AROUND 3,600 hours worth of overtime was claimed for last year’s police investigation into the Boscombe murder. 

Dorset Police spent £132,738 covering the overtime of officers and staff while investigation work into the murder of Simon Shotton took place. 

Mr Shotton, 49, was brutally killed after a fight with Benjamin Atkins, 49, at a home in Aylesbury Road on August 18, 2023. 

Atkins dismembered his victim’s body and disposed of the parts around Boscombe, including a leg that was thrown on East Cliff and his torso stuffed into a suitcase at Boscombe Chine Gardens. 

(Image: NQ)

An Echo Freedom of Information has discovered large costs incurred by Dorset Police during the intense investigation, which ultimately led to Atkins being jailed for 21 years. 

Assistance was required for the Dorset force from other areas, including drone teams and specialists to scour the cliffs, which charged the county force £37,586. 

Together with £13,030 in operating costs, Dorset Police spent £183,354 on the murder investigation. 

But this figure doesn’t include money spent within South West Forensics' department, which saw CSIs in Boscombe over several days. 

More than 200 Dorset Police officers claimed £132k in overtime, who the force said were involved in various activities, including cordon, search and enquiries.  

“We do not have the number of mutual aid staff deployed for this operation,” Dorset Police added. 

Senior investigating officer Neil Third had previously told the Echo that the Boscombe murder investigation was “one of the most complex cold start murder cases” Dorset Police had faced. 

Neil ThirdNeil Third (Image: NQ)

Initially, a cordon was placed a chunk of the East Cliff at Manor Steps Zig Zag, before one at the Mon Bijou hotel in Manor Road, another at the chine gardens and another in Aylesbury Road, where the murder happened. 

Mr Third said a “significant amount of resourcing” was required from the get-go and added: “We had to look at what evidence we had around the scene of the deposition that could help us identify the people that were involved. 

“That’s where the real resources intensity and complexity came into it because we seized thousands and thousands of hours of CCTV that needed to be reviewed, we visited houses in and around the surrounding area, looking for witnesses or any kind of information that would help to get that starting point.”