I clean crime scenes for a living - the job has left me gagging and sobbing in the shower, but there's one case that still haunts me years later

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

A woman who cleans crime scenes for a living has revealed the one case that haunts her years later.
Lauren Baker, who is set to feature on Channel 4 series Crime Scene Cleaners, sat down with Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard on Monday's instalment of This Morning.
The trauma cleaning specialist, from Kent, wore a hazmat suit as she told the pair how she deal with 'dirt, grime filth - anything that can cause harm to the human body'.
Lauren explained how she could walk into anything, from 'someone's bowels exploded' to 'needle sweeps'.
Ben interjected: 'Can we just go back, did you say bowels had exploded?'
'When you pass your organs star to shut down, sometimes when we attend properties and unattended deaths, their bowels have erupted before they've actually passed... and then you've got the cleanup from that,' she explained.
Lauren revealed the precautions the cleaners take to make sure they remain safe including double masks and gloves.
She worked in domestic cleaning and recalled helping at a property where the elderly person with dementia didn't want carers anymore and their home had 'deteriorated'.
'That's when I soon realised that there is actually other people suffering like this and obviously hoarders come about and hoarding is a thing, and that can come in many shapes and sizes,' she said.
'I just wanted to help people,' Lauren added.
The cleaning specialist described the range of work she covers and explained: 'We do unattended death, so that can be anything from a crime scene to someone falling and passing at home, or it could be where there's been an assault.'
Cat asked Lauren if she ever tries to figure out what happened.
Lauren admitted 'it's natural instinct' to try and guess what happened.
'You like to think you're a detective, but we're not, we're just cleaners,' she added.
Lauren recalled one particularly shocking job and said: 'A lot of people don't realise these things happen on a daily basis. We went in once to a hotel room and were told a couple were in there and some arguments had broken out. There was blood everywhere.'
Ben asked if Lauren found the work 'tough' given the situations she might be exposed to.
'Unattended deaths and suicides, they can be quite difficult, they can be tough ones to deal with,' she replied.
'How do you process it?' Ben asked.
Lauren explained: 'You become sort of, not immune but... it's a job at the end of the day and somebody has to do it.'
Despite the difficult aspects, the cleaner admitted she 'loves' her job and explained: 'I love my job and I wouldn't choose to do anything else... I help so many different people on a weekly basis and that for me is everything, I love helping people.'
Lauren opens the windows of rooms where people have passed to allow their spirits to 'be free'.
'I do walk in and I do have a little chat with them,' she explained. 'I don't believe you pass and that's it you're gone.'
The cleaning specialist explained it isn't always obvious that someone has passed away and sometimes 'there isn't much cleanup'.
'What's the hardest thing? What never leaves you?' Ben asked.
Lauren replied: 'Suicides. People calculate their suicides and we've been in some before where we've found notes... we have to go back to the family and say this is what we've come across.'
She added: 'People don't know that cleaners like us exist and they end up having to deal with that trauma by themselves...'
Lauren explained they can take that extra element of stress away.
She recalled one incident where she discovered a cat inside a freezer which had died and the owner who struggled with hoarding 'couldn't part with it'.
The cleaning specialist managed to get the person to bury the beloved pet in their garden had a 'ceremony' for it.
In an interview with Metro, Lauren opened up about her first ever job which was a suicide case.
'I went straight in at the deep end and it's always stuck with me. The person had planned every step and left notes saying not to come in and we had to tell the family,' she told the publication.
She admitted it 'lives in my head quite a lot - I'll never forget that'.
She recalled one incident where she discovered a cat inside a freezer which had died and the owner who struggled with hoarding 'couldn't part with it'
The cleaner added: 'There are other tough cases as well where I've come home and had a little cry in the shower and I've taken it home with me.'
She described how the smell of death can sometimes be very strong and overwhelming.
'I didn't always have a strong stomach at first, I had to develop it. I used to gag quite a bit but I learnt that on the job,' she added.
Crime Scene Cleaners airs on Channel 4 on Monday, June 30 at 10pm.