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Botanist Patricia Wiltshire revealed how her knowledge of nettles helped police solve the problem Soham murders in 2002 – a case that resulted in a conviction and life sentence for their school guard, Ian Huntley.
Wiltshire, who is a palynologist – an expert on pollen – spoke to Lauren Laverne on Sunday’s episode of BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs. She discussed her early life in a Welsh mining village, her lifelong love of nature and the secrets that plants can reveal.
Brought up in a small village north of Cardiff by two ‘erratic’ parents, Wiltshire spent a lot of time with her grandmother, Vera May: ‘She understood the hedges, understood the plants and animals, showed me bird’s nests and so on. “
Wiltshire got his botany degree a little later in life, having left school midway through his A-levels. When she discovered her subject and interest, she said, “I finally found my niche.”
There are two ways in which Wiltshire uses his expertise in botany to solve crimes. In some cases, she explained, a small piece of evidence, like a trail of pollen, can lead to the type of plants that were in the area, which can help you understand the climate and geology and start to eliminate crime scenes.
“Very often when you’re looking for bodies, for example, I’ll say to the police: ‘This is such a place, but it’s in the north of England.’ Then the local environmentalist will say: ‘I know such a place.’
In other cases, Wiltshire will monitor the scene for clues. “The perpetrator, someone who has committed a crime, has left their mark on that place, and it can be very, very subtle, so you’re looking for small impressions—prints in leaves, little broken twigs,” she told Laverne.
In 2002, the bodies of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were found in a ditch and Wiltshire was brought in to establish the killer’s route. The ditch was covered with nettles and other vegetation and the police could see no clear way.
“It was decided that when the girls were found, I would be the first one in the ditch because I would be looking for these little clues,” she recalled. “The nettles were chest high.”
Wiltshire noticed a stinging nettle that seemed to have been trampled, then grown back since the killer had been there. The break in the nettle growth allowed her to deduce exactly how long it had been since the girls’ bodies had been left there. “I keep nettles in the butterfly garden. I looked at the little side shoots – I thought, “That took about two weeks to grow.”
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She was also able to show police exactly where Huntley entered the ditch, allowing them to search the road for clues. “I found Jessica’s hair on a twig,” she told Laverne.
“There’s satisfaction in solving a puzzle,” she said, but some cases have stuck with her. In case of Michelle Battleswho was found in a Norfolk forest but whose killer was never brought to justice, “poor Michelle really affected me,” Wiltshire said.
Wiltshire has experienced loss herself – her young daughter Sian died as a toddler. “I never really got over it,” she said. “I don’t think you can handle losing a child. Even after all these years, she is there every day. I have no words, all are feelings. It gets easier with time, but it never goes away.”
She said the experience has helped her empathize with the families involved in the cases she helps investigate. “I always feel for mothers and fathers. This job has given me a great deal of compassion.”
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