Tim Vicary - A Game of Proof

As she came back into court, Sarah checked her mobile. But there were no messages, from Emily or anyone else. Probably she was still in a sulk, or revising hard. And Bob would ring some time in the afternoon, if he remembered. Maybe her father’s voice on the answerphone would induce her to pick up the receiver.

The judge entered, and Julian Lloyd-Davies began to take Terry Bateson through his evidence. Terry explained how he had gone to Sharon’s house when she had called the police, at 1.22 a.m. Sharon’s friend Mary had been there with her. A female officer had stayed with Mary and the children while Sharon was taken to the rape suite and examined by a female doctor.

Both during and after the medical examination Sharon had stated clearly that she had recognised the rapist as Gary Harker. Terry had arrested Gary in his flat at five that morning.

Lloyd-Davies then played parts of the tape of Terry’s interview with Gary. He had asked the judge to allow this, because he believed that the tone of what was said was as important as the substance. The real reason, Sarah guessed, was to ensure that even if Sarah kept Gary off the stand, the jury would still hear him speak in his own coarse, brutal fashion. Sarah had resisted, but not as strongly as she could have done. When he had won his point Lloyd-Davies had smiled smugly at his junior; and Sarah had been inwardly delighted, realizing he had made his biggest mistake so far.

On the tape Gary was surly, aggressive and uncooperative. After he left the Station Hotel, he said, he had been to another pub with a friend called Sean. There they met two prostitutes, and screwed them up against a wall for a tenner each. He could remember neither of their names. The older jurors looked appalled and disgusted, just as Lloyd-Davies had hoped.

On the tape Terry insisted that Gary had gone to Sharon’s house, broken in, and raped her in front of her kids. Gary denied it. ‘She’s a lying bitch if she says that.’

‘But that’s exactly what she says, Gary. She recognised the man who did it. It was you.’

‘Well, she’s lying then. She couldn’t have recognised me, the cow!’

‘Why couldn’t she recognise you, Gary?’

‘Because I wasn’t bloody there, that’s why!’ The retort was followed by a long silence, broken at last by a nervous Gary. ‘Do you hear what I said, copper? She couldn’t have recognised me because I wasn’t there .’ Silence. ‘Can you prove I was there, eh? Go on then, tell me how.’

And then came the statement which Sarah had noticed.

‘We know you were there because she recognised you, Gary. She saw your face!’

There was a silence which seemed, to Sarah watching the jury’s pained faces, to be longer than all the others. Gary’s voice on the tape was having the effect Lloyd-Davies had anticipated: it was loud, aggressive, mocking. ‘Silly bitch, that’s all crap, she’s lying! Recognise my arse!’

As the court clerk switched off the tape, Lloyd-Davies turned to Terry Bateson in the witness box. ‘Now, officer, I have a few questions about that interview.’

‘Very well.’ Terry glanced at Sarah, who sat watching him intently. There was nothing flirtatious or friendly about her eyes. They were as cold as those of a lizard watching a fly.

‘Did you look for this man Sean — Murphy, or Mulligan, or Moriarty?’ Lloyd-Davies was practised in the use of sarcasm and it oozed from him now. ‘The one Mr Harker claims to have spent the evening with?’

‘Yes, sir, we did. Without result.’

‘I see. Well, were you able to find these two prostitutes that he claims to have met?’

‘No, sir. We had no name or address, no real description …’

‘So what is your opinion of Gary Harker’s alibi, as I suppose we must call it?’

‘I think it’s a pack of lies, sir.’

‘Thank you. Now, in the interview you repeatedly told the accused that he had been recognised by Ms Gilbert. How did he appear to react to that?’

‘Well, I think you can hear it on the tape, sir. He was really surprised and upset. But he wasn’t upset when I told him she’d been raped, or even that it had happened in front of her kids. That didn’t seem to worry him much. What really got to him was that she claimed to have recognised him. He went white when I said that. He couldn’t speak.’

Lloyd-Davies stood silent for a while after Terry had finished speaking, pretending to think, while Terry’s last words echoed in the jury’s minds. The silence continued until judge Gray raised a quizzical eyebrow and Lloyd-Davies reluctantly sat down.

‘Thank you, Inspector, wait there, please.’

Sarah stood up. She looked across the court at Terry Bateson. No flicker of recognition passed between them. The easy conversation of a hour ago was forgotten. They were strangers. As she asked her first question, the hair rose along the back of his neck.

‘Detective Inspector, you lied to Mr Harker, didn’t you?’

For a long telling moment Terry didn’t answer. ‘I … don’t understand you.’

‘Let me help you then. Do you recall these words: “ We know you were there because she recognised you. She saw your face.” You said that, didn’t you?’

‘Yes.’

‘Was it true?’

‘Ms Gilbert recognised Gary Harker, yes. That’s why we arrested him.’

‘Was it true that she saw his face?’

‘No.’

‘So you lied to Mr Harker, didn’t you?’

Terry recovered himself slightly, and addressed his reply to the judge as the police were trained to do. It was a subtle way of insulting defence counsel, making them seem unimportant in the eyes of the jury. ‘She didn’t actually say she saw his face, my lord, that’s true, but she stated very clearly that she recognised her assailant as Gary Harker, and the reason I …’

‘I didn’t ask you why you lied, Detective Inspector, I asked you if you lied. And the answer is yes, isn’t it?’

The judge leaned forward protectively. ‘Nevertheless, I think it might help the jury if the Detective Inspector were allowed to give his reasons, Mrs Newby. Inspector?’

Thank God for judges, Terry thought. ‘The reason was simple, my lord. I wanted to see what his reaction would be if he thought he’d been recognised. And his reaction was quite clear. He was silent, as you could hear on the tape, and he went very white. That convinced me that he was guilty.’

Sarah glanced at the judge. It seemed he had finished, for the present at least. Once again she had the electrifying feeling that all eyes were on her. Mostly hating her, at this moment.

‘I see. What would you say, Detective Inspector, if I told this court that at lunchtime you put your hand up my skirt and indecently assaulted me?’

A collective gasp sucked the air out of the court. Someone in the public gallery began to giggle helplessly. Terry opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out.

Before he could recover Sarah went on, smoothly: ‘I think the jury can see exactly what you would say. Your face has gone white and you are lost for words. Well, let me reassure the jury straight away that that was a hypothetical question. The Detective Inspector did not assault me, members of the jury. But even though he knows the suggestion is untrue he is shocked and lost for words, as you see.’

A young jurywoman laughed and her neighbour grinned. The other expressions ranged from delight through dismay to disgust. She had their undivided attention, at least.

But it was not a line of attack she had planned — where did she go from here? When you’ve made your point, move on. In a quiet, reasonable voice she asked:

‘Detective Inspector, did you find a balaclava hood in Gary Harker’s flat?’