Lawson’s observations of the body

“Paul Lawson was not allowed by the Police to transport the body to his laboratory, and the moulding work had to be carried out at the City Morgue using limited materials and tools. Lawson was not allowed any assistance#, and carried out the work with three detectives watching over him. As the frozen body was thawing, the skin became very damp and Lawson co-opted the detectives to keep padding it dry. Lawson observed that all the internal organs and brain had been totally removed previously (for toxicological testing).”

#Except from the three detectives ..

Paragraph lifted from here 

https://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/personal/dabbott/wiki/index.php/Paul_Francis_Lawson

So here we have a man attempting, for the first time, to make a death mask of an old body in an old morgue with no doubt more than a few other bodies kept in the chiller nearby and all the while in the constant company of THREE detectives and using limited materials and tools sourced from we don’t know where and incorporating said detectives in keeping the corpse (and head) dry, once again using materials (Rags? Towels from the bathroom? Handkerchiefs? Singlets and shirts belonging to other long dead bodies?) also sourced from we don’t know where.

Then, after all the above, Derek Abbott found a rootless hair stuck onto the death mask plaster.

A hair with no documented chain of ownership, and the three detectives and Lawson working in close proximity to the body for days without using any protective clothing.

Now we know better, and we know why.