Reluctant Consent

by Margaret Barnes

  ‘I kept out of his way, but I think he caught Loveday on the arm. Loveday shouted out. Then I heard Chris begin to cry.’

  ‘Had you seen Chris before you heard him?’

  ‘Yes. He’s always hanging around and I’d seen him across the road earlier.’

  ‘What happened when Chris shouted out?’

  ‘That’s when it happened. Albie rushed towards Chris and Monty hit him with the club. He fell to the floor. I ran away.’

  ‘You ran away. Why did you do so?’

  ‘I knew the police would come. I’d been stealing and …’ He flicked his tongue over his lips. ‘I had some weed in my pocket. Didn’t want to get caught.’

  ‘We’ll take a short break, members of the jury. Mr Wilding is a young man and he’s been in the witness box for quite some time. I’m sure he needs a few minutes, and you might like a coffee or something. So about twenty minutes,’ Judge Crabtree said and then left the bench.

  The room soon emptied and Cassie walked out to the broad corridor that served as a waiting area for the various courts. She turned on her mobile to check if there were any messages. She had a number of emails but her attention was caught by one with the subject line ‘Paul Sadler’. That man again. Don’t open it, she told herself. She put the phone in the pocket of her black jacket and walked to the window where the view over Seacoal Lane towards the spire of St Bride’s had been replaced by the reflection of the court building in the gleaming windows of a new office block. She looked up. At least the sky was still visible. She watched white clouds scudding against a vivid blue. She blinked to ward off tears. Don’t open it.

  As Cassie went back into court her fingers closed on the phone – she could feel the weight of it in her hand. She let it go and then grasped it firmly, pulled it out of her pocket and opened the email. It read ‘At it again, bitch!’

  She looked at the notes she had taken of Jas Wilding’s evidence. She tried to concentrate on the words she had written but she kept thinking of the email message from the secretive Delaney. Her writing, like a doctor’s, unreadable to anyone but her, seemed incomprehensible and the lines on the paper appeared to quiver. She muttered to herself to forget the email, forget the Sadler case, just get on with this trial. She picked up the carafe of water on the desk, poured some into the glass and sipped slowly. Her mind started to work on the questions she would ask the witness. The court began to reassemble around her, but she didn’t look up until a knock on the judge’s door brought her to her feet and Judge Crabtree made his way onto the bench.

  ‘Mr Wilding, are you ready to start again?’ He didn’t wait for an answer before saying, ‘Yes, Miss Hardman.’

  Cassie rose from her seat and turned to face Jas Wilding, who glared at her across the room.

  ‘Now, let’s turn to the third of March. You left the scene of the incident without trying to find out what had happened to Albie Young?’

  ‘Yes, miss. I didn’t think he was hurt that bad.’

  ‘You weren’t interviewed by the police ’til later in the day, some time in the early evening. Where did you go between leaving the shop and going to the police station?’

  ‘I went home and then … I didn’t know Albie was dead.’

  ‘So what did you do?’

  ‘I went to play football.’

  ‘Was Leon Campbell, Loveday I think you call him, there as well?’

  ‘Yes. We both play for the same team.’

  ‘Did you talk about the incident at the shop?’

  ‘A bit.’

  ‘You thought the police would want to hear about what happened?’

  ‘Yes, sure. Albie had been hit with that club.’ He pointed to the golf club that was still lying on the bench in front of Marcus’s lectern.

  ‘Did you compare what happened and decide on what you were going to say?’

  ‘Not really. Anyway, when I found out how bad Albie was I knew I had to tell the truth about what we’d done.’

  Cassie was annoyed; she had asked one question too many and given the witness the opportunity to emphasise he was an honest witness. She turned back to the incident.

  ‘Were you going to steal cigarettes from Mr Montgomery?’

  ‘Yes. We thought it would be easy if …’ He stopped and looked up at the ceiling.

  ‘It would be easy if you did what?’

  Wilding didn’t reply but looked at Cassie and then half turned towards the seats under the public gallery. She followed his gaze. Sitting on one of them was a tall well-built man dressed in a dark beige raincoat; his resemblance to the witness identified him as Wilding’s father. The man raised his eyebrows and glared at his son, who swivelled back to face the jury.

  ‘The cigarettes are kept behind the counter. How did you hope to get them while Mr Montgomery was standing next to them?’ Cassie said.

  ‘We thought he would come out when we took the magazines down from the top shelf, and then one of us would’ve gone and got the smokes.’

  ‘But he didn’t come out from the counter?’

  ‘He started to. I think he picked up one of the magazines, then he told us to leave and threatened us with that club.’

  ‘Loveday called him a paedophile, didn’t he?’

  ‘Yeah. That made Monty really mad.’

  ‘And threatened to tell the police he was a pervert, didn’t he?’

  There was no reply. Cassie didn’t pause; she knew Wilding was feeling the pressure of her cross examination. ‘But it wasn’t true, was it?’

  ‘No. No it wasn’t. We made that up.’ Wilding stared at Cassie and folded his arms across his chest.

  ‘So you were prepared to lie in order to stop the police from arresting you?’

  Wilding looked down towards his feet and let his hands hang by his side. ‘Yes,’ he said.

  ‘Are you telling the truth now?’ Cassie didn’t wait for an answer. ‘Let’s go back to the cigarettes. Did you think Mr Montgomery would let you take some? He was going to do something to stop you, wasn’t he? What were you going to do then?’ She hoped that Wilding’s insistence he was being honest and open about the events in the shop would push him towards telling the court the truth now.

  ‘Loveday …’ He stopped, turned to look at his father. ‘Loveday was going to threaten him with his knife.’

  ‘Loveday had a knife?’

  ‘No. Yes, but he didn’t use it in the shop.’

  ‘Did you see him with the knife in his hand?’ Wilding dropped his gaze and nodded. ‘I assume that’s yes. When did Loveday have the knife?’

  ‘I saw it when we were outside the shop. When Monty was swinging that thing.’

  ‘Where was Mr Montgomery when you saw the knife?’

  ‘He was at the door of the shop.’

  ‘In the doorway?’

  ‘No, out on the pavement.’

  ‘Albie ran across towards Chris between Mr Montgomery and Loveday?’

  ‘Yes, he must’ve done.’

  ‘I want to try and picture the scene. Chris is standing by the shop window, Loveday is about three feet away from the shop door with a knife in his hand, and you and Albie are the other side of Loveday. Is that right?’

  ‘Yes, but I’m not sure about the knife. If he still had it in his hand.’

  ‘Mr Montgomery was swinging the golf club at Loveday, wasn’t he?’

  ‘He was just swinging it.’

  ‘Swinging it at Loveday who was shouting that if Mr Montgomery called the police he would say he was a paedophile?’

  Jas lowered his head and shook it from side to side.

  ‘Isn’t that what happened,’ Cassie said.

  ‘Something like that.’

  ‘Chris was crying, screaming, and Albie ran across between you and Loveday towards his brother, didn’t he?’

  Wilding stifled a sob. ‘I don’t know. One minute he’s next to me, then he was lying on the ground bleeding from his head.’

  Cassie waited until the sobbing stopped and then s
aid, ‘And Mr Montgomery dropped the golf club and ran inside the shop. A few minutes later the police and an ambulance arrived.’

  ‘I didn’t see them. I knew he would call the police so I ran.’

  Cassie turned round to James and asked him if there was anything she’d missed. When he said no she looked back at Wilding and told the judge she had no more questions for the witness.

  Marcus asked the usher to call Leon Campbell into the courtroom. He was a similar height to Wilding but not as muscular; his face was thin and his dark eyes were wide open. As he climbed into the witness box he was looking around so he missed the step and stumbled. He grabbed the sides of the pale wooden stand and regained his balance, but not before the bible lying on the side fell to the floor with a thud. Once he was upright he nodded at the judge, who asked the usher to administer the oath and, after Campbell had read with some hesitation the words on the card she handed him, Judge Crabtree invited Marcus to begin his examination in chief.

  Campbell gave a similar account of the incident in Montgomery’s shop to Jas Wilding’s. He was very explicit about the language the defendant had used. ‘He called us niggers and black bastards.’

  Cassie turned round and leant over as if she wanted to speak to James, but really she was taking the opportunity to see if Montgomery had reacted to the witness’s description of his language, but his face was impassive. There was nothing to indicate he was at all embarrassed or ashamed of his behaviour. She couldn’t understand why he didn’t realise how insulting he had been and show some contrition.

  Marcus asked him if he had left the shop when Montgomery told him to do so. Before answering, Campbell half turned to where DS Kotzeva was sitting with a woman Cassie assumed was his mother. She was watching her son with a grim look on her face, unlike the police sergeant who was smiling at him. Cassie wondered if Mrs Campbell was less trusting of her son than the police officer. He was a difficult witness to read. Cassie was sure he wasn’t telling the whole truth about this incident, but getting him to say what really happened was going to be a challenge. She didn’t rate her chances with him. Although his age meant he was a vulnerable witness, Cassie thought there was nothing vulnerable about him at all.

  He then described the incident. ‘He was coming for us, for me. He caught me on my right arm. Jas and Albie were on his left and Chris was in front of the window. It was all very fast. And Albie was on the ground.’

  Marcus thanked Campbell and asked him to wait as there would be some more questions.

  Cassie took a deep breath and rose to her feet. ‘Loveday, do you mind if I call you Loveday? I’m going to ask you some more questions on behalf of Mr Montgomery, do you understand?’

  ‘Yes, miss. I’ve been in court before.’

  ‘You have some previous convictions, don’t you? Did you plead guilty to the four offences we’ve been told about?’

  ‘Not all of them.’

  ‘You were found guilty after a trial?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Which offence did you deny?’

  ‘The assault on another boy. He’d started it and so I hit him. Acted in self-defence. Protecting myself, like.’

  ‘The magistrates didn’t believe you, did they?’

  ‘No, but it was the truth.’

  ‘Now, let’s go back to March the third. You waited until the police arrived but you didn’t try to speak to them, tell them what had happened?’

  ‘No. It was pretty obvious, what had happened.’

  ‘Didn’t you want to discover how your friend was, how badly he’d been hurt?’

  Campbell stared at her, his jaw rigid. ‘I knew it was bad. I wanted to get home.’

  ‘You didn’t go over to your friend and try and help him.’

  Campbell shrugged his shoulders. ‘I wouldn’t know what to do. Better do nothing, I thought.’

  ‘Did you stay at home that evening until the police came to ask you to make a statement?’

  ‘No, no I didn’t. I play football and our team had a match that evening, well, after tea, not very late. I went to the game.’

  ‘Was Jas there?’

  ‘Yes, we both play.’

  ‘Did you discuss the incident at the sweet shop?’

  ‘Not really, we were playing football, a game. Then I went home and the police were there.’

  ‘Nothing was said at all about Albie, what had happened to him?’

  ‘I think I said it was bad. Jas had run straight away and had no idea.’

  ‘You didn’t agree on what to say to the police.’

  Loveday began to chew on his lower lip. ‘It was terrible, we’d been stupid, but I knew we had to tell the truth about him and his racist remarks.’ He flung his arm out and pointed at the dock.

  ‘You didn’t agree that neither of you would say anything about you having a knife?’

  The witness threw his head back. ‘I did not have a knife.’

  Cassie continued questioning him about his behaviour in the shop. He agreed he had asked for cigarettes telling the defendant they were for his mother.

  ‘That wasn’t true, was it?’

  ‘No. I wanted some cigarettes.’

  Cassie noticed Mrs Campbell lean forward towards her son. She was frowning. Cassie thought she probably didn’t smoke and hearing her son suggest she did was annoying her.

  ‘Does your mother smoke?’

  Campbell turned away and looked towards his mother. She was shaking her head. He pivoted back and said, ‘No, she doesn’t.’

  ‘Another lie then?’

  Campbell didn’t respond so Cassie continued. ‘Did you call Mr Montgomery a paedophile?’

  The witness shrugged his shoulders. ‘I might have.’

  ‘You said earlier that Mr Montgomery was coming for you. Was that the three of you or just you?’

  ‘Just me. He was looking at me, evil in his eye, like he hated me.’

  ‘You threatened to tell the police he was pervert, a paedophile, didn’t you?’

  ‘Someone did.’

  ‘You did, didn’t you?’

  Campbell did not reply until Judge Crabtree intervened and asked him to answer the question. The youth looked round the court towards the dock and said, ‘Yes, it was a joke.’

  ‘Not a very pleasant joke, and had you told the police, then it was yet another untruth, wasn’t it?’

  ‘Yes, miss.’

  ‘There was no reason to aim the golf club at you rather than any of the others, was there?’

  ‘I don’t know why he picked on me, but he did.’

  ‘Was it because you had a knife?’

  ‘No, I didn’t. I had nothing.’

  ‘You had a knife in your hand and you were pointing it at Mr Montgomery.’

  ‘I did not have a knife. How often do I have to say it?’

  ‘Do you carry a knife?’

  Campbell grabbed the sides of the witness box and turned to look at his mother. Her lips were set and she was staring at her son. He swivelled back and said, ‘I did not have a knife that day. Do I have to answer any more of these stupid questions?’

  ‘One more. Was the reason you left the scene as soon as the police arrived because you had a knife with you?’

  Campbell didn’t reply.

  ‘You had a knife, and what’s more you and Jas agreed not to mention it when you made your statements. Isn’t that the truth?’

  Campbell stepped back out of the witness box and left the courtroom. His mother jumped up and hurried to follow her son. Cassie watched their retreating backs and heard a snatch of squabbling voices as the doors closed behind them. Then a movement in the public gallery caught her eye and she saw the back of a man as he mounted the steps and disappeared from her view. Was that Delaney?

  Chapter 24

  After Emma Gilbrook had given her evidence, the screens were removed; they were unnecessary for the remaining witnesses. Anita Connor was the first. Cassie had been expecting a severe-looking woman, the sort who supervis
ed expensive dress shops and looked down their noses at her. Instead, a short woman with big hair bounced into the witness box. She took the oath in a breathy voice and then beamed at Hugh. He didn’t need to call her for the prosecution, but Cassie had insisted she should attend. Hugh asked the witness to give her full name and to confirm she was a friend of Emma Gilbrook.

  ‘Do you recognise the defendant, Paul Sadler?’ Hugh waved his hand in the direction of the dock.

  ‘Yes. He was at my flat when I got home that night.’

  ‘You’d been out that evening?’

  ‘I’d met a friend for dinner and gone back to his place afterwards.’ Anita looked down and Cassie thought her cheeks looked flushed. When the witness lifted her head, she had regained her composure.

  ‘Did you expect to find Sadler there?’

  ‘Emma had said she was meeting him and asked if she could bring him back to my flat. I said that was fine.’

  ‘Did you tell her you would be out?’

  Anita hesitated. ‘I – I said I was going out. I thought I would be back sooner than I was. I didn’t know how the evening with my friend would go.’ She tried to smile but couldn’t quite manage it.

  ‘Both Emma and Sadler were there?’

  ‘He was sitting on the sofa, and Emma was on her feet. I assumed she had got up when she heard my key in the door.’

  ‘What happened next?’

  ‘Emma introduced us and then sat next to him on the sofa. We chatted for quite a short time and then he looked at his watch and said he had to go. He asked Emma if she wanted him to walk her home but she said she would stay.’

  ‘Did he leave?’

  ‘Yes. He did.’

  ‘How long did Emma stay?’

  ‘About half an hour.’

  ‘Did she talk about Sadler and their evening?’

  ‘I was expecting her to ask me what I thought about him, but she didn’t. She didn’t tell me what had happened that night.’

  Hugh thanked her and sat down. Cassie got to her feet, and asked Anita Conner what they had talked about. It was evidence Hugh couldn’t ask about but she could.

  ‘She’d had another row with her mother,’ Anita replied.