A Summary of the Inadequacies of the Investigation
Crime Scene
The German police report concerning Jeremiah's death states that there were two incidents in which Jeremiah ran in front of cars. It was claimed that Jeremiah hit a car with sufficient force to knock off the external wing mirror, was then tossed high into the air, and landed on the ground--but then recovered sufficiently to run for another 10 minutes before being killed as a result of a second incident. The coincidence of the first incident with the later alleged fatal incident was used by police as justification for the conclusion of suicide. We believe that neither alleged incident was sufficiently investigated.
The assumption of suicide made by non medical personnel prevented a comprehensive investigation to establish cause of death.
Gaps in the Investigation - the First Alleged Incident
- No formal witness statements or photographs were taken.
- Two different makes of car were cited by police as being involved in the first incident.
- No injuries relating to this first incident were recorded; however, injuries would have been inevitable. Medical statistics suggest that he would most likely have been killed instantly --but at the very least, would have been severely injured.
Click here
(PDF) 
:
extract on medical statistics on a pedestrian hitting a
car.
Gaps in the Investigation - the (Second) Alleged Fatal Incident
- The drivers of the two cars apparently involved when Jeremiah was found dead were allowed by the German police to leave the scene before the investigating officer arrived at the scene--and therefore no witness statements or signed oral testimonies were taken, in a complete breach of police procedure.
- All information gathered about and from the drivers was passed on indirectly from police officers. This constitutes third-hand hearsay evidence with no verifiable source.
- The German authorities decided that a post mortem was not necessary.
- A doctor came to the side of the road and testified that Jeremiah was dead.
- This doctor carried out no examination of injuries to the body but confirmed in his report that a post mortem should be carried out, However, as mentioned above, the German authorities decided that no post mortem was necessary, in as much as Police Inspector Schaecher declared the death a suicide by traffic accident.
- There was no medical examination of injuries carried out anywhere at any time. This can be confirmed by witness statements. It is assumed from Inspector Schaecher's report that he undressed the body, took photographs, and described the injuries. It is not known why a doctor signed the death certificate, while the Police Inspector"presumably not medically trained and certainly not medically qualified--performed the doctor's job of examining the body.
- Jeremiah's clothes and shoes were destroyed before investigations were completed, despite the family's request to have his items kept. Even without such a request, it is unheard-of in police procedure to destroy possible evidence in his way. This shows how the case was closed so quickly that no time was allowed to properly investigate the death--surely be a violation of the laws of any democratic country in the world.
- The German Prosecutor states that there was no need for a medical examination by a doctor, nor was there any need for the clothes and shoes to be kept as evidence, because this was not a suspicious death. In logic, this is called assuming what is to be proved. Clearly, Jeremiah's phone call before his death makes plain that the circumstances of this death did indeed require investigation.
Further Inadequacies Regarding the Suicide Conclusion
- Inspector Schaecher appeared not to know that Jeremiah had phoned both his girlfriend and his mother shortly before his death telling them he was in danger and frightened, asking to be rescued. This strongly suggests that even the minimal work to ascertain the background to the death was left undone by the police.
- No investigation was made into the LaRouche Organization and no official statements were taken from the people who were with Jeremiah in the hours before he died.
- Inspector Schaecher told the parents he did not wish to investigate the Schiller Institute and that this was because it was a respectable organisation.
- The people last with Jeremiah gave misleading information to the effect that Jeremiah was a mental patient being treated at the Tavistock Clinic and that Jeremiah's girlfriend has spoken of earlier possible suicide attempts. These untrue statements were used as justification for a premature verdict of suicide, while the opinions of those closest to Jeremiah, his friends and family, were disregarded.
- Inexplicably, Frau Ortrun Cramer, Manageress of The Schiller Institute, had possession of Jeremiah's passport--later tests proved that the passport was stained with Jeremiah's blood. This astonishing fact was also never investigated at the time.
- The German police informed the local press and the local radio that Jeremiah had committed suicide for personal reasons. This was done before the family was even notified of his death.
- There was no attempt to investigate either alleged traffic accident. Jurgen Burg made a written statement saying he only attended the scene to reconstruct how the alleged accident had happened.
- A trained crime scene investigator was not appointed to examine any of the evidence or the scene of the alleged incidents.
Contradictory Evidence Found From Further Investigation
As a result of the discrepancies referred to above, Jeremiah's family conducted their own investigations. The most compelling result was the report of a commission of a number of independent experts who, from 79 photographs of the crime scene and the unclothed body, agreed upon the following:
- The tyre treads of the cars reported as being involved in the alleged incidents did not match any of the tracks on the road.
- The final position of Jeremiah's body on the road is not consistent with the outcome alleged by the German police report.
- After analysis of the damage to the cars, experts have expressed doubts about how this damage could have been caused by a human body.
- Experts stated they saw no traces of blood, hair, human tissue or clothing on the cars, nor deposits on the road which would be expected to be present if such an accident had taken place, and the German traffic expert also wrote in his report there were no traces on the cars alleged to have been involved.
- Jeremiah's shoes were still on his feet, despite (as is claimed in the German police report) his body allegedly having been hurled through the air and then run over.
- There was no evidence of tyre marks on Jeremiah’s body or clothes, or evidence of how Jeremiah would have been dragged across the road or run over.
- In the photographs of the scene, there is a yellow substance visible on Jeremiah's shoes, on the side of one car, and on its wheels, but this does not correspond with any similar colour soil on either side of the road.
"The face looks bloodied and bruised but does not look crushed as if run over by a vehicle. I can see no traces of glass, metal or any other debris on Jerry's body in the photographs." Paul Canning, Forensic Expert
Further Contradictory Evidence and Inadequacies Raised by a British Post Mortem and Inquest
- The authorities in the UK conducted only a basic post mortem and not a forensic one.
- A pathologist was not called to give evidence or to be questioned at the Inquest.
- The UK pathologist, Dr Shove, who performed the post mortem in England, met with Erica Duggan. He looked again at, and read, the report he had signed and agreed he had performed this post mortem. He then stated that from looking at what he had written in the report, Jeremiah died because of severe beatings to the head. Dr Shove reported that from an examination of Jeremiah's body there was no evidence to show that he had been hit by or run over by a car.
- Dr Shove stated that he did not know the death was supposedly a result of a traffic incident. He made no mention of a traffic incident in his post mortem report.
- Dr Shove confirmed that there were no tyre marks and no glass, and confirmed that if he had seen them, this would have been noted in the post mortem report; he confirmed that he would have been duty-bound to note them.
Further pathologist’s forensic evidence from the British post mortem questioned whether Jeremiah died from a collision with cars. This cannot be fully revealed as it is part of the case and will all be made public at a public Inquest.
German Professor of Criminal Law and Justice
writes to
German authorities: This case should be investigated and those
persons
who participated in the Schiller Organization at the time should
be questioned.
Click here
(PDF)
for letter.
RIGHTS OF THE DECEASED:
There exists an obligation upon all states that have signed the European Convention of Human Rights to investigate whether there has been a violation of the right to life of the deceased. In that respect the right is a personal right that relates posthumously to Jeremiah. The family of the deceased have standing to participate in the proceedings on the basis of safeguarding their interests. The obligation falls on the State to carry out such an inquiry, whether the family instigate it or not. There now remains a threat to life as there has been an unfair delay in instigating a full investigation in Germany or the UK.
The Court of Human Rights recognizes the right of the family to know what happened to the deceased.
There has now been a four-and-a-half-year violation of human rights in this case in Germany, and it therefore falls upon the the British authorities to uphold the rights of Jeremiah Duggan, who was a British citizen and whose death has been allowed to pass without a full and thorough investigation. There has been an affront to the dignity of the individual by a failure to fully disclose to the family information possessed by those last with Jeremiah. They had a duty of care relating both to the nature of Jeremiah’s stay within an organization and a duty of care to fully co-operate in any investigation by the authorities. Any acts to mislead or obstruct constitute violations of European Human Rights Law.