Fog on the Tyne

by Bernard O'Mahoney

  Chapter Eleven

  KNIGHTMARE ON ELLA’S STREET

  FOUR DAYS AFTER Freddie Knights had been executed on his mother’s doorstep, henchman Michael Dixon was arrested for non-payment of £120 in fines. Before Dixon had time to settle in his cell at Byker Police Station, John Henry Sayers had arrived and paid the outstanding cash, and Dixon had been released. John Henry, who knew Dixon through his taxi business, is adamant that he had no ulterior motive for assisting Dixon. He was merely doing him a favour, and he was repaid the money upon Dixon’s release.

  Forty-eight hours later, two detectives called at John Henry’s home, but he wasn’t in. The officers informed his wife, Yvonne, that they did not intend to arrest John Henry but that they did wish to speak to him about the murder of Freddie Knights. At 6.35 p.m. that evening, John Henry and his solicitor presented themselves at Market Street Police Station. John Henry refused to speak to the police, and so his solicitor elected to talk on his behalf. Two detectives led them into an interview room, where they said that they wished to be given an account of John Henry’s whereabouts between Tuesday, 19 September and Wednesday, 20 September, the day Freddie Knights had met his death.

  Ignoring the essence of the question, John Henry’s solicitor replied, ‘The purpose for us coming here tonight is to set things straight so you realise what is going on. Mr Sayers has had a number of unfortunate experiences in the past with previous cases in which there has been a lot of skulduggery going on by the police. We are not aiming it at you two, because I don’t think it should be. I don’t know you as individuals. He is concerned that police informants are trying to place him in a position where he could be connected with this offence. We have already sent a letter to the chief constable some months ago, outlining the fears that we have for his safety. I can tell you that he does have an alibi for last Wednesday evening, which was communicated to myself, and it involves your own officers.

  ‘He has got nothing whatsoever to do with the murder that you are investigating or any of the circumstances, and anybody that has put his name forward has done so for their own purposes. He is very concerned that his family have been contacted again. You weren’t to know this, but his wife is very ill because of the constant fear of him being arrested for things he hasn’t done. Finally, I wish to put on record that he will not say anything whatsoever without a legal representative – whether it is at his home, in his car, in a police station – because of these fears, and that’s why we are here. We are not here to waste your time; we are here to set this down for you so you understand, and we felt the only way we could do that was to come into a police station and speak to you, or at least I will on his behalf. He doesn’t wish to answer any of your questions whatsoever or communicate any more information tonight.’

  The officers emphasised that John Henry was not under arrest and urged him to put forward his alibi so that they could research it and possibly eliminate him from their inquiries, but he refused. Within 30 minutes of arriving at the police station, John Henry and his solicitor were walking out the front door.

  On 13 October 2000, less than a month after Knights’ murder, his killer, Dale Miller, and Miller’s accomplice, Lee Watson, were arrested by traffic officers after failing to stop at a red light. Following a high-speed chase, the pair abandoned their vehicle and fled on foot, but they were apprehended shortly afterwards. Watson had been seen to drop a package, which was later found to contain 9 oz of heroin. When cornered by the officers, Watson pulled out a butterfly knife and screamed, ‘Come on then, come on!’ Once Watson had been overpowered by the use of CS gas spray, he was conveyed to the police station, where he was charged with possession of heroin with intent to supply. He pleaded guilty and was later imprisoned for three years. Miller, who denied all knowledge of the heroin being in the car, was remanded in custody to await trial.

  In December of that year, John Henry sent a £200 cheque to both Watson and Miller. He claims he did so because Watson was a good friend of his brothers, Michael and Stephen. According to John Henry, in the summer of 2000, Watson had sent his mother £1,000 for his brothers, who were then in prison themselves. John Henry maintains that he was simply repaying that favour. He is adamant that he did not know Miller but that Watson had told him that Miller didn’t have a penny. It was Christmas, Miller was Watson’s co-accused, they were sharing the same cell and Miller had recently been diagnosed with cancer. How could John Henry possibly refuse?

  When Watson had shouted out at Gateshead Magistrates’ Court that he was responsible for the murder of Viv Graham, he had not done himself any favours. Rightly or wrongly, his name was now on everybody’s lips whenever there was a shooting in the north-east. It was hardly surprising, therefore, when the police began receiving information that Watson might have had something to do with Knights’ murder, and so they decided to visit him in prison. Initially, Watson refused to answer their questions, because he thought there was no evidence to link him to the crime. However, when the officers returned to the prison just a week later, Watson was left in little doubt that they had enough circumstantial evidence to charge and possibly convict him of involvement in the shooting.

  Mobile phones are made up of small radio transmitters and receivers. They operate by sending and receiving signals to and from the masts that are dotted all around the country. The phones are designed to automatically make contact or link up with the mast with the strongest signal. This is invariably the mast that is closest to the mobile phone. Some of these masts contain antennas that are positioned to face in different directions. The mobile phone companies are able to identify the antenna with which a phone has connected and therefore provide a rough location for that phone when it makes or receives calls. Using this method to track Watson’s movements, the police were able to show that on the night of the murder he had been either present or near Ella Knights’ home at the time Freddie was gunned down.

  Realising the predicament that he was in, Watson agreed to talk to the officers, but only off the record. Watson told the police exactly what had happened in the days leading up to Freddie’s death and who had done what on the night he died. There were no real surprises for the officers, as most of the participants had some form or another of drug addiction. That was until Watson claimed that John Henry Sayers and his right-hand man, Tony Leach, were the men who had recruited the hit team and planned the murder for them. Detectives involved in the murder inquiry were said to be ‘overjoyed’ by the breakthrough, but they knew there was a lot of work to be done before they could make any arrests.

  On 28 January 2001, a heroin addict named Steven Carlton was arrested following a botched armed robbery at a post office in Chopwell, near Gateshead. After a few hours in the police cell without a fix for his addiction, Carlton pleaded with officers to be released. He claimed that if they were willing to help him then he could help them, as he had valuable information about the murder of Freddie Knights. Carlton, who has been described by friends as having ‘three or four personalities’, told officers that seven days before Freddie’s death John Henry Sayers had been to his flat to collect shotgun cartridges and that the gunmen had also attended his home after the shooting.

  The net appeared to be closing in on those responsible for executing Knights, but the police knew that the testimony of an assortment of heroin addicts would not carry much weight in court. They knew they had to bide their time and meticulously sift through every shred of information until they had enough hard evidence concerning what had happened and who had done what that night.

  Unaware of Watson’s treachery, John Henry paid him a visit at HMP Durham just a few days after he had spoken to the police. According to John Henry, Watson’s girlfriend had contacted Watson and said that members of the Conroy family had put a gun to her head. Because of this alleged threat, Watson had wanted to speak to John Henry about protecting her. Watson appeared uncomfortable and evasive when John Henry met him in the visiting room; he certainly didn’t discuss the alleged threat
that the Conroys posed to his girlfriend. All he did was to make small talk and shift nervously in his seat.

  Approximately six weeks later, Watson, who had since been transferred to HMP Acklington, in Northumberland, once more requested that John Henry visit him. Instead of being shown to a table alongside the other visitors in the visiting room, John Henry was taken to a small cubicle that had a glass partition separating him from Watson. A prison officer stood on each side of the divide, and so their every word was monitored. Once again, Watson remained tight-lipped about the real reason for the visit. In fact, he hardly spoke.

  Watson’s motive for requesting these visits seemed to stem from one of two things. Either he was going to attempt to coax John Henry into confessing to taking part in Knights’ murder or he was going to warn him that he had given an off-the-record account of the shooting to the police. The latter explanation seems more plausible, as no official statement had been made by Watson and so at that stage his confession had no evidential value. Forewarning John Henry of the blame that he had placed at his door would mean that Watson not only wanted to demonstrate that he regretted his actions but also wanted John Henry to be able to prepare for any allegations that might be made against him.

  At HMP Durham, Watson may have been too frightened or ashamed to admit what he had done to John Henry. At HMP Acklington, the authorities had clearly guessed that he was about to confess what he had told police to John Henry, and so they had put officers in place to prevent him from doing so.

  On 8 May 2001, John Henry was at home watching Arsenal defeat Manchester United 1–0 at Old Trafford, a decent night’s entertainment for any Newcastle United fan. Glancing out of the window, he noticed that a large red van with mirrored windows was parked near a grassed area adjacent to his home. Instinctively, he knew that it was the police. When the football match ended, he began to prepare himself for bed, but the covert police surveillance van, which had not moved, was making him feel uneasy. At 11 p.m., John Henry’s home phone rang and a voice said, ‘It’s the police. They are coming to fit you up.’ According to John Henry, he knew exactly what the message meant: he had to leave, and do so quickly.

  That night, he stayed at a friend’s home in the north-east before travelling to Birmingham the following morning. His fears had not been unfounded. As John Henry was making his way down the A1, Northumbria Police were arresting gunman Dale Miller and his getaway driver, Eddie Stewart, for the murder of Freddie Knights. Officers who raided the homes of John Henry, Tony Leach and Michael Dixon found that they had already left the area.

  Dixon had fled to Glasgow with a taxi-driver friend named Craig Shepherd. When they had been unable to secure a hotel, Shepherd had telephoned his friend ex-Scotland, Celtic and West Ham United football legend Frank McAvennie and asked for his help. McAvennie later told police, ‘On the day in question, Craig rang my mobile while I was in Glasgow. He said he was finding it difficult to find a hotel because Celtic were playing at home. I said that I would see what I could do. Craig didn’t say what he was doing in Glasgow – I didn’t ask. I phoned two hotels in Paisley. One was the Glynhill Hotel. They told me they had no vacancies. I told them it was for a friend of mine. I played football for Scotland years ago, and I get deals at certain hotels. They put me on to the Brabloch Hotel, in Paisley, and I booked a twin room for Craig.’ Five days later, Dixon was arrested sporting dyed blond hair in a photo booth at Glasgow passport office. He had intended fleeing the country using false documentation. Shepherd was also arrested and charged with assisting an offender.

  On 2 June 2002, John Henry was arrested by armed officers in Essex following a car chase through the streets of Dagenham and Romford. When his blue Ford Mondeo was finally cornered in nearby Gants Hill, his first words to the arresting officers were, ‘I am innocent of this crime.’ The following day, John Henry was interviewed by murder squad detectives in the company of his solicitor. Rather than answer questions, John Henry elected to remain tight-lipped. His solicitor did read out the following prepared statement on his behalf:

  I was not involved in any way with the death of Frederick Knights; I did not conspire with anyone to kill him. I am not prepared to answer any questions put to me during interview. My reason for doing this is I have been advised that the drip-feed disclosure method of giving information to my legal advisors to pass on to me is unfair. I should be given any statement in full which the police intend to quote from. The reason for this is to allow me to take full legal advice before I can decide whether to answer questions put to me. I cannot be expected to deal with partial disclosure. I therefore await the service of the prosecution case in full, when I can take advice from my full legal team, solicitor, barrister and Queen’s Counsel.

  The interviewing officers did ask John Henry questions about the murder, but he would only reply, ‘No comment.’ When asked about his alibi for the night of Freddie’s murder, John Henry said that he was frightened of the police and was therefore going to tell them ‘fuck all’.

  Elsewhere, Dixon and Miller were also refusing to answer questions. Eddie Stewart, on the other hand, had chosen to respond to all that he was asked. Initially, he admitted to being Miller’s best friend but insisted that he was staying at his sister’s home in Birmingham on the night Freddie was murdered. Three months after the initial police raids, Tony Leach was arrested in the Lake District, but he too refused to assist the police with their inquiries. All five men were charged with Freddie Knights’ murder and remanded in custody to await trial.

  While in prison, Eddie Stewart penned a letter to the police admitting that he had been the getaway driver for Dale Miller and named the others who, he alleged, had taken part in the murder plot. Because Watson had confessed to playing an active part in Freddie’s execution, he too was charged with murder. When he appeared at Leeds Crown Court, Watson pleaded guilty, but sentencing was adjourned until after the trial of his co-accused. In the UK, there is only one sentence that a judge can hand down for murder, and that is one of life imprisonment. It is therefore difficult to understand not only why Watson would plead guilty but why he would choose to assist the police in the first place? They could not offer him any sort of deal, and he would have to spend many years in prison in fear of attack, as he would be known as an informant. That is unless, of course, Watson had been given some sort of off-the-record assurances of his own prior to pleading guilty.

  The Freddie Knights murder trial opened at Leeds Crown Court on 26 June 2002 amid tight security. As an armed convoy ferried the defendants to the court building, a police helicopter hovered overhead. Leeds city centre was brought to a standstill as the ‘Black Special alert’ security operation unfolded. A squad of police marksmen armed with machine guns stood guard as a ring of steel was thrown around the court, which was subject to the sort of security usually reserved for terrorists. Inside, armed police were positioned in every corridor. Outside court number five, a dozen heavily armed officers stood sentinel while members of the public were searched with metal detectors before being allowed to enter.

  Tension filled the room as the accused took their seats in the dock. The Honourable Mr Justice Douglas Brown ordered the jury to be sworn in before Mr Batty QC rose to his feet and began outlining the prosecution case. With the assistance of Carlton, Stewart, Watson and telephone cell site evidence, Mr Batty had little trouble in painting a very detailed picture of what the prosecution believed had happened and who had been involved prior to and following the shooting. Mr Batty told the jury that sometime on 13 September 2000 John Henry Sayers had attended the home of Steven Carlton to collect ‘some shotgun cartridges’. Aided by the telephone cell site evidence and eyewitness accounts, Mr Batty then led the jury through events the prosecution said were relevant to Freddie Knights’ murder in chronological order.

  TUESDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2000

  2.00 p.m.: John Henry Sayers calls the hit team together for a meeting in a lay-by (which is known locally as Peter Barrett’s lay-by) near a garden centre
in Gosforth to discuss the murder plot. This particular lay-by is just a six-minute drive from Ella Knights’ home. The group is allegedly spotted by Detective Chief Inspector Pallas, who had pulled over into the same lay-by.

  3.30 p.m.: John Hunter and Terrence Mann are recruited to steal a getaway vehicle to be used in the murder.

  3.42 p.m.: Michael Dixon escorts the two car thieves to get the vehicle.

  4.29 p.m.: A silver Volkswagen Golf is stolen from Fowler Street, South Shields. Minutes later, Dixon is captured on CCTV cameras driving back towards Newcastle through the Tyne Tunnel in a burgundy Renault 19.

  5.30 p.m.: Car thief John Hunter telephones John Henry Sayers’ mobile phone. The call lasts 40 seconds.

  5.56 p.m.: John Hunter is captured on CCTV cameras on a garage forecourt in the stolen Volkswagen Golf. The Renault 19 containing Michael Dixon is parked directly behind. The prosecution allege that John Hunter was therefore in possession of the stolen Volkswagen Golf when he made the 5.30 p.m. call to John Henry Sayers’ mobile phone.

  6.04 p.m.: Eddie Stewart rings John Henry Sayers’ mobile phone. The call lasts approximately four minutes.

  6.11 p.m.: The Volkswagen Golf is parked at Four Lane Ends Metro station. It is exactly one mile from this station to Ella Knights’ home.

  7.00 p.m.: Getaway driver Eddie Stewart and gunman Dale Miller drive to Longbenton. Stewart is supposed to bang on the windows of the home of Freddie Knights’ mother to frighten her into calling her son round. Stewart is unable to locate the correct address, and so the hit is aborted.