by Neil Wild
Lappin sat down and turned round in her seat again.
“I expect that he has been offered something today that is paying better. The excuse is that his clerk has double booked him, and really this is not so serious a matter that he is required.” she said sarcastically.
Evans looking worried, came back and took his seat.
Two more young barristers came in with Counsel’s notebooks in hand and sat on the bench to the side of Lappin. Their wigs looked very new. They were followed by the two female members of the C.P.S. who sat on the far end of the long table.
“Oh by the way, Jonny, the fat, dark one is Enid Crawford, your opponent.” volunteered Lappin.
“The Court will rise.” cried the Usher as the Judge entered. The bowing ritual over, the Judge sat down, took out a pen and opened his book.
“Mr Evans, I understand that you have an application?”
“Yes, My Lord. I very much regret that due to an error in the office of those instructing me, the three witnesses requested by my friend were not warned to attend today, and consequently are not here.” he said lamely. “However, I can assure Your Lordship that efforts have been made to contact them. The present position is that Mr. Black, the expert prosecution witness and Mr .Dover have been contacted and are on their way. Mr. Baines has not yet been contacted. I would therefore ask that this matter be put back for two hours to give the witnesses time to arrive.” He sat down.
“Mr. Evans” said the Judge, and Evans was obliged to rise to his feet again. “Correct me but Miss Lappin will need to make her opening submissions before any witnesses are called.” He looked at Lappin who nodded. “I would have thought that this may allow these witnesses time to come to the Court.”
“My Lord, I was going to make application that Mr. Black be allowed to be in Court during Miss Lappin’s opening, so that he might be aware of the case against him, if I may so describe the Defence.”
Lappin flew to her feet.
“With all due respect to my Learned Friend, that is outrageous. This is a criminal trial, not a civil dispute, and all witnesses must be outside the Court before they give evidence.”
The Judge nodded in agreement.
Evans was not about to give up. “But this is an expert witness, not a witness as to fact. He is here to assist the Court and in my respectful submission he should be allowed to be forewarned of, and be able to consider any challenges to his professional opinions.”
Lappin who had sat down while he spoke, started to rise to her feet, but the Judge waived her down.
“Mr Evans, I am afraid that I cannot accede to this unusual request. The Prosecution have been aware of what the Defendant says about Mr. Black’s evidence….”
“We only received my learned friends skeleton argument by fax last Thursday..”
“Pray do not interrupt me Mr. Evans. I was referring to the letter sent by those who instruct Miss Lappin many weeks ago, and which is at the beginning of the Defendant’s bundle of documents. I presume a copy was provided to Mr. Black.”
“May I take instructions, My Lord?”
“By all means.” The Judge sat back in his chair with a half amused look on his face. Lappin turned round and raised an eyebrow.
Evans had a whispered conversation with Enid Crawford. He drew back from the conversation with a deep breath.
“May it please Your Lordship, I regret to say that. due to an oversight Mr. Black has not seen that letter?” he said.
“Miss Lappin.”
“My Lord?”
“I am conscious that this case has been hanging over your client’s head for some time now. On the other hand it does seem to me that if Mr. Black is made aware of the allegations against him, then your examination of him may be quicker and more effective, because he will have had time to prepare his responses.”
“My Lord.”
“Mr. Evans, what I propose to do is to start this case. Those sitting behind you should be prepared to meet Mr. Black as soon as he arrives; furnish him with a copy of Miss Lappin’s Instructing Solicitors letter and her skeleton argument, and find somewhere where he can sit quietly to consider all that is said. If he has not prepared himself by the time that he is needed in the witness box, then I will consider an application for a short adjournment at that stage, but it must be a short adjournment.”
“Very good, My Lord.” said Evans and turned round to Crawford, who nodded. The other lady collected copies of the two documents and left the Court room.
“Yes, Mr. Evans?”
“May it please your Lordship and as Your Lordship is aware I act for the Prosecution in this matter and my learned friend Miss Lappin acts for the Defendant Newberry. The facts of this case are that…”
“Mr Evans I hate to interrupt you. You were not at last week’s hearing, but I have read the statement of case prepared by yourself, Mr Edwards-Mitchell and Mr. Luke, although I observe that neither of those are here. In the light of that, and of course having read the letter I have referred to, the witness statements, and Miss Lappin’s skeleton argument I think that I have a good grasp of this case. As I understand it the thrust of this application is simply that the expert evidence submitted by the Prosecution is so unreliable as to not constitute a prima facie case. Is that correct.”
“My Lord, as I understand it, yes.” Conceded Evans.
“In those circumstances unless there are any other matters you wish to bring to my attention, may we take it that the statement of case stands in this matter.”
Evans was experienced enough to be able to guage which way the Judge was leaning, and not to upset him by unnecessary argument.
“May I take instructions, My Lord?”
“Certainly.”
Evans turned to have a stage whispered conversation with Crawford. “You have heard what the Judge has said, is there anything you want me to do.” The buck was being passed.
Crawford shook her head.
“There are no other matters at this stage, My Lord.”
“Then Miss Lappin, perhaps you would care to begin.”
Lappin rose to her feet. Suddenly the electronic sound of a South American tune filled the Court.
Brakespeare clutched at the pocket where his mobile phone was. He pulled it out and fumbled with the buttons to try and switch it off.
Lappin turned to him furiously. “If you don’t know how to turn it off, get outside.” and turning back to the Judge. “My Lord I do apologise. It appears that my Instructing Solicitor has forgotten to switch his mobile telephone off.”
“Or hasn’t learned how to.” replied the Judge, smiling.
The phone was still ringing still as Brakespeare rushed into the foyer. On the screen was a number he recognised.
“Hello boyo.”
“How did you get this number Joe.”
“I rang your office to leave a message for you and they told me your number – but only after I told ‘em that I was helping you with the case.” Gargan’s belly laugh rang out from the phone. “I knew you were in Court ,and that’s why I rang to leave a message. I thought that I would get the answerphone on this mobile.”
“Voicemail.” Corrected Brakespeare.
“Well either way, I thought that you should know that we got the warrant last Friday, and we went in National’s solicitors offices on the dot at nine o’clock this morning. Talk about shit hitting the fan. Your friend Masters has rung everyone except the Prime Minister to find out what’s going on. I reckon your man Black will know what’s going on.”
“He hasn’t turned up, yet.”
“Well there’s a surprise. Anyway I thought that you might like to know.”
“Thanks Joe.”
“Let me know how you get on. You may owe me a drink.”
Brakespeare carefully switched the telephone off before entering the room. As he did so he noticed the lady from the C.P.S. sitting waiting, papers in hand for Black to arrive. He crept back into the Court room. Rosemary Lappin was in full flow. Lis
a turned round as he approached the defence table and raised an eyebrow. He walked behind her chair to whisper in her ear.
“The Police have moved into the solicitors office. The alarm bells are ringing.”
He resumed his seat quietly. Newberry looked at him enquiringly. Brakespeare simply shook his head.
“……and that is the brief background to this case. Quite simply law this.“ Lappin picked up her copy of Archbold’s Criminal Pleading. “ and I refer to section 6 subsection 1 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987. The Judge shall dismiss the charge if it appears that the evidence against the applicant would not be sufficient for a jury to properly convict him.
Your Lordship will have noted that the conspiracy charge has been amended by the Prosecution. The original allegation that the Defendant; the applicant in this case, was in some way connected with Clearfield Limited has been dropped. In it’s place we now have an allegation that the Defendant conspired, and I quote ‘that stage payments would be authorised in respect of developments that at the time that the said stage payment was authorised were nit then properly due to be paid.’
My Lord in my respectful submission there is not one iota of evidence to support that in the 6 feet high pile of papers in this case. It is not of course for the Defence to prove a negative, but for the Prosecution to prove their case. I shall therefore be expecting my learned friend Mr. Evans in due course to identify to Your Lordship and the Court what evidence, if any, he relies on, in relation to the stage payments, and I therefore reserve the right to address Your Lordship on this point at a later stage.”
The Judge nodded.
“As far as the main part of the charge; the alleged conspiracy that the Defendant would, and again I quote, ‘ensure’ that the National Bank, or Building Society as it was then, accept properties as security, which, if I may paraphrase, were overvalued, then again, there is absolutely no evidence to support this. What evidence there is, is from the two surveyor colleagues of the Defendant, Messrs. Dover and Baines, who again to paraphrase, say that they were not at any time pressured by the Defendant in any way over their valuations which form the majority of those in this case.”
“This is why you’ve called them, to confirm this?” interrupted the Judge.
“My Lord, yes, and of course for Your Lordship to see them and form a view of them and their veracity.”
The Judge laughed. “I am sure that I don’t need to see them to make a judgement on that. They are after all Chartered Surveyors!”
“Indeed My Lord, but in the absence of any concrete evidence against the Defendant, I would not want the Prosecution to imply that these gentlemen in any way contributed to the alleged conspiracy.”
“Very Good.”
“That, My Lord leads us to what is the only tangible evidence in this case, and that is the evidence of Mr. Black on whom the Prosecution rely. What we say are two things. Firstly that his valuations are palpably inconsistent and unreliable and secondly, that while he was employed by the National Bank strictly as an independent valuer, in fact he compromised his position by seeking to find buyers for various properties.”
“You mean that his valuations might have been influenced by his desire to earn commission on a sale.”
“Precisely so My Lord. This may explain why, as I hope to show, his valuations fluctuated more than one might reasonably expect.”
She turned round and whispered out of the side of her mouth “He’s grasped the point already”
She turned back to the Judge. “Does Your Lordship have the bundle of documents prepared by the Defence in this case.”
The Judge held up Lisa’s bundle.
“That is the one My Lord. If I may I will take Your Lordship through it.”
“I have read it.”
“I am obliged for Your Lordship’s assistance on that point. For the record in these proceedings, I will simply draw Your Lordship’s attention to what the various charts and graphs demonstrate. They are analyses of both Mr. Black’s valuations and the extent to which the disputed valuations were carried out by the Defendant.”
The Judge turned to Evans.
“Is all this information agreed, Mr. Evans.”
He rose to his feet, nodded and mumbled “My Lord.”
For the next hour Lappin took the Judge through Lisa’s analyses, summarising the conclusion each one showed. The Judge continually nodded throughout, and made notes of her points.
“The results of all this were set out in my Instructing Solicitors letter to the C.P.S., so the Prosecution have now been aware for some weeks of these issues. No additional or rebuttal evidence has been served, nor can it be because, alas for him, Mr. Black’s valuations are set in concrete.”
“A slightly mixed metaphor, but I understand what you mean”, smiled the Judge.”
Lappin then took the Judge through the correspondence between Redshaw Linden and Steele and Skinners. The Judge appeared to be making copious notes.
“And that My Lord is the basis of this application.” She finally concluded.
“Thank you, Miss Lappin”, said the Judge, glancing at his watch. “Mr. Evans, it’s now almost midday. It would seem a suitable time to take a break, and perhaps you could make enquiries as to whether your witnesses are here. We will resume in 15 minutes, at 12.15.”
“The Court will rise”. The Usher invoked the adjournment procedure.
chapter forty eight
“I’m going for a coffee and a cigarette.” announced Lappin. “Perhaps you would take Mr. Newberry to the public café? We’ll see where we are at a quarter past twelve.”
She pulled her robe round her and left the Court, talking to Evans.
Kate came over. “She ain’t half good, ain’t she.”
“That’s why we haven’t got Mr. Breezie here today.” said Brakespeare dismissively “Come on, let’s go to the café.”
They walked out into the foyer.
“That must be him” said Lisa.
The two ladies from the C.P.S. were talking vigorously to a plump, dark haired man with black rimmed spectacles and a bulging briefcase. He seemed agitated and kept shaking his head.
“Doesn’t look the picture of confidence.” Said Brakespeare.
“Bastard”. was Newberry’s only contribution.
The public area of the café was greasy and crowded.
“I’ll buy this round.” said Newberry and queued for their orders, while the other three managed to secure a table.
Brakespeare could tell that Lisa wanted to find out more from him about the telephone call, but Kate maintained a constant stream of banal chatter, even after Newberry returned. The four of them sat at the table, each with their own thoughts as Kate offered her views of the morning’s proceedings, while hugging Newberry’s arm. Brakespeare occasionally caught Lisa’s eye to confirm that she was as unimpressed as he was. Newberry however seemed to be totally smitten by his paramour.
Brakespeare glanced at his watch with relief as it showed thirteen minutes past twelve.
He was just about to usher the others back to the Court, when suddenly Lappin burst into the café.
“Jonny.” she called across the room in an urgent voice.
Brakespeare jumped up from the table and followed her outside.
“They’re throwing the towel in.” she announced.
“They’re what.”
“Black is not happy to go into the witness box. Apparently he is now saying that his remit from the National was to value the properties as assets, and not as security for mortgages, and therefore comparing his valuations with Newberry’s is not to compare like with like – just as you said, Jonny.”
“But in his statement he has said….”
“I know. He had specifically said that Newberry’s valuations were wrong.” She shrugged her shoulders. “He has also said, again as you pointed out, and it was going to be one of my lines of cross examination, that he only carried out pavement inspections of the properties and never went
inside; therefore they were not proper valuations. I can only assume that similar to St. Paul he has seen the light on the road to the witness box. ”
Brakespeare wanted to say a lot. Instead he tried to look a picture of innocence. He could see that Lappin was looking closely at him.
Fortunately for him, at this moment, Lisa led Newberry and Kate out of the café.
“It’s all over, David.” Said Brakespeare.
Newberry went pale. “What do you mean, ‘it’s all over?”
It was Lappin who replied. “Mr. Black has agreed that he is in no position to challenge your valuations. The Prosecution are going to consent to the charges being dropped.”
Lisa gasped and clutched Brakespeare’s arm. She looked up at him, and he twitched an eyebrow.
Newberry was silent for a moment. “Thanks Jonny, thanks Miss Lappin.” was all he said.
Kate let out a screech and jumped at Newberry, wrapping herself round him with both arms and legs and causing him to nearly overbalance in the process.
“Let’s get back to the Court.” suggested Lappin with distaste.
She led the way down the stairs with Brakespeare on one side of her and Lisa on the other.
“You know it’s very strange. Andy Evans says that they had a conference with Black just over a week ago before the directions hearing. He was apparently very bullish and confident. It’s almost as if something has happened.”
She suddenly stopped and gave Brakespeare an old fashioned look. “This is nothing to do you with you, Jonny, is it.”
Brakespeare smiled. “Miss Lappin, even if it was, do you think I’d tell you?”
Lappin looked at Lisa, who struggled to look a picture of innocence.
“I see” she said, and proceeded to lead them back into Court.
In the foyer there was no sign of Black; the two C.P.S. ladies were sitting in Court looking dejected. Crawford looked up, caught Brakespeare’s eye and smiled ruefully.
Once in his seat, Newberry could not sit still. He fidgeted continually and Brakespeare had to tell him to stop tapping his feet.
“The Court will rise.” The Usher re-instituted the proceedings.