Everdene paused, glanced at the judge and sat down. ‘No further questions my Lord.’
Chapter Thirty-Nine
‘We have about twenty minutes before we’re back in court,’ said Cronshaw as he and his team squeezed into the conference room reserved for them. He looked first towards his junior.
‘Where did this come from?’ Cronshaw held up a note Markham-Moore had passed to him in court.
‘James Beaton. He was counsel in a case three years ago at Northampton. Hamilton was instructing him throughout. He persuaded the Recorder to exclude some DNA evidence in an aggravated burglary trial because it should have been removed from the database following the defendant’s acquittal in a previous trial. Just as in the Carlisle case cited before Judge Campion in Doyle’s trial.’
‘How did you find this out?’
‘He rang me this morning. He’s been doing a case in Newcastle for the last six weeks. He’d heard of this trial. It’s all over the media. He thought it might be helpful. I asked him to write it down.’
‘Where is he now?’
‘By chance, he’s in the café here. He’s had couple of pleas this morning before Judge Fryman.’
‘Well don’t let him go. And get a fuller note from him. I need the name of the case and as many details as he can remember including any discussions he had with Hamilton about the DNA point. She can hardly say she didn’t understand it if she’d come across it before.’
‘There’s more, although I haven’t had time to put into a note yet. Beaton also represented a man called Bruce Duggan here in Nottingham in December nineteen ninety-eight – instructed again by Hamilton who was working on the case for a Nottingham firm. The alibi witness he called was the brother of Adam Leckie who was involved in the kidnap. Adam Leckie is Kelly Maguire’s current boyfriend. Beaton reckons Hamilton was persuaded to have dinner with the solicitor handling the case at the same restaurant where Leckie and his team where eating. Beaton declined to go. The jury was still out. He didn’t think it appropriate. The solicitor had no problem with it though. Beaton reckons he was after bedding Julia Hamilton. He’d come to the court on a couple of occasions and he was all over her.’
‘I suspect that’s a situation she’s had to face on many occasions. No doubt that’s why she found Doyle so attractive. It would deter most other men from going anywhere near her. But get the full details. There might be something we can use.’
He turned to Hood who had arrived at court towards the end of Julia’s examination-in-chief.
‘Did you manage to speak with Doyle, chief inspector?’
‘Yes, sir. But he’s unlikely to do anything to damage Hamilton. He’s still obsessed with her, although he did let one thing slip. Last September, he started proceedings in the Family Court to get the child’s DNA tested. He was obviously not convinced that he boy was his.’
‘How far did the proceedings get?’
‘They stalled after he received her letter. She probably sent it for that purpose. If the child isn’t Doyle’s, she wouldn’t want it to be known.’
‘So no tests have been carried out?’
‘No. They’re not married. It can only be done by a court order. As she’s conceded the point, he probably won’t take it any further. He thinks because he’s been registered as the father that settles it, but it shows he doesn’t entirely trust her. And I suspect he’s in the same league as Grayling when it comes to people crossing him. I hope for her sake the child is his. Remember, he got very violent in Welford Road when she told him he wasn’t the father?’
‘But there’s no evidence the child isn’t Doyle’s?’
‘No. The presumption in law is that he is Doyle’s, once she registered him as the father.’
‘Unless and until the contrary is proved. He knows he’s about to be paroled, I take it?’
‘Yes. He was informed officially last week.’
‘But not until this trial is over?’
‘He understands that is the position. He’s also aware that Hamilton has not been told.’
‘So we’ll get no help from him?’
‘It doesn’t look like it. He can’t wait to see her again. It wouldn’t surprise me if he turned up here, given half a chance.’
Cronshaw frowned.
‘I would love to get inside that head of hers. I’m wholly satisfied after that Oscar-winning performance this morning she thinks of no-one – I repeat - no-one but herself. And I include Doyle and her child in that. If she’s so fond of him why did she reject his attempts to contact her? We now have the evidence. She refused his every attempt to place her on his phone list when he was at Draycott Heath. You asked him about that, I suppose, chief inspector?’
‘I did. He didn’t seem in the least concerned. If you want my view of the matter, I think he’s completely under her control. Apart from a lurking suspicion about the boy, he’d walk through fire for her. She’s all he lives for.’
‘You still intend to ask her about refusing Doyle’s calls?’ asked Markham-Moore.
‘I most certainly do, but we must disclose the material to the defence first. I suggest we wait until five minutes before we are due to sit. Edwin will doubtless apply for time to consider it, which will put cross examination off until this afternoon, which will suit us down to the ground.’
‘He will probably object to our using it,’ added Markham-Moore with a sigh. ‘We perhaps, should have adduced it as part of our case? The chief inspector could have mentioned it in his evidence yesterday?’
Cronshaw shook his head.
‘How could he? We didn’t have it then. The chief inspector asked for it when he visited Draycott but it’s only just arrived. And if we had it earlier, the defence would have objected on grounds of relevance. It has only become relevant because of what she said in chief. She clearly said he had never replied to her letter. That was a lie. He tried several times to get her to agree to be on his phone list and neither prison had any objection. Although there was no direct contact between them, she would have been informed of his request. It was down to her. She refused without giving a reason.’
No-one spoke for several seconds.
‘So there’s nothing much more we can do?’ sighed Fiona Morrison. ‘Hanlon’s disappearance will probably do for us.’
‘There is this,’ said Hood, trying to lift the gloom. ‘Wendy Knight has reviewed all the material we’ve seized from the cottage in Thrussington. This seems to have been missed. I don’t know whether it will help?’ He handed Cronshaw the Holbein exhibition catalogue. ‘The penultimate page.’
Cronshaw looked.
‘Is this what I think it is?’
‘Yes,’ replied Hood. ‘It’s the same number as in the admissions read out yesterday.’
‘Well done Sergeant Knight! I shall certainly make use of it. Anything else?’
‘No. I’ve spoken by telephone to the solicitor who used her in the case in Nottingham in December nineteen ninety-eight. He doesn’t want to get involved. He says he can’t remember the incident at all.’
‘Doesn’t seem he got anywhere with the lovely Miss Hamilton then?
‘It doesn’t,’ smiled Hood.
‘Is there any intelligence about Hanlon’s associates? He was under a great deal of scrutiny a few years back. If there’s anything, particularly in the last couple of years, it might come in handy in cross-examination.’
‘Nothing so far, over and above what we already have, but I have a call arranged at three o’clock this afternoon with a senior officer in the Garda’s intelligence unit. They weren’t very keen on cooperating until Hanlon escaped. He’s organising a search of their intelligence records. They’re worried he may go back to Ireland. They’d rather we located him and kept him here.’
‘So it looks like it’s down to you, Mr Cronshaw,’ said Morrison. ‘Although the Attorney will
be back tomorrow.’
Cronshaw smiled. ‘He’s already back, but he won’t be here tomorrow.’
‘He won’t?’
‘No. He’s required in the House tomorrow – Prime Minister’s questions. The PM wants him sitting with him. There are going to be questions about Hanlon’s escape from custody and we don’t want anything being suggested that might prejudice the trial. The Attorney will be there to make sure nothing too outrageous is said. You know how casual some MPs can be in these circumstances.’
‘So it is down to you?’
Cronshaw nodded. ‘That’s the harsh reality, I’m afraid, subject to anything Mr Hood comes up with. I shall do my best, of course. We still have Duffy’s evidence, for what it’s worth.’ He paused and looked at each person in turn. ‘Do you know what all this shows? Julia Hamilton is running the entire show. I’m almost convinced Hanlon’s antics will have come as no surprise to her at all. I just need something to unsettle her. Something that will give me a way in. The trouble is, someone out there is pulling strings for her very effectively indeed.’
The others nodded in agreement
‘And it isn’t Doyle. I’m convinced of that. But unless something turns up pretty soon, we’ll have no chance of discovering who that someone might be.’
Chapter Forty
‘I most strenuously object, my Lord. This is quite intolerable. This whole case has been bedevilled with late service of evidence and now we have late service of what the Crown suggests is relevant material after the defendant has been examined in chief. This really won’t do. There was no mention of this when DCI Hood gave evidence. And I specifically asked him about contact between Doyle and the defendant.’
Everdene sat down in as dramatic a fashion as he could muster.
Cronshaw’s response was entirely lacking in emotion as he slowly got to his feet. ‘I sympathise with my friend,’ he said in the softest of tones, ‘but I only received the material this morning. I concede I asked for an enquiry to be made some days ago, but without any clue as to what might be revealed. In any event, it would not have been admissible until the defendant gave the answer she did this morning.’
The judge did not reply immediately. He turned back a couple of pages in his notebook.
‘You mean when she said she had not heard from Doyle after she wrote to him last October?’
‘My Lord, yes.’
‘Is it such an important point? She wasn’t allowed contact with him apart from that letter until after he was sentenced.’
‘But he’d been dealt with by the time the child was born, so contact after the letter was sent was open to both of them. It may well be important. We do not know what her response will be. I should also add that Mr Hood was entirely truthful in his evidence. There was no contact between Doyle and the Defendant as he stated. The request was passed to the defendant by a deputy governor and the refusal conveyed to Doyle in like manner.’
Although the jury were not present during these exchanges, Julia was. She could not be excluded. She was already weighing in her mind several answers that she could give. It was just a question of choosing the most suitable or the least damaging.
‘And it may lead to other matters arising?’
‘Such as?’
‘I would rather keep such things to myself for the moment. The defendant is present.’
The judge nodded. ‘I understand, but if you want me to allow this material to be adduced, you will have to be a little more transparent. As Mr Everdene says, this is very late service.’
‘Very well. It may lead to light being shed on the intent of the defendant. Your Lordship will have noticed that the case was opened quite deliberately and the indictment drafted in such a way that whatever her motive may have been – to free Doyle or to damage him - she will have still interfered with the course of public justice.’
‘But the jury must also be satisfied that she had an intent to pervert the course of justice.’
‘I agree, but they need not be unanimous as to her motive. Either motive would make her guilty because either motive would be consistent with an intent to pervert. I was very careful in drafting the opening to allow for either possibility. Likewise, when I re-drafted the indictment.’
The judge nodded. ‘So you draw a distinction between intent and motive?’
‘My Lord, yes.’
‘What do you say, Mr Everdene?’
‘I, of course, appreciate the distinction. But I fail to see how this further material will shed any light on the issue. The Defence case is that she never joined in any such attempt whatever the object of the venture may have been. This is all speculation, nothing more.’
The judge looked at the clock. ‘Very well. I shall give my decision at one forty-five, so that we shall be ready to start with the jury at two pm. We have kept them hanging about for long enough.’
* * * *
‘This isn’t like you Hal,’ said Everdene as the two silks made their way to the robing room. ‘Is this really going to advance the case either way? It doesn’t really prove anything, does it?’
‘I’m not sure. We’ll have to see. You have to admit, with Hanlon going over the wall like he did, it’s put my entire case in jeopardy.’
Everdene smiled. ‘That’s exactly where I want it to be. You realise she’ll already have thought up an answer, don’t you? And it will be her answer. I’m not allowed to speak to her until she’s completed her evidence and I obviously have no instructions on this.’
‘I’m sure she has. I can think of three myself that would remove the sting. And I suspect she’s much cleverer than me.’
Everdene sighed.
‘I suspect the judge will let it in. The best I’ll do is get another offer of a re-trial, and we don’t want that. There’s no saying what you’ll dig up given a few more months of searching for material, whether you get Duffy back to court or not.’
‘There’s something else I should tell you,’ said Cronshaw, dropping his voice. ‘Counsel to counsel for the moment.’ He looked about him to ensure no-one could hear what he was about to reveal. ‘The Secretary of State has decided to release Doyle.’
‘What! Why?’
Cronshaw did not reply.
Everdene furrowed his brow and paused deep in thought. His eyes suddenly lit up.
‘I’ve got it! He’s an informer. He’s the one who identified Duffy. Tell me I’m right. That would explain a great deal.’
Cronshaw smiled.
‘I cannot be responsible for what you may think on that subject but it is not for me to deny or confirm it. But he’s apparently been the subject of several serious assaults in prison. On one occasion he was stabbed. The Home Secretary has formed the view that he cannot be protected to the requisite standard in custody. So he’s brought forward his parole. The state owes him a duty of care which, frankly, it can’t meet.’
‘Why would he be attacked unless someone believes he’s an informer? Someone with real power must be behind this. Do you think this is down to Hanlon? A number of things would fall into place if it were.’
‘Could well be, unless, of course, he’s working his ticket by arranging the attacks himself. Or someone’s arranging them for him. I have a feeling that there’s a great deal below the waterline in his case that neither of us will ever see.’
‘Is that likely? That he’d get himself seriously injured?’
‘It’s happened before and the senior officer at Draycott is not at all convinced that he wasn’t stabbed by arrangement.’
Everdene shook his head.
‘This case, it’s unbelievable. I think I’ll stick to civil in future. Far more predictable.’
‘But not as much fun, although I hear the money’s better.’
The two friends walked on.
‘Not a pardon then?’
‘No. He’ll
be freed at the end of the trial, but on conditions. If he breaches them, he’ll be back inside.’
‘Do any of these conditions involve my client?’
‘No. He’ll be free to see her, always assuming she wants to see him.’
‘So, if she’s acquitted they can ride off into the sunset together?’
‘If she chooses to ride with him. Do you think she will?’
Everdene understandably declined to answer the question. ‘And you want me to keep this to myself for the moment.’
‘Yes. For the moment. I’m sure she’ll hear about it once he’s released. He’ll be knocking on her door, wherever that may be, but he will not be paroled until we have a verdict.’
Everdene stopped and looked at Cronshaw.
‘You’re up to something, you wily old bird. Are you going to disclose this when you cross-examine her? I might have something to say about that.’
Cronshaw grinned.
‘I can’t. It would not be proper. It’s a matter for the Home Secretary, not for me.’ He paused. ‘What shall we do for lunch? We’ve only got another thirty-five minutes.’
Chapter Forty-One
The judge indicated that he would allow the material so lately produced by the Crown to be used in cross-examination of the defendant. The jury then came into court and after they were settled the defendant was released from the dock and followed the officer towards the witness box.
‘You are still bound by your affirmation,’ the judge reminded her.
She half-smiled but did not seem as confident as she had in the morning. Cronshaw was already on his feet.
‘You told us this morning, Miss Hamilton, that you had known Michael Doyle for the last seven years?’
A Private and Convenient Place Page 32