by Les Rixon
He and a friend Robert Green, both Freemasons, were returning from a lodge meeting. They were within a mile from home and came to the crossroads - the last one before they would turn left into the road where they both lived. As they approached the crossroads a large estate car crashed into them at a considerable speed. The impact was tremendous, so much so that the car George and his friend were travelling was over turned. The whole incident was seen by a man walking his dog. He was shaken by what he had just seen but did notice two men running away from the estate car after the crash. It was he who called for an ambulance and the Police. The ambulance arrived first and the crew did what they could. George was pronounced dead at the scene. His friend suffered life threatening injuries which crippled him for life.
When the Police arrived they were appalled by what they found, not only by the accident, but they instantly recognised George, whom they knew as their immediate boss at the Police Station, Inspector George Brown.
Richard continued reading the file which was very well presented and straight forward.
Chapter 5
At the Police Station, the morning after the accident, Inspector Willis called a staff meeting to announce the tragic news, saying: ‘This is one horrendous crime I wanted sorted ASAP.’ He then asked Detective Constable Harris to join him in his office. He then addressed Harris ‘Your name is Frank?’
‘Yes sir’
’Well, you will be working closely with me on this one and when we are in this room I will address you as Frank. Now your job is to trace the owner of the estate car. Once we have that information we must move fast.’
‘I quite agree Sir.’
Ten minutes later Frank produced a name and address of the owner of the estate car. Inspector Willis discussed the address with Frank and said: ‘Do we know anything about the man who owns the car?’
‘He is an architect with offices in the town.’
‘Right, we will go in plain clothes on this occasion, as I do not want to arouse any suspicion that we are Police Officers.’
They set off to St. John’s Avenue. On the way Frank said: ‘We are looking for number 42 which also has a house name Tresco.’
‘They must have some connection with the Isles of Scilly.’
They walked up the drive and noted that the landscaped garden was immaculate. A mature lady was near the house watering some freshly planted bedding plants. Inspector Willis spoke first: ‘We are calling to see Mr. Thompson.’
’Well’ said the lady, ‘I am his mother and if it’s about his work, you will have to deal with his office in town. He doesn’t see clients here.’
‘No madam, we must clarify our business. We are Police Officers making routine enquiries about a traffic accident at the weekend.’
‘Well, my son is at present in Barbados on holiday. He has been there for over a week. In fact I had a card from him this morning.’
To be quite frank Madam, the car involved in the accident is registered in your son’s name.’
‘As far as I know, his car is still in the garage along with his wife’s Mini. I live down the road and just come here whilst my son is away to pick up the mail. As you see, I also do the odd but of watering.’
‘The garden does you great credit. The lawn looks freshly cut - who does that?’
‘Not me. The lad next door has yet to find employment and my son gives him odd jobs around the garden. He generally cuts the lawn back and front. He is a lovely lad, very willing to have a go at whatever my son asks of him. I do hope he finds a job soon, although my son will miss him.’
‘Where do you keep the mower and how does the lad gain access to it?’
‘That’s easy. Whenever my son is away he gives the lad a set of keys to the garage. So far we have never had any problems with these arrangements.’
‘So, when did he last cut the lawns?’
‘It must have been Yesterday. I was not here as I was away nearly all day on an outing with the local pensioners club.’
Inspector Willis thanked Mrs. Thompson for her help. He and Frank then left and decided it might be a good idea to call next door. They walked along the brick paved drive and rang the front door bell. They waited for a few minutes and decided that no one was at home.
They returned to the Police Station to discuss the progress they had made and what should be the next move. They were interrupted by the Duty Sergeant. Sergeant Perkins said: ‘I have information that I think may well be of interest to you. Firstly on the evening of the dreadful accident five vehicles were reported either stolen or damaged, most of them from the other side of town but one caller reported that he had been assaulted and that the car he was locking up was stolen. He would not give his name or address but did say he thought the last three letters on the car were AEE. This is, of course, the last three letters of the car involved in the crash. Now the thing is, on that car there was quite a spill of blood on the driver’s side dashboard. Whoever was driving must have suffered an injury. We took a sample of the blood this morning and we have a significant report. Here it is.’
‘Well, well!’ said Inspector Willis. ‘This could help with our enquiries. We know it’s a man with a fairly rare blood group who is also a drug addict. Tell me Sergeant, when is the Police Doctor coming again?’
‘Well actually he is coming in this morning to have a look at one of the prisoners we are currently holding.’
‘Right, ask him to see me when he arrives.’
The Police Doctor duly arrived an hour later. Willis came straight to the point. ‘We have information regarding a suspect we know has a drug problem and also has a rare blood group. The question is, is there any way we can get information on anyone known to have this condition?’
‘Not a hope. The Hippocratic Oath precludes that. All I can tell you is that, in my experience, there are not many of them in this area. Sorry I can’t be more specific.’
‘Thanks anyway. I quite understand your position.’
The doctor then left.
Chapter 6
Willis turned to Frank ‘I think we are slowly getting somewhere. Firstly, we must have a word with the lad who lives next door to the Thompson’s.
Frank said: ‘I have checked who lives next door. It’s Mr. and Mrs. Price and their son Jack. Mr. Price is an executive with a telephone company.’
‘OK, let’s go.’
They arrived at the Price’s residence, walked up the brick paved drive and noticed a car parked in front of the house.
Frank said: ‘I think we are in luck, someone is at home.’
They rang the front door bell. The door was opened by a mature man in a smart suit.
Willis said: ‘You must be Mr. Price.’
‘Yes.’
‘We are making enquiries and think your son could have some important information. I am Inspector Willis and this is my colleague Detective Constable Harris.’
‘Come in gentlemen. I think I know what this is about.’
They went into the lounge and Price said: ‘Would you like coffee?’
‘No thank you’ was the joint response.
‘Is your son at home?’
‘Yes he is but before you see him I ought to bring you right up to date.’
‘Go ahead.’
‘Well’ said Price. ‘Our neighbours, the Thompson’s, are not just neighbours but very good friends. My son does quite a few odd jobs for them. Just before they went on holiday Mr. Thompson came around to see Jack about some jobs he would like done whilst he was away. My son was out, so he asked me to pass on the message. He went on to say the first job involved his car which needed a good clean inside and out. He asked if I could get the car out of the garage, and after Jack had finished clearing it, put it back in the garage. I said that would be no problem. Mr. Thompson also asked if Jack would clea
n their brick paved drive, knowing we had a high pressure cleaner that Jack had used on our drive some weeks ago. Mr. Thompson said he would pay Jack the going rate for the job as he knew that Jack would do a good job. He seemed keen to avoid the many cowboys looking for this sort of work. To continue, however, last Saturday my wife and I had a dinner engagement and suggested to me that as it was a fine evening, if I could get Mr. Thompson’s car out of the garage, he would give it a clean, so that I could return it to the garage on my return. So that was the arrangement.
‘My wife and I returned home a bit later than we had planned. I went straight away to put Mr. Thompson’s car back in the garage but there was no car on the drive. I dashed indoors to find Jack upstairs in a very distressed state. He had obviously been involved in some fight. With some difficultly, he told me what had happened.
‘He had just finished cleaning the car when two young men walked up the drive and asked if he could take them to some place in town, as they had missed the bus. Jack informed them he did not have a driving licence and that he was just cleaning the car for the owner who was away on holiday. The elder of the two men then said in that case they would only need to borrow the car for a few hours and then bring it back. My son replied “Over my dead body”. With that, the older man pushed Jack against the garage door and struck him several times in the face. He then grabbed the car keys from my son. The two men drove off towards town. That’s the gist of it.’
Willis then said: ‘We would like to see your son.’
‘I will go and fetch him.’
A rather nervous Jack appeared with his father.
Willis observed the obvious injuries to the lads face and said: ‘Your father has explained what happened on Saturday evening. Just one small query - you chose to remain anonymous when you telephoned the Police. Why was that?’
‘They threatened me with serious consequences if I informed the Police.’
Willis turned to Mr. Price: ‘I would like you to accompany Jack to the Police Station to make a statement.’
Price replied: ‘That’s OK by me. How about you Jack?’
Jack nodded in agreement.
Price said: ‘Let’s get it done. We will follow you back to the Police Station.’
In a short while they all arrived in the staff car park at the rear of the Police Station and entered by a rear door. Jack was introduced to another Police Officer who would take his statement. The statement made by Jack was almost word for word what his father had told Inspector Willis. The Police Officer then asked Jack is there was anything else he remembered.
Jack replied: ‘My assailant was about six feet tall and rather slim and had, I feel sure, a local accent. I noticed he had a small scar over his left eye.’
Jack was then taken to a room where he found his father engaged in conversation about the strength of the England team for the forthcoming Test Match.
The Officer who had taken Jack’s statement said: ‘Sir, I’ve taken the statement and I’m sure the investigating Officers will be pleased with it.’
Willis then took over saying: ‘Jack I would like you to have a look at some photos.’ Whereupon he produced a thick file and said: ‘Look through these and see if you recognise anyone. Just take your time.’
Jack began looking through the file. He was about half way through when he stopped abruptly at a certain photo. He looked quite shocked and said: ‘This is the man who attacked me.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes I am Sir - just look at the scar over his left eye.’
Willis could hardly contain himself: ‘This is the breakthrough we have been hoping for and I can’t thank you enough Mr. Price and Jack.’
With that the interview was over. As Jack and his father were leaving Willis turned to Jack: ‘I understand you are currently looking for a job? If you were ever to consider a career in the Police Force, I can assure you there would be no problem in your being accepted.’
Chapter 7
Willis now turned his attention to Frank: ‘I now have to attend to another matter. I should be back in about an hour, but in the meantime, find out all you can about the suspect, Bruce Drummond.’
Frank soon established where Drummond was living and that he had not earned any remission whilst in prison, due to the fact that on one occasion he attacked a Prison Officer over quite a trivial matter. Frank also established that Drummond’s flat had two bedrooms. He could not, however, uncover anything about the second suspect.
On his return to the office Inspector Willis said: ‘We must now get things moving. We have enough evidence to arrest Drummond. We are dealing with a man, however, who we know to be violent. There is another thing on which I have been pondering and that is whilst Drummond is on drugs, I just wonder whether he is part of a gang of drug suppliers. So first of all, I am going to get a search warrant, then tomorrow morning we will go prepared with a bit of back up, plus two Officers, to carry out the search after we have arrested Drummond.’
‘Sounds very positive to me, Sir’ said Frank. ‘Just one thing, what about the other suspect?’
‘Well, we have nothing on him, except that he is an accessory to the crime. I think we ought to proceed slowly on him as he may well be quite useful to our enquiries.’ Early the next morning Willis addressed the small team who would be taking part in the operation.
They arrived at Drummond’s flat just after eight o’clock. Willis rang the doorbell and the door was opened by a young man. Willis said: ‘We are Police Officers and have a warrant to search these premises.’
While he was saying this, a voice from somewhere in the flat called out loudly: ‘Whoever it is John, tell them we don’t buy anything.’
John panicked, and almost trembling yelled: ‘They are not selling anything. It is the Police.’
The Officers then entered the flat and confronted Drummond. He became very abusive with very colourful language. Willis said: ‘You must be Bruce Drummond’.
‘So what?’ replied Drummond.
‘Well’ said Willis, ‘I am arresting you and you will be charged with several offences.’ Drummond was given a formal warning an after a brief struggle with two Officers, he was handcuffed. ‘Take him away’ said Willis.
Willis then turned his attention to John. ‘Now what is your full name?’
A very nervous John replied: ‘John Brooks’.
‘Well John’ said Willis, ‘I want you to come back to the station as I think you can help us with our enquires.’
‘Do I have to?’
‘Yes otherwise you could be arrested.’
The three of them left the flat and returned to the Police Station. On arrival at the station, John Brooks was then taken to one of the interview rooms where he was interviewed by Willis and Frank.
Willis began by asking John: ‘How long have you been living at the flat?’
‘About two months.’
‘Now tell us how you came to know Bruce Drummond.’
‘Well, briefly, I was having a drink with a girlfriend in a pub in Hannisford, when a man entered the bar and came straight over to where we were sitting.’ He said to me: ‘So you are the bloke who took my girl from me’. I told him I had no knowledge of that. He then got violent and the girl who was with me immediately left the pub. He was much bigger than me and I could hardly defend myself. It was at this point Bruce, who had witnessed what was happening, came to my rescue. He was more than a match for the bully who was attacking me. He ended up getting him out of the pub.
Bruce asked me if I was alright. I said I was and thanked him. I told him that I had recently moved into the area and was in lodgings and that the girl I was with was the landlady’s daughter. I said I now felt I was now in a bit of a fix, as I could hardly go back there. Bruce said I could stay at his place until I was sorted. When he asked if I had a job, I tol
d him I was a trainee chef at a local hotel. He told me I would be very welcome because cooking was not his strong point. John then told the Inspector: ‘I know Bruce is a bit of a rough diamond but I can only speak as I find.’
Has he ever offered you any drugs?’ enquired Willis.
‘Definitely not’ replied John.
‘Now, we want to talk to you about a stolen BMW estate car. We know quite a lot about it and we have reason to believe you could be involved. To be frank with you, John, we have enough evidence to proceed with a prosecution.’
‘I am in a difficult position. I cannot betray Bruce. He would probably kill me.’
‘That situation will not arise. Bruce Drummond will be out of circulation for a long time. So my advice to you would be to make a simple statement for yourself, otherwise you could become an accessory to the crime.’
‘OK, I am prepared to make a statement.’
John’s statement explained that he took no part in the theft of the vehicle and went on to state that he had told Bruce to slow down as he was driving much too fast. When the car finally crashed Bruce told him to get out and run like hell. They both eventually arrived back at the flat.
Having made his statement, John was told by Willis: ‘You can go now, and you might be interested to know that Drummond was only a tenant in that fat so it may be possible for you to stay there. We will contact you if we need to do so.’
Chapter 8
Inspector Willis then embarked on a further discussion with Frank as to their next move. Willis said: ‘I think it is time to start interviewing Mr. Bruce Drummond.’ Drummond was brought from his cell to the interview room. Willis opened the interview by addressing Drummond: ‘We are charging you with various drug offences plus the theft of a car, and subsequently causing a car accident which resulted in the death of one passenger and life injuries to the driver of the car involved. What have you to say to these charges Mr. Drummond?’