FRAGMENTS of gas pipe from the Haut du Mont explosion are being examined in a UK lab – with a police evidence file expected to be submitted to the Law Officers’ Department ‘before the end of the year’.
Detective Superintendent Alison Fossey, who is leading the investigation, said that the laboratory results due later this summer would help to ‘categorically’ determine whether the blast was caused by gas, which is the current working theory.
The police team involved in Operation Spire – the ongoing investigation into the Pier Road explosion on 10 December which killed ten Islanders – are using the forensic expert services of the Health and Safety Executive Science and Research Centre in Buxton, to examine key pieces of evidence taken from the scene.
Det Supt Fossey explained that the evidence included parts of the gas network and buildings.
She said: ‘Our working hypothesis has always been that this is a gas explosion, which seems obvious to everyone. However, we need the UK lab and the experts to say categorically to us “Yes, this was a gas explosion and this is why and how that gas explosion happened”.
‘We can assume that’s the case but to get a case through the court and through to criminal proceedings, we will need the experts who are able to say that and prove that, and that’s why the work going on in the laboratory in the UK is really important.’
The investigation team is also awaiting further reports from forensic experts in fire, explosives, structural engineering and archaeology.
Det Supt Fossey added: ‘We expect the report from the Health and Safety Executive in late summer. Swiftly after that will be our experts’ report [with input from] everyone we’ve engaged.
‘Hopefully we will then be in a position to submit a file of evidence to the Law Officers’ Department. That should be, I hope, before the end of the year. That is our aim and we are working hard towards that.’
The investigation team – comprising around 32 police officers and staff – are using a system called HOLMES – the Home Office Large Major Enquiry System – which is used nationally on major incidents and high-profile cases.
More than 1,100 lines of inquiry are being managed, of which 800 are complete. More than 560 statements have been taken and over 1,000 exhibits collected.
Det Supt Fossey said that the scale and complexity of the incident – proportionate to the size of the Island and the police force – was equivalent to the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London.
