Doubts raised over Mitseros autopsies

A well-known private forensic pathologist, who has raised doubts over the Mitseros autopsies in the serial killer investigation, says he also has reservations over the decision by local authorities to call on five UK experts.

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According to media reports, a team of forensic doctors and crime investigators known as the “five UK experts” were scheduled to leave Cyprus on Friday, after a weeklong visit to assist local authorities with the Mitseros serial killer investigation.

Horrific details leaked after the latest autopsies on victims in the case suggested that the alleged serial killer murdered his victims from behind after putting them in a headlock and choking them to death.

But private forensic pathologist Marios Matsakis expressed his doubts over the findings, saying it would be very difficult to arrive at such a precise conclusion during the autopsies. It was not clear how many of the decomposed bodies had been examined, as authorities have recovered four female bodies and are searching for three more including two children. The official cause of death in at least one case was “strangulation - chokehold” according to reports on Thursday.

Matsakis also called on the government to make public the names and credentials of all five experts, who were reported in some media as working for the Scotland Yard, including Greek Cypriot and London-based pathologist Andreas Marnerides.

Matsakis, who spoke on AlphaNews Live on earlier this week, said he was not questioning the knowledge or experience of the foreign professionals but had reservations over their expertise as a basis for police to call on them to assist in the serial killer investigation. He said the experts said there could be more victims and offered their thoughts that were not new to the investigators.

The private pathologist also claimed that Marnerides, a Greek-trained perinatal and pediatric pathologist at London’s St Thomas’ Hospital, was not on the Home Office list of registered forensic pathologists.

“I call on the state agency that invited [the professionals] to confirm or deny my position that the Cypriot member on this team, Mr Marnerides, is not on the Home Office Pathologists list that is being used by British police in murder cases,” Matsakis said.

Matsakis said he believed there are more victims in the case and criticised authorities for not expanding the search. He has also called for the draining of the red lake to get the full picture.