Mother's long struggle for truth

By Jonathan Morris
BBC News, South West

Rachel Whitear's body was exhumed for test four years after she died

As Wiltshire Police publishes its report into how Devon and Cornwall Constabulary investigated the death of heroin addict Rachel Whitear, whose body was found in an Exmouth bedsit in 2000, BBC News talks to her mother about her battle for answers.

Peacefully Resting Where No Shadows Fall are the words on Rachel Whitear's gravestone.

But four years after her death in May 2000, Rachel's family suffered the trauma of seeing her body exhumed in a second police investigation into her death.

For her mother Pauline Holcroft, allowing the exhumation was a painful, but crucial part in her search for truth.

"I was horror-struck at first," she said.

Rachel was found dead in an Exmouth bedsit with a syringe in her hand - her slumped body was later used in an anti-drugs campaign.

'Brick wall'

An open verdict by a coroner in December 2000 left Rachel's family with more questions than answers.

Among the concerns was why Rachel had been buried without a post-mortem being held and why the syringe which she had apparently injected herself with still had its cap on.

"The police thought it was an open and closed case - just another junkie death," Mrs Holcroft told BBC News.

This picture of Rachel Whitear featured in an anti-drugs campaign

"But we knew something had gone wrong. It just did not make sense that a young girl could die and there was no cause of death."

In March 2002 she wrote to Devon and Cornwall Police, listing her concerns.

"I felt like we were hitting our heads against a brick wall," she said.

"The only way forward was to make a formal complaint."

In 2003 the Police Complaints Authority, now the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), took up her case and referred it to Wiltshire Police for a re-investigation.

For two days Mrs Holcroft made statements to Wiltshire Police.

But when the force told her that exhuming Rachel's body from the graveyard at Withington near Hereford was crucial, she initially could hardly face the prospect.

"I said, 'You can't do that'," she said.

"They asked me to reconsider because it may have been the only chance to tell the truth.

"Those words stayed with me and as much as I did not want it to be done, I knew there would still be so many questions if they did not go ahead."

If I had just accepted it I would have felt I had let her down Pauline Holcroft

Nevertheless, the exhumation in March 2004 was the lowest point for Mrs Holcroft.

"We had thought about the words on her gravestone very carefully," she said.

The re-investigation by Wiltshire Police led to a new inquest at which the jury decided that Rachel had died of a heroin overdose, but it could not decide if Rachel had injected herself or if someone else was with her when she died.

But the question of why there was no post-mortem examination has still not been answered, although Mrs Holcroft learned that as her daughter had been a drug user, police had assumed she could be HIV positive.

And she also understands that because of that assumption, police should have arranged for post-mortem tests to be carried out at specialist facilities in Bristol.

A pathologist did acknowledge, at the second inquest, it was possible the syringe cap had been replaced by Rachel.

With the report by Wiltshire Police, Mrs Holcroft feels she has now reached a "watershed".

Rachel Whitear's exhumation was the lowest point for her mother

She said: "I have had my low moments, but I never felt like giving up.

"My family have been my strength.

"But I think any parent with serious unanswered questions about the death of their child would want to know the truth.

"We have done everything possible to find the truth about her death. If I had just accepted it I would have felt I had let her down."

She now has seven grandchildren.

"What we hope is that our grandchildren know about what happened and will learn the lesson," she said.

"I would not want to see it happen to another generation."

Devon and Cornwall Police declined to comment on the criticism of its initial investigation until after Wiltshire Police have reported on its investigation.