With regret we announce the passing of Russell Stockdale

It is with deep regret that we report the passing of Russell Stockdale on Monday night after a long battle with cancer. He died peacefully at home with his family.

Our thoughts and sympathy go out to his family and loved ones.

Russell’s funeral will be held at the West Berkshire Crematorium in Bath Road, Thatcham (Post Code: RG19 4LD) at 12 Noon on Wednesday 8 December. This will be followed by refreshments at the Fox and Hounds at Peasemore.

His family would naturally be very pleased to see any of his former friends and colleagues who want to come. Perhaps they would let Angela Gallop know if they would – simply to help with the catering arrangements. Angela can be contacted at angela@gilbournes.com

Russell Stockdale – A man of many parts

Russell was anything but dull. He had a quick wit, a dry-as-dust sense of humour, a wonderful way with the written word, and a practical bent which meant that he could fix most things electrical, mechanical and, increasingly, digital. He was also, and despite indications to the contrary, very soft-hearted. When we lived in the heart of the Berkshire countryside, he used to go out in the very early mornings accompanied by his two ‘gun cats’, ostensibly to shoot game. But he rarely came back with anything other than stories of pheasants rising in the dawn mist, rabbits having breakfast, and all the scurryings and scufflings that occur in the hedgerows at that time of day.

But, of course, Russell’s main passion was forensic science. He joined the Home Office Forensic Science Service (HOFSS) in the late sixties when he started work at the Service’s Newcastle laboratory under the directorship of Stuart Kind who became a great friend. He soon distinguished himself as an immensely capable, thoughtful investigator whose knowledge – especially around exhumations, was usefully augmented by his previous spells as a grave digger in Norwood Cemetery in London. It was in Newcastle that he and his first wife, Marie, had the first of his two sons – Simon.

In 1977, the Newcastle Laboratory was amalgamated with the Harrogate one in new premises at Wetherby, where Russell’s cases now included some of Peter Sutcliffe’s (the ‘Yorkshire Ripper’s’) crimes. And, shortly afterwards, he was selected to join Head of Biology, Ron Outteridge, in a secondment to Bradford Police HQ to provide more immediate forensic support to the West Yorkshire police investigation team. It became immediately apparent that, in those pre-computer days, the police were so inundated by their own paperwork they couldn’t see the wood for the trees. So one of the first things Ron and Russell did was to draw up two lists, one entitled ‘Things we know about the Ripper’ and the other, ‘Things we think we know about the Ripper’, and then they took it from there.

From Wetherby, Russell moved to the Chorley Laboratory as a newly promoted Principal Scientific Officer and it was around this time that he became editor of the Journal of the Forensic Science Society. This led him to discover the joys of grammar and ever afterwards he would regularly revert to Eric Partridge’s Usage and Abusage – a Guide to Good English, and lament the inappropriate use of the apostrophe, or the hanging (stranded or dangling) preposition.

But it wasn’t long before he was selected by Stuart Kind – who by then was Director of the HOFSS Central Research Establishment (CRE) at Aldermaston, to head up the Biology department there, and so he moved again. He thoroughly enjoyed his time at CRE – both the science, and the social side of research as idiosyncratically interpreted by CRE. And he was particularly proud of the fact that it was he who instigated the first feasibility study into the use of the new technique of ‘DNA fingerprinting’, as it was known then, in forensic science. It was around this time – in 1982, that Russell and I had Jeremy – the second of his two sons.

From Aldermaston, Russell moved to the Home Office in London where he led the team that administered both forensic scientists and a number of other types of technical specialists for whom the Home Office was also responsible. These included experts in radio and radio licensing in which Russell had always had an interest since his early days as a ‘radio ham’. Being a radio ham seemed to have involved spending hours late at night on a crackly radio talking to people – invariably called Ian, on the other side of the world about anything and everything. Eventually, I think he simply ran out of things to say to Ian, or became bored by Ian’s replies.

While he enjoyed the work at ‘Estabs’, Russell certainly didn’t enjoy the daily commute so his decision in 1987 to join me in my newly established consultancy, Forensic Access, was relatively easy for him. Most of the work involved providing advice and guidance to legal teams representing people accused of crime where part of the evidence against them featured forensic science, and this appealed to Russell’s sense of justice and fair play. Other interests around this time included keeping bees – which he only relinquished when he started to become much more sensitive to their stings. But together they had produced an awful lot of honey by the time this happened.

Then, in 1997/8 Russell became the first CEO of Forensic Alliance – a new company we co-founded to support the police when it became clear the balance was tipping too far in favour of the defence. This required substantial personal investment – in all senses of the word, and its success was due in no small measure to Russell’s far-sightedness, naked ability, and the passion and energy he devoted to the cause. He retired in 2002 but continued to be associated with forensic science for several years afterwards. By this time, the bees had been replaced by hens and with whom he was able to have a much more rewarding personal relationship which, naturally, they took advantage of at every opportunity.

Of all his many achievements, it was his two sons that gave him most pride and pleasure. Simon magically became this amazingly talented farmer with many of his father’s characteristics – managing farms and establishing new ones as far afield as Senegal in West Africa, and commissioning and running the largest vegetable pack-house in the UK and then arguing the toss over prices with the likes of Tesco and Sainsburys. And Jeremy, who faced enormous additional challenges of his own, but who manages to charm everyone around him, and has carved out a happy and rewarding life for himself through sheer force of personality and determination.

Russell was a great man, and he will be sorely missed.

Angela Gallop