Tim Vicary - A Game of Proof

‘When you arrived at the police station, was Mr Newby given access to a lawyer?’

‘He was, yes. Mrs Lucy Parsons.’ Churchill eyed Lucy contemptuously.

‘Was Mr Newby cautioned again?’

‘He was, yes.’

Sarah shifted restlessly in her seat. In his slow, painstaking way Turner was walling Simon in. The more solidly he built his case, the harder it would be for her to tear it apart.

‘Did you show Mr Newby this note?’

‘I did. I asked him to sign it as a correct record of what he had said.’

‘And what was his response?’

‘He refused. At first he claimed he hadn’t said those things at all. Then when I challenged him, he agreed he had said them but wanted to change his story. He admitted that he had met Jasmine Hurst on the day she was murdered, after all.’

‘I see.’ Turner paused, letting the words resonate in the jurors’ minds. He was making Simon look like a panic-stricken liar, who made up his story as he went along. And it was about to get worse.

‘He changed his story after meeting Mrs Parsons, his solicitor, you say?’

‘That’s right, sir. Yes.’

‘I see.’ Turner gazed at Lucy, sitting stony faced behind Sarah. His look was thoughtful, one eyebrow slightly raised. A brief glance, followed by a long pause, while the jury stared at Lucy too. Thinking, no doubt, she told him to change his story .

You devious old bastard, Sarah thought. Once she might have admired his court craft; now icy fury flooded through her.

‘So what happened next?’

‘Mrs Parsons handed me a statement which Simon had written himself.’ Churchill read the statement aloud.‘ I met Jasmine Hurst a year ago and became very fond of her. In October she came to live with me at 23 Bramham Street and she stayed until March, when she left me. She said she was tired of me and had a new boyfriend. His name is David Brodie and he lives with her at 8a Stillingfleet Road. I went there once to ask Jasmine to come back and live with me but she wouldn’t. I’ve met her a few times since then but only briefly. On Thursday 13th May I met her by the river and she came back to my house for a meal. I asked her to come back and live with me but she wouldn’t. We argued about this and then she left. When she left I was upset so I decided to go to Scarborough for a holiday, to try to get over her. I drove to Scarborough that night and didn’t see Jasmine again. I had no idea Jasmine was dead until the police arrested me this morning. I did not kill her and I don’t know how she died. Simon Newby.’

‘So this was quite different to what he had told you an hour before, in the police car?’

‘Yes, it was.’

Turner rubbed his nose thoughtfully. ‘Chief Inspector Churchill, you have many years experience of interviewing criminal suspects, have you not? In your experience, is it usual for a defence solicitor to come into the police station, confer with her client, and then begin the interview by producing a written statement of this kind?’

‘No, it’s very un usual.’ Churchill smiled. ‘In fact, it’s the first time I’ve seen it myself.’

This was too much. Sarah stood up. ‘My Lord, I really must protest. It seems that my learned friend is attempting to imply some form of professional misconduct on the part of Mrs Parsons, but there is no basis for this whatsoever.’

Judge Mookerjee raised his eyebrows. ‘Mr Turner?’

Turner glanced at Sarah in mock surprise. ‘My Lord, I’m merely trying to establish how the defendant arrived at his version of events.’

‘Which implies that he was influenced by his solicitor,’ Sarah insisted. ‘My Lord, there was no impropriety whatsoever in my colleague’s behaviour and on her behalf I most strongly resent the implication.’

‘If there is such an implication of course I withdraw it.’ Turner bowed to the judge. ‘I am happy to agree that Mrs Parsons has behaved entirely within the law.’

Judge Mookerjee studied the two barristers. ‘Does that satisfy you, Mrs Newby?’

Within the law, Sarah saw, was a stroke of genius. It was impossible to challenge and yet it suggested that Lucy had done something wrong, even if technically legal. Probably half the jury had missed Turner’s subtle innuendoes; now she had emphasized them. Not for the first time in her career, she had been outsmarted. There was nothing for it but to back out as gracefully as she could.

‘Indeed, my Lord. For the present.’

‘So, Chief Inspector Churchill,’ Turner resumed. ‘What was your response to this unusual written statement?’

‘Well, Mrs Parsons said that if I had no evidence against Mr Newby, he should be released immediately. I said that we did have evidence. I showed him the trainers which we had found in his house, with the mud and grass stains and blood on them. I explained that they matched the footprints near the body.’

‘And what was his response?’

‘He said they weren’t his trainers.’

‘Did he suggest who else they might belong to?’

‘No sir. I asked if anyone else kept their trainers in his house, and he said they didn’t.’

‘Did you show him any other evidence?’

‘Yes. I showed him the breadknife, and told him it had blood with Jasmine’s blood group on it. AB negative. The same blood group as on the trainers.’

‘What was his response to that?’

‘He was very angry. He got to his feet and threatened me. At first he said it wasn’t his knife at all. Then he said that it couldn’t be her blood because he didn’t kill her.’

‘I see.’ Again Turner paused, and the eyes of the jury strayed to Simon in the dock, imagining him threatening two policemen, and lying about the ownership of the knife. Sarah guessed what was coming next.

‘At this point, did Mr Newby mention anything about Jasmine cutting her finger with the breadknife?’

‘Nothing at all, sir, no.’

‘Did he ever suggest that to you?’

‘No, never.’

‘So it’s fair to say, is it, that this explanation for the blood on his knife and trainer is something that he now relies on for his defence, but which he failed to mention when interviewed?’

‘It is, sir, yes.’

‘Very well. Let us move on to another aspect of the defence case, if we may. Can I ask you to look back at that statement which Mr Newby wrote, after meeting Mrs Parsons. Does it say anywhere that Simon made love to Miss Hurst on Thursday 13th May?’

Churchill pretended to consult the document, then looked up. ‘No, it doesn’t.’

‘What does it say happened that afternoon?’

‘It says ‘I met her by the river and she came back to my house for a meal. I asked her to come back to live with me but she wouldn’t. We argued about this and then she left.’ That’s all. Nothing about making love.’

‘So at what point did Mr Newby mention this to you?’

‘When I told him that Miss Hurst had been raped before she died. I said we’d found traces of semen, and so DNA analysis would identify the man who raped and murdered her.’

‘And what was his response?’

‘At that point he said that the semen would be his. He claimed that he had made love to Jasmine earlier that afternoon.’

‘Did he admit that he had raped her?’

‘No sir. I asked him about that and he said he had not.’

‘I see. But again it’s fair to say, is it, that in his original handwritten statement he made no mention of this act of sexual intercourse which he is now trying to use in his defence? He only came up with it when confronted with the evidence.’

‘That’s correct, yes.’

Phil Turner waited for a moment, rubbing his ear as though wondering if there were anything he had missed. Several jurors were scowling at Simon with unconcealed disgust.