FORENSIC photography students came face to face with a gruesome mocked-up crime scene for hands-on experience in the field.

Twenty year two Oaklands College pupils, based at the Welwyn Garden City campus, were introduced to the world of forensic photography by a team of snappers from Hertfordshire Constabulary.

As part of an assignment to photograph a crime scene, the students were taken to a police crime scene house in St Albans, where they were able act as real CSI photographers.

Kirk Morrison, one of the students, who is planning to join Tayside police in Scotland next year, said: “The forensic science course with the photography unit has given me a great insight to the actual workings of the police and has helped me understand how a police photographer works and just how much detail goes into taking the photographs.”

He added: “It was great being able to use the scene of crime house as it was like being at a real crime scene and was invaluable in helping us to complete our assignment.”

The crime scene house in St Albans is used by police forces in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire to train scenes of crime officers, police search teams and police photographers using real life crime scenarios including burglaries to suspicious deaths.