LondonJohn
Penultimate Amazing
- Joined
- May 12, 2010
- Messages
- 21,162
It is Dickey's blog, and the photos were taken some time around 13th-14 November - long after the police's "crack" forensics team had left the cottage and supposedly sealed it as evidence. One can only assume that the "crack" police team didn't realise that the door needed to be locked with a key, and merely pulled it shut, whereupon it subsequently swung open after some time. There's no indication that the metal grille in front of the door (which is hinged on the left side as viewed from outside) was padlocked shut by the police: rather, it appears that the tape around the paper notice was placed to "seal" the gate to the surrounding wall:
http://i.imgur.com/ZodVV.jpg
But here's something very interesting: the above photo was quite clearly taken at a later date than the photo on Dickey's blog:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BZD30a25F.../s1600-h/Perugia+crime+scene+-+front+door.jpg
Note that in the blog photo, the paper notice is attached to the metal gate and the wall with a small amount of clear tape, but in the other photo the police appear to be reinforcing the attachment using copious amounts of stronger packing tape.
My inference is therefore as follows: the original (small amount of clear tape) used for "sealing" the metal gate was deemed insufficient by the police - which is precisely why it was subsequently reinforced as per the other photo. And that then suggests to me that the police had an active reason to decide to strengthen the quality of that seal: it had been broken in its previous weak incarnation.
So my proposition is this: once the "crack" forensics team had finished their work (or, more accurately, had not finished their work....), the police closed the front door without bothering to lock it (probably assuming that it was self-locking), pulled the security gate closed, and weakly taped the notice across the join of the security gate and the surrounding wall. I think that the door subsequently blew open, and that the security gate was probably also opened by someone at some point. In other words, I think there was a time between around November 6th and November 14th when literally anyone could have walked straight into a supposed "sealed crime scene" straight through the front door.
I think that the photo of the police reinforcing the seal over the metal gate with all that packing tape is a strong indicator that they were shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted. I'd be interested in seeing the courts investigate this matter further.
