‘I think Barnes was abducted outside the pub.’
‘And the blonde woman, where does she fit in?’
‘We always thought that Wade had help getting away from the hospital after he escaped. Maybe he’s still getting help. What if this blonde woman distracted Barnes so that Wade could snatch him up?’
‘Do you honestly think Wade would stay in this area? My money’s on him being long gone from here. I reckon he’s well out of this country by now.’
Rachel shook her head. ‘I think you’re wrong. My gut instinct’s telling me that Jimmy Wade’s still here. He’s still around, still playing his deadly games.’
45
26 June 1986
Tall Trees Children’s Home, Bilsthorpe, Nottinghamshire
The four Special Operations Unit vans rumbled down the long lane, towards the Tall Trees Children’s Home. In convoy behind them came two plain cars occupied by the detectives tasked with arresting Caroline and Bill Short.
Sitting in the rear of the first SOU Transit van was Brian Hopkirk. He’d briefed the men of the SOU earlier and had informed the sergeants in charge that he would be accompanying them during the search of the property and vehicles found within the grounds of Tall Trees.
The four Transit vans pulled up at their pre-allocated points within the grounds. At the same time, the two CID cars pulled up outside the small, three-bedroomed detached house that was the home of Caroline and Bill Short.
The van that Brian Hopkirk was travelling in pulled up directly outside the Shorts’ residence. As soon as the vehicle lurched to a stop, the men inside got out of the vehicle and surrounded the house.
The detectives from the MCIU also got out of their vehicles and made their way to the front door.
At exactly six thirty, Rob Buxton and Andy Wills stood to one side of the front door and gave the signal for two officers from the Special Operations Unit to force entry. Armed with a Misuse of Drugs Act warrant, entry was forced to prevent the loss or destruction of evidence. As soon as the front door was smashed open by the solid metal Enforcer door opener, other officers from the SOU streamed into the premises.
Within just a few seconds, the house was secure. The sergeant in charge of the forced entry invited Rob and Andy to enter the house. They were accompanied by DC Fran Jefferies and DC Nigel Singleton. Fran Jefferies made her way into the master bedroom of the house, where Caroline Short was sitting on the bed, wearing a dressing gown.
Rob Buxton stood beside Fran Jefferies and said, ‘Caroline Short, I’m arresting you on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs. I have a warrant to search the property. This is Detective Constable Fran Jefferies. She’s going to stay with you while you get dressed; then you will be taken to Mansfield Police Station for questioning.’
Rob then cautioned Short, who said, ‘This is a bloody farce. I’ve never heard anything so blatantly ridiculous. I want to speak with my solicitor right now.’
Rob said, ‘Get dressed. A solicitor will be sorted out for you at the nick.’
Downstairs in the living room, Andy Wills repeated the same process with Bill Short.
Bill Short said nothing at all following his arrest.
Sitting on the settee, dressed only in his light blue pyjama bottoms and a dressing gown, he stared impassively across the living room.
As soon as Caroline had got dressed, she was handcuffed, brought downstairs and taken by Rob Buxton and Fran Jefferies out of the house. As she passed by the living room, she shouted at her husband, ‘Don’t say a word at the police station until your solicitor gets there. Understand?’
Bill said nothing and continued to stare straight ahead.
Nigel Singleton then accompanied Bill Short upstairs so he too could get dressed. Once dressed, Bill Short was also handcuffed and taken out of the house. He was conveyed to Mansfield Police Station by Andy Wills and Nigel Singleton.
As soon as the two prisoners had been removed from the house, the detailed search of Tall Trees Children’s Home began.
Brian Hopkirk spoke to the SOU sergeant in charge at the house. ‘Just secure the property for now. Don’t start the search until the drugs dog has been through the house.’
‘Okay, boss. What time’s the dog handler arriving?’
‘He’s come on duty early and will be here in about an hour’s time. There’s time for at least some of your blokes to get a quick brew. Task half of them to begin a rummage search of the grounds while the other half grab a quick brew, and then change them over. I’m going to see how C Section are getting on inside those garages. It’s vital we locate and secure the Ford Transit minibus that Caroline Short uses.’
The sergeant nodded and began instructing his men to grab a quick hot drink.
Brian then walked from the house to the two garages that had been identified earlier by Fran Jefferies. One of the garage doors was secured by a padlock.
The padlock was unceremoniously forced off the door by one of the men from C Section, who was wielding a heavy crowbar. The double doors were pulled open. Inside was a dark blue, wide-wheelbase Ford Transit minibus.
Brian immediately stooped down and looked at the rear tyres on the vehicle. The tyres were Goodyear Cargo UltraGrip. The size was 215/65. They were identical to the make of tyres that had left the tracks at Haywood Oaks Lane.
It would take a full forensic examination to match the tread patterns that had been left in the mud at the deposition site, so an identification was still some way off.
Brian grinned broadly and turned to the SOU sergeant. ‘Sergeant Turner, I’m happy that this is the van. The tyres are right, and they’re still covered in mud. Can you contact the vehicle examiners who are on standby at Mansfield Police Station to attend with a full lift? I’ll contact Scenes of Crime and let them know that we’ve got the vehicle we were after, and we’ll be bringing it into the forensic bay at headquarters.’
‘No problem, boss. I’ll get onto the control room and get the examiners to attend ASAP.’
‘As soon as the Transit’s been removed, I want this garage and the one next door turned upside down, okay?’
‘You’ve got it, boss.’
Brian walked back around to the small, three-bedroomed house where he sought out Sergeant Archer of A Section. He found the SOU supervisor standing outside the front door of the house.
As he approached the sergeant, he said, ‘Good news. The minibus we were looking for is in one of the garages. Have your lads recovered anything from the gardens and grounds yet?’
‘Nothing yet, boss. We need that drugs dog here as soon as possible; then we can crack on with a proper search. You might as well get yourself a coffee off the van. You know where everything is.’
‘Why not? We can’t do anything until Lassie gets here!’
Half an hour later, the Dog Section van could be seen being driven slowly along the same lane the four white SOU vans had travelled down earlier.
The Dog Section van pulled up outside the house.
Waiting eagerly outside the open front door of the property were Brian Hopkirk and Sergeant Archer. The dog handler got out of the vehicle, walked over to the two men, and said, ‘PC Terry Jamieson, boss. Where do you want me to start?’
Brian replied, ‘I need your dog to do a sweep of the house first and foremost. I’ve held off the search team to wait for you so we didn’t confuse the issue, but time is getting on, and we need to get cracking.’
‘That’s great, boss. It does make my life easier if every Tom, Dick and Harry hasn’t been crawling all over the scene.’
PC Jamieson walked back to his van and retrieved a beautiful liver-and-white springer spaniel from the rear compartment.
He slipped a lead on the excitable dog, made a fuss of her, and said, ‘Come on then, Jess, go seek.’
Hearing those particular words, the dog knew she was now working, and her tail began to wag furiously.
The dog handler walked into the house, followed by Sergeant Arc
her.
The SOU sergeant would make a note of any items that caused an indication from the dog. If the dog identified a general area, then that area would be searched thoroughly later by men from A Section.
Bending down at the side of his dog, Terry Jamieson said, ‘Go seek.’
Almost immediately the dog began to show a classic indication sign over a small leather grip bag that was on the floor of the hallway.
The dog froze in front of the grip bag, lay down and began staring at the bag. She briefly looked up at her handler before staring at the bag again. The handler pointed to the grip bag and said, ‘Can you do the honours, Sarge? I’m not wearing gloves.’
Sergeant Archer, who was wearing gloves, unzipped the bag and looked inside. ‘It’s empty, Terry.’
‘From Jess’s reaction, that bag, at some time, has contained drugs. It will need to be seized for a full forensic examination.’
‘Got it.’
Systematically, the dog handler allowed Jess to go through the house until every room had been searched. The springer only made one other positive indication, and that was towards a shoebox hidden beneath clothing at the rear of a wardrobe in the master bedroom. Again, the little dog displayed the classic freeze indication.
‘The same with this shoebox, Sarge. It must have contained drugs at some time.’
‘Okay, Terry, we’ll seize that too.’
Another twenty minutes had passed before the search was completed and Terry Jamieson had put Jess back into the back of his van. The handler turned to Brian Hopkirk and said, ‘Sorry we haven’t found any drugs, boss. The dog has given a strong indication towards a grip bag and an empty shoebox. I would be surprised if there aren’t traces of drugs in both of those. Good luck with the rest of the search.’
‘The Ford Transit minibus has just been removed from the garages by the vehicle examiners. Would the dog be okay to have a quick check of the garages before the lads start a physical search?’
‘I’ll put her through them, sir, but she’s getting tired, and there’s a possibility she could miss something.’
Sergeant Archer said, ‘Sergeant Turner and his team will be searching it anyway. The dog might give them an indication of where they should concentrate their efforts.’
‘No problem. I’ll get her out again and put her through. As you say, there’s nothing to lose.’
The handler got the dog out of the van again, then made his way around to the garages.
Ten minutes later he returned and said, ‘Sorry, sir, there were no obvious indications. If I’m being brutally honest, the dog wasn’t interested. It will need a proper search by the SOU lads.’
‘Okay, Terry, no problem. Thanks for trying, anyway. You need to get yourself off home for some sleep. Thanks for coming back into work.’
‘Cheers, boss. I’m back on at five o’clock tonight, and I’m ready for a kip.’
It took another two hours before the search teams from the Special Operations Unit were satisfied that the search of Tall Trees Children’s Home was completed.
Sergeant Archer and Sergeant Turner sat in one of the SOU vans, talking to Brian Hopkirk.
Sergeant Archer said, ‘Right, boss. Disappointingly, we haven’t recovered any drugs or drug paraphernalia. What we have recovered are several items that may prove useful. We’ve recovered Caroline Short’s address book. On a page at the back of this book, there is a list of numbers. Each of these numbers is prefixed by two initials. It could be her punters list, but it will need some work to identify them. The empty shoebox and the grip bag that the drugs dog went bananas over. A pair of size 5, green-coloured wellington boots that are covered in mud. Your briefing mentioned shoes or boots that were covered in mud that could possibly be linked to the deposition site. This is the only dirty footwear we’ve found in the house. There’s also documentation and bank statements for a NatWest Bank account in Caroline Short’s name. Finally, we’ve recovered the keys for the Ford Transit. They’re on a large bunch of keys. All the other keys fit the property and buildings here except for one that looks like it’s the key for a padlock. We haven’t found any such padlock here, boss.’
‘Okay. Have they all been bagged up and labelled correctly?’
‘Of course, sir.’
‘Good work. I know your teams were hanging around a bit this morning, but it couldn’t be helped.’
Sergeant Turner said, ‘It’s just a bloody shame we didn’t find any drugs.’
‘If it ain’t here, you can’t find it, can you?’
‘Very true.’
‘I need you to drop me off back at Mansfield on your way through to headquarters.’
‘That’s fine, sir. We’ve got to drop off all the exhibits into your property store, or wherever your interview teams want them. The lads who recovered them will also need to do their statements.’
46
26 June 1986
Mansfield Police Station, Nottinghamshire
‘It’s been a bloody nightmare, Danny. The first thing Caroline Short did was demand to have her solicitor present for all interviews.’
‘Who’s her solicitor?’
‘She’s got that supercilious idiot Grenville Slater, from Hooper and Billings in Derby.’
‘So am I correct in thinking that both Caroline and Bill Short have answered “no comment” to all of your questions?’
‘As there was a possible conflict of interest, Bill Short’s got Eric Buckle acting as his solicitor. Bill hasn’t even bothered to answer “no comment”. He just sits staring at the wall, ignoring everyone. Caroline’s answered with “no comment” to every single question.’
‘Good, that’s excellent.’
‘How can it be good?’
‘Listen, the object of the exercise today was to get them in custody on legitimate grounds so we could search the property and recover the Ford Transit. Have we done that?’
‘Yes, we’ve done that, but wouldn’t it have been better to at least have found some drugs so we could have charged them and gone for a remand in custody?’
‘I don’t want any of you to take your eye off the ball here. We’re investigating these two for being involved with a paedophile ring, drug supply and the murder of an eleven-year-old child. Let’s try to use the situation to our advantage. Ask Brian to come in, will you?’
Rob stuck his head out of the office. ‘Brian, you’re wanted in here a minute!’
Brian walked in and said, ‘Everything okay, sir?’
Danny asked, ‘Brian, how confident are you that the van we’ve recovered today will subsequently be identified as the vehicle that left the tyre marks at Haywood Oaks Lane.’
‘The tyres are certainly the right make, and they’re still covered in mud, so we may get a match from the soil samples as well as the tread patterns.’
‘That’s great. What else have we recovered from the search of the Shorts’ house?’
‘A pair of size 5 wellington boots, which are also covered in mud. Again, there’s a chance we could get lucky and forensics are able to match the mud on the boots to the deposition site.’
‘Okay, that’s good. I don’t want the recovery of these boots to be mentioned to either Caroline or Bill at this stage.’
‘Okay, boss.’
‘What else?’
‘Bank documents for a NatWest account, in Caroline Short’s name.’
‘Have we managed to get a financial investigation consent form signed by either of them?’
‘They’ve both refused to sign one.’
‘Well, we’ve got these documents for Caroline’s account, so if we need to get a court order to look into their bank details later, at least we’ve got a starting point. If we’ve got details of one account, we’ll be able to access any other linked accounts.’
Brian continued, ‘We’ve also recovered an interesting address book. On a page at the back, there’s a list of ten numbers. They look like telephone numbers. All the numbers are prefixed by two capital l
etters. I was thinking the letters could be initials. The problem is, when I’ve phoned the numbers, they all come back as “number not recognised”.’
‘Every single one?’
‘Yes, sir. I’m still convinced that they are phone numbers, though.’
‘I want you to stay with that address book. Get some advice and help from British Telecom. If they are phone numbers that have been deliberately jumbled up, they may be able to help you identify them.’
‘Okay.’
‘Was that it for the search?’
‘I’ve submitted the grip bag and the shoebox that the drugs dog indicated for forensic examination; the only other thing was the bunch of keys for the Transit. There’s a single padlock key on the bunch that isn’t accounted for.’
‘Good work, Brian.’
Danny then turned to Rob. ‘I want you to go downstairs and organise the interview teams to have one more interview with Caroline and Bill. After that interview, I want them released on bail pending the results of forensic examinations of the bag, the shoebox and the van. Make sure you tell the interview teams to make it clear to the Shorts that the reason we’re looking at the van forensically is to try to find traces of controlled drugs.’
‘Okay, I’ll get on it.’
‘Hang fire a second. I need to make a phone call.’
Danny picked up the telephone and spoke to the switchboard. ‘Could you put me through to Detective Chief Inspector Mattie Carlisle of the Regional Crime Squad, please?’
There was a delay, and then Danny said, ‘Hello, Mattie, Danny Flint. It’s been a long time, pal.’
The voice at the other end of the line said, ‘To what do I owe this pleasure? I haven’t seen you in years. I hear you’re in charge of this new Major Crime Unit now. What do you want with the crime squad?’
‘It must be at least four years, Mattie. We need to get out for a beer and a catch-up soon. The reason I’m calling is because I need a huge favour. Are you very busy at the moment? I may have an urgent surveillance job that needs doing.’
A Cold Grave: A DCI Danny Flint Book Page 17