'We're not the experts': Police call doctor to certify headless corpse is dead

Detectives who retrieved a headless corpse from a river summoned a doctor to confirm he was dead, an inquest heard.

Police were called to the Wandle in Wimbledon after workers clearing weeds found the body, which was badly decomposed.

Detective Inspector Chuk Gwams told Westminster coroners' court he had to call the police medical examiner to pronounce the man dead. Coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe asked him: "Even though there was no head, and the maggots, you had to call him in?"

The officer replied: "Yes Ma'am. They are the experts, we are not."

Tests revealed the man was Waldemar Drobig, 32, from Poland, known to police as a rough sleeper. The former baker's body was in such a poor state when it was found near Plough Lane last June that it was not possible to say how he had died. Recording an open verdict, Dr Radcliffe said she could not rule out foul play.