'I'm a crime scene cleaner - I scrub myself with Dettol to get rid of the smell of death'

Crime scene cleaner Lauren Baker has seen - and smelled - it all, from blood and bodily fluids to used needles, maggots and mouse droppings.

When crimes leave behind scenes of devastation, and once the forensic teams pack up, it's professionals like Lauren who step into clean up the unthinkable. But these are no ordinary cleaners.

They are highly trained specialists who handle everything from airborne pathogens and drug contamination to dangerous needles and hidden booby traps. Featured in the new Channel 4 documentary Crime Scene Cleaners, Lauren’s work is captured in bodycam footage, taking viewers into the aftermath of tragedies across Kent and Essex.

“I once had to clean a flat where the person had fully decomposed — the smell was overwhelming,” Lauren told The Sun. “If it’s not the odour that hits you first, it’s the flies and maggots.”

Before entering the biohazard industry, Lauren worked in a pub and as a domestic cleaner. Inspired to make a difference, she launched her own business, LIT Biohazard.

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Today, she’s known not only for her meticulous work but also her post-cleanse ritual, where she opens a window to symbolically release the spirit of the deceased.

“I once helped clean a property where the man had been physically and mentally unwell,” she recalls. “There had been no support. That moment made me realise I could help people — and that there was a real need for this kind of service. Oddly enough, I enjoyed tackling the grime.”

But the job is not for the faint-hearted. From murders and suicides to people who’ve died alone and gone unnoticed for weeks, the emotional strain is immense.

“The hardest clean-ups are always suicides,” Lauren said. “They’re never just a job — there’s always a heartbreaking story behind them.”

Remembering one case vividly, she said: “We found the note on the door: ‘Do not enter. Call 999. There is a dead body inside.’ He had left envelopes of money, named recipients, and written personal letters. We had to be the ones to deliver that news to his family. I’ll never forget it.

“You have to be mentally strong. I listen to a lot of music, and sometimes I cry in the shower. It helps.”

Whenever people discover what Lauren does for a living, they're immediately curious, often asking her what death smells like. “You do get used to it. But the smell of death I can’t really describe, it is such a distinctive smell.

“We do have strong masks so usually you can’t smell a lot of it. But we swear by putting a bit of Vicks underneath your nose, then your mask, and then you are good to go.

“But when I first started I remember going home and thinking I smelled of death. Psychologically because that is what I’d been smelling all day, that is what you think you smell of.

“One day I even scrubbed myself in Dettol and had about four showers and I could still smell death.” To stay safe, Lauren and her team wear full PPE every day, including disposable suits, masks and gloves, to guard against biohazards like bloodborne pathogens, bacteria, and toxic chemicals.

“My first thought is how long have they been there? Is there any decomposition? How bad is the clean-up going to be? We could be walking into a bloodbath. We could be walking into needles everywhere.

“You can have faeces, you can have bodily fluids, we don’t know what we’re walking into.” While American cleaners featured in the show deal with dangers like airborne fentanyl, Lauren says her team faces different — but no less serious — risks.

“We have to be vaccinated to do our job,” she said. “If we have a person who has passed away in his home and he has an infectious disease, that then can become airborne as his body decomposes.

“We have gone into homes and done needle sweeps before and you will be surprised where you can find needles. You’ve really got to have your wits about you and to be prepared for every situation.

“Most of the time people are generally found within three to four days. But you can have cases where people have been sat there for weeks. If that is the case then you get an awful lot of decomposition to clean up and that is when you get flies, maggots, all sorts start to fester in there.

“When someone passes, fluid leaks from every hole in their body.” Lauren’s work also includes hoarding situations and homes affected by mental health crises.

She’s seen extreme cases, from rooms full of empty cereal boxes to homes where alcoholics urinate in bottles because their toilets are unusable. Despite the emotional and physical toll, Lauren wouldn’t trade her job for anything.

“I love what I do. Through cleaning, I’m helping people rebuild their lives — and there’s no other job I’d rather have.”

Crime Scene Cleaners airs at 10 PM on Monday, 30 June, or stream all episodes now on Channel 4.

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