Lynda La Plante: Backlash

‘Not at first. Henry was hysterical and said he was on the run and needed a place to stay. I lied and told him my mother was in hospital after a heart attack but he phoned again and made threats about Angela, saying that he had kept her gold bracelet and the police had found it, so I went and picked him up in Soho,’ Bradford told them.

‘I have to say, Timmy, as unbelievable as it all sounds I doubt you’d be capable of making it up. What I’d like to know is how the hell your already dead mother was found hanging in the bathroom?’ Langton asked, trying to keep up with Bradford’s astonishing account of what had happened.

Bradford told Langton and Mike that he hadn’t wanted Oates to see his mother’s body, because he would yet again have another hold over him, so he removed the bath panel and laid her on a dressing gown behind the panel before borrowing a friend’s car and picking Oates up in Soho. Then on the way back to the flat he told Oates that while his mother was ill in hospital he had made an arrangement with the bank to withdraw ten grand and he would give Henry half of it to help him get out of the country.

‘What on earth were you going to do with your mother after Oates left?’ Langton asked incredulously and looked at Mike, who seemed as confused as he was.

‘Well, it was all happening so fast I wasn’t sure. At first, if Henry took the money and left, I was going to call the police and say that he had tied me up but I escaped and then found my mother hanging from the pulley and you would think he had killed her.’

‘You said “at first”, so the second option was…?’

‘Kind of forced upon me when you lot nabbed me after I got the money from the bank.’

Both Langton and Mike noticed the change in Bradford’s demeanour. He had stopped crying and was smiling as he went on to explain how, even after they had apprehended him at the Kingston Lodge Hotel, he still tried to turn the tables on Oates and frame him for his mother’s murder. Langton and Mike were initially confused about the telephone call Bradford had with Oates from the hotel, but all was revealed as Bradford explained that although Oates had said he was edgy, the clock was ticking, and he might kill someone, Henry wasn’t referring to Timmy’s mother as he thought she was in hospital, and the same thing when Timmy said at the flat that he wanted to see his mother. Langton was annoyed with himself as it dawned on him that it was after Oates had put the phone down that Bradford started pleading for him not to kill his mother. Langton realized that Timmy Bradford, like Oates, was not as stupid as he looked – they were both streetwise quick thinkers.

Insult was added to injury for Langton as Bradford explained that Oates had never threatened him, other than about Angela’s death, and when Henry was taking his time counting out the money he had gone to the bathroom and removed his mother’s body from behind the bath panel and hung her from the pulley with her dressing-gown cord. He took the stepping stool from the kitchen and put it beside his mother. Bradford went on to say that he knew the police would soon burst in as he saw the camera drill start to come through the wall, so he went back into the living room, knowing that Oates had already said he would tie him up and leave after he had dyed his hair. He had figured that even if Oates denied murdering his mother the police would never believe him and not only would he be rid of Oates for ever but he would get his mother’s money as well. He said that he had even considered stabbing and killing Oates at one time and saying it was self-defence, but he didn’t have the bottle to physically murder someone.

At the conclusion of the interview Langton informed Bradford that he would be charged with the murders of Angela Thornton and his mother, and also with perverting the course of justice and harbouring Henry Oates.

‘I swear I didn’t mean to kill them, it was accidental.’

‘Well it won’t be accidental if a jury convicts you of murder, Mr Bradford!’ Langton said as he got up and left the room.

It had been yet another exhausting day full of surprises. Langton, although irate that Timmy Bradford had had him over, more than once, was nevertheless pleased that he and Mike Lewis had finally got out of him what seemed, as amazing as it was, to be the truth. Certainly the post mortem results confirmed to a large extent that his account of his mother’s death was true, and where Angela was concerned he did not appear to be a cold-blooded killer, and ironically this might be something that Oates could confirm.

Now it was time for the final onslaught: the last interview with Henry Oates, before having him formally charged with all the other murders they had uncovered as well as perverting the course of justice by disposing of Angela Thornton’s body. Armed with the new information from Bradford, the team began to prepare for the final interview.

The full and detailed post mortem reports on the victims’ remains would take a number of weeks, as there were many scientific tests that still needed to be carried out, so the team would not know how long the women had been dead or exactly how, if they would ever know at all, some of the victims had died until those examinations were completed. For now, discovering how Oates had abducted, murdered and eventually buried them was heavily dependent on what he said during further interviews. Only Rebekka Jordan’s file was complete. Enquiries into where Oates had buried Angela Thornton and the identity of the unknown body recovered from the woods were still ongoing.

Still the team hoped that with the pressure of having been recaptured and the recovery of the bodies while he was on the run, Oates would make a full confession and confirm Timmy Bradford’s admissions.

Henry Oates had remained well behaved since his re-arrest at the flat and was quite content sitting in the police cell reading about himself in the papers. There were no signs of depression – more of elation and arrogance that he had escaped at the quarry. He even boasted to his guard about being shot with the Taser gun and how the officers who entered the flat were scared to take him on in a fight. Kumar had been to visit him and to explain that the police had recovered the bodies from the woods and were making further enquiries before they would interview him again. Oates had laughed and told Kumar that he wasn’t going anywhere, so the police could take as much time as they wanted.

Oates was reserved and polite when he was led into the interview room. He still bore the remains of red hair dye, which gave him an almost clownish appearance, but he didn’t act the fool. Langton and Mike were sitting waiting. Much as Anna would have liked to have been part of the interview, she was not the senior DCI and Langton was still intent on Mike getting as much kudos as possible, so she took her seat in the viewing room. As she did so, her mobile rang. It was Pete Jenkins saying that he had received the DNA swab and access to the Scottish database from DCI McBride and should therefore have a result later that morning. Eileen Oates’s saliva sample was being tested and he would get back to her as soon as he could; he knew the importance of it, so was dealing with it per sonally.

Anna turned her attention back to the interview. She could tell by how slowly it was going that it could be hours before they got to Mrs Douglas. The only good thing about it was the way Oates appeared to be being helpful and answered clearly as they took him through one victim at a time. Since he had already admitted to the murder of Justine Marks and Fidelis Julia Flynn, they had moved on to Kelly Mathews, Mary Suffolk and Alicia Jones, asking where he had abducted and murdered them before taking their bodies to the woods and burying them. He had difficulty recalling the exact dates and places so Mike used the ‘Misper’ files to help jog Oates’s memory as to where they had last been seen and what they were wearing.