Blood-spattered walls, unbearable odours and houses where people lay dead for months: Inside the world of crime scene cleaners - and it's NOT for the faint of heart

  • Crime scene cleaner talks about the grisly scenes he encounters during work 
  • Josh Marsden confronts dead bodies and animals, blood stains and mass rubbish
  • Crime scene cleaners often have to rip up the whole house to clean out odour
  • It can be up to five months before dead bodies can be found in their house 

By Riley Morgan For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 02:10 EST, 12 December 2016 | Updated: 07:45 EST, 12 December 2016

When you are confronted with blood-splatted walls, dead animals and murder scenes a strong stomach is a must if you want to become a crime scene cleaner. 

Josh Marsden, managing director of Australian Forensic Cleaning, started his own commercial cleaning business more than 10 years ago, before he opened his own biohazard and trauma crime cleaning business. 

When Mr Marsden first got into crime scene cleaning it wasn't dealing with the meth labs, grisly crime scenes or unbelievable messes left by hoarders that struck him. 

A crime scene clearner, from Josh Marden's forensic cleaners, ready to clean up a mess

Homes form hoarders can often take four days to shovel out all the mess

When you are confronted with blood-splatted walls, dead animals and murder scenes a strong stomach is a must when you apply to become a crime scene cleaner

Josh Marsden said floorboards are often ripped up due to rotten food and maggots

'My first reaction was how do you get rid of that smell. The first job we did was getting rid of the smell,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'That is the hardest part of the job. The gruesome and graphic scenes do not bother you, it is a prerequisite to the job and most people that apply have a background in the death industries or the police force so it is second nature.'

'The hardest part of the job is the odour it is pretty horrendous when you're in the middle of it and it is fresh.'

The team is commonly called out to regional areas to clean up houses of people who have passed away, but have gone unrecognised in their home for months. 

Mr Marsden said the odour from the seeping food or bodies can ruin the floorboards

It can take crime scene cleaners four days to get rid of the odour and clean an entire home

Blood is more often than not 'black' by the time crime scene cleaners reach the property due to an ink police spray on it

With papers dating back to 1983 and food and body fluid seeping through the floorboards attracting maggots, Mr Marsden said these are often the hardest cases.

'Some of these people have been there for five months. That is the hardest part of the job and getting the odour out,' he said.

'By the time we get there the property is usually in a condition and if it is a hoarder it turns into a fairly big job. 

'It is often not just cleaning up one section but the entire house and we have found dead cats and rats. The place is often beyond what anyone can usually imagine.'

A normal job will often take two days to deodorise and clean up the house, but a hoarder's home can stretch this out to four days. 

More often than not Mr Marsden said a respirator, which can even filter out radiation, is needed to deal with the smell.

With an increasing number of calls to meth addicts homes involving murders he said it is not uncommon to finds pools of blood on the bed or carpet. 

But the reality of the job is many of the crime scenes of older, secluded family members are sad. 

'It is kind of sad in a way, they pass away and their staff gets thrown out and they just disappear.' 

Josh Marsden (pictured), managing director of Australian Forensic Cleaning , started his own commercial cleaning business more than 10 years ago, before he opened his own biohazard and trauma crime cleaning business

Blood from a crime scene can be shown splatted across the floor

Blood from a crime scene on the ground splatted across tiles and floorboards

 

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