Dead Lucky

by Lee Wood

  Inside the court an official read out the charges before her honour Judge Nicola Hargreaves:

  1. That on the 7th of July 2018 at Pickstone High Street you drove a vehicle in such a manner as to cause the deaths of two people, namely Julie Ann Maynard and Sarah Rose Parks.

  2. That on the same date you left the scene of the accident, which is an offence under Section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

  After the charges had been read out, Kevin O’Connor entered his plea on both counts: “Not Guilty.”

  The prosecution barrister stood up to address the court and the jury.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Sebastian Cooper. I am the barrister for the prosecution and it is my job to show you the facts and the evidence that will prove beyond reasonable doubt it was, in fact, Mr Kevin O’Connor who was driving the Ford Kuga 4x4 on July 7th. He alone was the person responsible for the death of two young girls who were crossing the road when the defendant overtook a car that had stopped in front of him. And that, while on his phone, Mr O’Connor plowed into the two young women while driving at excessive speed and killed them instantly.

  “You will hear from a most reliable witness that after the incident Kevin O’Connor calmly and deliberately got out of his vehicle and walked away from the scene.

  “You will hear evidence that Mr O’Connor, the man in the dock, didn’t even bother to check and see if the two people he had just run over were alive or dead.

  “You will hear how, from a nearby road, he phoned a family member to come and collect him.

  “And how he was seen getting into the passenger side of a vehicle that was subsequently followed by a police car and found parked at his home.

  “You will be able to view CCTV footage from a camera covering the entrance to the area where Mr O’Connor lives that shows the vehicle involved left there at 2.13 p.m.

  “You will hear from the phone company that his mobile gave out a signal placing him in the area at the time of the crash.

  “And you will learn how he lied to the police about his whereabouts, claiming he was at home all day when in fact he was not.

  “Finally, when two police officers visited his home less than an hour after the accident, he was seen wearing the same clothes as the witness described.”

  The defence barrister Ursula Quinn took to the floor. “As my first witness, I would like to call my client Mr Kevin O’Connor. Now, Mr O’Connor, I would remind you that you are under oath, do you understand?”

  “Yes, I do. I take swearing on the bible very seriously.”

  “Fine. Now perhaps you can answer some questions for the jury to help them understand things clearly. First of all, the prosecution has told us you were driving the vehicle on that day. Can you tell us why they might have thought that?”

  “I’m not sure, but this is not the first time I have been mistaken for someone else. Two of my friends have told me in the past they saw me in Trentbridge when I was away on business in Birmingham. It seems there is a man who bears a striking resemblance to me. In fact, my doctor sent a letter to the police saying he has met the man and can confirm he looks like me.”

  “Now, there is a witness who says they saw you getting into the passenger seat of a vehicle on Lonsdale Road.”

  “Yes. That was me. I had gone out for a walk, and I tripped over and hurt my foot. So I phoned my wife to come and collect me, but I was walking towards the high street, not away from it.”

  “Is that why the phone company say your phone was operating in the area at that time.”

  “Yes. I assume it is. I understand the technology is not 100% so it cannot cover a location with pinpoint accuracy.”

  “Why did you say you had been home all day?”

  “Because I’m a traveller. The police are always hounding us, saying we are responsible for everything. I’m not like that. I run my own business, working six days a week to support my family. I don’t rely on state handouts. I’ve worked every day of my life since I was fourteen. A few of my kind give us all a bad name, but I’m not like them, the same way, not every Muslim is a terrorist. Romany gipsies are an ethnic minority and subject to the same prejudice as black people, through no fault of our own.”

  “So what you are telling the jury is that you were not on Pickstone High Street at the time of this accident. That you were not the driver of the 4x4.”

  “That’s right. It wasn’t me.”

  “And what about the witness who states they saw you on the day?”

  “As far as I am aware, the only place they have seen me is at the police station in a line-up. I don’t believe the other people stood out as much as me. They weren’t wearing the same clothes. I happened to be wearing a Manchester United t-shirt, and none of the other people in the line-up had one. I think that influenced the witness against me. I just know it wasn’t me.”

  “Thank you, Mr O’Connor.”

  When the selection had been made to approve the members of the jury, Ursula Quinn and her defence team had deliberately chosen people from ethnic minorities, including two Muslims, when the jury selection process had taken place and she had ‘prepped’ Kevin in the words to use to help win these jurors over.

  14

  The Prosecution Witness

  Finally, it was time for the prosecution to bring in their most powerful evidence. Their main witness, Will Gleeson.

  Sebastian Cooper got to his feet. “I call William Gleeson to the stand. Now, Mr Gleeson, can you tell us about the events of the afternoon of July seventh.”

  “Yes. I was out shopping on Pickstone High Street. I had just been to the shoe shop, and I was going to the newsagents to buy a magazine. As I walked along, I saw a white car stop at the crossing, and two girls begin to cross. As they did, a Ford Kuga 4x4 drove round the white car and knocked down the two girls. They were both flung across the road onto the pavement. The 4x4 then crashed into a lorry coming towards me on the other side of the road.”

  “Yes. It must have been a big shock. What happened next?”

  “Everyone was crowded round the two girls, and the lady driving the white car just sat in her vehicle. I think she was too traumatised to move. The lorry driver got out. He seemed to be okay. The driver of the 4x4 got out and walked away. I didn’t see where he went.”

  “I believe you got a good look at him and later gave that description to the first police officer on the scene.”

  “I gave a basic description of a man I saw. I assumed at the time that he was the driver. Looking back, I didn’t actually see him getting out of the vehicle.”

  “Eh, but you were there. You said in your statement he was the driver. You described him in detail.”

  “I thought at the time he was. And then the police called me in for an identity parade. I pointed out the man I thought I saw but having had time to think about it I’m not sure he was the man who got out of the 4x4. I saw someone looking like him there as I describe. He could have been someone just passing by, and I got confused. Also with the time I’ve had to think about the incident, I remember I had seen the gentleman the previous week. You see I have an extra part-time job as a security guard, and I was working at a local charity football match, and he needed assistance as he fell over and hurt his foot. I think I had to go and get medical assistance for him. So I’m not sure if that clouded my judgement when I saw him in the line-up at the police station later. I think he was probably wearing the same clothes as the previous week and so I picked him out when with hindsight I probably wasn’t one hundred per cent sure. I’m extremely sorry if I’ve caused a problem, but it wasn’t my intention.”

  Roger Maynard and his ex-wife had been watching from the public gallery. The police had assured Roger and Francis the witness was reliable and certain of his facts. It didn’t seem that way now.

  Ursula Quinn stood up to cross-examine the witness.

  “Mr Gleeson. Obviously it was a very traumatic day for you. There you are walking to a shop when suddenly this horrific scen
e takes place right in front of you. No warning, just a couple of seconds to react. I imagine had it been me I would have been horrified and just glued to the spot unable to move. You clearly saw the man you described at the time, but I need you to think very hard. A man’s liberty is at stake. Can you be absolutely certain the man you describe was the driver of the 4x4 Ford Kuga that caused the accident and knocked down those two unfortunate girls or do you think with hindsight you picked him out because you recalled seeing him the previous week at the charity football match as you describe? What I’m asking is, can you be certain the man standing before you is actually the same man you told the police you witnessed getting out of the vehicle?”

  The twelve members of the jury seemed to all be waiting with baited breath as Will Gleeson appeared to be searching his mind for the answer.

  Finally, after what seemed like minutes, he answered. “No. I cannot be one hundred per cent sure he was the driver.”

  It took the jury less than four hours before they were led back into the court.

  “Foreman of the jury, have you reached a decision?”

  “We have, your honour.”

  “Do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty?”

  “NOT guilty.”

  The courtroom erupted, with Kevin O’Connor’s family and friends hooting and hollering from the public gallery.

  The judge called for silence, and finally, the court was brought to order.

  “Kevin O’Connor. The jury have found you not guilty. You are free to go.”

  Roger drove Francis back to the house she now shared with her partner. Roger still had the packet of powerful sleeping tablets the doctors had left on the evening of their daughter’s death.

  As he left the house, Roger handed them over to his ex-wife.

  It had been three days since the jury had found Kevin O’Connor not guilty. Roger Maynard was still trying to come to terms with the verdict. All the things he had worked so hard to obtain didn’t seem important anymore.

  Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

  “Hello, Mr Maynard. We’ve come to say sorry we let you down in court.”

  “Please come in.”

  The caller was Detective Chief Inspector Eden Gold along with his partner DS Tracy Archer.

  For the next ten minutes, they discussed the situation and what had gone wrong in court.

  He didn’t say it directly, but the officer gave Roger the impression the witness had either been scared off or paid off. It was almost certainly the deciding factor in the jury’s decision.

  “We will be keeping an eye on the witness. It may be they’ll want to shut him up permanently, or at least make sure he stays scared, so he doesn’t change his mind.”

  As Roger showed the two detectives to the door, Eden turned and shook his hand.

  “Once again, I’m so sorry we let you down.”

  Roger went through to the kitchen and put on the kettle.

  With the cup of tea he had just made, Roger sat down in his favourite armchair and picked up a copy of the local newspaper to take his mind off everything. However, the headline he saw on the front page was a story that made his blood boil.

  15

  Taken Off The Driveway

  The headline on the front page of the Trentbridge Times read ‘Police powerless after stolen caravan found on Fen Road’. The article told how an elderly couple in their late sixties, having spent over thirty-six years working in the NHS, had found their caravan worth £30,000 stolen from their front driveway. Two weeks later, the police had found a traveller family living in it.

  Due to an oversight, it appeared the elderly couple didn’t have the caravan insured when it was taken.

  When the police interviewed them about it, the travellers claimed they had bought the vehicle from a man in a pub, and they produced a handwritten note simply saying ‘Received £3,000 cash for Swift Challenger 590 Caravan’. And with a rough signature of ‘J. Murphy’ at the bottom.

  One of them was claiming that he was using the caravan as his home. It was parked in the grounds between the Two Oaks Caravan Park and the house owned by Kevin O’Connor. And the traveller was his son Lennox.

  Mr & Mrs Bannister, who could prove the caravan belonged to them thought now it had been found the police would seize it and return it to them. However, they were in for a nasty shock. The police had told them they had ‘no lawful powers’ to take it back.

  They told the couple their only option was to begin expensive and time-consuming civil proceedings. But if the current occupant decided to move or sell the vehicle, then there was little hope of ever seeing it again.

  ‘The police had informed the Bannisters that it would breach the travellers’ human rights and that they would have to be rehoused before it could be seized. Even though it was on land attached to where the family lived in a five bedroomed house.

  Mr Bannister was quoted as telling the reporter, “We spent all our retirement money on that caravan because we thought it would last us a lifetime. We’re devastated. It seems as though no one cares about our human rights.”

  As he read the newspaper report, Roger couldn’t believe what he was reading.

  At the end of the article in a small box, it gave the name Ian Young, local crime reporter and an email address of ‘ianyoung@trentbridgetimes.co.uk’.

  Roger decided he would like to help Mr and Mrs Bannister but before he did he needed to get more facts on the situation. So he sent an email to the reporter telling him who he was and giving a vague idea of what he wanted to discuss and asking if they could meet. He received a reply within the hour and Ian said he was happy to meet and suggested the following day and asked where and when.

  The next day, Roger drove into town to keep his appointment with the reporter. Roger had invited him to lunch at the Pagoda restaurant at 1 p.m.

  After introductions were over and soft drinks had been ordered Roger asked Ian if he would be kind enough to give him the real facts on the story. He wanted to know was it true that the police seemed powerless to stop this sort of thing from happening.

  Over the next hour, Roger Maynard sat stunned as Ian told him in strict confidence all about Kevin O’Connor and his family and what they got up to. None of it could ever be printed because the police didn’t have the resources, or it seemed the will, to look into matters more deeply. And without evidence the police couldn’t act and the Trentbridge Times were unable to print anything for fear of being sued.

  16

  Anonymous Threats

  Besides the story that had been printed in the Trentbridge Times, the reporter told Roger about the other activities the O’Connor family was suspected of being involved with.

  “Look, Mr Maynard, the guy who did this job before me warned me about them. He and his family were threatened after he tried to expose them. He found a new job in Leicester to get away from them. I’m not married, and my family live miles away, and I’ve only been the reporter for two months, but in that time I’ve received a couple of anonymous threats that I know they were behind, but of course, I cannot prove anything.

  “There is circumstantial evidence the family control a network of criminal activity. We believe they are behind the theft of priceless artefacts from museums and they use intimidation and actual violence to get vulnerable men to undertake back-breaking work for them. These men are held prisoner in sheds at the back of some land behind the Two Oaks Caravan Park, but nobody seems to know who owns the land. They are forced to work long hours and undertake heavy manual labour for little or no money. There is also evidence Kevin O’Connor gets these men to claim benefits and then takes the money for himself. They are never allowed outside of the compound unless supervised by O’Connor or a member of his gang so the men can’t alert the authorities or tell anyone about their mistreatment. The work is hard and dirty with no protective clothing or eye goggles provided. They have to go round collecting scrap metal, clean or repair tools and car engines. The men are treated like do
gs.”

  Ian then went on to tell Roger that he was working on a story about O’Connor’s wife; a lady called Sadie who it appeared was running a puppy farm and advertising home-bred healthy puppies. Four people came forward to say they were unfortunate customers who had bought the puppies from her and were left counting a terrible cost. They had paid her up to £600 for Labrador puppies, but the animals had fallen ill, with one dying from highly contagious parvovirus.

  The newspaper was looking into the whole episode of Sadie who was intent on putting profit over animal welfare. A vet the newspaper had spoken to told them that the puppies were being removed from their mother far too early because it was easier to sell them before they stopped being cute.

  The reporter also mentioned how the only time Kevin had been convicted was when Trading Standards took him to court over shoddy building work and conning elderly people for work that hadn’t been undertaken. How he and his family members would drive them to their bank and get them to withdraw thousands of pounds in cash.

  According to a source Ian had spoken to, rumour had it the police also believed the family were behind a lot of other criminal activity, but the police didn’t seem willing to do anything about it. They seemed genuinely afraid of the family.

  There were rumours Kevin was the person responsible for a new synthetic illegal drug called Monkey dust. Also known as MDPV or Bath Salts.

  “We are seeing more and more reports of people harming themselves after taking the drug. You may have seen one or two articles we’ve already run and I’m sure you will be reading a lot more about it over the coming weeks. It leads to hallucinations, much like LSD and causes severe paranoia. For other users, it turns them into a zombie-like state. It also seems to give people superhuman strength. They lose all sense of pain. They think they are Superman. We are running a story this week of a guy who jumped off the roof of a house and landed on a car then just got up and walked away as if nothing had happened. An anonymous source of mine says the O’Connors are behind it. He tells me Tyson is selling it to dealers as he goes round the clubs.”