by Tony Kent
‘Just tell me what I need to know.’
Michael leaned forward and placed both forearms on the worktop, steeling himself. This time he did not touch his drink. He knew it was time to tell his part of the story. He inhaled deeply.
‘Tina Barker was eleven years old when Hirst took her. Her brother, Tommy, was eight. Their father was the manager of a high street bank in Guildford. The biggest in the area, but still a local bank. That made it a perfect target. Lower security but still likely a big haul for whoever was willing to take it on a Friday. Which Karl Hirst certainly was.
‘Hirst took the children on the Thursday night. In the most brazen way possible. He broke in after the family had gone to sleep. Tied and gagged them all in their beds: both kids, mum and dad. He carried the children one at a time to a van he had waiting on the drive, and drove them away to a disused warehouse five miles away. Once he was there he tied them up again and then went back to their parents.
‘He kept the father and mother bound as he gave them their instructions. The father was to make sure that he was the last person in the bank on the Friday evening. He was to work late and make sure everyone else left. Then Hirst would arrive at the rear of the bank in his van, be given access to the safe and time to clear it. Hirst would then leave, head back to the kids and release them at a location he would disclose in a telephone call to their parents.
‘Once he had made the arrangements – once he had given the orders – he told them that if the police were called or in any way involved, the kids would die. And just to show them that he was serious, he brought them two fingers from Tina’s left hand. Which did exactly the job it was intended to do. The father did as he was ordered, and Hirst drove away with a van full of over seven hundred thousand pounds. A serious haul for one night’s work.
‘That should have been that. The kids should have been released and he should have escaped with the best part of a million in cash. But for some reason only that sick bastard will ever understand, he didn’t let them go as promised. And once they weren’t released their parents reported the whole thing to the police, who started a manhunt.
‘It didn’t take too long; Hirst hadn’t planned the backend of the job nearly as well as he had the front. After the robbery he stayed put, in the same warehouse where he was keeping the children. He didn’t think to move, which was his undoing. Well, that and the time frame from the first night.
‘It was Adam Blunt who found him. Blunt worked out the possible driving distances on the night of the kidnap. How far Hirst could have gone in the time it took before he came back to give his instructions to the parents. Using that time frame, Blunt was able to triangulate the furthest distance he could have reached and then identify the most likely hiding places within that distance. Of those possibilities, his gut took him to an old industrial estate. They found the children right there. Little Tommy was already dead. Suffocated, the autopsy said. But Tina was still alive. Badly injured, but alive. Two fingers missing, obviously. But other injuries too. Mental and physical. Not the least of which was that she’d watched her brother die.’
‘How was he caught?’ It was Sarah who asked. When Michael looked over to answer he saw tears in her eyes. It surprised him. In her job she heard far worse than this. Meaning the heightened emotion was coming from elsewhere.
Derek’s death, he thought. But what he did not know was the blame Sarah was placing on herself. Blame for not giving Hirst’s name to Levy.
Michael hated to see Sarah cry, but now was not the time to console her. He had to finish what he had started; the most important details were still to come.
He answered Sarah’s question.
‘Blunt again. With the help of a police helicopter. A figure was spotted two acres away from the warehouse. Hirst had heard the police coming from a distance. Which was when he proved – for me – that he might be a psycho, but he certainly wasn’t crazy. A crazy man would waste time on the children. Kill the remaining witnesses. For pleasure, or in some hope it might make a difference. Not Hirst. He didn’t go near Tina again. He just ran without a moment of hesitation. The man was always thinking, and he knew that any delay could end with him being caught. So he ran.’
‘But he was caught anyway?’
‘Yeah. He didn’t really stand a chance. Once the police helicopter was overhead it would pick up the body heat of anyone in the area. And on that night it only found one. That was part of the case they built against him. The kidnapper had run, and not ten minutes later there was only one body-heat signature in the vicinity, other than those of the cops. And once they had that bead on him he wasn’t going anywhere. They guided Blunt in and he cornered Hirst by a stream. Blunt was armed, Hirst wasn’t. A situation like that only ends one way.’
Michael stopped speaking. He had reached the end of part one. The uncontroversial part.
He looked at what was left in his glass. Just under half. It might see me through, he thought. Let’s find out.
The glass was empty when it next touched the worktop.
‘Derek had been instructed to defend Hirst from the beginning. The summer before I started my pupillage. So all the case prep had been done before I was on the scene. The trial itself was fixed to begin three weeks into my six months with Derek. That gave me time to read into the case, and to get to know Derek, but not much else.
‘Inexperienced as I was, I could still see that Hirst had a good chance of getting off. The case against him just wasn’t that strong. Sure, his whereabouts at the time of his arrest was a problem. Plus he had no alibi at all for the thirty-six hours that mattered and he also fit the general description, in terms of height and build. But the kidnapper had worn a mask and gloves throughout the whole thing. From the house to the bank, and the entire time he spent with the kids. So that general description didn’t mean too much. In addition to which there were no forensics linking Hirst to the house, to the bank, to the van. Or even to Tina’s severed fingers. And no mobile-phone coverage. Cell site evidence was in its infancy then, but it was still useful. And Hirst must have known that, as there was no phone found on him when he was arrested and no calls made on any handset that could have been attributed to him. Like I said, the only mistake he’d made was not leaving the hideout earlier, but even then he wasn’t actually found there. It made convicting him a nightmare for the prosecution.
‘Which was all good for us, as his defence team. On the first day of the trial I walked into the Old Bailey with a spring in my step. I knew how Derek was going to attack. I knew our strengths outweighed our weaknesses. I was going to be part of a big, high-profile murder trial and we were going to win. So I really thought that this was it. I was starting my career with a bang. And then I met Karl Hirst for the first time.’
Michael paused, thinking back to that first encounter. Those pale, unflinching eyes. It was all coming back to him. All the horrors he had banished from his mind, as he did at the end of every trial so steeped in evil. Forcing himself to forget these things was the only way to survive his job, the only way to sleep at night. But now, as the memory of Hirst’s case was flooding back to him, one thought dominated Michael’s mind.
I should have known it was Hirst sooner. I should have found out he was no longer inside, and I should have gone to Levy.
The guilt threatened to break him, but he could not let that happen. For now the priority had to be the capture of Hirst. And for that, Michael needed to finish his story. He forced himself to continue.
‘Derek and I were in the cells at the Old Bailey at 9.30 a.m. First ones in. It took maybe five minutes for the cell staff to bring Hirst to us. And maybe five minutes more for Hirst to convince me that he was guilty as hell and needed to spend the rest of his life in prison.’
‘Five minutes?’ Now the questions came. This one from Levy. ‘What the hell did he do in five minutes?’
‘Everything he needed to.’ Michael paused for a beat. Long enough to find the right words. ‘I didn’t come from the kind
of world that produces barristers, Joelle. I grew up around all kinds of people. Plenty of them were decent folk. But plenty weren’t. I might have been young but I’d seen enough thugs and psychopaths to recognise one in front of me. And when I met Hirst I could see that he was a whole other level of sick.’
‘But what told you that? He must have done or said something specific?’
‘He was too smart for it to be something specific. And he didn’t tell us anything. You know how it works, Joelle; if Hirst had told us he was guilty we couldn’t have defended him properly. Couldn’t have gone into court and advanced a version of events we’d been told was untrue. It’s against all the rules.’
‘Then what?’
‘It’s impossible to explain. But it was everything, I guess. It was all off. Don’t get me wrong. Hirst stuck to his story. Claimed he had nothing to do with the kidnapping. With Tommy’s death. With the robbery. With any of it. He maintained he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Out looking for his lost dog when a police helicopter started hovering overhead and he was arrested at gunpoint. If it was anyone else then maybe I could have believed it. But the way he told the story? Smiling the whole time? A smug, superior smile that just didn’t slip, no matter how upsetting the detail got.
‘Looking back, he was making no effort to have us believe him. No effort to convince us that he was telling the truth. He didn’t care. He knew the case against him was crap; he thought he’d be walking if we did our job just half well. And he knew Derek’s reputation. “Half-well” wasn’t an option. Derek was too good for that. So that was it, really. I walked out of that room knowing Hirst was guilty, and knowing that – in a few weeks – we’d have that piece of shit back on the streets.’
Michael stopped speaking again. He had reached the part of the story he was dreading. The part he and Reid had forced themselves to ‘forget’ all those years ago. The reason they had never again discussed the case of Karl Hirst.
‘What changed in the case?’ Levy asked. ‘How did Hirst serve fourteen years if he was a dead cert to be acquitted?’
Michael cast his eyes to the floor, knowing that he had no choice but to answer.
‘It was me. I’m the reason Hirst was convicted.’
‘What do you mean?’ Sarah asked. ‘What did you do?’
Michael looked up. He felt the burning hint of tears beginning to threaten his eyes.
‘I couldn’t let him walk away. Not after what he had done to those kids. I couldn’t let him do that again, Sarah. And I knew as sure as I’ve ever known anything in my life; if that bastard was let out, he would do it again.
‘So I waited. I waited to see how the case went. Whether the prosecution could pull something out of the bag. But when I could see that wasn’t going to happen – when I could see he was definitely going to walk – I made a decision.
‘I contacted Adam Blunt before Tina Barker was due to give evidence. Said I needed to see him. We met in a pub on the Mile End Road where we knew no one in the case would stumble on us. I told him he was going to lose the case. That was nothing Blunt didn’t already know, but he said there was nothing he could do. And so I made a suggestion. I asked him to give me five minutes with Tina Barker the next morning. Before she was due to testify. To let me talk to her and give her some guidance, something that would help in her evidence. At first Blunt refused. He threatened to arrest me there and then; I guess he should have done. But I kept talking, and in the end he caved. Blunt wanted Hirst convicted as much as I did. More, probably. By the time we’d finished he’d agreed to do what needed to be done.
‘And so I met with Tina Barker the next morning. Blunt had arranged for her to be at court at 8 a.m., long before Derek or the prosecutor would be there. I was able to speak to her for ten minutes. And in that ten minutes I made her memorise every detail of the small tattoo of a flying bluebird that Hirst had on his right hand. Every single millimetre of the thing. And I coached her on when she should say she had seen it. To say it had been a glimpse as he restrained her before removing her fingers. Then a closer look – a longer look – as he smothered her brother. I gave her everything she needed to make an admissible identification from a feature unique to Hirst. An identification which would be enough to convict him.’
‘You coached a key witness in a murder trial?’ Levy spoke slowly, looking at Michael in disbelief. ‘You arranged for Tina Barker to commit perjury, to secure a conviction and a life sentence?’
‘Yes.’ Michael’s answer was emotionless. It was done. He was ready for the consequences.
‘Then I . . . I think I have to arrest you.’ Levy sounded unsure of herself. As if she was reaching a conclusion that went against every natural instinct. She slowly pushed her whiskey glass away. A sign to Michael that, in that moment, their relationship had changed. ‘I don’t think you’ve left me any choice.’
‘I know that,’ Michael replied. ‘I knew that when I started speaking. And I won’t deny any of what I just told you when the time comes. But please do me one favour. Please let’s deal with Hirst first. Let’s not split your resources with another case while that bastard is still out there. Deal with Hirst – catch him – and then you can do whatever you have to with me. But after. Please.’
Levy did not speak for a moment, and Michael could see her struggling with the decision she now had to make. What he had told her was a confession to a serious criminal offence. It was her duty to arrest him and to do so now, but at the same time he knew she could see the sense in his words. Hirst had to be the priority. Michael’s seventeen-yearold crime was a distraction the overstretched MIT One could do without right now.
‘After, then,’ Levy finally agreed, in a voice that said she would have preferred ‘never’. ‘But don’t think we’re not coming back to this, Michael.’
‘I don’t doubt it.’
‘You shouldn’t. Now finish the story. Because so far I can see why you’re a target. And Blunt. And maybe even Tina Barker. But not Derek Reid and Phillip Longman.’
Michael nodded and continued.
‘Tina gave her evidence perfectly. To be honest, I think by the time I had finished with her in that room I’d managed to convince her that what she was about to say was true. That she really had seen the tattoo. Because she was flawless. Derek and Longman, though? They both knew better.
‘Obviously Tina had made no mention of the tattoo in her original statement. Or anywhere else. Otherwise I wouldn’t have needed to step in. So when she said it in her evidence almost everyone was shocked. Derek. Longman. And most definitely Hirst. I kept my eyes to the floor and tried hard not to react at all. Too hard, as it turns out. Because I was noticed.
‘As soon as Tina’s evidence ended, Derek asked for a short adjournment. Longman granted it. And as we stood to leave the court – after the jury had been taken out – Hirst started to go crazy behind the glass. Started demanding that we came straight down to see him in the cells, to go over what had just happened. He was screaming and shouting at Blunt, too. Accusing him of nobbling the witness. Of fitting him up. But Derek ignored him. Instead he took me by the arm and practically ran me out of the courtroom.
‘We ended up in an interview room across the way. Just the two of us. And Derek told me then that he knew what I’d done. He said he’d been watching me throughout the trial. That he’d seen my feelings towards Hirst go from distaste to disgust and all the way through to hatred. Derek could tell how desperate I was for Hirst to be convicted. And yet I didn’t respond at all when evidence suddenly emerged that could achieve what I so badly wanted. Evidence that could convict Hirst. It was at that moment that I realised for the first time just how much smarter than me Derek really was. He was a million miles ahead. And he knew without question that I’d been involved in the new evidence.’
‘What did he do?’ Sarah asked.
‘He bawled me out. Just like you’d expect. He called me one of the most unprofessional, stupid sons-of-bitches under the sun. And he was
right. I had no place doing what I did. No place at all.’
Michael felt his voice begin to break as he remembered Derek’s fury in that moment, guilt and regret threatening to overwhelm him.
‘It’s OK, Michael.’ Sarah placed her hand on top of Michael’s as she spoke.
Michael stood up, taking his hand away. He was not ready for Sarah’s touch. For anyone’s. Not with the thought of Derek Reid at the very forefront of his mind.
He moved away, back towards the whiskey bottle that had noticeably diminished in the past thirty minutes. He half-filled his glass and sat back down.
‘Derek bawled me out,’ Michael repeated. ‘But when he was done he covered my arse. He didn’t have to do that for me – he barely knew me back then – but he did it.’
‘How?’ Levy asked. ‘What did he do?’
‘It was what he didn’t do,’ Michael replied. ‘He didn’t cross-examine Tina on the tattoo. Didn’t even mention it. He just acted like she had never said it.’
‘Why?’ Sarah could not understand. ‘Surely he had to challenge it?’
‘I guess he felt he couldn’t risk it. Tina was a kid, so the chances are she would have opened up about our conversation if cross-examined at all. Which would have cost me my career and God knows how long in prison, for perverting the course of justice. Derek decided to protect me, and so he said nothing.’
‘How did Hirst take that?’ Levy again. ‘The only witness against him adds a killer piece of evidence out of nowhere, and his barrister just leaves it? Hirst was no fool. How’d he react?’
‘He was apoplectic. By the time we got to the custody suite at the end of the day he was already confined to his cell. The security staff wouldn’t let him out to see us in the normal way; it had taken seven of them just to get him into his cell in the first place, so no way were they letting him out. Which meant we only got to see him through the wicket in his cell door.’
‘And what did he say?’
‘He accused Derek of doing exactly what I’d done. Said he was in cahoots with the police and the CPS and the judge. Everyone, basically. And he threatened him, said that they were all going to pay.’