More than 130 West Yorkshire officers were involved in the Crossbow Cannibal triple mur-der inquiry - the biggest homi-cide investigation in Bradford since the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry three decades before.

And the nature of the Stephen Griffiths' killings led the Force to use its specialist victim identifi-cation team for the first time.

Griffiths had dismembered his victims' bodies and dumped parts of at least two of them, Shelley Armitage, 31, and Suzanne Blamires, 36, in the River Aire in Shipley.

No trace has yet to be found of his first victim Susan Rush-worth, 43, who disappeared in June last year.

Painstaking searches of the river were carried out by 70 search officers, including staff in the West Yorkshire Police Underwater Search Unit.

Senior identification manager, Detective Superintendent Colin Prime said: "After responding to the report of human remains in the River Aire, it was deemed appropriate to use the specialist team to retrieve, identify and repatriate the remains.

"Supported by the Under Water Search Unit, the team's sole aim was to recover them with dignity and integrity while securing key evidence.

"This involved a high level of professionalism and of course a sympathetic approach. This whole process is about care and respect and is what loved ones are entitled to expect.

"As a result of the specialist team being deployed, it provided the senior investigating officer with more time to direct and lead the investigation."

Items recovered during the river searches were examined by experts from the Forensic Science Service at laboratories in Wetherby, with help from similar units in London and Birming-ham.

The first human parts to be found were discovered to be those of Miss Blamires.

Human tissue, identified through DNA techniques as belonging to Miss Armitage, was later found a few hundred yards away.

The work by the search teams was complemented by investiga-tions led by 60 detectives and staff in the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team (HMET).

In that period from late May to early June all leave was cancelled and many officers and staff were working overtime in the early stages of the inquiry, which has been described by senior detec-tives as "unique in recent times".

Forensic teams carried out intensive searches in Griffiths' third-floor flat at Holmfield Court, Thornton Road, Bradford.

Floorboards were removed and paper stripped from walls as every item was removed for examination. It led to vital DNA evidence of the murders being recovered.

Drains and sewers from the con-verted mill building were also combed for clues and intensive searches were carried out in empty and derelict buildings in the city's red light district where Griffiths had met the women and persuaded them to return to his flat.

Although Operation Wheel - the investigation into the Bradford riots - was a larger-scale inquiry due to the numbers of people involved, the police have had to pour more resources into the Stephen Griffiths inquiry than any murder investigation in the city since the Ripper.

A Gold Command team, set up in the case of major incidents, was run by a chief officer to organise resources and the cost of the investigation is estimated to be more than £1 million.