TWO Preston Police support staff are to help identify bodies in Kosovo, as part of an international forensic operation.

Senior scene of crime officer Dave Atkinson and Chris Hough from the imaging unit at Hutton will spend five weeks in the war-torn country, attempting to find and identify bodies left in mass graves.

They will be part of a British team in the area, complemented by officers from other countries, helping to finalise the grief suffered by thousands of people in the area during the Serbian conflict.

Dave said: "We will be travelling to join a scene of crime team which will be part of a larger multi-national team.

"We will be going to look at grave sites and investigating them.

"Hopefully we will be able to get something out of the trip when we can tell people what finally happened to their loved ones. That is our primary concern. "I've been a scenes of crime officer for 11 years and that should be good preparation for the trip.

"I have dealt with bodies, accidents, and other incidents over here before.

"You have got to be prepared and the only thing different on this trip will be the numbers.

"Everything we do such as how we treat the bodies will be exactly the same procedure as we do over here.

"Quite simply, if you weren't prepared for a trip of this type, you couldn't cope with the situation."

Dave said that while the task at hand was a gruesome one, he was looking forward to the experience.

He added: "It will be an experience and I am going to make the most of it. Some deployments are nice trips away but this will be hard work in an extremely tense situation."