Hidden in Plain Sight

19

‘Do you wish to cross-examine this witness, Mr Booth Watson?’

‘Yes, m’lud, but I won’t be taking up too much of the court’s time.’

He remained standing while Superintendent Lamont made his way back to the witness box.

‘Superintendent, I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that you’re still under oath.’ Lamont didn’t respond, but stood glowering at his adversary like a boxer waiting for the bell so the first round could begin.

‘For the record, superintendent, can I assume that’s a yes?’

Lamont reluctantly nodded. First round to Booth Watson.

‘During your evidence yesterday afternoon, in answer to my learned friend, you repeated ad nauseam that if my client did not conceal the drugs found in the statue at his house, then who did?’

‘And I will be happy to repeat it again, Mr Booth Watson, if you feel it might speed up proceedings.’

No doubt who’d won the second round, thought William.

‘I don’t think that will be necessary, superintendent. However, what I would like to know is how many police officers invaded Mr Faulkner’s home in the middle of the night?’

‘I couldn’t be sure of the exact number.’

‘Despite the fact that you were in charge of the operation?’

‘Fifteen, possibly twenty.’

‘In fact, the number was twenty-three, if you include all the officers from the drugs squad, the laboratory analysts, the drivers and even a photographer, not to mention a couple of sniffer dogs. One might have been forgiven, superintendent, for thinking my client had stolen the Crown Jewels.’

Lamont didn’t respond, but the jury weren’t in any doubt who had won the third round.

‘Is it possible that one of those officers could have concealed the drugs in the statue without your knowledge?’

‘Impossible,’ said Lamont, fighting back.

‘By that, do you mean you can personally vouch for every last one of them, even the ones you didn’t realize were there?’

‘Of course I can’t,’ snapped Lamont. ‘However, I can assure the court they were all, without exception, first-class professionals, carrying out the job they were trained to do.’

‘Would you describe Detective Superintendent Jeremy Meadows as a first-class professional, who carried out the job he was trained to do?’

Lamont hesitated, clearly caught off guard, as another of Booth Watson’s punches landed, this one below the belt.

‘Take your time, superintendent, and please don’t be offended if I remind you that you are still under oath.’

Sir Julian rose to his feet. ‘M’lud,’ he said acidly, ‘I’m struggling to grasp the relevance of these questions, and where they are leading.’

‘Be assured, m’lud,’ said Booth Watson, clearly unmoved, ‘that will soon become crystal clear.’

‘I hope so, Mr Booth Watson,’ interjected the referee, ‘as I have some sympathy with Sir Julian’s view. Would you kindly come to the point.’

‘I shall do everything in my power to oblige, Your Lordship.’ Booth Watson turned his focus back on Lamont, who still hadn’t replied. ‘Do you need to be reminded of the question, superintendent?’

‘No, I do not.’

‘Then I await your answer with interest.’

‘Yes, I would describe Detective Superintendent Meadows as a consummate professional, and I was proud to be a member of his team.’

‘A consummate professional? May I ask what rank you held when you were so proud to be a member of his team?’

‘I was a detective sergeant in the murder squad, carrying out an investigation into the death of a notorious East End crime boss.’

‘Did that case come to court?’

Lamont nodded.

‘Once again, superintendent, the court will need to know for the record if that was a yes.’

‘Yes,’ replied Lamont curtly.

‘And what verdict did the jury come to on that occasion?’

‘Not guilty,’ said Lamont.

‘And can you recall, superintendent, the vital piece of evidence that caused the jury to reach that verdict?’

Booth Watson continued to stare at the witness.

‘If you can’t, I’d be happy to jog your memory.’ He waited for some time before saying, ‘Defence counsel, in that case, was able to prove that a gun had been planted on the suspect. Perhaps you could tell the court who planted that weapon on an innocent victim, superintendent?’

‘Detective Superintendent Jeremy Meadows,’ said Lamont in a voice that did not reach the back of the court.

‘And what became of Detective Superintendent Meadows following that incident?’

‘He resigned from the force and was later sent to prison.’

‘Where is all this leading, Mr Booth Watson?’ asked the judge, as Sir Julian rose to his feet.

‘I suspect we’re about to find out, m’lud,’ said Booth Watson, ignoring Sir Julian.

‘And as you have told us, superintendent, you were one of the officers serving on that case.’

‘I had that honour.’

‘Honour? But this was a case in which a senior police officer planted a gun on an innocent man in order to dishonestly secure a conviction.’

‘And less than a month after that man was found not guilty, he murdered another innocent victim.’

‘So you approved of your boss’s action?’ said Booth Watson.

‘I didn’t say that.’

‘You didn’t need to. Tell me, superintendent, are you an advocate of “noble cause corruption”?’ Booth Watson waited for a response, but none was forthcoming. ‘Perhaps the time has come for you to satisfy the court’s curiosity as to the role you played on that occasion. Following the conviction of your boss, the honourable Detective Superintendent Meadows, a tribunal was set up to investigate whether anyone else on the team was implicated in the crime. Under oath you admitted that as an impressionable young detective sergeant, it was possible you might have turned a blind eye. Could you tell the court what the tribunal decided was the appropriate punishment in your case?’

‘I was demoted from detective sergeant to constable, and spent two years back on the beat, before I was reinstated to my former rank.’

‘So, after an independent tribunal had assessed your honesty and integrity, it recommended that you be demoted.’

‘After which I was reinstated.’

‘And you’re now asking the jury to believe you’re a reformed character?’

‘We all make mistakes,’ said Lamont. ‘Some of us learn from them.’

‘Indeed we do,’ said Booth Watson. ‘But the jury will want to know if you’ve learnt not to turn a blind eye when you can’t secure a conviction by honest police work.’

Lamont stared defiantly at the defence counsel, but Booth Watson didn’t flinch.

‘Were you the officer in charge of the case when my client was falsely accused of stealing a Rembrandt, which he had in fact recovered for the Fitzmolean Museum at great personal expense?’

‘The jury decided he’d illegally held on to the painting for seven years,’ said Lamont, getting back up off the canvas, ‘and the judge gave him a four-year suspended sentence for fraud, and fined him ten thousand pounds.’

‘Well done,’ whispered Sir Julian. ‘Now it’s on the record.’

Booth Watson dodged the onslaught. ‘Just answer the question, superintendent. Were you in charge of the case?’

‘Yes, I was.’

‘And was that yet another example of noble cause corruption?’

Sir Julian was quickly on his feet. ‘I must object, m’lud. The superintendent is not on trial in this case.’

‘I agree, Sir Julian. Move on, Mr Booth Watson.’

Booth Watson turned a page of his notes. ‘Finally, superintendent, may I ask how long it took you on the night of May the seventeenth, to drive from the entrance gates of my client’s property to the front door of his home?’

‘About a minute, a minute and a half.’

‘How interesting. Because when I carried out the same exercise a week ago, it only took me forty-two seconds. But then it’s possible you weren’t in a hurry.’

Lamont reeled back.

‘And how long did it take for the butler — who will give evidence if required, m’lud — to open the front door and let you in, after you’d kept your finger pressing the bell?’

‘A minute, possibly two.’

‘So, no more than three, possibly four, minutes in all before you and twenty-two highly trained officers burst into my client’s home looking for drugs. And after searching for more than two hours, all they could come up with was one Ecstasy tablet and a couple of marijuana cigarettes.’

‘But later we found—’

‘“Later” being the key word. But how much later, I’m bound to ask. Were you the first officer to enter Limpton Hall, superintendent?’ said Booth Watson, changing tack.

‘Yes,’ said Lamont, sounding puzzled.

‘And where was my client at the time?’

‘Standing at the top of the stairs.’

‘And how was he dressed?’

‘He was wearing a red silk dressing gown.’

‘So after you’d rung the front door bell, he somehow managed to get twelve wraps of cocaine into a statue inconveniently placed near the front door, rush back upstairs, change out of his dinner jacket, put on his pyjamas and a red silk dressing gown — thank you for that fascinating detail, superintendent — and still found time to be standing at the top of the stairs waiting for you when you charged in, all in under three minutes?’

Lamont didn’t respond.

‘The Keystone Cops couldn’t have come up with a better story,’ said Booth Watson, looking directly at the jury.

‘It’s my belief that the defendant had concealed the twelve wraps of cocaine in the statue before our arrival, with the intention of distributing them among his guests later that evening. We just got our timing wrong.’

‘It’s my belief that you got your timing right, and having failed to come up with anything incriminating after searching my client’s home for more than two hours, someone carried out your orders and conveniently planted the drugs in the statue.’

‘That’s a ridiculous suggestion,’ said Lamont, trying to control his temper.

‘Would it also be ridiculous to suggest that, not for the first time in your career, you chose to turn a blind eye when false evidence was planted by one of your colleagues in an attempt to secure a conviction?’

‘Quite ridiculous,’ came back Lamont, almost shouting.

‘Possibly a young impressionable detective sergeant who wanted to please the officer in charge of the investigation?’

‘Even more ridiculous,’ said Lamont, his voice rising with every word.

‘A detective sergeant who just happened to know exactly where the drugs were, because that’s where he’d planted them?’

‘That’s a scurrilous accusation, My Lord,’ said Sir Julian, leaping to his feet.

‘Especially when the detective sergeant in question just happens to be the son of the Crown’s leading counsel.’

Sir Julian would have responded, but he wouldn’t have been heard above the outburst that followed, when several people turned around to look at William, who was unable to hide his anger.

The judge waited for the clamour to die down before he frowned at the defence counsel, and said, ‘I do hope, Mr Booth Watson, that you have some proof of these random accusations, otherwise I shall have no choice but to advise the jury to ignore your words and ask you to be more circumspect in future.’

‘Perhaps they wouldn’t have been random accusations, My Lord, had Sir Julian allowed Detective Sergeant Warwick to give evidence from the witness box under oath rather than his boss.’

This time the outcry lasted for some time before the judge was able to regain order when he pronounced, ‘Do not try my patience any further, Mr Booth Watson, or I may have to order a retrial, and consider you in contempt of court.’

‘And we wouldn’t want that, would we, My Lord,’ said Booth Watson, the only person who’d remained calm during this exchange. He turned his attention back to the witness before the judge could respond and said, ‘Superintendent, would I be right in thinking that you regard Mr Faulkner as a dangerous criminal, who should be locked up for the rest of his life because the jury got it wrong?’

‘At last we’ve found something we can agree on,’ shouted Lamont, jabbing a finger at Booth Watson.

‘A little louder please,’ said Booth Watson, ‘just in case the jury didn’t hear you the first time — and might also get it wrong.’ He looked up at the bench and said, ‘No more questions, m’lud.’

Everyone remained on the edge of their seats, waiting for Sir Julian to come out fighting, but were once again taken by surprise when the Crown’s leading advocate rose from his place and said with an exaggerated sigh, ‘That completes the case for the Crown, m’lud. However, I wonder if I might be allowed to make a personal statement?’

Mr Justice Baverstock nodded, and Booth Watson settled back, closed his eyes and crossed his arms, giving the impression of a victorious general awaiting triumphant news from the battlefield. But to his surprise Sir Julian wasn’t yet ready to agree the terms of surrender.

‘It is, as you know, m’lud, an established practice at the criminal bar for a leader to allow his junior to cross-examine a defence witness. So, if Mr Booth Watson plans to call the defendant to give evidence, I shall step aside and leave that responsibility to my junior, Ms Grace Warwick, if it so pleases Your Lordship.’

Booth Watson opened his eyes, unfolded his arms and said in a voice loud enough for those around him to hear, ‘What’s he up to?’

William smiled, but then he knew exactly what his father was up to.

‘I shall look forward to that with pleasure, Sir Julian,’ said the judge, before he added, ‘we will reconvene at ten o’clock tomorrow morning.’

‘I would strongly advise against it,’ said Booth Watson.

‘Why?’ demanded Faulkner.

‘Because you have nothing to gain from it, while she has nothing to lose.’

‘But don’t forget, it’s the pupil I’ll be up against, not the master.’

‘Who has been well tutored by the master over many years.’

‘Then perhaps it’s time to remind the Warwicks exactly who they’re up against. In any case, what have I got to lose?’

‘Your freedom.’

‘But I might never get another opportunity like this to publicly humiliate Sir Julian Warwick and destroy his daughter at the same time, with Hawksby, Lamont and the choirboy all having to watch from the sidelines.’

‘I’ve given you my opinion, Miles. Avoid appearing in the witness box at all costs, because I think you’ll find the curtain has already come down.’

‘Not on my performance it hasn’t,’ said Miles.

‘Which will be unscripted, don’t forget.’

‘Let’s face it,’ said Miles. ‘You were nothing more than the grave digger. They’re now waiting for Hamlet to make his entrance.’

‘And we all know how that ended.’