pg80    Prev Next

He then moved to photograph 16, and I think 15 too. This was the 20 feet piece of rope principally used for the tying of this body, and he pointed out four knots as marked on our picture at 15. One end had been heat sealed, he said, the other has not, and the knot at 'U' described as a slip knot which could easily be pulled free. His thought about that was that it was not much use as a knot at all, but he commented that it might have been a product simply of untying the rope. 'X' he said was not a recognised knot, which could similarly have been produced by untying. 'V' he described as a simple overhand loop. 'W' was a fixed loop, an associated constricting loop. This could be put around an object and then tightened, and finally from the body exhibits, Mr. Ide moved on to photographs 17 and 18, which is the lead piping and the associated cordage. He said the rope appeared to have been cut at each side of the lead piping. He tried to reconstruct it in the photograph. He told us a little too about the lead piping itself. It was folded five times. It was 6.3 kilogrammes or about 14 to 15 pounds in weight. There was a figure of eight knot at position I1 on photograph 18. A figure eight, with a bowline at N1. N1 in photograph 19, if we just go over the page, was a figure of eight hard against a bowline knot. Back at 18 again, G1 he told us was an eye splice, and it had been agreed with an expert who was not actually called but was instructed on behalf of the defendant that there were 12 turns or passes in that eye splice, the one at G1. F1, which we see in photograph 20, is either a reef knot said Mr. Ide tied inside out or two clove hitches. N1 and K1 were also from that area of the rope that was connected and folded to the lead pipe.

pg80    Prev Next