New Zealander is student crime scene examiner of the year

British Transport Police's newest Crime Scene Examiner (CSE) has been named Student of the Year for 2009/10.

Kelly Warner, originally from Auckland, New Zealand, passed the National Policing Improvement Agency's nine week Initial Crime Scene Investigation course at Durham with flying colours.

Kelly came to the UK five years ago, gaining an MSc in forensic science from London South Bank University. She now works as part of a team of eight CSEs based at BTP's Scientific Support Unit in London.

"This is my dream job," said Kelly. "It is something I have always wanted to do. To me, it was always like putting a jigsaw puzzle together and every day and every crime scene is different. I wanted to do something positive, to make a difference, not a desk job.

"This gives me the opportunity to meet people and there is always something new to learn,"

Kelly first joined BTP as a crime and performance analyst, but when an opportunity to join the Scenes of Crime Department in Scientific Support opened up after 20 months, she jumped at it.

Bill Bryden is Head of Scenes of Crime for BTP: "Kelly has joined a very professional and skilled team and is proving to be a real asset. The specialist environment of the railways presents its own forensic challenges and we always have to be mindful of keeping disruption to services to a minimum."

One of those challenges is the sheer size of the patch. Between them the team of eight deal with crimes and incidents on the rail system throughout London and the south east, from East Anglia to Bournemouth.

Kelly has been working solo for two months now, but she isn't daunted.

"The geography can be difficult - I've already had jobs as far apart as Norfolk and Portsmouth. If there's a big scene to process, there will be more than one of you anyway, and there is always advice available at the end of a phone.

"It really is constant learning - even with a simple scene such as a vending machine you can use the opportunity to refine your techniques."

BTP deals with over 250 fatalities a year on the rail network, and the bodies can often be severely disrupted. Kelly has already dealt with a number of them, including a murder at Victoria Tube station and a mummified body found near Milton Keynes.

"Dead bodies don't seem to bother me," she said. "I have already attended a couple of post mortems.

"You can never afford to think you know it all; things - equipment, techniques - change so quickly in our world."

So is it really like the glossy world of TV's CSI programmes?

"Well, there are elements of that," says Kelly, "but not really. However, BTP is a good place to work. It has a good feel and everyone is willing to help you learn. You are given a lot of responsibility very early on, more than you'd get with a local force."