"Very well, Mr Compton," the judge was saying. "Read the affidavit, if you please."
"Thank you, my lord," said Compton. He held the sheaf of sheets up before him and, in a clear, carrying voice, began to read.
"My name is James Kieran Potten, and I am fifteen years and eight months old. I am the son of David and Annabel Potten, of Highwater Farm, Coopersfield Road, Oldacre, but because my parents are separated and getting divorced I am living with my headmaster and his wife, Dr and Mrs Lane, at the school house of Oldacre School, where I am a day pupil. They are very kind to me, treating me as if I were their own son, and I am very happy with them, much happier than I have been with my own parents for as long as I can remember.
I am making this statement in the presence of Mr Frank Hope-Thomson, solicitor. I have sworn an oath to tell the truth, and I am doing so voluntarily and willingly. I am of sound mind and memory.
I am homosexual. I discovered this entirely on my own, and have known it for several years. No one has ever tried to influence me in coming to this conclusion about myself. I fully understand what the word homosexual means, and what being homosexual myself involves. I have had occasional sexual relationships with other boys at school, but only with boys who were willing to share them. I have no interest in girls, and am attracted only to boys. None of my relationships with other boys has ever gone beyond masturbating with them, until the last few weeks.
At the time I write this I am the lover of a man, Christopher Rowe, of 9 Cross Oak Gardens, Oldacre, who has been charged with a criminal offence as a result of his affair with me. I have known him for about six months. We met by chance and became friends. When we first met I was very unhappy and lonely because of difficulties I was having with my parents, though these difficulties were nothing to do with my homosexuality, which my parents did not know about at the time. The difficulties were caused mainly by the fact that my parents' marriage was breaking up. They argued and fought constantly, and seemed to me to be coming to hate each other. They both seemed to have little time for me, and no affection for me. I felt that I was unloved, and often felt that in fact they disliked me as much as each other. I believe they both blamed me for being the cause of their breaking up, though I have since come to believe that this would have happened anyway, and that it cannot have been my fault.
I was unhappy at home and not very happy at school, where I found it very difficult to concentrate on work, because of the problems at home. I could not talk to anyone at school about it, though I now think I was wrong not to have gone to the headmaster, Dr Lane, who I am sure would have helped me. But since I did not realise this, I kept it bottled up, until I met Christopher Rowe.
From the first time we met I found I could talk to Christopher and tell him about my problems. He listened to what I said and understood how I felt. He was very sympathetic, and I found it a great comfort to have someone to listen.
One day about a month after we first met my parents had a particularly vicious fight. It started in the evening just after I had gone to bed. I could hear them screaming at each other for hours, and cried myself to sleep, which I did often. When I woke up the next morning it was still going on, or had started again, I do not know which. I was so upset by this that I could not face going to school, so I played truant and went to find Christopher. He did not have a job, as he was waiting to go to University in October of this year. He was upset to see me in the state I was in, and we walked for several hours in the country, while he listened to my troubles.
After walking for several miles we sat down in a spinney. I cried on Christopher's shoulder, and he put his arm round me. It seemed quite a natural thing to do, and I enjoyed it. This was the first time I felt strongly physically attracted to Christopher. Before I had felt this, but it was submerged by my main feeling towards him, which was emotional - I was deeply grateful to him for befriending me, and for just being a sympathetic friend who would let me talk to him without interrupting and try to give me advice about how to bear the troubles I had at home. But on the occasion I am describing I felt, for the first time, very strongly sexually attracted to him. I did nothing about it, because I was frightened that if I told him about it he might be disgusted or think I was sick. I thought that if he hated homosexual people like me he would never have anything more to do with me, and I could not bear the thought of losing my only friend. I never mentioned being aroused on this occasion, and as far as I know he never realised.
After that we began to meet more frequently - up till then we had met about once or twice a week, but after this time we met almost every evening, and I spent almost the whole of every weekend with him. He seemed to be very fond of me, and he never seemed to notice that I was only fifteen, while he was nineteen.
I was often very upset and distressed in those weeks, and Christopher sometimes put an arm round me to console me. But I also started putting mine round him, simply because I wanted to touch him. He never once touched me sexually, or mentioned it in words, though I wanted him to very much by this time. I decided to make my own feelings plain, and looked for a chance to do it in such a way that I could back away if he seemed to dislike it.
One Saturday we were out walking and got caught in a storm. We sheltered under some bushes in the woods off the Steeple Wynton road, and we had to huddle together to keep as dry as we could. I was sexually aroused, though I do not think Christopher realised it at the time. Later on the sun came out and it became very hot. I took off my shirt and trousers to hang them on the bushes to dry out, and Christopher saw that I was aroused then. I started to take his shirt off, but he stopped me. I thought at first that he was disgusted, but quickly saw that he was only frightened, though I do not know if it was from fear of being found or because he thought it would be wrong to undress with me.
I wanted him so badly that I decided to take the initiative, so I touched him sexually."
Compton lifted his eyes from the manuscript and commented "My lord, at this point the boy has inserted a caret mark and indicated a parenthesis on the back of this page of the statement. It reads, my lord, as follows:
"Mr Hope-Thomson has asked me to insert this after completing this statement. I broke off here and asked him if I had to say exactly what I did, and he told me that I had to. I would rather not have described it, because I feel it is very private. But he has told me that it is necessary if I am to help Christopher, so I am doing it willingly."
"That parenthesis is signed by the boy, my lord, and initialled by Mr Hope-Thomson." The judge, who had been following the statement attentively, nodded. "Go on, Mr Compton, please," he said.
"My lord, the next section of the statement is extremely sexually explicit. It is couched in - er, medical English, I suppose would be the nearest description. At least, it is in distinctly non-erotic terms. One may suspect that possibly the learned solicitor may have had some influence on that, though the boy clearly has a vocabulary and articulacy far beyond that of the average boy of his age. Does your lordship wish me to read this explicit section aloud in court, or would you prefer to read it silently in your own copy, my lord?"
"I think we're adult enough not to be prudish about a small amount of sexually explicit material, Mr Compton," said the judge, looking a little nettled.
"With respect, I wasn't suggesting that your lordship was likely to be shocked," said Compton. "I was thinking more about the sensibilities of the boy who wrote the document. He has stated in the preceding paragraphs that he felt some offence at the notion of making public something that he clearly regards as exceptionally intimate. I wonder if we might perhaps decently spare his feelings, my lord. I understand that he is in court, my lord."
"Oh," said the judge. He lifted his eyes to Jamie and gave him a hard, concentrated scrutiny. Jamie coloured, and squirmed uneasily under his gaze. After a few seconds the judge looked back to the barrister. "Yes. I see. Very well, Mr Compton, we'll pass over the next section. Will you indicate where you wish to continue reading from, please
?"
"Certainly, my lord. I'm very greatly obliged to your lordship. If you will read from page three of your copy, beginning of the second paragraph, to the end of the second paragraph of page five, my lord, I will continue from that point."
"Thank you," said the judge. There was a silence while he read the next section. "Very well, Mr Compton, please go on," he said after a minute or two, glancing up with distaste clearly written on his face.
"If your lordship pleases. The statement continues:
“Afterwards I asked Christopher if he had liked what we had done, and he said he had. He was blushing a lot, and seemed uncomfortable, but I could see that he had enjoyed it as much as I had. Later on we carried on walking for several hours, and after a time he told me we should not have done what we had done. I said there was nothing wrong with it, but he said that I was too young to do it with him. I said I had done it with others, but he said it was different with people at school with me. I did not say any more at the time, because it seemed to be distressing him, but I knew I wanted to do it again, and that he was the only person I was willing to do it with. I knew I had fallen in love with him.
After that day we did the same thing again many times, in various places, though we never went further than we had that time. I asked Christopher if he still thought we should not do this, but he said that if I was quite sure I wanted to he had decided that I was right, and there was nothing wrong in it.
I was in love with him, and I still am. I felt that it was perfectly proper for people who love each other to do what we did, and I wanted very much to go further, and in the end we did. In August, when we had known each other for about five months, I asked him to make love to me properly, and... "
"My lord," said Compton, breaking off once more, "there follows a further detailed account of further sexual activity between the boys, this time describing the full acts of copulation that are the subject of the charges in the case. May I make the same suggestion as before, for similar reasons, my lord?"
"Yes, Mr Compton. I see where you've reached. How far do I go this time?"
"To the end of the first paragraph on the final page, if you would, please, my lord." The judge nodded and silence fell again. "All right, Mr Compton. Finish reading the remainder, please," he grunted.
"Very good, my lord. That concludes the history of the boys' relationship. The final paragraphs constitute a statement of the boy Potten's views. They read:
“All the above account is true, and I have described it willingly. In all the time I have known Christopher Rowe he has never once done or said anything to force or persuade me to have any sexual contact with him whatsoever. I have made the first move every time anything has happened. The whole thing was at my instigation and without my forcing the issue I do not think we would have ever had sex at all.
I do not regret anything I have done with Christopher, because I love him, I know he loves me in return, and I think it is quite right for people who love each other to do everything we did. I did not know it was illegal to do what we did, and I do not believe Christopher knew either. If it is illegal I believe that the law is foolish and unjust. If we were not homosexuals it would not have been illegal, and I think it is grossly unfair that what is legal for others should be illegal for us, since we feel exactly the same things as they do."
"My lord," put in Compton, "the boy is of course wrong to say that these acts would have been legal for heterosexuals, since he is as yet still under sixteen..."
"I haven't forgotten quite all my law since my appointment to the bench, Mr Compton, though I'm aware that the bar think we take a course in forgetting as much as we can," interrupted the judge with a thin smile. "I can still, by a titanic effort of memory, just recall some of the provisions of the Act..." He let the sentence peter out. Compton bowed slightly. "Of course, my lord, I do apologise. Shall I continue?"
"Please do, Mr Compton."
"Thank you, my lord." Compton raised the statement once more. "My lord, he concludes as follows:
"This is a true account of all that has passed between us - the learned solicitor again there, I think, my lord - and statement of how I feel about Christopher Rowe. I most earnestly beg that the court take what I have said here into account when it considers Christopher's case, and I hereby plead for clemency. If he receives a heavy sentence it will ruin not just his life and those of his family, but also mine."
"My lord, that is the affidavit. It is dated a few days ago and signed James Kieran Potten. It is witnessed by a Mr Adrian Waller, who is employed by the learned solicitor as an articled clerk, and countersigned by the learned solicitor himself, Mr Frank Hope-Thomson.
"My lord, if I may be permitted to say so, I think this is a most material document. Apart from the cogency and articulacy with which it is written, I believe it exhibits a degree of self-awareness and a capacity for dispassionate self-analysis that is astounding in a boy of James Potten's tender years..."
"Really, Mr Compton, I don't like to interrupt you," said the judge gruffly, "but must we have cliches inflicted on us? Tender years' is a little more than I can stomach. You'll be talking about 'this day and age' next."
"I'm sorry, my lord, I'll try to avoid them," said Compton, looking very annoyed indeed. "However, I hope you won't hold my crass use of the language against my client.
"My lord, the younger boy in this case admits unequivocally that he was the initiator of every overt sexual act that ever took place between the two boys, and he pleads, most eloquently, I suggest, that in the context - in view, that is, of who they are - there was nothing morally reprehensible about what they got up to. My lord, I fully accept that the law must not be flouted, but I urge you most strongly to follow James Potten's plea in this matter and exercise the greatest degree of clemency possible in sentencing my client. I suggest to you, with the greatest respect, my lord, that there can never have been a case of this kind in which the mitigating circumstances were more clearly marked, more deserving of attention."
The judge made a discreet motion to Compton to pause, and shifted in his chair to flex the muscles of his back and shoulders, stiff from prolonged sitting bent forward to concentrate on the address. Compton stopped speaking and waited politely. "I should like to ask a question or two before you continue with your case, Mr Compton - including one or two which I wish to address to your client himself," the judge said at length. "Do you have any objection to that? I will, if you feel strongly about it, defer my questions until the end of your submission."
"No, I have no objections, my lord," said Compton. "Good," replied the judge. "Then, is the learned solicitor, Mr Hope-Thomson, in court?"
Hope-Thomson rose from his place in the well of the court and bowed slightly to the judge. "Here, my lord."
"Mr Hope-Thomson," said the judge, acknowledging the solicitor, "I'm inclined to agree with learned counsel, this boy's affidavit is a somewhat remarkable document, I wonder if you would object if I ask you a couple of questions."
"Not at all, my lord, of course," said Hope-Thomson.
"Very good. Please don't move. It will be perfectly acceptable for you to answer from the well," said the judge courteously. "Now, perhaps you will tell me, how much assistance did you give the boy in the writing of the statement we have just heard?"
"Very little, my lord," said Hope-Thomson promptly. "At the point where learned counsel indicated, I did, as he said, give a straightforward answer to a question. The boy had scruples about providing a clinical description of acts deeply personal, acts that seemed to him - as they would to anyone, of whatever sexual persuasion, I think - the very essence of privacy. They were also acts that flowed directly and essentially from the deepest of emotions, my lord. I advised him simply that it was unfortunate but that he would have to swallow his scruples and include this material. He accepted that advice at once and without protest."
"Was that all, Mr Hope-Thomson?"
"Not quite, my lord. On a couple of occasions he asked me to help
him with minor matters of phrasing. Learned counsel correctly diagnosed one such instance, and there were one or two other points. I should imagine that your lordship will have spotted the odd place in the statement where he uses terms which would not be within the purview of the layman. At such points, it may be taken that I gave the boy a hint as to the best term to employ. Conversely," he added, "there are places in the statement where the boy himself used legal or quasi-legal phrases, evidently imagining that they would be proper. In such cases I elected, on reflection, not to suggest to him that they should be deleted. I felt that the document should as far as possible be in his own words. But my entire contribution amounts to no more than a few superficial pieces of wording. The substance, and ninety-five per cent of the phrasing, is the boy's unaided work."
"Very well, Mr Hope-Thomson. One last question, if I may. Do you, personally, believe that everything the boy has included in that affidavit is the unvarnished truth?"
"Yes, my lord, I do," replied the solicitor simply, and at a nod of thanks from the judge he sat down.
The judge sat for half a minute in a profound silence, looking down at the papers in front of him in thought. Then;
"Christopher Rowe," he said quietly. Christopher took a deep breath and stood up in the dock.
"I shall ask you a few questions, Rowe. You have heard everything that has been said in your defence so far. Have you any comment to make about it yourself? To begin with, about the affidavit sworn by the boy James Potten?"
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