by Nigel Cooper
The man and woman across the room noticed and the woman said, ‘Are you ok?’ but Helen didn’t hear her, she was locked into the world on the computer screen. Then the man who owned the laptop re-entered the room with another man and noticed Helen sat at his laptop. Helen didn’t notice him, she was in her own world, or rather, Hell. She didn’t hear the laptop owner speaking to her, it was only when he slammed the laptop lid closed that Helen was returned to the room like somebody who’d just been snapped out of a psychic’s trance. She looked up at him, shocked.
‘What are you doing?’ said the man. Just then DC Dubois entered the room and walked over.
‘What’s going on?’ she said, noticing the state that Helen was in.
‘I had to pop out for a moment and when I got back this lady was looking at my laptop,’ said the man.
‘Oh no,’ said Dubois, knowing who the laptop owner was and also having a good idea what it was that Helen had just viewed.
‘Helen, let’s go,’ said Dubois, taking Helen by the elbow and helping her up. Helen, still in something of a surreal state of shock started to walk away with the in-ear headphones still in her ears, they popped out, but not before dragging the laptop close to the edge of the table first. Outside the room DC Dubois escorted Helen to a bench and sat her down. John spotted them and came to see what was going on.
‘What happened?’ he said. DC Dubois didn’t answer; she didn’t know for sure what Helen had seen on Father Stanton’s solicitor’s laptop so she just sat next to her, trying to comfort her.
‘Honey, what happened, what’s wrong,’ he repeated.
Helen’s hands were trembling, her red eyes fixed on the middle distance. Her breathing was still erratic and shallow, but she managed to say a few trembly words.
‘I saw … I saw what he did … screams … my boys … screaming and crying.’
Dubois’s suspicions were right, she now knew without a doubt that Helen had seen some of the evidence, a clip of the footage that Stanton had recorded during her boys’ 12-month ordeal.
‘I’ll never forget it, I’ll never be able to get that sound out of my head … the screams, the sound of crying,’ she said, as she started to tremble and shake more violently, the choking coming back as her throat started to close up. The emotional effects on her body were too much. John put his arm around her and tried his hardest to console her.
Dubois noticed Stanton’s solicitor exit the room with his colleague – laptop case in one hand, briefcase in the other, as he headed into the court.
Stanton’s solicitor and his colleague, the prosecution and several other court staff had been in the main court discussing the legal points of the case, with no jury present, for about an hour when things started to make some abrupt turns, to Father Stanton’s advantage, incredibly.
The prosecution had discussed their side and had presented their evidence. Then came the turn of Stanton’s solicitor, who was shrewder than he looked and had a trick or three up his sleeve. He’d studied the evidence carefully, very carefully: Stanton’s confession, the interview, the forensics evidence and he’d spotted some flaws, flaws that, with a huge helping of luck, could get Stanton off the hook. He wasn’t totally convinced, but it was worth a try.
‘Your worship, based on my extensive research into my client's case it would appear that there is no case to answer here,’ he said. Two of the prosecution guys had to contain themselves from falling about the floor laughing, and even the judge raised his eyebrows in surprise.
‘Oh! How so?’ said the judge,’ almost as perplexed as the prosecution.
‘Your worship, please bear with me,’ he said, as he thumbed through some papers, ‘Well, the arresting officer didn’t caution my client, and, the two detectives who interviewed him also neglected to caution him. With this in mind, your worship, his confession should be excluded from the case as it’s inadmissible.’
The judge looked at the prosecution, who in turn looked at each other.
‘It’s all right here, your worship, in the transcript of the interview,’ said Stanton’s solicitor, handing it to the judge, who took a moment to study it.
‘I’m not totally convinced about this, and anyway there’s more than enough forensic evidence for this case to proceed, I’d hardly say that there was no case to answer,’ said the judge.
‘On the contrary, your worship. The prosecution have also failed to disclose the cross-contamination issues,’ he said.
Oops, the two prosecution guys looked at each other.
‘I’m all ears?’ said the judge.
‘Your worship, the private lab that carried out the forensics testing on the evidence, the blood-soaked clothes, and the DNA, well, it turns out that there was something of an accident at the lab, a minor explosion, nothing too serious, but enough that if the cross-contamination issues came to light, which they now have, the prosecution would use that as an excuse for the contamination. But how can we be sure that this minor accident at the lab was the cause of the contamination, your worship? As with the confession, my client's clothing and the rest of the contaminated forensics evidence should not be allowed in, your worship.’
‘That’s rubbish and you know it, our evidence is good,’ said one of the prosecution guys. The judge looked back at Stanton’s solicitor for more proof of this.
‘Your worship, I have evidence here documenting the minor explosion, along with the forensics evidence the lab staff were working on at the time. The explosion was minor, your worship, not enough to cause the cross-contamination in my opinion. All the evidence the prosecution want to use in this case is contaminated, in one way or another,’ he said, handing the judge the report. Again, the judge took some time before looking up at the prosecution guys.
‘Were you aware of this explosion?’
‘Yes, yes we were, your worship’ said one of the prosecution guys, reluctantly.
‘And the evidence you want to present is cross contaminated?’
There was a delay, then he said, ‘No … yes, erm … your worship, the evidence is good, we—’
‘Please, you know how this works,’ he said, looking at Stanton’s solicitor’s detailed report. ‘Ok, gentleman, I’m going to retire to my Chambers to look through this report and transcript. In the meantime I’m going to summon the laboratory manager, as I’d like to speak with him about this. Also, I’d like you to bring in the arresting officer and the two detectives who interviewed the accused, oh, and call the gentleman who was working the front desk at Parkside that day too – right away if you would,’ said the judge, gathering up the papers and retiring to his Chambers.
The laboratory manager was a couple of hours drive away, so the judge spoke with him on the phone instead and after asking him if there was any chance that the cross-contamination could have been caused by the explosion, and not getting a definitive answer, one way or another, the judge was edging, reluctantly, towards agreeing with Stanton’s solicitor. Meanwhile, the arresting officer and the two interviewing detectives, DC Ruddock and DC Walcott, had arrived.
‘Thank you for your patience,’ said the judge. ‘Ok, who’s the arresting officer,’ he said, looking up at the four new faces.
‘That would be me, your worship,’ said the arresting detective.
‘Your report doesn’t mention anything about a caution, detective?’ said the judge.
‘That’s correct, you’re worship,’ he answered, meekly.
‘You didn’t caution him at the time of the arrest? This is basic police procedure, detective.’
‘I know, your worship, but it wasn’t your average arrest.’
‘How’s that?’
‘Your worship, this was a priest, in full clergy dress, walking into Parkside police station soaked in blood from head to toe, it’s not something you see every day. I was under pressure; I guess it slipped my mind. Your worship, he was soaked in blood from head to toe, it was all over his face.’
The judge let out a sigh then turned to the ma
n in the uniform. He asked, ‘I’m assuming you were working the front desk at the time Father Stanton entered the police station?’
‘That’s correct, your worship,’ said the civvy.
‘So, you were the first person to witness Father Stanton entering the police station?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’ve read through your report so there’s no need to go through every detail of it, but I need to ask, after Father Stanton confessed to kidnapping and murdering the Kramer twins did you, at any time, caution him?’
‘No, no I didn’t, your worship. Like my colleague said, it wasn’t an every day occurrence, I was shocked at what I was seeing and I guess I wasn’t thinking straight.’
The judge sighed again and contemplated, then Stanton’s solicitor rammed the final nail in the coffin.
‘Your worship, I’d also like to bring to your attention the case of Regina versus Christopher Halliwell on 19th October 2012, case number T20107729,’ said Stanton’s solicitor, handing the judge even more papers with several highlighted sections. ‘As you can see by my highlighted parts, Halliwell confessed to strangling the young woman, but the confession was ruled inadmissible because the officer broke arrest guidelines, and like in this case, procedure wasn’t followed and the case was thrown out. Your worship, this case is identical to the Halliwell case in so many ways. My client was never cautioned and that fact is well documented, as with the Halliwell case, which as you’re aware, was thrown out. Your worship, I implore you to—’
‘Please, I get the picture,’ said the judge. ‘Gentleman, once again, I’m going to briefly retire to my Chambers to look through this. Meet me back here in thirty minutes,’ he said.
The judge returned and they all reconvened. The judge had studied the Regina versus Halliwell case, thoroughly, as he had the transcripts of the interview, the lab reports and the reports by the various police officers involved. He pondered some more, scratching head, but he knew what had to be done. He looked up and invited the prosecution to join him in his Chambers.
‘I’m sorry, but I’ve looked though this and I’m afraid I can’t let the confession or the interview evidence in. I’m sorry, gentlemen, but I’m afraid that the confession, the interview, and the forensics evidence are all out.’
‘Your worship, this is ridiculous, we all kno—’
‘Please, it’s not about what you know; it’s about what you can prove. Look, I don’t want to release Stanton, I’m desperate to keep him in custody as he’s clearly guilty, but you know as well as I do how the justice system works. Unless you have any other concrete evidence I’ll have no choice but to let him go.’
The judge and the prosecution guys continued their discussion (or rather, argument) for another ten minutes before they emerged and joined the others in the court.
‘I’m sorry, but as compelling as the forensics evidence may be, it is contaminated, all of it, so I can’t allow it to be used as evidence. The same goes for Father Stanton’s confession and ensuing interviews. At no time was he cautioned, you all know the law works regarding cautions – at least you should,’ he said, giving Walcott, Ruddock and the arresting detective a reprimanding look.
‘Now, do you have anything else, anything at all?’ said the judge, looking at the prosecution and the detectives.
‘Your worship, there’s countless hours of video footage that clearly shows Derek Stanton abusing those boys in his crypt,’ said one of the persecution.
‘Not so, I’m afraid,’ said Stanton’s solicitor. ‘Your worship, the man in the video is wearing a leather mask at all times and there are no identifying marks on his body, scars or tattoos, that could definitively and clearly show that the man in the videos is my client. Also, the walls in the background are not clearly in focus, your worship. It can’t be proved, conclusively, that the video evidence was even shot in the crypt beneath the St Catherine & St Benedict church on Histon Road. I have photographs here showing many other churches throughout the UK that have identical basements. These three in particular were all designed by the same architect,’ he said, handing the photos to the judge. While the judge studied the photos of the other historical church basements and compared them to that of the basement at St Catherine & Benedict church, Stanton’s solicitor spoke up again. ‘Your worship, as you’re aware, the police don’t have the original SD cards anymore, they’ve been lost. All the video evidence the police have is a copy of the original files. After all the video footage was transferred to computer the original SD cards went missing. If the police still had those SD cards, which they don’t, they would have had a GPS stamp in the meta data, your worship.’
‘I’m afraid I’m not up to speed on modern camcorder technology, you’re going to have to explain,’ said the judge.
‘Your worship, the camcorder that was used to record the footage was a modern Sony model that had GPS technology built in. Basically, whenever any footage is recorded the camcorder makes a digital not of the exact time, date, and GPS location. This Meta date is stored, along with the video clip, on the SD card. However, when the footage was transferred over to computer, it was done in such a way that the GPS Meta data was not transferred, nor was the date and time. Like I said, if the police still had the original SD cards then I’m sure it would prove, via the GPS coordinates, that the footage wasn’t even shot at my client's church.’
‘That’s crap, and you know it,’ said one of the prosecution.’
‘Not crap, a simple fact,’ said Stanton’s solicitor.
As before, the judge retired to his chambers and, as before he invited the prosecution and Stanton’s solicitor in to break the news, bad news for the prosecution, good news for Stanton. The judge deemed the video evidence alone was not enough for all the reasons outlined by Stanton’s solicitor.
Back out in the court the judge asked the question to the prosecution again. ‘Gentlemen, do you have anything, anything else at all to make a case against Father Stanton?’
DC Ruddock and DC Walcott and the arresting detective looked at the judge with blank expressions on their faces. The two prosecution guys looked at each other for a moment, none of them wanted to be the one to speak, but one did. ‘No, no your worship, we don’t.’
‘Well, I’m afraid I have no choice but to throw all this evidence out,’ he said, tapping all the files and photos that Stanton’s solicitor had given him.
The prosecutor spoke up, for the final time, ‘Your honour, the Crown offers no evidence in this case,’ he said, reluctantly.
‘Well, in that case I have no choice but to agree with the defence, there’s no case to answer here, case dismissed.
Helen and John were still sitting on the bench when DC Dubois returned to update them.
‘I’m afraid I have some bad news,’ said Dubois.
‘What kind of bad news?’ said John.
‘I’m afraid they’ve thrown the case out.’
‘What?’ said Helen.
‘What does that mean exactly, thrown the case out?’ said John.
‘I don’t have all the details but Stanton’s confession and all the evidence has been ruled inadmissible and without it the judge has ruled that there’s no case to answer. I’m so sorry.’
‘No, that can’t be, there’s loads of evidence, you told me,’ said Helen.
‘I know, but there was some sort of explosion at the forensics lab, which led to the evidence against Stanton being cross-contaminated.’
‘I don’t understand, what about his confession, he confessed, he walked into Parkside police station and confessed,’ said John.
‘I know, but the arresting officer forgot to caution him and the two detectives also neglected to caution him before he was interviewed. The arresting officer was so shocked at what he saw when Stanton walked in, all that bloo— the state his clothes were in, he wasn’t thinking straight and forgot about the caution.’
‘What about the detectives, what was their excuse?’ said John.
‘Well, one
of them got a little flustered with the new digital recording equipment in the interview room, he wasn’t used to it and by the time Stanton arrived the detectives were a little preoccupied with how the DVD recorder functioned and they too simply forgot to caution him.’
‘I don’t understand, how can his confession not be used just because nobody cautioned him, it’s still all there, you still have his confession recorded on video?’ said Helen.
‘I’m sorry, Helen, the prosecution can’t use it, it’s just how the legal system works.’
‘No, the trial has to go ahead, it has to,’ said Helen.
‘I’m sorry, but the judge has thrown the case out, it’s over,’ said DC Dubois, not enjoying being the bearer of bad news one little bit.
‘No, this is some bullshit technicality, it can’t be,’ said John.
‘Wait, the video evidence, what about all that video evidence that he recorded, what I saw earlier?’ said Helen.
‘Father Stanton can’t be identified. Although he’s wearing clergy clothing in some of the shots, that’s not enough, anybody can get their hands on a clergy uniform and in all the shots where he’s in frame he’s wearing a black mask and there are no identifiable marks on his body, such as tattoos, birth marks or anything like that, it’s not strong enough to hold up in court, it could be anyone. The judge feels the video footage alone isn’t enough to proceed with the case.’
‘This is bullshit and you know it. What is it, they don’t want to waste taxpayers money, is that it? He did it, he murdered our children, I know it, you know it, and I’m sure that bloody judge in there knows it too,’ said John, frustrated, annoyed and clearly very upset.