Find Them Dead

103 Thursday 30 May

Forty-five minutes later the jury followed their bailiff back into court and took their places in the box. Meg was shaking, her brain almost frozen by despair and terror. She could scarcely believe the events of the morning, just how quickly the panel had turned.

She looked around the court. There was utter silence. No one was moving. It was as if she had entered a tableau at Madame Tussauds. Terence Gready was seated, neatly dressed, staring dead ahead, as motionless as a statue. All the legal counsel in their grey wigs and dark garb were static, the public gallery filled with people as motionless as cardboard cut-outs and the full press gallery equally frozen.

Time had stopped.

She felt as if she might faint.

The imposing figure of Judge Richard Jupp dominated the courtroom. The clerk of court, Maureen Sapsed, stood and faced the jury. Looking directly at Meg, her tone friendly, but stiffer and more formal than previously, she said, ‘Will the foreperson please stand.’

Meg rose, trembling even more, gripping a sheet of paper. She was terrified she would throw up at any moment.

‘I understand you have reached your verdict.’

‘Yes.’ She stared, fearfully, back at the judge. Her voice was trapped inside her throat. She was conscious that every single pair of eyes in the court was focused on her. Utter silence. A drop of perspiration trickled down the back of her neck. She began to hear a drumming in her ears. The pounding of her heart.

Sapsed continued. ‘On the first count, do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty of the charge?’

‘Guilty, Your Honour,’ she managed to say, finally.

There was an audible gasp throughout the court. A woman up in the public gallery shouted, ‘Oh my God, no!’

The judge looked up, with clear annoyance, and waited for silence. The court clerk addressed Meg again. ‘Is that the verdict of you all?’

She glanced at the sheet of paper for reassurance. ‘It is a majority verdict, Your Honour, 10–1.’

Meg continued to read the verdicts of the jury for the other five counts against Gready. Each verdict was guilty by a majority of 10–1.

Sapsed cast her eye over the entire jury. ‘Your verdict, by a 10–1 majority, is that the defendant is guilty on all counts.’ The jurors looked back at her, a couple nodding.

Meg shot a glance at the dock. Gready was still staring dead ahead, impassive.

The judge told Meg she could sit down, then turned to Gready. ‘Terence Gready, you have been found guilty on all the counts you faced. Tomorrow morning, I will sentence both you and your co-defendant, Michael Starr.’ He switched focus to the two guards behind him. ‘Please take the defendant down.’

After Gready was gone from the dock, Jupp turned again to the jury. ‘You have given diligent and dutiful service throughout what has been a challenging and at times extremely complex trial. I appreciate some of you will have suffered both inconvenience and financial loss due to the trial running into a third week. Tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. I will be sentencing both defendants. There is no obligation on you to attend, as your duties have now been discharged, but should you wish to attend, you will be most welcome.’ He paused before continuing.

‘It just remains for me to thank you for your service. You may like to know, if you do not already, that juries date back to the twelfth century, to Henry the Second, who set up a system to resolve land disputes. A jury of twelve free men were assigned to arbitrate in these disputes. Members of the jury, you will be pleased to know that juries have consisted of female and male jurors as far back as the thirteenth century. Ahead of their time maybe. In my opinion, they have served the model of justice, on which this country can rightly pride itself, well. I thank you for maintaining that tradition.’

‘All rise.’