Tim Vicary - A Game of Proof

‘If the victim was standing up when her throat was cut, certainly. I suppose it’s possible she might have been lying down. Or the murderer stood behind her.’

There’s such a thing as being too clever, Sarah thought grimly. Or in my case, not clever enough. I should have thought of that first.

‘Even then, he would have to step carefully to avoid it, wouldn’t he? Given how much blood we can see.’

‘There’s a lot of blood in the photo, yes. It would probably get on the killer’s shoes.’

‘And yet there was no blood at all on one shoe you examined, isn’t that right?’

‘Yes.’

‘And on the other one, just two tiny stains on the sole and five drops, two of them the size of — what did you say? — a grain of dust on the upper surface. That’s all you found, isn’t it?’

‘That’s all the blood I found, yes.’

‘Very well.’ Again Sarah paused, looking at her notes, to let the impact of the last few questions sink in. She had a clear sense that the jury was interested, and intrigued. This had been her best morning so far. She looked at Laila Ferguson again.

‘Now, what about the blood on the breadknife. Were these stains any bigger?’

‘No. There were just a few small specks, trapped in between the blade and the handle. There isn’t much room in there.’

‘What about the rest of the knife? Were there any stains on the blade, or the handle?’

‘No. The knife was quite clean; it looked as though it had been washed recently.’

‘Very well. But that’s a normal thing to do with a breadknife, isn’t it?’

Laila Ferguson shrugged. ‘Yes, I suppose so.’

‘What was the handle made of?’

‘Plastic.’

‘Did you find any blood on the handle? Anything to suggest that a person with a bloodstained hand had gripped it, for instance?’

‘No. But then blood wouldn’t stain plastic, if it was washed soon enough.’

‘I see. Now, what can you tell us about the age of this blood?’

‘I’m sorry?’ The question clearly came as a surprise to Miss Ferguson.

‘How old was it?’

‘I … it’s impossible to tell. It was dried blood, so obviously it was more than a few hours old, but beyond that there’s no way of saying.’

‘You can’t say if the samples were a week old, two weeks old, a month old even?’

‘I’m afraid not, no.’

‘If you can’t say how old it is, you can’t say when the blood got onto the knife, can you?’

‘No.’

‘Or onto the shoes?’

‘No.’

‘Very well. So you have no way of saying that this blood got onto the shoe or the knife at the time of Jasmine’s death, have you?’

‘Well, I can’t say that, no.’ Laila Ferguson looked surprised at where the questions had led her. ‘I can only tell you definitely that the blood came from Jasmine Hurst. That’s all.’

‘Yes, I understand that,’ said Sarah patiently. ‘But as far as you’re concerned it’s possible that all of these blood stains could have got there as the result of an incident that occurred several hours before Jasmine’s death? Days earlier, even?’

‘Well, yes, I suppose so.’ Whether Laila Ferguson had anticipated the direction these questions were leading or not, she seemed unable to resist it.

‘A quite different incident, nothing to do with murder at all.’

‘Perhaps.’

‘Very well.’ Sarah paused, to gather her thoughts and ensure that the jury were waiting for her next question, when it came. She had got as far as she could with this witness. If she were to build the basis for Simon’s defence later, the next few moments were crucial.

‘So if Simon Newby says, as he does, that this blood got onto the shoe and the knife when Miss Hurst cut her thumb in the kitchen, that is scientifically quite possible, isn’t it?’

‘I can’t say what happened,’ Laila Ferguson answered. ‘I wasn’t there.’

‘No, of course not. But what I mean is, there’s nothing in your scientific examination of the shoe and the knife and the blood to say that it isn’t a reasonable explanation, is there?’

‘No, I suppose not.’

‘Even if this accident happened some hours or even days beforehand?’

‘True. There’s nothing to say it couldn’t have been like that.’

‘Very well. And given the very small, almost insignificant amounts of blood we’re talking about here, compared to the massive carnage at the murder scene, don’t you think that’s a more likely explanation, Ms Ferguson? A minor accident in the kitchen, producing a few drops of blood on a shoe, and a tiny stain on a knife?’

Phil Turner coughed, looking meaningfully at the judge. Sarah knew she was perilously close to asking the witness to speculate about things beyond her competence. But the important thing was to plant the idea in the jury’s minds.

Before the judge could react, Laila Ferguson answered. ‘I suppose it’s a theoretical possibility, yes.’

‘Thank you,’ said Sarah, and sat down. Wondering, with a small part of her mind, whether Will Churchill would be quite so entranced with the lovely young scientist now.

Every time she saw Will Churchill in court, Sarah experienced a fierce rush of hatred. It was not normally like this. In the past there had been a few police officers — like Terry Bateson — whom she liked, a majority whom she tolerated, and a few whom she despised. She had never hated one before. But then, no policeman had ever charged her son with murder before.

Churchill appeared to be enjoying the trial, patting his officers on the back, cracking jokes with Phil Turner, and trying to chat up the forensic scientist, Laila Ferguson.

When he saw Sarah watching, his laugh grew louder.

On the witness stand he explained why he had searched Simon’s house and what he had found there, and how he had arrested Simon in Scarborough two weeks later.

Phil Turner nodded. ‘When you arrested Mr Newby, did you caution him?’

‘Yes, we did.’

‘So he was told, was he, that there was no need for him to say anything, but that anything he did say might be used in evidence?’

‘He was told that, yes.’

‘Did he appear to understand it?’

‘Yes. He was fully awake and I spoke the words of the caution slowly and clearly.’

‘Very well. And after he had been arrested and cautioned, did he in fact say anything?’

‘Yes. He said that he hadn’t killed Jasmine Hurst and that he hadn’t seen her for several weeks. He repeated those statements several times.’

Sarah glared at the judge. She had argued in chambers for this damaging evidence to be excluded. But Turner had played the tape of Simon’s interview, arguing that although Simon had retracted the statements he had made in the car, he had admitted making them. (‘But you did say it, didn’t you …’ ‘Yes, but …’) To Sarah’s disgust, judge Mookerjee had agreed with him.

‘Where was Simon Newby when he made these statements?’

‘In the police car on the way from Scarborough to York. With DC Easby and myself.’

‘How did you respond?’

‘I said he would be interviewed at the police station. That’s correct police procedure.’

Turner nodded approvingly. ‘Nonetheless, it is also correct procedure, is it not, to make a note of any comments an arrested person may make after caution. Did you make such a note?’

‘I did, yes.’

‘Would you read it to the court, please?’

In his flat estuary English Churchill read: ‘At 3.45 a.m. on Monday 31st May, DCI Churchill of York police, accompanied by DC Easby of York police and DS Conroy and DC Lane of Scarborough police, entered room 7 of Seaview Villas in Whitton Street, Scarborough … After being cautioned, Mr Newby stated that he had not killed Jasmine Hurst, and that he had not seen her for weeks. He repeated this statement several times.’