‘May I take it that Sands is prepared to give evidence to this effect for the prosecution?’ asks Charles, trying to appear unconcerned.
‘You may.’
‘May I also take it that the Crown is proposing to call him as a witness of truth?’
‘You may,’ repeats Hogg. ‘We shall offer no evidence against him on the murder, and I shall apply to the Judge to sentence him for the robbery before he gives evidence against your client.’
‘I’d better get some instructions,’ says Charles. ‘If you’ll excuse me...’
Charles goes to the public canteen where he finds Ralph Cohen and his son, Marcus, at a table.
‘Good morning —’ starts Cohen senior. Charles silently places the new statement on the table before him. Marcus cranes his neck to read over his father’s shoulder.
‘Fucking hell!’ he breathes.
‘Language,’ chides Ralph quietly, as he continues reading. ‘So,’ he continues, when finished.
‘Yes. It’s what I suspected. This has been Robeson and Sands’s plan all along. They’ve just waited till the last possible moment to spring the trap. As long as the two defendants stuck to their stories the Crown was always likely to fail on the murder charge. No jury could be sure which one of them did it and would have to acquit both. This way the prosecution at least has a shot at getting one of them.’
‘But probably the wrong one,’ suggests Marcus.
Charles nods, but then shrugs. ‘But that’s not for us to say, is it? That’s for the jury. Have you seen Mr Rhodes Thomas?’
‘We agreed to meet him outside the cells,’ Marcus glances at his watch, ‘right now.’
‘Let’s go then,’ says Charles.
The three men descend to the basement. Michael Rhodes Thomas is already waiting for them outside the main door.
‘Well met,’ he says, as the others arrive.
‘Wait till you’ve seen this,’ says Charles heavily, indicating that Ralph should hand the QC the new statement.
Rhodes Thomas reads it while they wait for the door to be opened. ‘Well, you were right, Charles.’ He returns the document to Ralph Cohen.
‘Yes. Poor Derek Plumber is now facing the gallows on his own.’
‘Indeed. He’s going to need rather gentle handling. And we may have to reconsider our tactics.’
The door opens and they are greeted by the prison officer. ‘Good morning gentlemen.’
The door is locked behind them and they follow the officer up a short corridor to another locked door. The air is redolent of frying bacon.
‘I swear, the food down here’s better than in the Bar Mess upstairs,’ says Rhodes Thomas.
‘Oh, yes, sir. We’re the first Michelin starred restaurant in HM Prison Service,’ says the man with a grin.
Five minutes later, Plumber is shown into the tiny cell already cramped with the three lawyers. Without speaking, Rhodes Thomas hands him Sands’s statement. Plumber reads, his face growing ashen, his slack jaw dropping.
‘Jesus Christ,’ he whispers, ‘I’m done for.’
‘Sit down, Mr Plumber,’ instructs Rhodes Thomas. ‘Take a few deep breaths, and start telling us the truth.’
Plumber sits, but his hands holding Sands’s statement shake violently and he gasps for air. ‘I’m getting dizzy,’ he says, and indeed he is swaying like a plant blowing in a breeze. ‘I think I’m having an ’eart attack!’
Charles scans the cell quickly and his eyes land on Marcus’s open briefcase. He reaches in and pulls out a large crumpled manila envelope. He tips out the contents — colour photographs of the Express Dairy building — and hands them swiftly to Marcus.
‘May I?’ he asks, holding up the envelope.
‘Sure.’
Charles compresses the opening of the envelope and blows into it, forming a bag. He holds it out to Plumber.
‘Put that in front of your mouth and breathe in and out of the envelope. Go on!’ Plumber puts up a trembling hand, takes the envelope and applies his mouth to it. ‘Either cover your nose or just breathe through your mouth,’ orders Charles.
Plumber does as instructed and within a few seconds his breathing begins to return to normal.
‘Better?’ asks Charles. Plumber nods. ‘He was hyperventilating, that’s all,’ explains Charles.
The other lawyers are staring at Charles in surprise. ‘I didn’t know you had any medical experience,’ comments Rhodes Thomas.
‘I don’t. I grew up with an hysterical mother.’
It takes Plumber a further couple of minutes to calm down sufficiently to talk.
‘There was only the two of us on the job. God, I never wanted to go, I swear it. I’d gone straight for four years. I had a job and everything. But he called me, straight after he got out, and threatened to grass me on the last job. It was cast iron, he said, this would be the last job ever, and it would set us up for life.’
‘That’s exactly what it has done,’ says Marcus wryly. Rhodes Thomas gives him a sharp look.
‘He persuaded me to take an imitation shooter. You can look up my record: I’ve never touched a gun, real or fake, in thirty years of being a villain till this job. I never knew he had a sawn-off in his jacket, on my baby’s life, I swear it.’
‘Very well,’ says Rhodes Thomas. ‘Now, tell us why you made up the third man.’
‘That was his idea. He reckoned if we both stuck to the story we’d neither of us be convicted.’
‘He was right. But he hasn’t stuck to the story, and I don’t think he ever intended to. And for some reason the prosecution believes him rather than you. They’re proposing to drop the murder charge against him. Why should they believe him, and not you, Mr Plumber?’
‘No idea. What’re we gonna do?’
‘That’s up to you,’ replies Rhodes Thomas. ‘They’re obviously not going to take an offer on the robbery alone now, and on your instructions, you can’t plead guilty to the murder. The case will depend on which of the two of you the jury believes.’
‘A cutthroat,’ says Charles.
‘Yes,’ agrees Rhodes Thomas. ‘A cutthroat defence: each defendant blaming the other.’
‘What does that mean?’ asks Plumber.
‘In practical terms,’ answers Charles, ‘a dirty trial. No holds barred. Your credibility with the jury becomes all-important; they know one of you must be lying and have to decide which. Subject to what Mr Rhodes Thomas thinks, you’d be advised to plead guilty to the robbery and tell the jury the whole story. It’ll look dreadful if he admits it, and you don’t.’
‘I agree,’ says Rhodes Thomas. ‘The question I need answered now is this: do we require an adjournment? The Crown won’t oppose us asking for one, if there’s any point. But I have your instructions on this new statement, and I personally cannot see what purpose would be served by delaying the trial.’
‘But what about forensics, or whatever they’re called? Can’t they do tests on the shotgun to prove it was him what fired it and not me?’ Plumber asks.
‘Such tests do exist, but they’ll have been done by now. No evidence has been served on us, and we can assume they revealed nothing, or we’d have been told about it.’
‘What do you think, Mr Cohen?’ asks Plumber, turning to the man he’s known the longest.
‘I think counsel are right. I can’t see any benefit in delaying. It’ll only give Sands the chance to make up more convincing detail.’
‘If that’s your advice, fair enough,’ says Plumber. ‘Let’s go for it.’
The lawyers leave the cells and go directly to Court 2. The prosecution team and Philip Jewell await them.
‘Well?’ asks Hogg.
‘Very, thank you,’ answers Rhodes Thomas with a smile.
‘Still fighting?’ persists Hogg.
‘My dear fellow,’ replies Rhodes Thomas, ‘I should hate to deprive us all of a few days’ work. We’re still fighting.’
‘Very well. I’ve told the clerk we need to see the
Judge in chambers to explain the position.’
‘Why?’ ask Charles.
‘There are other matters I can’t mention now. But they have to be aired in chambers.’
A grim-faced, grey-haired woman of about fifty wearing court robes approaches the barristers. ‘His Lordship will see you now gentlemen, if you’re ready.’
‘Are we ready?’ asks Hogg, turning to Rhodes Thomas.
‘We are.’
The five barristers follow the clerk to a door behind the Judge’s bench and out onto a carpeted corridor, the walls of which are hung with paintings. They file down the corridor for some distance until they come to a panelled door. The clerk motions for them to wait, and knocks.
‘Come,’ says a voice from behind the door.
The clerk enters, half closing the door behind her, and then opens it wide to usher the barristers in.
‘Good morning, Judge,’ says Hogg.
‘Good morning gentlemen. Do sit down if you can.’
His Honour Judge Galbraith QC is a recent, and popular, appointment to the bench. He’s of the new generation of judges; not quite as prosecution-minded as the old school. He is non-interventionist, too; he lets the barristers get on with their jobs in their own way with a minimum of judicial interference. On his appointment as a full-time judge he commissioned a small polished triangle of wood to sit on the desk in front of him with the words “Be Quiet” embossed in large gold letters. Since then, every morning, he has carried the little sign into court with his case papers, to place it carefully on the bench, facing himself.
Sir Richard introduces the other barristers, and explains who they each represent.
‘There are a number of matters I’d like to explain with your permission, Judge,’ he continues. ‘The indictment contains two counts, robbery and murder. As I expect you’ll have read, the prosecution case on the first is strong, whereas I concede we’d have difficulty on the murder. The position has now changed, in that Sands has offered to give evidence for the Crown.’ He hands to the Judge a copy of the new statement. ‘That is a Notice of Additional Evidence served on the Defence this morning.’
He pauses to allow the Judge to read it. The Judge turns to Rhodes Thomas. ‘Are you asking for an adjournment?’
‘No, Judge.’
‘That presumably means that you’ll no longer proceed against Sands,’ says the Judge to Hogg. Charles now understands why Sands no longer needs a QC; he no longer faces a murder charge. ‘If you accept this evidence as the truth,’ continues the Judge, ‘it follows that you accept that Sands didn’t know of the shotgun.’
‘Yes,’ replies Hogg.
‘What gives this statement credence in your view?’ asks the Judge. ‘It might just as easily have been Plumber who approached you. It’s still a cutthroat.’
Charles smiles; this Judge is no fool.
‘That brings me on to the other matter that I wanted to raise, Judge, and it’s a matter that would be best not raised in open court. Sands has been of great assistance to the police in relation to other matters. He’s provided information that’s led to a number of arrests, and I am instructed that charges will follow. He appears to have been entirely frank in relation to those matters, some of which may result in charges against him personally.’
Of course! thinks Charles. They’ve left it to the last minute to allow Sands’s “information” to bear fruit with arrests, so as to make him even more credible in the eyes of the Crown and the jury.
‘And of course, you, Mr Jewell, want me to take into account the “information” given by your client, in his favour, when sentencing him,’ says the Judge.
‘Yes, Judge, I do.’
‘And I expect you both want him sentenced for the robbery before we start the trial of Mr Plumber, so there can be no suggestion that he’s trying to buy a light sentence with false evidence?’
‘Yes,’ reply Jewell and Hogg in unison.
The Judge leans back in his chair and stares at the ceiling as he thinks. ‘If the only evidence against Plumber is that of a potential co-defendant, the jury will have to be warned against convicting him on Sands’s word alone. There would have to be corroboration, won’t there, Mr Hogg?’
‘That’s right, Judge. But the prosecution say that there is evidence capable of being corroboration, subject, of course, to your ruling.’
‘I see. What do you have to say about this?’ asks the Judge, turning to Rhodes Thomas.
‘There’s nothing I can say, Judge. The Crown has taken a view of the evidence. I can’t change that. However, we’re entitled to know exactly what information Mr Sands has given to the police, so we can consider if we want to cross-examine on it, and what other charges may follow.’
‘Yes,’ says the Judge. ‘I think that must be right. I shall need a note signed from a responsible police officer setting out what Sands has told the police, so that it may be put in the file. I shall make no express reference to it in Court. I must say that I am not entirely happy with the turn of events, Mr Hogg, but I can’t prevent you deciding to offer no evidence against one of two defendants.’ Hogg doesn’t answer. The Judge turns again to Rhodes Thomas. ‘Is Plumber proposing to plead guilty to the robbery?’
‘Yes, Judge, he is.’
‘Well, thank you gentlemen. How long will you need before we can swear in a jury?’
‘An hour?’ answers Hogg, looking to Rhodes Thomas for confirmation. ‘Once we’ve taken Sands’s plea and dealt with sentencing. I suppose the jury in waiting could be asked to stand by for midday.’
‘Very well,’ says the Judge.
Outside the Judge’s chambers, Rhodes Thomas winks at Charles. ‘I’m beginning to think we might have some fun with this, Charles,’ he whispers. ‘I wonder if Hogg’s backed the wrong horse.’
They return to the cells to see Plumber.
‘He’s turned grass,’ announces Rhodes Thomas.
‘What?’ exclaims Plumber.
‘He’s given the police information regarding other crimes, and they’ve been busy making arrests. That’s why they want to believe him on the murder issue.’
‘Where does that leave me?’ asks Plumber, his eyes darting from one of his advisers to the next in turn.
‘Mr Holborne and I have been chatting about it on the way down. We’re not optimistic, but we don’t think all is lost. What I’d like to do, Mr Plumber, is keep a very low profile for almost the whole of the case. You admit that you took part in the robbery, and you don’t deny the witnesses’ accounts of the shooting. You simply say that it wasn’t you with the gun. The dead man can’t say which of you it was, and the other two members of Team 3, Gilsenan and...’
‘Barrett,’ offers Charles.
‘Yes, well, they were both unsighted by their van and by Wright himself. In my view it’s simply a question of which of the two of you the jury believe. Do you agree, Charles?’
‘Yes, I do.’
‘Very well,’ continues Rhodes Thomas. ‘I propose to ask no questions at all of the other prosecution witnesses. We shall save the whole attack for Sands himself.’
CHAPTER FIVE
Sands is sentenced to nine years for the robbery. It would have been less but for his bad record, and it would have been more but for the assistance he had given, and promised still to give, to the police. With remission, discounting parole, he would probably serve between four and five years. By the time his sentencing hearing is over it’s almost one o’clock and the Judge adjourns for lunch.
At two o’clock the jury is sworn in. Plumber pleads guilty to robbery and not guilty to murder. The trial starts. By the end of the afternoon, the Crown’s case is almost complete and the Defence haven’t asked a single question. The jury are looking decidedly puzzled. Charles looks across at them every now and then, and can see them staring at the bench where the Defence team sit, wondering what’s going on. There’s no doubt: by the time Mike Rhodes Thomas stands to cross-examine Sands, he’ll have the full attention of the j
ury.
The Judge adjourns at 4.15 p.m. and Charles heads back to Chambers. He arrives back at 2 Chancery Court at 6.30 p.m. suitably warmed with several cups of tea and rounds of toast. He goes first into the clerks’ room. Unusually, Sally is still there and, Charles notes, she has bowed to the pressure; she wears her regular dark blue suit and cream blouse.
‘Hello there,’ he says, as he peers into the pigeon-hole reserved for his briefs, and, more importantly, cheques, as they come in. ‘What are you doing here so late? We haven’t started paying overtime, have we?’ he jokes.
‘You’re kidding, right? No, I’m going out tonight and me boyfriend’s picking me up. So, as I had to wait anyway, Stanley asked me to hang on for Mr Clarke’s brief. It’s being sent over by hand. Are you staying, sir?’ she asks.
Charles doesn’t answer. A large brief is awaiting him in his pigeon-hole, and he unties the ribbon on it to skim-read the instructions. ‘Damn!’ he says softly as he reads. ‘Sorry, Sally, did you say something?’
‘Are you going to be staying, as I’ve locked up on the other side?’
2 Chancery Court is split into two sets of rooms divided by a central landing, and each “side” requires its own keys.
‘Well,’ answers Charles, ‘I was going straight home, but they want an indictment drafted by tomorrow and an Advice on Evidence,’ he says, tapping the papers in his hand. ‘Why do they always leave it to the last minute? The sooner we get a central prosecution service, the happier I shall be.’
He gathers the papers together and strides out of the clerks’ room. He opens the door to the corridor, still reading as he walks, and bumps straight into someone coming in the other way. He knows instantly by the smell, without even looking up, who it is.
Ivor Kellett-Brown is the oldest, and the oddest, member of Chambers. He came to the Bar in the late 1930s, having failed at a number of other careers and promptly failed in the Law, too. However, incredible as the members of 2 Chancery Court find it, he seems to have friends in high places. Mr Justice Bricklow, head of Chambers until 1936, brought Kellett-Brown in and he’s been there ever since. As far as Charles can tell, Kellett-Brown has no actual practice but, unlike in most other professions, every now and then a complete duffer manages to survive at the Bar by living off the crumbs from other barristers’ tables. Thus, as long as he continues to pay his Chambers rent — and no one understands how he manages even that, as his earnings from the Law are certainly insufficient — and he causes no one any trouble, he will presumably be permitted to continue to occupy the corner of the pupils’ room indefinitely.
The Brief: Crime and corruption in 1960s London (Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers) Page 5