A doctor from Bradford is preparing to leave for Bosnia to carry out the grisly task of examining scores of bodies believed to be victims of war crimes.

Dr Jan Lowe, consultant histopathologist at Bradford Royal Infirmary, expects to deal with the remains of about 100 people dug from mass graves.

His task will be completed next month during a two-week visit to the country following an invitation from the United Nations War Crimes Commission to help evidence gathering about atrocities in the former Yugoslavia.

Dr Lowe normally examines tissue from patients across Yorkshire at the infirmary for signs of cancer, but he also carries out a significant amount of work on sudden and suspicious deaths.

He has played a key role in murder investigations, including identifying and examining the burned and dismembered remains of London pizza restaurant owner Rajmikant Patel, found at West Bowling last year.

He said the bodies exhumed in Bosnia were buried about five years ago and would mainly be skeletons.

He would be looking to piece together bodies to pinpoint the cause of death and in some cases hope to establish identity of victims to allow relatives to give them a funeral.

Many of the bodies were thought to be Muslims from the town of Srebrenica where thousands of men disappeared after it was overrun by Serb forces.

"Throughout the year pathologists have been going out there sorting through bones, assessing the causes of death and trying to identify those poor people so they can be returned to their families and to help the UN formulate prosecutions," he said.

"The big problem as I see it is the physical nature of the job.

"It will mean reconstructing skulls because most of them have been shot in the head and, if we can, try to get a positive identification using dental or DNA tests while some of them have got documents or clothing."

Dr Lowe, who served in the army with the Gurkhas in Hong Kong, said he was used to roughing it although the conditions in Bosnia were quite good.

He had been told the purpose-built facilities were reasonable although he would be working with a multi-national team which could cause language problems.

"It will be quite grisly. I am used to seeing death most days but large numbers of dead knock you out of kilter. It is extremely distressing, it can affect your sleep and general function and your home life, which is probably one of the reasons why with the UN you only do a two-week slot."

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