Carlos Alberto Marques, the doctor who performed the first autopsy on John Turner, the Englishman murdered in his Algarve home in 2005, admitted in Loulé court, on August 29, that he had made mistakes. He explained that he had rushed the autopsy due to a lack of manpower in the medical examiner’s office.
He recorded that Mr Turner had died from a heart attack, but a second autopsy carried out in the UK recorded the death as resulting from injuries sustained following an assault. Marques, an orthopaedist by profession, had been performing autopsies for 16 years and said this was the first time that such an incident had occurred. He admitted negligence in this instance.
The case is ongoing and the events of the night of April 27, 2005 are gradually being pieced together. Three Romanians on trial for John Turner’s murder maintain their innocence, saying that two other men, who were involved and are still at large, were to blame. The next court date is set for September 21, where closing statements will be heard before a verdict is recorded prior to sentencing.
