Crime scene clean-up specialist Dan Foreman with his van

by Andy Gray

The phrase 'It's a dirty job but someone's got to do it,' hardly begins to describe the profession a dad-of-one has taken on.

Horrendous, gut-wrenching and unimaginably ghoulish just about does justice to Dan Foreman's new career - as a trauma scene cleaning specialist.

In a nutshell, Dan and business partner Matthew Faulkner mop up the mess caused by dead bodies – or anywhere blood, guts and bodily fluids have been spilt.

A painter and decorator since he left school, the 31-year-old, who grew up in Cranbrook and whose family still live in Cranborne Avenue, Maidstone, took inspiration for his bleak new trade from the most glamorous of locations – Hollywood.

He said: "I was watching a Samuel L Jackson film called Cleaner where he plays someone who mops up at the scenes of crime and I thought, 'that looks interesting'.

"I'd never heard of it before and immediately started researching it."

His investigations took him to the Bristol-based National Academy of Crime Scene Cleaning.

It's the only one of its type in the UK and for three days Dan learned all there is to know about disinfecting after the dead and the personal trauma it was likely to inflict.

"They told us the smell of a decomposed body was one we'd never forget," he said.

Having started the company, CTC Specialists, three months ago, Dan and Matthew have yet to encounter their first crime scene.

Dan, who claims "blood doesn't bother me", is nonetheless mindful he will encounter his fair share of grief and despair if business takes off.

He said: "At the end of the day, you have to detach yourself from the situation.

"We're no different to police or fire brigade who have to deal with a lot of horrible incidents.

"If you know what's happened in a room you're trying to clean, if someone's lost a child or relative or there's been a suicide, it's really sad.

"But you've got to be professional and not hold on to that emotion because although it might sound harsh, that death hasn't happened to you, so you've got to get on with it."

Dan, who now lives in Bexhill with partner Vicki and their three-year-old daughter Isabella, said he hopes his company will become Kent's leading trauma cleaning sub-contractor for police and health teams across the county.

He said: "With the economy going downhill a lot of people don't want decorators, they can do it themselves.

"So I had to start looking at other professions and you're always going to need someone to clear up a decomposition or suicide."

"It’s a great talking point, too," he added.

For more details, visit www.ctcspecialists.com.