Chameleon's Shadow

METROPOLITAN

POLICE

INTERNAL MEMO To: ACC Clifford Golding From: Det Supt Brian Jones Date: 13 August 2007 Subject: Assault on Walter Tutting 12.00–13.00, 10.08.07

Sir,

We continue to believe the assault on Walter Tutting was part of the series. Update as follows:

Lt Charles Acland Resident at the Bell, Gainsborough Road. Now on police bail and still being treated as a material witness. Known contacts with Walter Tutting and Ben Russell. Was in possession of Kevin Atkins’s mobile for a brief period before handing it in.

Ben Russell Currently a patient at St Thomas’s Hospital. Believed to have had Atkins’s mobile in his possession for some weeks (see below).

‘Chalky’ Name unknown. Current whereabouts unknown. According to what he told Dr Jackson and Lt Acland, he has had intermittent contact with Ben Russell over the last four weeks. He may also be in possession of a canvas duffel-style bag that Lt Acland believes Russell brought into the alleyway and which

Chalky may have hidden inside one of his own. These facts are contradicted by Russell (see below). NB As ‘Chalky’ is a common nickname for the surname ‘White’ army records have been searched for a Corporal White on active service during the Falklands War. Two were found, but neither has any involvement with the inquiry.

Walter Tutting

Despite dissimilarities at the crime scene, we remain of the opinion that the attack on Mr Tutting is connected to the earlier murders. This view is cautiously endorsed by John Webb, senior SOCO at the victim’s house. I am sending his preliminary report under separate cover. We have been unable to interview Mr Tutting, who remains under heavy sedation in St Thomas’s Hospital. His doctors have expressed optimism about a return to consciousness in the next few days.

Kevin Atkins – mobile telephone

This is the most promising lead we’ve had so far. We are currently working on a printout of the address book in cooperation with the Atkins family. I expect further information in the next two days re previously unidentified numbers, accessed websites, texts, photographs, etc. FYI: The only fingerprints retrieved from the casing have been identified as Ben Russell’s, Lt Charles Acland’s and Dr Jackson’s. We found no Unknowns and none belonging to Atkins, which suggests the casing was cleaned after the murder. There’s a possibility of a DNA reading from saliva inside the mouthpiece, although FSS is predicting Atkins as the most likely donor.

BlackBerry/second mobile/iPods

Interviews with Ben Russell, and initial searches of the memories, suggest the BlackBerry and second mobile are unconnected with the inquiry. We have yet to confirm ownership, but interviews with relevant parties are being arranged. Meanwhile, I have requested continued searches of the memories. The iPods contain variously Garage, Rap, Brit Pop and Indie, but again appear to have no connection with the inquiry. FYI: A variety of fingerprints were recovered from the different casings, but we were only able to identify Russell’s and Acland’s. FSS confirms there was no obvious attempt to clean these items before or after their thefts.

Ben Russell

Russell has been interviewed on three occasions in St Thomas’s Hospital in the presence of his mother and a solicitor. Due to his age and medical condition, he has been treated throughout as a ‘vulnerable’ witness. His full details are attached, including cautions and an ASBO issued in Wolverhampton, but the essential points are:

Benjamin Jacob Russell

16 yrs old

Brought up in Wolverhampton

Poor education record

Cautioned twice for drunk and disorderly

Served with ASBO following complaints from neighbours

Left home last year after row with stepfather over theft of money

Claims to have lived in a squat in Birmingham for first 6 months (vague on detail)

Claims to have been sleeping rough in London for approx. 3–4 months

Still has contact with girlfriend, Hannah, 13 – resident in Wolverhampton

Admits to a sexual relationship with Hannah

No record of arrests/cautions in the metropolitan area

Admits living from theft and begging but denies prostitution

Recently diagnosed type one diabetic

Russell has no memory of going to the alleyway on the night of Friday, 10 August, but agrees he has been sleeping there from time to time since ‘Chalky’ introduced him to it. He calls ‘Chalky’ Grandpa, but knows nothing about him except that he’s a ‘decent bloke’. He denies owning a canvas duffel bag or seeing one in Chalky’s possession. He also denies knowing a man with a black eyepatch or anyone going by the names of ‘lieutenant’/‘lootenant’ or Charles Acland.

Russell freely admits to the thefts of the mobiles, BlackBerry and iPods, although he is vague about when, where and how he stole them. In 3–4 months, he estimates he’s stolen approx. 15–20 mobiles and says the methods are ‘pretty similar’ so the incidents become ‘blurred’. During the interviews the mobiles were referred to as ‘the Nokia’ and ‘the Samsung’. He says he lifted one of them (he thinks it was the Samsung) from a woman’s open bag while she was paying for a newspaper. He saw her from behind, so the description is of no value – ‘tallish’. He claims he found the other (Atkins’s Nokia) in a small holdall that he stole off a bench seat in Hyde Park while the owner was ‘watching a couple snogging’. Again no useful description except that it was a man – ‘dark hair and dressed in black’. Possibly a suit.

Russell describes the holdall as black and similar to the one cycle couriers use – approx. 40 x 30cm. He ‘ditched’ it in bushes near the Diana Memorial Fountain as soon as he’d searched it and can’t remember what else was in it apart from the mobile, a bottle of aspirin and a pack of sandwiches

– all of which he took. His best recollection on the rest is ‘a newspaper, maybe a brown envelope and some keys’. FYI: A search of the area produced nothing, nor has a bag of that description been handed in by the public or the park ground staff.

Russell is unable to pinpoint when either of these thefts took place, although his best guess is 2–4 weeks ago. His usual MO is to ‘collect’ a handful of items and sell them to a fence in the Canning Town area (he has so far refused to give us a name or address on this), but he denies selling anything during the last month because he’s been feeling too ill to make the trip. He remembers calling his girlfriend on one of the phones (he thinks the Samsung) because it was active when he stole it, but the other was ‘dead’.

Conclusion

I can see no point in diverting resources on a wild-goose chase after a ‘tallish’ woman or a dark-haired man, nor in factoring these descriptions into the inquiry. Russell is an unreliable witness and is quick to agree that it may have been the BlackBerry or one of the iPods that he stole from the handbag and/or the holdall. His descriptions of his other victims are equally vague – he thinks two of the iPod owners were ‘a black guy’ and ‘a kid’.

Through his solicitor, Russell was made aware of the seriousness of the inquiry. Although nervous of being interviewed, Russell maintained an even demeanour throughout the three sessions. Neither DI Nick Beale nor I detected any difference in his reactions when it came to questions about the Nokia. We are of the opinion, therefore, that it is more likely he stole the mobile from Atkins’s killer than from Atkins himself or from Atkins’s house.

I have asked James Steele to consider the implications of this re the psychological profile. Our assumption has been that the mobiles were stolen as trophies and/or because they were the means of communication between killer and victim. In either event, I am unclear why the killer was carrying at least one of them in public. To what end?

Our two most positive lines of inquiry at the moment are Kevin Atkins’s mobile and the attack on Walter Tutting, and I have instructed all efforts to be concentrated in those two areas.

With kind regards,

Detective Superintendent Brian Jones