It was two o’clock in the morning, in a time before cell phones and navigation devices.
Once again, forensic pathologist Dr. Helen Whitwell had gotten lost on her way to a crime scene.
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She stopped at a pay phone in the middle of nowhere and called Nottinghamshire Police Headquarters, who sent a detective to find her.
When the police car she was travelling in finally reached its destination some time later, Dr Whitwell noticed that it was already swarming with television crews and press photographers.
She quickly ordered the detective at the wheel to pull into the driveway of a nearby house.
When she opened her bag, the officer expected to find the tools of her gruesome trade inside.
Instead, the Home Office pathologist produced makeup, a hairbrush and perfume.
“If you think I’m going to face the press at 3 a.m. without my slap in the face, think again,” she said to her confused driver.
She added the finishing touches, got out of the car and looked into the cameras as she hid inside the police line to examine the body.
Nigel McCrery, then a police officer in Nottinghamshire, recalls: “The pathologists I had dealt with up to that point were grumpy old men with beards and socket wrenches.
“And then Dr. Whitwell showed up.
“She was young, beautiful, with blue eyes and long blonde hair – not at all what you would expect.
“She was probably the smartest woman I’ve ever met, with the intellect and brain of a planet.
“But she was also eccentric.
“Helen loved champagne and parties, but often got lost on the way to her murders.”
Ten years later, Nigel left the police to become a writer, but he could never forget Dr. Whitwell.
And she became the inspiration for the world’s most famous fictional pathologist, Sam Ryan, in the television series “Silent Witness.”
The 28th season of “Columbo” is now running on BBC One and is one of the longest-running crime series of all time, alongside series such as the US crime classic from the 1970s, “Columbo”. The series has been running for more than three decades since the first episode was broadcast in 1996.
For the first eight years, Sam Ryan, played by actress Amanda Burton, was the lead actress of Silent Witness.
“Female Sherlock”
Emilia Fox is now the star of the show as pathologist Dr. Nikki Alexander.
Her role model was also Dr. Whitwell, who died of cancer last month at the age of 69.
In his tribute to Helen, who later became Britain’s first female professor of pathology, Nigel says: “I think she was quite flattered to be involved in Silent Witness.”
She (Dr. Whitwell) was probably the smartest woman I have ever met, with the intellect and brain of a planet
Nigel McCrery, a police officer from Nottinghamshire
“She was this incredible combination of things that made her a wonderful character.
“A mixture of a fun-loving girl, if you will, and this dedicated pathologist.
“It was a privilege to see her work, a female Sherlock Holmes, there’s no doubt about that.”
“She was an elegant woman in every way, who enjoyed champagne breakfasts, fine food and quality wines.”
Dr Whitwell, daughter of the Mayor of Kendal in Westmorland, trained as a doctor before lecturing on research into brain diseases.
But causes of death fascinated her more and more and in 1988 she was appointed a state-certified pathologist by the Ministry of the Interior.
Over the next decade, she worked with police in the Midlands, carrying out up to 60 autopsies a year on suspicious deaths.
She said: “I kept having dreams about people waking up on the funeral table.
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“I know many people think this is a macabre way to make a living, but it is much easier than taking care of someone who is alive and suffering.”
Dr Whitwell married senior police officer David Stokes in 1990, but the couple divorced four years later and had no children.
When Nigel came up with the idea for “Silent Witness” in 1995, which was initially planned as a series of novels, the doctor became not only the main character but also his script consultant.
He says: “I remember one case where I sent her the manuscript and she came back to me and said, ‘I think it’s very unlikely that someone would be strangled in a cemetery at night.'”
“I said, ‘Yeah, but it’s just a book. You can exaggerate these things a little bit.’ So I carried on and didn’t think about it any more.
“She called me some time later and said, ‘I was just working on a murder case and the victim was strangled in a cemetery at night.’
“I thought, ‘Jesus Christ, we have a copycat killer, someone who reads the book and kills people.’ But there was never another one.”
Passion for science
When the series Silent Witness first aired on television, Dr. Whitwell visited the set to check that the corpse scenes were accurate.
However, in a 2016 interview, she admitted that pathologists would never question suspects, as in the show, which airs in 235 countries around the world.
They examine a corpse and prepare evidence for the court about the cause of the victim’s death.
Writer Nigel, 70, says: “She would not be on the side of the police, nor would she be on the side of the defence.”
“It was not her job to express an opinion. She presented evidence.”
Dr. Whitwell also became a world-renowned expert on shaken baby syndrome and in 1995 helped truck driver Kevin Callan to overturn his conviction for the shaking murder of his disabled four-year-old stepdaughter.
She would not be on the side of the police and she would not be on the side of the defense
Nigel McCrery, a police officer from Nottinghamshire
Her testimony helped convict murderer Tracie Andrews, who stabbed her fiancé Lee Harvey 42 times with a pocket knife in 1996. However, she claimed the two were attacked in an incident of aggression while driving by a “fat man with staring eyes” who killed Lee.
In 1999, Dr. Whitwell appeared as a defense witness in the case of Sally Clark, a lawyer who was found guilty of murdering her two young sons.
Her conviction was overturned in 2003.
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The professor was also an expert consultant in the investigation into serial killer Harold Shipman, the Greater Manchester general practitioner.
And she gave evidence in the case of deputy headteacher Sion Jenkins, from Hastings in East Sussex, who became the first man in British criminal history to be acquitted after three trials for the same crime – the alleged murder of his 13-year-old foster daughter Billie-Jo in 1997.
Dr Whitwell’s home was a 17th-century thatched cottage near Pershore, Worcs, where she grew highly scented flowers.
Each plant was chosen for its aroma. Nigel says: “I didn’t realise she was such a keen gardener.
“To my surprise, she replied, ‘I don’t particularly like gardens.’
“Pathologists tend to lose their sense of smell and taste.
“Not because of the corpses. They are unpleasant, but the smell is natural.
“It’s because of all the chemicals. As soon as she couldn’t smell her garden anymore or the strong aromas wore off, she retired.
“A few years later, she did.”
Dr. Whitwell put away her surgical gown for the last time in 2009 after osteoporosis left her unable to hold instruments in her hands to perform autopsies.
However, she has not given up her passion for science.
Instead, she wrote books on pathology and continued to travel the world giving lectures.
But Nigel says: “In her final moments, she deeply regretted not being able to properly taste the champagne.”
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