible area for concealment as opposed to acting on information received.

Construction work began on the Hedgerows development in late September - around the same time Julie disappeared from her home in nearby Chard Barton.

Barratt Homes is building 29 three-bedroom homes on the site.

Police search co-ordinator, Inspector Steve Bickley, said the police dog search formed 'just one of a number of searches' close to Julie's home.

He said: "We are not reacting to specific information we are searching to make sure she is not there, as opposed to searching because we think she is."

Continue Reading... Labels: Alicia Eborne, Boscastle floods, Charlotte Pinkney, Eddie, Frankie, John Ellis, Julie Crocker, Keela, Martin Grime, South Yorkshire Police

Dogs led hunt for victims of the floods

26 August 2004
Cornish Guardian

An air exclusion zone was set up over Boscastle to ensure that search and rescue dogs would not be distracted as they scoured the area for victims of the floods.

Dogs from Wales and a pair of dogs from South Yorkshire, together with their handlers, were brought in last Wednesday.

Border collie Frankie and springer spaniel Eddie work with PCs John Ellis and Martin Grime as part of the Victim Search team.

The dogs are the only two in Britain capable of locating human blood and body fluids in small quantities. They are trained to seek buried remains and target disturbed areas of broken branches, rubble or turned over earth.

The dogs worked their way through the devastation at Boscastle as emergency and rescue services made sure that no one had been lost in the flash floods.

The team is part of the specialist search unit operated by the National Crime and Operations Faculty and receives at least one request a week from forces at home and abroad.

During the last 12 months the dogs and their handlers have assisted 17 forces at a charge of £950 a day.

In 2001 the dogs helped recover the body of Shane Collier in the Yorkshire Dales, enabling Barnsley officers to gain a murder conviction, while at the end of last year the FBI sought their help in a ten-year-old murder inquiry in the United States.

Closer to home the dogs have worked in Northern Ireland, while in North Devon they helped to search for the missing Ilfracombe teenager Charlotte Pinkney.

Handler John Ellis said: "South Yorkshire Police is very fortunate to have such a sought-after and valuable resource and, of course, to our officers it's free of charge.

"The team is fast gaining a high level of expertise and operational credibility in the field of crime scene and victim search."

When not working, Frankie and Eddie are family dogs.

Continue Reading... Labels: Boscastle floods, Charlotte Pinkney, Eddie, Frankie, John Ellis, Martin Grime, Shane Collier, South Yorkshire Police

Two of Yorkshire's top sleuths drafted in to join search

19 August 2004
Yorkshire Post
Lyn Barton
Two expert sniffer dogs from South Yorkshire have been helping the recovery effort at flood-devastated Boscastle in Cornwall.

Eddie and Frankie - canine sleuths who have already played a major part in many high-profile murder probes - were drafted in to help make sure there are no bodies trapped under the rubble.

Yesterday their handlers, South Yorkshire Police officers PC Martin Grime and PC John Ellis, told the Yorkshire Post how the dogs had conducted a sweep search through the village.

As he gazed around Boscastle, PC Grime said: "The scene is one of complete devastation. There are at least 20 cars in the channel and 16 under a sandbank.

"We were called in by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and we got to Boscastle around midnight on Tuesday and started searching first thing the following morning.

"We searched the cars washed down into the harbour and fortunately we did not find anything, which is good on this occasion. But the weather down there has been absolutely atrocious."

Chief Supt Dave Ellis, in charge of the Devon and Cornwall Police operation in Boscastle, said the sniffer dogs had been sent in as a precaution.

"There was no reason to feel we have got anybody that is missing."

He added that the emergency services were trying to "move forward" the issue of local people being able to return to their homes.

"But we have got to do it with safety in mind," he said.

The two dogs, who cost £1,000 a day to hire from the South Yorkshire police force, were used earlier this year in the hunt for missing north Devon teenager Charlotte Pinkney and Bradford-born student Shafilea Ahmed, 17, who went missing from her home in Warrington last September.

Their expert services were also called on by the FBI, but the two dogs were too busy to respond.

Devon and Cornwall Police spokeswoman PC Sharon Newman said an air-exclusion zone was maintained over Boscastle because the noise distracted the dogs in their work.

Continue Reading... Labels: Boscastle floods, Charlotte Pinkney, Eddie, Frankie, John Ellis, Martin Grime, Shafilea Ahmed, South Yorkshire Police

Detective dogs who sniff at less than £1,000 a day

Detective dogs who sniff at less than £1,000 a day
28 April 2004
Daily Mail
Chris Brooke

They may only be police dogs but Eddie and Frankie are on a higher pay scale than the Chief Constable and the Prime Minister. Such is the sniffing power of these canine detectives that their force charges £1,000 when they are hired out for a single day's work. Even at that price, they are in great demand across Britain and even from Europe and the U.S.

Not only can they find a body, no matter how well it may be hidden, but they have the ability to sniff out microscopic traces of blood or human remains. They have gone under floorboards, in rivers, caves, lofts and woodland in search of bodies. Even human remains that have been buried for years will not evade them.

Continue Reading... Labels: Attracta Harron, Charlotte Pinkney, Eddie, Frankie, John Ellis, Martin Grime, Shane Collier, South Yorkshire Police, Trevor Hamilton

Wuff justice - Doggy sleuths on the trail of murder victims

24 April 2004
Yorkshire Post


They have become national heroes, called upon to take part in many of the country's most high-profile murder investigations.Yet South Yorkshire Police's two 'body dogs' started out as an unwanted pet and a stray destined for the dogs' home. Crime Correspondent Kate O'Hara reports.

SNIFFING out tiny traces of blood in murder cases and tracking down buried human remains is a job only two specialists in Britain are qualified to do.

Two-and-a-half-year-old springer spaniel Eddie and partner Frankie - a four-year-old border collie - are experts who come second to none in their line of work.

Their keen noses take them under floorboards, through rivers and woodland, and into lofts and caves. They are fully passported, and have been transported far and wide by plane and helicopter.

And their professionalism and success rate are such that when the FBI called on their services recently, they were simply too busy to help.

Continue Reading... Labels: Attracta Harron, Charlotte Pinkney, Eddie, Frankie, Jodi Jones, John Ellis, Leanne Tiernan, Martin Grime, Shafilea Ahmed, Shane Collier, South Yorkshire Police, Trevor Hamilton

Yorkshire's dogged detectives

24 April 2004
Yorkshire Post
Kate O'Hara

TWO Yorkshire dogs are helping police in Northern Ireland to tackle a 25-year backlog of murders which built up when the force had to focus so heavily on combatting sectarian violence.  The specialist South Yorkshire Police sniffers and their handlers are being called on to mop up more than 150 missing-person and murder cases.

And PCs Martin Grime and John Ellis and their dogs, Eddie and Frankie, have already recorded a success in the first of their grisly investigations. Last week they found the body of pensioner Attracta Harron in Ulster. A 21-year-old student had been charged with her murder, but detectives had failed to find her body until the Yorkshire team joined the search.

Continue Reading... Labels: Arlene Arkinson, Attracta Harron, Eddie, Frankie, John Ellis, Keela, Martin Grime, South Yorkshire Police, Trevor Hamilton

Dogs find body parts of 'murder' victim

9 April 2004
Sheffield Star

Specialist search dogs from South Yorkshire, trained to track down body parts and human remains, have found the body of a suspected murder victim in Northern Ireland.

The Victim Search Team of Pc Martin Grime, with springer spaniel Eddie and Pc John Ellis with border collie Frankie, were called in because of their unique ability to find missing bodies.

They successfully found the body of 65-year-old Attracta Harron from Strabane, who went missing last December, buried in 18 inches of clay on the banks of a stream.

A man has since appeared in court charged with her murder. Members of the victim's family visited the scene to meet the South Yorkshire officers and their dogs.

Pc Ellis said: "Her relatives asked if they could meet us. It was something they wanted to do it and it appeared to comfort them."

Continue Reading... Labels: Attracta Harron, Eddie, Frankie, John Ellis, Martin Grime, Northern Ireland, Paul Haywood, Shane Collier, South Yorkshire Police, Trevor Hamilton