Stage 2: The next steps

P.C. John Purser of St. Neots' police decided that Annie Holmes’ death on 7th January, 1898, was suspicious. He removed the note and the powder from under the bed. But what would a modern police officer and a Victorian police officer have done next?

Read the list of things you could do below and complete as in stage 1.

Now YOU DECIDE what to do next.

1. Before you start download the answer frame stage 2, so you can record your decisions.
   
   
2. Below are a number of things you could do as a police officer. Select which actions you would carry out as a police officer in 1898 and which actions you think you would carry out as a police officer today. Record these on the answer frame:
   
   
   1. Interview Annie Holmes’ daughter, Annie
      
      14 year old Annie was an eyewitness to her mother’s death.
      
      
   2. Take a careful record of everything in the room
      
      
      
   3. Remove evidence and have it examined by scientists
      
      Would you personally remove objects in the room such as the sheets, the glass by the bed and the note to send them to the scientists?
      
      
   4. Order an autopsy (medical examination) of Annie Holmes’ body
      
      
   5. Search the house for other evidence
      
      
   6. Put the house under police guard
      
      Are there people that you would not want to get into the house?
      


3. Once you have recorded your answers:
   
   Click on the links below and record for each one, if it is an action that would have been possible or likely in 1898 and which ones would be carried out today.
   
   Are there any things that suprised you?
   
   What are the similarities and differences between what a Victorian and Modern police officer might do?
   
   How great are the differences? Are they greater or less than the differences in stage one?
   
   
   1. Interview Annie Holmes’ daughter, Annie
      
   2. Take a careful record of everything in the room
      
   3. Remove evidence and have it examined by scientists
      
   4. Order an autopsy (medical examination) of Annie Holmes’ body
      
   5. Search the house for other evidence
      
   6. Put the house under police guard