New forensic laboratory will help provide answers in unexplained deaths

A “state of the art” forensic laboratory that carries out toxicology tests in unexplained deaths has officially opened.

The £5.9 million laboratory in Glasgow is expected to speed up the process of providing answers for families who have lost loved ones and help provide information for police and prosecutors.

It carries out toxicology tests for a wide range of substances, including drugs and alcohol, when an unexplained death has occurred.

The purpose built Moorepark laboratory, which is run by Scottish Police Authority Forensic Services (SPA FS), will process around 3,800 samples a year from across Scotland.

It was officially opened on Wednesday by Justice Secretary Angela Constance and drugs and alcohol policy minister Elena Whitham, who were given a tour of the facility.

Ms Constance told the PA news agency: “The almost £6 million investment into this state of the art forensic service will be of vital importance to our criminal justice service in terms of the focus it will bring to solving crime and therefore helping to make our communities safer.

“A service such as this will also help to provide answers to families who have been bereaved tragically through sudden or unexplained deaths and this is of particular importance to drug related deaths in Scotland because the information and the intelligence about emerging new drug trends in Scotland, that is vital information in terms of tailoring our services to reach people and provide the right support and treatment at the right time to help save lives.”

She said that testing done at the facility will help provide information about trends such as the emergence of synthetic opioids.

Ms Constance said: “This is crucial information. We need to know more about the supply of drugs in communities but also the drugs that are most harmful and that are causing the greatest harm.

“And this information allows public health alerts to reach communities but also it enables services to tailor their approach to reach people at risk of using these substances.”

The Scottish Government said the laboratory will provide world-leading testing capabilities for drugs services, as well as for police and prosecutors.

The post-mortem toxicology forensic services were previously provided at the University of Glasgow but have now transitioned to the SPA FS.

Fiona Douglas, director of forensic services at the SPA, said the new laboratory will help speed up the provision of results, as scientists will be able to test for lots of substances in one single reaction rather than having lots of different tests which have to be run one after the other.

She said: “This £5.9 million investment in the new Moorepark Laboratory and highly skilled scientists and staff secures the future of the Post-Mortem Toxicology service in Scotland.

“Bringing post-mortem toxicology into forensic services allows us to enhance the drugs information we provide to support the work of the Drugs Harm Taskforce.”