- 6 hours ago
Highland Cops - Season 3 Episode 5 -
Fugitive in the Woods
Fugitive in the Woods
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00:00...is Britain's biggest beat.
00:03I'm injured. There's a car on fire.
00:06I've got three wounded persons.
00:08It is really easy to underestimate the Highlands.
00:12Patrolling 12,000 square miles of mountains, lochs and islands.
00:18We're going to need a launch to be able to go out and get this boy lifted.
00:22And searching for suspects deep in the wilderness.
00:25Please do the dog. Anyone hiding? Show yourself.
00:27The Highland cops must go above and beyond to protect their communities.
00:33We realised it was human remains, so we came back down and phoned the police.
00:37I think in the Highlands, the blue line is very thin.
00:40Tackling traditional rural crimes.
00:42It's absolutely related to a shotgun pellet.
00:45It's clear evidence that these birds are being persecuted.
00:49And crimes that plague the nation.
00:51Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out!
00:53Oh, good effort.
00:55Bags of a white crystalline powder.
00:57If you're getting one person off the street, then it's like you've done your job.
01:02This series goes inside the UK's most distinctive police force.
01:07We are close. We live in close-knit communities.
01:09All right, let's go.
01:10We look out for each other.
01:12To find out what it takes to walk the beach.
01:15There's monkeys, there's parrots.
01:17It's all completely out of our comfort zone.
01:19And keep the peace.
01:21You're just threatening to kill it.
01:22You said you were going to strangle it.
01:24In some of the most beautiful and wild places in the UK.
01:28The A9, the main road that connects the Highlands to the rest of Scotland.
01:51For the people who live here, it's a vital artery.
01:56But it also has a darker claim to fame.
01:59The A9 is a dangerous road.
02:07But it is the main route to the north of Scotland.
02:10So we've got everything from the HGVs and the lorries traveling with all the goods up to the shops and the towns.
02:15To a huge volume of tourist traffic as well.
02:23It's so sunny.
02:25I know.
02:26Half eight at night.
02:27You would think it's like one o'clock in the afternoon.
02:30How bright it is.
02:32Tonight, PCs Jamie Embry and Ross Nairn are on patrol near Aviemore.
02:39Go ahead.
02:41When a report comes in of an accident on the A9.
02:45Could you start making me get a response to the A9 car bridge?
02:50Call us against the A9.
02:52It'll be involved in RTC.
02:53Lots of screaming heard.
02:55Yeah, control from 4-1-0.
02:57As the night shift in, we'll start making our way.
02:59But we're quite a distance away.
03:02Yes, 2-1-0.
03:03Let's make it round.
03:06So it's plotting this side of the car bridge junction.
03:11Female is heard screaming and a male is grunting.
03:15Tourist, we'll dig.
03:22As the officers make their way to the scene, they receive updates.
03:27November 569.
03:29They've received ambulance saying the helicopter is en route,
03:32landing 15 to 20 minutes.
03:34They'll need road closed.
03:36Reports coming in suggest this is a head-on collision between two vehicles.
03:44When we hear of a head-on collision on the A9,
03:48a vehicle travelling at 60 miles an hour northbound,
03:50a vehicle travelling 60 miles an hour potentially southbound,
03:53you know, meeting together,
03:55you know, you're talking about 120 mile an hour impact.
03:57That generally means that we're going to be driving into carnage.
04:12Don't match up.
04:13When we arrived on the scene,
04:33there was bodywork of both vehicles strewn across the road.
04:37The pickup truck was still on the road.
04:40The minivan was wedged on top of the barrier.
04:53There are three people trapped inside this minivan,
04:57all from one family.
04:58The moment the fire brigade have stabilised the vehicle,
05:04it's kind of perched on quite a steep embankment
05:06that drops down quite a distance.
05:08So they've winched up a cable to make sure
05:10that that vehicle doesn't go any further
05:12off the barrier and down into the embankment.
05:16As the fire brigade make the vehicle safe
05:19and the paramedics tend to the family inside,
05:22Jamie and Ross need to start gathering evidence immediately.
05:26We don't know the reason why these vehicles have crashed
05:30and we have to establish that,
05:31we have to investigate that.
05:34So, you's all witnessed it, yeah?
05:36Yeah, yeah.
05:37Right, let me grab names and details.
05:39Particularly if it's a serious one
05:41where there's going to be injuries,
05:42potentially life-threatening injuries.
05:44Or did you get straight?
05:45You got straight out 4909 and Ross.
05:47Yeah.
05:48Yeah.
05:49Just vaguely moved into the next lane
05:51and there was no braking before impact.
05:53You can stay here, make sure you're on the pavement though
05:55and just don't go sort of past the back of this fire engine,
05:59okay, just so you don't see anything, all right?
06:02This is one of the worst crashes on the A9 this year
06:06and there is devastating news about the mother of the family
06:10who was a passenger in the minivan.
06:13So, it's a fatal.
06:15One female's passed away, unfortunately.
06:18It's been confirmed,
06:19so she's been confirmed life-extinctous now, so...
06:23The woman's husband and adult children
06:29are still being treated by paramedics.
06:34The other driver of the pickup truck,
06:36who is the sole occupant of the vehicle,
06:38is being rushed off to Rigmore Hospital in Inverness,
06:41but there are quite a few people in that other vehicle
06:43where the female is now deceased.
06:46I know that they were working on somebody else there as well.
06:48The police see, you know, on a daily basis
06:53things that people wouldn't believe.
06:56We deal with horrific injuries and horrific incidents,
06:59which does take its toll.
07:04I get great support from my wife at home,
07:06so if I ever need to talk about something,
07:09you know, she's there for me.
07:11You know, we obviously are sympathetic
07:13towards the rest of the family who were in that vehicle,
07:16but we still have to maintain our composure
07:19and try and get on with the job
07:20and figure out what exactly went wrong
07:22for their benefit as well,
07:24just to make sure that they understand
07:25why they've suddenly lost their mother.
07:29Sorry.
07:30Disease confirmed three life-threatening.
07:32Two.
07:32Two life-threatening, one deceased.
07:34One deceased, two life-threatening at the moment.
07:35Right.
07:36One eyewitness did have a clear view.
07:44He was driving immediately behind the minivan.
07:47One minute was fine,
07:48next minute it just veered over to the right
07:50and sadly impacted into the oncoming vehicle,
07:55so it was a pretty nasty head-on.
07:57I just told the boys to contact emergency services
08:00and then I just approached the first vehicle.
08:02There was no braking before impact.
08:06There was nothing to suggest
08:07there was any animals across the road
08:09or anything like that, so, yeah.
08:12But there's still a lot of work to do
08:14to find out the exact cause of this crash.
08:19Specialist collision investigators
08:21have just arrived on scene.
08:23They will work through the night
08:25in search of answers.
08:26Glencoe and Fort William
08:44are among the busiest tourist destinations in Scotland.
08:48But even with thousands of people passing through
08:51in the surrounding vast wilderness,
08:54it's all too easy to disappear
08:56and perfect for somewhere to hide.
09:03This evening, Glencoe cop Stephen Cooper
09:07and Roddy Sanderman
09:08are travelling north to Fort William
09:10to meet up with some colleagues.
09:13Together, they plan to search for someone dangerous
09:16who doesn't want to be found.
09:19Later on, we'll be attempting to try and apprehend
09:22a male who's a high-priority wanted person
09:25for us at the moment.
09:26But there's a number of things he's been accused of,
09:28one of them being a knife-point robbery,
09:30so he's quite a sort of dangerous individual.
09:32But a lot of road traffic offences as well
09:34in the course of his trying to escape.
09:36This male has evaded capture on a number of occasions.
09:43I was searching and came within a few feet of him.
09:46He exploded out from underneath a load of bushes
09:48in front of me and gave me the fright of my life,
09:50if I'm honest, because I wasn't quite sure
09:53what was going on.
09:53And he ran off, came close,
09:55but no luck, unfortunately.
09:59There's a dog unit starting at Inverness at 9 o'clock
10:02that will come straight down to Fort William to help us.
10:05I mean, he's never going to outrun a dog,
10:06so hopefully that will be the thing
10:08that changes the game for us and captures him this time.
10:19Stephen and Rory are part of a seven-strong team
10:23being deployed tonight
10:24to try to capture this 31-year-old fugitive
10:27who has been on the run for around a year.
10:31They've had a tip-off.
10:33He might be hiding in a tent in the woods
10:35near Loch Eilot, about 30 miles west of Fort William.
10:40He's in those woods.
10:44That's the lay-by there.
10:47So not too far from the road.
10:49OK.
10:50And Mark goes along.
10:52We give a very brief update on, you know,
10:54because if we can see the tent or something.
10:55The intel also suggests when the man will be in his tent.
11:01So we received some intelligence
11:03that the male's working on a fishing boat
11:06and the fishing boat's dropping him off nearby
11:09and he's staying overnight
11:10and then getting on the fishing boat
11:11early the next morning.
11:13And we have sort of times for when he's likely to be at the tent.
11:16So that's where we're going to go and find him.
11:21Or try to, anyway.
11:22That means they will need to go into the woods after dark.
11:27Tonight, the team is led by Sergeant Emma Mackay.
11:31He does run.
11:32I would rather us were all there, ready and waiting.
11:35So he will like it.
11:37That's been two or three times now he's run away from the police.
11:40I can provide bulk, just not speed.
11:45Also joining the team are dog handler Adam
11:48and his German shepherd, Wolf.
11:51If he does run, then just stand still, just stop
11:55and we'll get the dog with him.
11:57He is going to be quite dangerous.
12:01There's certainly intelligence about him carrying weapons
12:03and knives specifically.
12:06And given he's wanted for a knife point robbery as well,
12:08that kind of tends to ring true.
12:12Positive that we're going to get him, is what I would say.
12:14Enough resources and some good intel.
12:17So hopefully the game's stacked in our favour.
12:20OK, let's go.
12:23I think when someone's evaded cabochin for so long,
12:25you've got that bit between the teeth, I suppose, if you like.
12:29It's just like with any wanted person.
12:31We want to get them.
12:32They're wanted for a reason.
12:35Primary job of the police, isn't it?
12:36To catch the bad guy.
12:37You've got a lot of these in the shows, like bad ones like that?
12:51Yeah, all the time.
12:53A-9's a nightmare.
12:54I was in a nightmare.
12:57Investigations are underway into a fatal two-car collision on the A-9.
13:03Police have spoken to eyewitnesses.
13:05Now, they must secure physical evidence.
13:12I've turned away the cars that are there.
13:14Every other car has pretty much turned round anyway.
13:17There's one possible vehicle that has dash cam.
13:23He can't access it just now, but he's going to try.
13:26Have you got details of...?
13:27I've got details of them.
13:28But before dash cam can be examined, it is vital that specialist crash investigators are able to examine the scene in detail.
13:38Once all the emergency crews pack up their gear and leave, the road policing units that are here, they'll be taking numerous photos, videos, markings, just to establish exactly what's happened.
13:50Leading the team is Sergeant Callum McAuley.
13:55Our people from the police are usually first at these scenes are our divisional colleagues.
14:00They'll attend initially, and we'll come and take things over from there.
14:03We deal with the collision to its end point.
14:14The best opportunity that we have to go and recover evidence from what's happened at the scene is just now.
14:21I'll give that to you, sir.
14:23The first task tonight is to build a technical picture of the scene before the road is cleared.
14:31The road is closed for such a long period of time because once we open that road, all the evidence is impacted then.
14:39We'll do the grind marks, and then we'll do that vehicle.
14:42Mm-hmm.
14:43All right?
14:43Yeah.
14:44All good.
14:45Collision investigators form a conclusion about what's happened, purely worked out from the physical facts taken from the vehicles, taken from marks left on the road, what they've found through the detailed examination.
15:00They're carrying out a scan of the scene, which will be used as part of a report that will be put to the Procurator Fiscal.
15:07Investigators will also piece together a picture of those involved in the crash to see if any personal factors could have contributed to the collision.
15:17We have inquiry officers who will go and speak with families, witnesses, and the people who've been involved in the crash.
15:24One of the investigators, Ben, finds some documents in the minivan.
15:30Yeah, this is the agreement, Sarge.
15:32The minivan is a hire vehicle, picked up earlier that day.
15:35Confirmed home address in the United States.
15:38There's contact numbers on here as well.
15:41The fact that the driver of the minivan is not from the UK could be significant.
15:47Travelling here, for people who've never been to Scotland before, can be confusion, because we drive on the left.
15:54So confusion could be something that we would consider, something that we'll look at.
16:00Fatigue contributes to nearly one-fifth of Scotland's road traffic deaths.
16:04So police are looking for signs of brake marks on the road.
16:08If there aren't any, that may suggest the driver has fallen asleep at the wheel.
16:14We keep an open mind and we try to get to the bottom of what it is that's happened.
16:18But something that we will consider is, was tiredness a factor?
16:22Was a medical condition a factor?
16:24The next step will be to take the remains of each vehicle to a garage and examine them piece by piece.
16:31It's an exhaustive process.
16:34The majority of the work that we do around these crashes is done in the weeks afterwards.
16:41Once all this information has been gathered, the guys here will take it back and they will scrutinise it and analyse it.
16:52We're trying to support the families and make sure they have what they need to get them the answers for what's happened to why their loved one's no longer with us.
17:05It's nearly midnight in Fort William.
17:22In the darkness on the edge of town, police are on the trail of a wanted man.
17:27At the moment there's seven of us and a dog heading out here.
17:31Two of us are in sort of all black clothing.
17:34The hope is that they can sort of sneak in and get eyes on the campsite and see if he's there.
17:38And then we can all come in and back up along with the dog unit.
17:42It's only intelligence we've got at the moment that he's at this campsite.
17:45He's never actually been seen there by police officers.
17:47Our roads policing colleagues have been out and have seen the tents in position.
17:51So there clearly is somebody living there.
17:54It's just whether he's going to be there tonight.
17:57So we'll go along and see what we can see from the car.
18:03As soon as we can see anything, we'll just get everyone along and we'll just rush them, I think.
18:07Ready. Let's go.
18:10Emma and Roddy will take the lead.
18:13As soon as they give the signal, the rest of the team will go in.
18:21In gear, foot on the brake, ready to go.
18:23I think we'd all be lying if we didn't say we'd get an adrenaline rush out of something like this.
18:29We're going to go.
18:36He's about to come through nearby.
18:48We're going to go.
18:50I don't think it's this way.
19:14I think it'll be that worn path.
19:16In the dark, in this dense undergrowth, there are no clear lines of sight and no signs
19:28of anyone running or hiding.
19:31The police are struggling to find anything that might point them towards a fugitive.
19:40But then, deep in the woods, they find something.
19:47There's a den over here.
19:52Watch, barbed wire.
19:56So we've found the campsite.
19:58We're just trying to figure out if he's been here or not, or if he's in the area.
20:03We're not sure at the moment.
20:10The search dog, Wolf, is drawing a blank.
20:14Nothing at all.
20:15I took him down that way to see, but there's no back out of here.
20:20I think there's one way and one way out.
20:23Pretty dense down that way.
20:25Well, I don't think he's here.
20:27I don't think we scared him off.
20:29There's no noise in the woods.
20:32Huh?
20:33No noise whatsoever.
20:34Nah.
20:35There's clothing.
20:37There's empty alcohol bottles and cans and some empty food tins and things like that.
20:44So it's quite likely that that's where he's been.
20:47For quite a while.
20:48Who knows how recently, but...
20:50Well, that's it.
20:51We just don't know, do we?
20:52Good effort, guys.
20:53Good effort.
20:54Just relax, you're all right.
20:57The bad man's not here.
20:59Although there's no one at home, there's enough to suggest that intel is correct on where the
21:04man has been hiding.
21:06That's his campsite, as described.
21:09Now they know his location, the police hope the net is finally closing on Fort William's
21:15most elusive resident.
21:17Just getting a grid reference of the tent in case you need to make further attempts,
21:21because I suppose part of the problem was we struggled to find the camp initially.
21:28But we did get there relatively quickly.
21:30I don't think we did disturb him.
21:32But, yeah, if we need to come back again, if we can get a precise grid reference, then
21:38hopefully that means we can just get straight there.
21:40And a few more of us know the way out of the woods now.
21:43So, yeah, hopefully we can try again.
21:58Looks like he tried to booby trap it almost to his barbed wire across the entrance to the
22:02campsite.
22:03Where his tent's pitched and the efforts he's gone to, certainly, which Ted suggests,
22:09he's not looking to be found any time soon.
22:12A bit of disappointment.
22:13We've not caught him, but satisfied that we did everything.
22:16We're good to catch him.
22:18There's a phrase that's overused to the max that they need to get lucky every day.
22:23We only need to get lucky once.
22:24I'm sure you've heard that a million times, but it's very true.
22:27You know, you know you'll get him eventually.
22:41It's a place to live.
22:42It's a place to live.
22:43It's a place to live.
22:44There's lots of, like, really nice scenery.
22:45It's a small, kind of, close-knit community.
22:48You just get left, basically, to your own devices.
22:52We're kind of trusted up here to just get on with it, and it's only when things go completely pear-shaped that we would then get that input from further up.
23:13Today, Andy and his colleagues are looking for a white van, which has been reported stolen in Orkney.
23:23The police believe it may be in Wick, one of the biggest towns in Caithness.
23:28We're going to go and see if we can find this stolen vehicle.
23:33The person that we suspected is a possibility for removing the vehicle is from a village just north of Wick, but they have associates in the town.
23:46So I'm just going to go past the area of town where they've sort of been known to frequent before and see if the vehicle is there.
23:58So we're looking for a white transit van with a bit of rust.
24:12So there's a white transit, but it's the wrong reg.
24:23Go ahead.
24:24Yeah, I'll come up.
24:25Yes, sir.
24:26Stevie G has found the vehicle on the other side of town, so we'll just get there quickly, quickly.
24:42Apparently, the driver says the vehicle was given to him, but we've just not had a statement saying it was stolen.
24:57You know, the fact that they've got a stolen vehicle and they're saying that it's really theirs is a bit suspicious.
25:04Let's go see what we've got on.
25:16Inform them he's been under arrest for suspicion and suspicion of theft of a motorbike, OK?
25:20Yeah.
25:21So you're not obliged to say anything.
25:23Anything you do say, maybe no to them, maybe you've never done.
25:25OK?
25:26Can we just...
25:27Pass that to me.
25:28Are you on your own or you've got something away?
25:30No, no.
25:31He's got two dogs in the van.
25:32Oh, OK.
25:33Are they dogs friendly?
25:34No.
25:35Is there a way of getting the dog from the front of the van into the back?
25:38Or we'd have to take him out of the side door?
25:40Right.
25:41I just had to put him in the back.
25:42When did you buy the van?
25:44I didn't buy the van.
25:45It was bought by somebody else.
25:47And how have you come to be driving the van?
25:49Because they've asked me to go out and say I could borrow the vehicle, because I drive things a wizard.
25:52Yeah.
25:53Like, I put bikes across here, because I don't have a van on myself.
25:56Like, motorbikes or...?
25:57Yeah, two motorbikes, so I was delivering them to someone who bought them off me.
26:00OK.
26:01Ah, OK.
26:02The man claims he has borrowed this van, not stolen it.
26:07A search of his clothing uncovers something suspicious.
26:11I've never got the reason to lie.
26:12What is it?
26:13That's what I'm asking you.
26:14If I knew I would tell you, I would probably work all this.
26:17Yeah.
26:18Genuinely, I'm not being anything but complying.
26:19I've never got the reason to lie.
26:20So it was at the beach.
26:21It was a wet house or something.
26:23You were on the beach and you found a small white packet containing a substance and decided to pick it up.
26:27I went at Castletown.
26:28OK.
26:29The one just outside...
26:30It's an odd thing to pick up.
26:31No?
26:32I don't know what I pick up on my...
26:33I pick up bits of weird rocks.
26:35There's loads of bits of weird plastic.
26:36There's loads of bits of weird wood.
26:37Sorry.
26:38I go...
26:39What were you going to do with it?
26:40Nothing.
26:41I was like...
26:42Just a souvenir from Castletown Beach?
26:44I completely forgot to even put it in my pocket.
26:45Genuinely.
26:46We'll need to put it away for testing, OK?
26:48If it comes back in a controlled substance, you'll get reported.
26:51The man then tells the police there may be something else in the van.
26:55You said you think there might be something in the van.
26:57No, I didn't say I think there might be.
26:58There could be something in the van.
26:59My friends were...
27:00They do what they do.
27:01They smoke weed.
27:02Yeah.
27:03But you said there might be cannabis in your backy pouch.
27:05Yeah.
27:06So would that be yours?
27:08What, my tobacco or my...
27:09But I can avoid the weed, the cannabis that's in the tobacco pouch.
27:12So whose cannabis is it that's in the backy?
27:14It would probably be mine, I assume.
27:16Probably...
27:17It would be mine if there is any.
27:19It would be mine.
27:20OK, right.
27:21The police decide they now have enough grounds to search the van.
27:25Take it from there.
27:26More officers arrive on the scene.
27:28Sometimes with these things you just find a little bit
27:31and people are sort of like, oh, yeah, sorry, mate.
27:33I had it from the weekend or whatever
27:36and kind of use it as a way to kind of subterfuge
27:39to make the police go, oh, well, he's handed it over,
27:41that's fine, no need to worry.
27:43Like, here's a wee ticket slap on the wrist.
27:45Don't do that again.
27:46But that's absolutely our doorway to say, right, well,
27:50what's in your van?
27:51What's in your pockets?
27:52It may turn out that, who knows,
27:54maybe there's a toolbox in the back that's got more in it.
27:57In Nairn, the two vehicles involved in a fatal crash on the E9
28:15are being examined by Police Scotland's Specialist Collision Investigation Unit.
28:21Force.
28:23Force.
28:24Force.
28:25Force.
28:26Oh, yeah.
28:27It's not impact.
28:28So we're taking photographs that are relevant damage.
28:30Make sure that there's no, or as best we can,
28:33rule out any pre-collision defects on the vehicle.
28:36So checking all the joints and stuff,
28:38making sure everyone's connected as it should be,
28:39albeit with crash damage it can be hard to tell.
28:43Yeah.
28:44Yeah.
28:45Yeah.
28:46And even at the top, you can see it's all twisted.
28:47Yeah.
28:48Kind of supports the fact it's been quite a high-speed head-on collision.
28:50The investigators are also looking for clues about the movements of both vehicles before
28:55and immediately after the collision.
28:58So this is the part of the prop shaft.
29:01This is the bit that's been disconnected.
29:02So it was dragging underneath the vehicle, and that's quite significant because we had
29:19two grind marks on the road that led back to the prop shaft, which shows its direction
29:26direction of travel after impact back to its resulting position so it gives us
29:31evidence of where the vehicles moved after collision so that's quite
29:35significant for us. By matching parts of the car like this prop shaft to marks
29:41left on the road the police can trace the movement of the vehicles before and
29:46after the collision. This will help pinpoint exactly where on the road the
29:52collision took place and could suggest one car had left its lane causing the
29:58head-on crash. We tie up to certain marks on the road and if you could place a vehicle
30:04in the road that can tell us where the collision exactly happened and sometimes
30:08it can prove whether somebody's in the right or somebody's in the wrong. It's
30:14Sergeant Callum McCauley's job to put together a theory of what caused this
30:19crash. Collision investigators examine the vehicles in great detail, they examine
30:24the marks on the road in great detail and it's pieced together that the Volkswagen
30:29multivan was in, it was it was not traveling in its own lane at the time of
30:34the collision and that's the responsibility of this collision rests
30:38with the driver of that vehicle. And there's one final crucial piece of
30:43evidence. We have here dash cam footage of the collision, gives us a really good
30:55opportunity for seeing what's happened, can see that the van has crossed the
31:02middle of the road and collided with the oncoming vehicle. The van was being
31:07driven by an American tourist. When people visit Scotland they tend to be, try to
31:13cover a lot of the, a lot of the country and the time that they're here and that
31:19can sometimes lead to tiredness, there can be fatigue, it can be a case that they
31:24don't know or can get confused or disorientated about what side of the road
31:29they should be traveling on. The thing that we can prove in this collision is
31:37that the van's been on the wrong side of the road and the reason for that it's
31:41almost immaterial, it's just that the van has been on the wrong side of the road
31:44and ultimately that's led to the death of a lady and serious injury of her
31:53her children and the driver of the oncoming vehicle.
32:00As things stand currently the driver of the Volkswagen multivan has been reported
32:09to the Procurator Fiscal for causing death by dangerous driving and also for
32:15causing serious injury by dangerous driving as well. This driver has lost his
32:22wife and has seriously injured his adult children because of the way that he's
32:26driven the vehicle. The impact that that's going to have on him and on his
32:31family, that can't be changed.
32:39In Wick police have stopped a man they believe is traveling in a stolen van. He has
32:45admitted there may be cannabis in the van which allows them to do a more
32:49thorough search. Right let's open the back first thing.
32:53So he's been detained under Section 23 for a search of the van.
32:58Don't go near the back door, there's two angry dogs in the back.
33:01The dogs kind of adds an extra layer to it, you have to think what we're going to do. There's
33:08a health and safety aspect to it as well, that dog's barking that appears to be
33:11aggressive, what happens if it bites me? If we were sort of close to Timberness we'd
33:16probably ask for maybe the dog handler to come and help us.
33:19While the van is being searched, police test the man for drugs.
33:26So please don't tell me you having cocaine in your system, someone else's fault as well.
33:40No.
33:41No.
33:42No.
33:43No.
33:44No, I'm not saying that at all.
33:47You do a swipe.
33:48Sorry?
33:49You prove to me that you've not got cocaine in your system.
33:51Me?
33:52Yeah?
33:53I'd happily take a drug test right now.
33:54Do it.
33:55Let's see how I'm bruised.
33:56These aren't f***ing tests.
33:57It's not how it works though, we're here to test you.
33:58No.
33:59Okay?
34:00There was a certain aroma of something in the air when he was talking to me.
34:02So, I'm not saying that you're going to be a drug test.
34:03No.
34:04I'm not saying that.
34:05I'm not saying that at all.
34:06No, I'm saying that at all.
34:07No.
34:08I'm saying that at all.
34:09I'm saying that at all.
34:10I'm saying that at all.
34:11You do a swipe.
34:12Sorry?
34:13You prove to me that you've not got cocaine in your system.
34:14Me?
34:15Yeah?
34:16I'd happily take a drug test right now.
34:17There was a certain aroma of something in the air when he was talking.
34:21It was just a pile of rubbish to be honest.
34:24We kind of all saw through it straight away.
34:26Positive for cannabis, Uncle Ken.
34:29The man has now tested positive for two controlled substances, meaning he will be arrested.
34:36But the search of the van has just started and his troubles are just beginning.
34:42Bladed article.
34:43Where?
34:44It's more of a Stanley knife, but it's easy access.
34:46Easy access.
34:47Where's the blade?
34:48It's just Stanley knife blades.
34:50Is that a locking one?
34:52It looks like it locks you.
34:55The lock knife is within his reach, which means that he's therefore in possession of
35:00it, and it's an offence to be in possession of a lock knife in a public place.
35:04If it had been stored in a toolbox in the back of the van, then that would be okay,
35:10because people have legitimate reason to have lock knives and transport them about the place.
35:14This is the powerful knife so far that we've found.
35:17So we've got two pipes there.
35:18Spoon for melting, sootting drugs on.
35:21And he's already been showing that he's got drugs in his system already.
35:26Oh, another knife.
35:28And that was in the jacket pocket?
35:30That was jacket pocket wedged beside the passenger door.
35:35We'll put you in the van, we'll get you back to the office, we'll get you booked into custody, we'll get you your rights.
35:40We'll have to do the road traffic procedures, because you're given us a positive specimen at the roadside, okay?
35:47And then once we've done that, we'll interview you.
35:49Yeah, so I arrest you in terms of road traffic act 1988.
35:52So I arrest you for failing drug rights for cannabis and cocaine.
35:56So you're not obliged to say anything, but anything you do say will be noted and may be using evidence.
36:00Do you understand that?
36:01Yeah.
36:02Mind your head.
36:15With the man in custody, the police now need to negotiate with the dogs.
36:20Come on, there you go.
36:24It's all right.
36:26Have you got another treat?
36:27Yeah.
36:28It's all right, he's just terrified, that's all.
36:30He's not going for me, he's just a bit scared.
36:34There you go.
36:36There you go.
36:37Yeah, he likes the treat.
36:41With the dogs happy, officers can finally make a thorough search of the van.
36:53And although nothing else significant is found, there is already enough to charge this man with drugs and weapons offences.
37:00On the face of it, he doesn't appear to be the kind of Pablo Escobar of Orkney, but the fact that he has a little bit of cannabis on him, that's absolutely our gateway to make these further inquiries just to be doubly sure of what we're dealing with.
37:14North and west of Inverness, the landscape empties of people.
37:30The hills and mountains here are amongst the wildest and most remote parts of the United Kingdom.
37:44Usually officers of the police mountain rescue team, like Katie Johnson, would expect to be sent here to rescue a walker or climber in distress.
37:54But today, they have a different and upsetting job to do.
38:00There has been a discovery of some human remains.
38:06It's really difficult to get to.
38:08So we're there to make sure everyone gets their stuff there safely and then recover the remains out of the area once we're done.
38:14You try not to jump to any conclusions of why they're there and who they are, but definitely raises just a lot of questions in your mind about what's happened.
38:24The body is unidentified. It's in a remote location and the remains don't appear to be linked to any missing persons report.
38:32The task of the police is to help identify this individual and decide if they have been a victim of crime.
38:40So quite a lot of it is really unexplained. But what we do know is that the remains have been there for quite a long time.
38:47We have to treat it like there's potentially some suspicious circumstances until we rule it out.
38:55So we are going to preserve any evidence that has been left there.
39:01Police are managing this incident from a small station deep in the Western Highlands.
39:07Katie and her team are briefed on the body's discovery by crime scene manager Kevin Bunn.
39:18About 1500 hours on Wednesday, two local residents were walking their dog in the area.
39:23When they became aware of what they appeared to be hiking boots and items of clothing scattered nearby,
39:29the thing felt like a bone inside the leg and it's been identified as a femur.
39:34It's possible the remains have been there for a prolonged period of time, possibly over a year.
39:41It raises a lot of questions of why they were there and who they are.
39:46Yet you always expect if the remains of somebody is found there is information out there that someone's looking for them.
39:54So it is really unusual to have somebody found and not know any circumstances surrounding it.
40:01It's supposed to rain this afternoon, so good chance we're all getting soaked.
40:06I'll leave it to your discretion, Mountain Rescue guys.
40:08If you think the weather's closing in and when you go off the hill then let me know and we'll make that decision.
40:13Yeah, four o'clock I think the weather is really meant to change.
40:16So it would be good if we kind of get towards that time that we'll just take stock and see where we are with it.
40:22Any other issues? Okay, we'll go for it then.
40:33The biggest challenges today is the location. The terrain is very remote, it's boggy.
40:39We're very much open to the elements. We look to try and establish is there any criminality involved in the first instance.
40:49On the face of it, it looks like it's maybe someone who's lost in the hillside, but we have to keep an open mind.
40:55A team of forensic anthropologists will accompany Katie on the mountain, which will be treated like any other crime scene.
41:07Once we get to the locus and start the recovery of the remains, it's a process that will take them as long as it takes.
41:13It's something that needs to be done methodical to make sure that they capture everything there that we need.
41:20And it's something you can't always plan because you just don't know what you're going to find once you start moving things.
41:27Our first and foremost role is policing.
41:29So if it's not a sightseeing spot, if it's not a well-known walking spot, why have they taken themselves there?
41:34So it could be that they've gotten themselves in some sort of confusion.
41:38If people are suffering from hypothermia, they can do strange things that you wouldn't normally do,
41:44and they could take themselves into that kind of area.
41:51Out here, it's the end of the road.
41:54The only way forward is on a specialist vehicle loaned by a local gamekeeper.
42:02I've been on one before, and yeah, they're sturdy, but they are not comfy.
42:05See whose breakfast comes first.
42:07So the area itself, it was pathless, very difficult ground to walk in.
42:14It was on a large estate that we had to access via 4x4 trucks,
42:20and thereafter an ArgoCat to assist us to get to the location.
42:24You can see a road, but that's way off in the distance,
42:28and there are no paths to get into the area that we were.
42:31So it's not somewhere you'd expect anyone to go walking, especially someone with no equipment with them.
42:404 hours after leaving Inverness, Katie finally reaches the spot where the remains lie, and her investigation can begin.
42:57Were you thinking that from the forward?
43:03Yeah, that's where we've gone up and looked.
43:05They've come here. They've not fallen after the fact.
43:07Pretty sure this is them.
43:10There's what we're hoping is maybe a hat with a lot of moss on it.
43:13If someone hadn't have pointed out initially and you were walking at a little bit of a distance,
43:18you wouldn't have even seen the remains there.
43:20The moss has grown over, so it almost looks as if it's become part of the earth itself.
43:28So it had been there for some length of time.
43:30If it had been another couple of years that it hadn't been discovered, it might never have been discovered at all.
43:37At the moment, I'd go white male.
43:39So what determined it was male?
43:41So at the back of male skulls, there's a really big, bumpy bit.
43:45Because males have heavier heads, they have more muscles that go up the back of the neck,
43:49so the bone produces more bone because it needs a bigger surface area for that muscle to attach.
43:55It's a start, but it's all the forensics team can conclude from these remains and the clothes nearby.
44:04As the weather closes in, the team must leave the mountainside for the day.
44:12The body was in a difficult position, so we have to get the remains out of that in a respectful way,
44:19but also in a safe way that we are taking up hills and through an area with no paths and everything like that.
44:26So our responsibilities are both to make sure that we're gathering everything respectfully,
44:32but also the forensic opportunities are saved.
44:39It's bringing up more questions and answers at the moment.
44:42The kind of, the choices for footwear and outerwear is not really what you generally see for hill walkers or anything like that.
44:53And they had a fluorescent vest on again, which is more for somebody that's by the roadway and in the dark,
45:01so it doesn't kind of really fit in with that.
45:03So again, it just kind of, it leaves us with more questions at the moment.
45:07The police will need to return to this hillside again to see if there are any more remains or clothing,
45:14which could help solve the mystery of who this was and why he died out here.
45:20I think it's difficult to put into words how each sudden death feels to you.
45:27You feel a sense of sadness that this person has died alone in this remote area.
45:34It's difficult to not know who they are and not be able to provide a family with answers of where their loved one has come to rest.
45:49It's not something you want to leave unknown.
45:52So we have to look at every avenue we can to try and identify this person.
45:57In Inverness, PC's Dan Shield and Jimmy Sutherland are responding to a call from the post office.
46:17We've had a call from the mail sorting office to say that they've got a package that possibly contains cannabis.
46:26And this mail of it is the tell-tale signs.
46:31We're just going to go down there and have a look and see if it is cannabis, take it back for testing.
46:37Drugs coming through the post is on the increase.
46:41It's easier to distance yourself when it's coming through the post because you're not in possession of them.
46:47So it's a lot harder to find the person that's actually sent the items itself.
46:53Because the mail is becoming a more popular method of drug supply,
46:58police across the UK are sending sniffer dogs to sorting offices on a regular basis.
47:04This morning, a police dog got a whiff of two packages.
47:10So, both of the items are here.
47:14It was the police dog that sniffed them out.
47:16In fact, the police dog actually tore that one.
47:20It was so convinced there was something in it.
47:25The dog has identified one of the packages as containing some kind of controlled drug.
47:31We'll just get them opened up, we'll make sure that they do contain drugs,
47:34and then we'll get the packages seized.
47:39Yeah, it's not really much of a smell, to be honest.
47:42I don't think...
47:43Is that the one the dog's done?
47:44And that's been torn open as well, so...
47:47I think if it wasn't for the dog, I think...
47:50It's a wee bit of a smell, but...
47:52I think it might be what we call as cannabis edibles.
47:56Ah, I see.
47:57So, it might be a...
48:00A kind of a...
48:01A liquid kind of form of cannabis.
48:04I'm not even going to open that here, just in case.
48:11So, I won't open that just now, Ali, just because...
48:16I'm just seeing that there is quite a lot of sort of...
48:18Yeah, you can see...
48:19Powder, et cetera, obviously.
48:20We don't know what that is.
48:21I don't want to open it up in case...
48:22Yeah.
48:23...anything of kind of harmful nature or anything like that at all.
48:26Understood.
48:27So, we'll just seize that, and we will do our own testing on it...
48:31...back at the office, just so that we're not opening it up, obviously, in here.
48:34I appreciate that, thank you.
48:37Whilst the officers can't say yet what this first package is,
48:41there's little doubt what's in the second package.
48:45Strong smell of cannabis coming from that one, so...
48:47Yeah, that one was more straightforward.
48:49Right.
48:50Cannabis is kind of a sort of sweet, sort of sickly sort of smell.
48:55Yeah, they've obviously...
48:56You can see they've wrapped it up a number of times in an effort to disguise it,
49:00but they've not done it very well.
49:03Then, an unexpected breakthrough.
49:07The gentleman who says this is for him is at the customer service point right now.
49:12Oh, is he?
49:13Yeah.
49:14Oh, that's Andy.
49:15I was going to say, that's never happened before.
49:16That's what...
49:17He's coming to get this.
49:18Oh, right.
49:19He's obviously wanting him in a hurry.
49:22Dan and Jimmy will give the bad news to the waiting man.
49:26Not, perhaps, the delivery he was expecting.
49:30So, we've obviously been taken here or asked to come here
49:34because they have seized a package which strongly smells of cannabis.
49:38At this moment in time, you're under caution that you're not obliged to say anything,
49:41but anything you do say will be noted and may be using evidence.
49:43Do you understand that?
49:44Yeah.
49:45What have you got to say about that?
49:47No comment.
49:48No comment, OK.
49:49No worries to talk.
49:50We'll see where we're going to go from here just now, OK?
49:52OK.
49:53Honestly, we need to go back to the station.
49:55We obviously need to test it just to obviously make sure that it does obviously contain a drug.
50:00You can't be ordering your controlled drugs through the post.
50:02You're eligible for what we call a recorded police warning.
50:05It was beneficial just to give him the recorded police warning because it just gets the matter sort of dealt with.
50:10Accepting the recorded police warning isn't an admission of guilt.
50:12I said it's a warning, OK, for you.
50:15If he was to re-offend or if he was to be found in possession of drugs again,
50:20then he would not be eligible to then receive the recorded police warning again.
50:24The man is sent on his way without his post.
50:29Finding suspicious items in the post, predominantly drugs, happens about two or three times a week on average.
50:37And this system, we like to think, proves highly effective.
50:41We've both got a record of it happening, so there is the proof that these items are being intercepted.
50:48It is a banned substance. It's a controlled substance.
50:51So if it gets sent through the Royal Mail network and we intercept it,
50:56then our job is to contact the police and that's what we do.
51:00That's one thing that I would love to change, would be to have no drugs within Inverness.
51:05I know that's probably an unrealistic goal.
51:07However, fighting the war against drugs, crime, that's ultimately what I joined the job for
51:13and that's what I will keep on doing and I will carry on doing.
51:17Do you think he would have seen the police van?
51:19I thought. Maybe that's for me.
51:22I thought, oh yeah, I'm ordering cannabis.
51:25In the mountains of the North West Highlands, police still have to confirm the identity of the man
51:38whose remains were found on a remote hillside.
51:41Today, Dan Sutherland, who is part of the mountain rescue team,
51:46is heading back to the location to continue the investigation.
51:50I don't know who they are, but we're coming back today to undertake further searches,
51:55to see if we can find further remains.
51:57So we've got victim recovery dogs with us today.
52:00They're trained in recovery and sniffing out of human remains,
52:05so fingers crossed we can get some good results with them today.
52:10The remains couldn't provide enough DNA to help identification.
52:16Police hope Dan and the dogs unit might be able to find more remains for DNA testing,
52:22or any clothing and effects that might have been missed in the original search.
52:27This is the first job I've come across where it's been really difficult to identify a body.
52:36The majority of bodies that we find tend to have some form of ID,
52:40or there is an outstanding missing person where we've got a very good idea
52:44of potentially who they could be.
52:46But in this case, it's a bit more difficult.
52:51We just don't know anything about him or the family
52:54and how he's come to be and how he's even got here.
52:59These boys are going to have to move, eh?
53:01First challenge of the day.
53:05Go on.
53:07Go on.
53:10Go.
53:11I always worry with young calves as well, like cows and calves, never great.
53:24That's it. Good girl.
53:32Where the body is located, it's just quite a really remote section of land.
53:37Very little mobile phone signal, if any.
53:40It's not a place where generally the public would be seen at all.
53:44So it was really quite surprising to find out that someone had been found there.
53:49Obviously, we don't know how he's died, but...
53:52It is sad that you can just lay down or fall down on the ground
53:55and you won't come across you for years and years.
54:05Dan will be accompanied by cadaver dogs Cooper and Gus
54:09dog handlers Adam and Daniel.
54:13Good.
54:21So I think the body was here, was it?
54:22Was the body just here by the locker, was it?
54:24If there are more human remains on this hillside, the hope is the dogs will find them.
54:31Today we've got two different dogs, both trained for the same standard.
54:34One's obviously a Cocker Spaniel. He's nice and energetic. He's ready to go.
54:37And we've got a slightly younger Labrador.
54:40Both dogs are trained to indicate on decomposition by means of barking.
54:45Come!
54:46No, come!
54:47All right, he's going to go back.
54:49Bye.
54:50Before long, it looks like Cooper has found something.
54:56Cooper!
54:58Whether there's the scavenger, that's a burrow and it's taking something.
55:02Is that quite the beat?
55:03Yeah.
55:06The dogs give an indication.
55:09There's a hole here, so...
55:12Just see if anything's been taken down there by any animals.
55:16The body, the bone of some...
55:18It looks like a burrow because there's obvious marks of burrowing further in.
55:24Some sort of small animal.
55:26Where the body was found, obviously, just behind...
55:29Just over to our side here, like so.
55:32Dogs indicating here.
55:34But the burrow is too narrow and deep for the officers to see anything themselves.
55:40Cooper has indicated at a sort of burrow relatively near to the recovery site.
55:44We just can't get to at the moment.
55:45It's impossible to say what it is, but I suspect it's a bone.
55:49And it's very specific and very close to the body site location,
55:52which would indicate he's very...he's definitely right.
55:55The team search for the rest of the afternoon,
55:58but the dogs don't find anything else.
56:01If there are more remains on this hillside,
56:04it looks like they may be buried forever.
56:06I don't think it was completely unexpected.
56:07It's always going to be difficult.
56:08But I was kind of hoping we'd get at least a bone or two.
56:09Maybe that's just an indication of how long the body's been there.
56:10I don't think it was completely unexpected.
56:12It's always going to be difficult.
56:13But I was kind of hoping we'd get at least a bone or two.
56:14Maybe that's just an indication of how long the body's been there.
56:15There will be no more searching on this hill.
56:18But the investigation into this man's identity is still really
56:20and that's just an indication of how long the body's been there.
56:23I don't think it was completely unexpected.
56:28It's always going to be difficult.
56:30But I was kind of hoping we'd get at least a bone or two.
56:36Maybe that's just an indication of how long the body's been there.
56:41There will be no more searching on this hill.
56:45But the investigation into this man's identity
56:48and clues about his fate will go on.
56:53They're going to have to start doing a lot more digging
56:56through historical records of missing people
56:59from not just within Scotland, across all the UK forces
57:04and potentially international as well.
57:07Some people just don't get traced.
57:09They don't get found.
57:11And when we are found like this,
57:13then they don't necessarily all could be identified.
57:16And we have a lot of fun for them.
57:18We can't help you.
57:19No one has to go on, sorry.
57:20I don't know.
57:22Come on.
57:24We're done right now.
57:26Come back now.
57:28Not even though.
57:30But we've got to do it right now.
57:33We've got to do it right now.
57:34We can be done right now.
57:36We're done right now.
57:37We can be done right now.
57:38And then we'll get a new one.
57:39Next time, please deal with a crash on Skye's main road.
58:03We need to deal with a casualty further away that way, please.
58:07Just in case the car explodes.
58:08In Inverness, officers race to catch a fleeing suspect, and on the Isle of Skye, a major
58:20drug operation is rumbled.
58:21I'm going around room to room, and there's cannabis plants everywhere.
58:38I'm going around room to room.
58:50I'm going around room to room.
58:57I'm going around room to room to room.
59:08I'm going around room to room.
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