Jack Crane

Queen's University Belfast | QUB · Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences

Two men were wrongfully convicted of murder in 2017 and sentenced to life imprisonment. After a physical altercation inside a flat, the victim (A) was found dead approximately 60 m away outside a residential address. He had sustained a number of injuries including a stab wound to the left side of his neck which was found to have divided the right c...

Ninety-six people died following a crowd crush at the Hillsborough Football Stadium, Sheffield, UK in 1989. The cause of death in nearly all cases was compression asphyxia. The clinical and pathological features of deaths encountered in crowds are discussed with a particular focus on the Hillsborough disaster.

In the UK tramadol is a frequently prescribed opioid analgesic which is becoming increasingly popular as a drug of misuse. Its use varies worldwide and in the last decade it has been upgraded to a controlled substance in several countries, due to an increased number of deaths associated with its use. A review of all deaths associated with tramadol...

Alcoholic ketoacidosis (Aka) is a condition commonly associated with sudden and/or unexpected deaths in chronic alcoholics with poor nutritional status or in individuals following a prolonged period of alcohol consumption (drinking binge). Aka occurs when hydroxybutyric acid, ketoacids and acetoacetic acid accumulate, which in turn distorts the ind...

The accurate description and interpretation of non-genital injuries may be crucial in cases of alleged sexual assault, and may be important in corroborating a victim's statement of events. In many cases of sexual assault, non-genital injuries may be either absent or trivial; nevertheless, even minor injuries may be of significance and need to be re...

There have been several instances worldwide of children and elderly people choking to death on soft slippery dome-shaped jellies that are designed to be placed in the mouth in one bite. This problem was addressed in the European Union by the provisions of Directive 2006/52/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council prohibiting the use of a ra...

The General Medical Council, in typical arrogant fashion, has ignored the concerns of several paediatric practitioners involved in child protection over its appointment of Penny Mellor to the Expert Group on Child Protection.1 Professionals who have to deal with child deaths (paediatric pathologists, forensic pathologists, and neuropathologists) al...

Carbon monoxide poisoning is a common cause of accidental death and suicide. This article reports 4 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning following the inhalation of fumes from disposable charcoal barbeques in a confined space. All of the cases occurred within a 2-year period in Northern Ireland.

The accurate description and interpretation of injuries is one of the most important functions of the forensic physician. Marks of violence may be found on the victim of an assault, either physical or sexual, on a child suspected of having been abused, on a police officer arresting a violent suspect, on a prisoner alleging ill-treatment whilst in c...

Pipe bombs are crudely constructed improvized explosive devices which are easily made at home. They are increasingly used by terrorists and others, and may inflict serious injuries and cause death. Four fatalities have occurred in association with their use in Northern Ireland between 1998 and 2002. In 2 cases, death was due to penetrating shrapnel...

The ability to appropriately assess, document, and interpret injuries that have been sustained is a key part of the work of any forensic physician or forensic pathologist. Crimes of violence are increasing throughout the world. Nonjudicial assault, such as torture, has also become more widely recognized (1). It has been suggested that the definitio...

• Radiology has a small but significant role to play in forensic pathology. • Its routine use is often precluded by a lack of dedicated facilities and staff. • It is usually limited to plain radiography for identification purposes and for retrieval of projectiles. • With the development of dedicated facilities, there is scope for considerable expan...

All doctors, not just those engaged in forensic practice, should be able to describe and record injuries accurately. In most circumstances, except when the victim is dead, the doctor’ s first responsibility is usually the treatment of the injury, an obvious priority that may overshadow the necessity to make detailed contemporaneous notes of the fin...

Traumatic amputation of limbs caused by bomb blast carries a high risk of mortality. This paper describes 73 amputations in 34 deaths from bomb blast in Northern Ireland. The principal aim was to determine the sites of traumatic amputation to provide a biophysical basis for the development of protective measures. Few amputations were through joints...

The mean blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in 175 fatal cases of acute alcohol intoxication was found to be 355 mg/100 ml. This figure is less than that quoted in many standard textbooks on forensic medicine. The BAC in fatal cases of acute alcohol intoxication complicated by aspiration was lower than in those cases where there was no evidence of a...

The relationship between the blood alcohol concentration and the urine alcohol concentration was studied in 109 routine coroner's autopsies. Although the average ratio for urine alcohol concentration to blood alcohol concentration lay close to the ratio of 4:3 quoted in the literature, the actual ratios determined were widely scattered around this...

Utilising incomplete data supplied by the Hospital Inpatient Analysis, the annual incidence of acute pancreatitis in Northern Ireland was estimated to be about 170 cases per million population. The annual mortality rate for the years 1974-1983, using figures obtained from the Registrar-General for Northern Ireland, was 12.3 cases per million. An in...

We report a case of status epilepticus lasting 5 h provoked by attempted self-hanging in a patient with no previous history of epilepsy. We are unable to find any published reports of status epilepticus being provoked in this manner.