A retired West Midlands Police forensic investigator is suing his former force for £100,000, alleging that decades of exposure to murders and other traumatic deaths caused the occupational stress that led to a stroke in 2023. Paul Tebbutt, 68, worked as a crime scene investigator and later co-ordinator for 27 years, and his lawyers argue the force failed to put in place a system to monitor the cumulative psychological toll of his workload, forcing him into medical retirement.

Court documents filed at London's High Court state Tebbutt investigated around 45 murders and 100 suspicious deaths a year, handling more than 2,000 deaths in total during his career, including the 1994 Coventry air disaster and the stabbing of a 15-year-old boy. In 2017 he reportedly dealt with up to 200 deaths while working 45-hour weeks, and the following year, after his partner left and was not replaced, he worked alone during the West Midlands' busiest year for murders. He has described suffering "burnout" and said returning to a police station now fills him with dread, forcing him to work from home before his stroke led to permanent disability and retirement in April 2024; West Midlands Police said it would be inappropriate to comment while the matter is ongoing.