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Every working day, west Belfast man is called out to sanitise scenes of crime, passion and domestic disarray. But, although he is sometimes sick to the stomach over what he sees, he tells Claire McNeilly he likes nothing better than a nice, clean house ... Blood, gore and human excrement might not bring everyone job satisfaction, but they're all in a day's work for a crime scene cleaner. I'm like the Grim Reaper now," he says. "If I hear about a murder on the news I try and track down who's in charge of the investigation to see if I can help ... " Otherwise ensconced behind a desk at the company's Belfast depot, it's an almost Ghostbuster-like transformation when the affable 37-year-old puts 'the work uniform' on over a blue boilersuit. "For health and safety reasons, we wear sterile white suits with hoods and masks," he explains. "We also wear rubber gloves at all times." Apart from decontaminating the sites of harrowing murders, or where bodies have been left to decompose for weeks, the team is tasked with clearing out dwellings used by drug addicts, or tenants who have gone awry. "Jobs vary -in nature, in price and in the time it takes," he says. "We do ad hoc work for the police, but we also have a contract with the Housing Executive, which means cleaning out houses every day." In either case, his remit involves meticulous scrubbing and cleaning - with chemicals, heavy duty detergents, scouring pads and sanitised cloths - before finally 'steeling' the property with security shutters. "A man was attacked at his home by a masked gang brandishing a cattle prodder," he says. "Evidently there had been a bit of a struggle, leaving the walls splattered in blood. We got rid of all the traces - and on that occasion we also had to replace the front door." Undoubtedly, it doesn't sound like work for the weak-stomached. "Murder scenes can be especially gruesome," he agrees. "After a shooting, for instance, you can find body matter on the walls - bits of shattered bone and really, really thick jelly-like blood. It's not pleasant and smells like rotten meat." There are other repugnant cases in their repertoire - a few years ago in Belfast, for instance, a man had stabbed his partner. "It was nauseating, there was blood everywhere - the walls, the furniture and the mattress were soaked in it," he says. "Then, in another horrific stabbing, a Newtownabbey man killed his wife with a kitchen knife and then hanged himself. "He had attached a metal cable to the rafters in the attic and jumped through the hatch. There was blood everywhere." Apart from crime scenes, they help tackle domestic problems for local authorities - as demonstrated when the company featured on a UTV Dirty Work programme. On one occasion, a team was hired to clean out a two-bedroom house that had belonged to a young couple. Allegedly, the man had had an affair, after which the woman began drowning her sorrows in alcohol. "It took three of us four days to decontaminate the property," says Stephen. "When we arrived, we couldn't get in the front door, so we went round the back ... but apart from a pathway leading to a cupboard in the bedroom you couldn't move. "The house was stacked from floor to ceiling with empty beer tins, and plastic cider bottles, as well as littered with old takeaway food containers crawling with maggots ... bluebottles were swarming everywhere." It was clear, he explains, that the woman had eventually ended up living in a small, built-in cupboard in the bedroom. In contrast to the mayhem in the rest of the building, it was absolutely spotless inside, with a cushion and ashtray. He adds: "The stench was immediately overwhelming. The toilet, sinks and bath were blocked and the place was covered in excrement. "We hired in a sludge pump, but it only goes down to a certain level. There were four or five inches left in the bath which we had to scoop out by hand. "We used respirators instead of ordinary gas masks and, although I couldn't smell anything, I threw up violently in mine at the sight of it." But how can anyone keep going under such appalling working conditions? "We did a great job and by the time we had finished the house was unrecognisable," he replies. "We removed the sanitary equipment and put in a new kitchen, because the excrement had seeped down through the ceiling. "Turning around a really dirty property gives great satisfaction. You go in and three days later it's totally transformed. Later, if you're walking down the street, you know the person now living there has no idea what it was like before." Stephen has lost count of the number of times he has been physically sick in the line of duty. He is also aware of more serious health risks. "If we come across syringes, razor blades or Stanley knives, we wear special gloves and use a litter picker, so we keep items as far away from the body as possible," he explains. "We also recommend that crime scene cleaners get inoculated against hepatitis A and B, typhoid and tetanus." A Pulp Fiction fan and avid follower of television programmes such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Stephen's career path was a circuitous one. "Sometimes I discuss jobs with her because she understands how hard it can be," he says. "She's a care assistant for the elderly, so she's not easily turned." Which isn't a bad thing, for some of his tales can be a bit of a conversation stopper... "I had to clean up after the body of a man had lain in an armchair for three weeks," he recalls. "All bodily fluids had soaked into the floor - blood, excrement and urine. It was nauseating. Congealed blood has a very distinctive, sweet smell." But while he has come to terms with most things ("We see human excrement and blood every day of the week") some things still unsettle him. "Once I turned up at a job to find a cow's head on the front doorstep of someone's house," he recalls. "I think it was an attempt to intimidate someone out during an on-going power struggle. "We sprayed chemicals to make it safe, (before putting it in a heavy duty polystyrene bag, and then disposing of it in a landfill site) but when I picked it up I started vomiting." So what keeps him going, working as he does in the shadow of death? "I think everyone is intrigued by the scene of a crime," he says. "And sometimes afterwards, when you're sitting in the pub, you can brag about it to your mates!" But Stephen is also at pains to point out he is no blood and guts voyeur: "When I'm cleaning out a property I often find myself thinking 'what a way to go'. Then, later, if you hear news reports on the background, it does play on your mind from time to time. "You wonder how you would react and what you might do in that situation, but I don't have nightmares. I can detach - I think you have to. "I look at it as a job. It's not my fault things happen, I'm only here to provide a service. It mightn't be pleasant, but it's necessary and without it a lot more people would be homeless." But there are still times when he can't quite believe what can happen. "Once we found two dead mongrel pups that someone had locked in a cupboard," he says. "One of the dogs had died before the other, which then began to eat it ... "Things like that can still shock me. You can get quite disillusioned with the human race."
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