Veteran crime scene investigator sues police for £100,000 after claiming that dealing with 50 murders a year caused stress and led to him having a stroke
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.
- Ex-forensic investigator sues West Midlands Police for £100,000
- Claims 27 years of murder cases caused a 2023 stroke
- Force says it can't comment on the ongoing legal case
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Paul Tebbutt spent 27 years working as a crime scene investigator, and later a co-ordinator, for West Midlands Police, a role that involves attending the scenes of murders, suspicious deaths and other traumatic incidents to gather forensic evidence. Over the course of his career he is reported to have handled more than 2,000 deaths, including major incidents such as the 1994 Coventry air disaster. He retired on medical grounds in 2024 after suffering a stroke, which he links to the cumulative stress of the job.
He is now bringing a High Court claim against his former employer, West Midlands Police, seeking £100,000 in damages. His case centres on the argument that the force did not have adequate systems in place to monitor and manage the psychological toll of his workload over time, despite periods of especially high caseloads and reduced staffing.
The case raises broader questions about how employers, particularly in policing and other emergency services, identify and respond to cumulative occupational stress in staff regularly exposed to traumatic events, rather than treating such exposure as a routine part of the job.