The Keepers of the Persian Gate (27 page)

Once inside the building, the cavalry unit were taken on a tour. When they hit the stairs, one of the cavalrymen sent a signal to the Artillery guns to begin firing. The sound of the L118s made everyone stand up and take notice. That was the signal for a unit of Gurkhas to scale the walls behind a stand which backed onto the famous Rose Garden to the immediate rear of Downing Street. The Gurkhas encountered resistance from MI5 but they had been trained to deal with it. The television cameras were not paying attention at this stage, as the cannons were still firing off rounds, including the hugely powerful L118 Light Guns which deafened the sound of any gunfire proceeding in the background.

The cavalry unit then proceeded to take control of Downing Street from the inside, placing the Cabinet Secretary under house arrest. Meanwhile the Gurkhas covertly secured the perimeter. The police guarding the front of Downing Street didn’t even know what was going on.

The Cabinet Secretary was livid, screaming treason at the top of his voice. A major ordered him to clear the Prime Minister’s diary for the rest of the weekend: “no meetings and no audiences.”

Upon the very nervous Prime Minister’s return, the cavalrymen exited Downing Street to pose for a photograph with the Prime Minister in front of the British media. As the cavalry mounted their horses to leave Downing Street, the Gurkhas assumed control of the building. When the Prime Minister entered the building and the front door of No. 10 was shut, he was arrested and placed in confinement alongside the Cabinet Secretary.

Chapter 16

The Privy Court

IN THE EARLY HOURS OF SUNDAY, 14 August 2011, the Royal Military Police systematically seized control of the law firms Dunlop & McLaine and Sefton & Grey. All Partners and employees were tracked down and assigned an armed guard who would keep them under house arrest during the rest of the weekend. A significant amount of manpower was required to carry out the exercise.

Meanwhile, Downing Street remained under the firm control of the Gurkha regiment, which through Colonel Maxwell was being effectively controlled and isolated, acting on orders from the Queen. The Cabinet Secretary had successfully managed to keep visitors away from Downing Street for a period of just over fifteen hours.

Late on the Saturday afternoon, Judge Brennan had submitted an emergency special request to the ICC to have the Mechanic brought to the UK without delay. The Mechanic himself had not seen or received any confirmation that money had been transferred to him for his services in the trial. Moreover, he had not received anything in writing to assure him that following the trial he would be secretly transferred to Ascension Island to live a new life. Both were preconditions of the deal to bring him in to the Atwah trial. Without this confirmation, Paddy was keenly aware of the possibility that the Keepers of the Persian Gate might attempt an attack in transit.

Consequently, Paddy recommended to the judicial unit transferring the Mechanic that the British Army provide a military escort. To be on the safe side, the escort involved over one hundred servicemen. No police whatsoever were allowed to be involved in the Mechanic’s transport.

At approximately 0700 hours, the Mechanic was placed into the custody of the Governor of Belmarsh. To maintain the necessary effect of secrecy, the armed escort retreated to Woolwich barracks, a short distance from the courts. Nothing could give the game away that a trial was running that weekend. Instead, a small but elite force of prison officers and ICC guards patrolled the courts.

Paddy had arrived at Belmarsh himself at 0600 hours, travelling from Woolwich station by taxi. When he exited the train station, he noticed the remains of a burnt-out bus, a victim of the riots earlier that week. Woolwich Crown Courts was quite a desolate place, set far back from the road. Paddy thought to himself that it resembled something like you would expect to find on an industrial estate, or perhaps an airport, minus the planes and hustle and bustle.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Belmarsh had earned a formidable reputation as the toughest prison in the country. It was used by the British government in the early 2000s as a venue for the indefinite detention without trial of terrorist suspects under Part 4 of the Anti Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. Those provisions were later repealed following an outcry in Parliament. Despite this, the prison continued to instil discipline with numerous unorthodox techniques. A recent report by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons noted the ‘excessive’ amount of force utilised by prison guards.

Upon arrival, Paddy reluctantly surrendered his sidearm to security and was taken to a secure wing of Belmarsh. Ordinarily, there was a separate public entrance. However, the front doors of the courts themselves remained firmly shut as it was a weekend. Therefore, on this particular day, entry to the courts would be made through Belmarsh and a secure underground tunnel.

On his way to meet the defence barrister, Colin Hall, Paddy bumped into Tony Morley, who seemed to be struggling to carry the many legal texts he had on his person.

“Those morons at the door took my travel bag off me. Said I had to carry the contents. Can you believe it? I don’t even have my pupil with me to do all the carrying,” fretted Morley.

Paddy was taken to a secure room. Inside, Colin was busy reading up on the Mechanic.

“So, Mr. Trimble. Good to see you again,” said Colin. The pair shook hands.

“I hear our star witness has arrived…?” asked Paddy.

“Indeed. I haven’t met him yet, but I’ve spent most of the night reading up on him,” stated Colin.

“Did you get any sleep? You look like absolute shit,” said Paddy.

“‘Fraid not. Sleep was something I left behind long before marriage and joining the bar,” replied Colin.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Colin, the prosecution’s Code 4 witness had also arrived by helicopter into the main yard earlier that morning. The Governor had personally granted the Code 4 use of his luxurious apartment ahead of the trial. Given that the Code 4 was a witness for the prosecution, Paddy felt that it would be inappropriate to divulge his involvement in the trial to Colin. In a conventional scenario, witness statements would have been exchanged long before the trial. However, this being a secret court, Special Measures would be adopted to conceal the Code 4’s identity. This included the Code 4 speaking from behind a curtain. On the flip side, the same principles would be granted for the Mechanic.

There was a knock on the door and in walked the Prison Governor. “The judge says it will be forty-five minutes before he convenes the Privy Court, gentlemen.”

“Thank you,” replied Colin. “Right, it looks like it’s time to go and speak to your Swiss chum.”

The pair were taken a short distance down the corridor to a secure holding cell. There was the Mechanic. He had been placed inside a straitjacket and the walls were padded. Colin was furious.

“Governor, remove this straitjacket immediately. What sort of barbaric practices do you get up to here? Get this man a suit now.”

“What size?” asked the Governor.

Colin turned to the Mechanic. “Well?”

“38 jacket. 32 in the waist, please,” said the Mechanic.

The prison staff pulled in a table and three chairs and Colin sat down to begin fiddling through his papers. He pulled a large Toblerone out of his bag and handed it to the Mechanic. “Thought this might remind you of home,” he joked.

The Mechanic smiled sarcastically. “It’s nice to see a lawyer with a sense of humour,” said the Mechanic. He then swiped the Toblerone off the table and on to the floor. “Where’s my confirmation, Paddy Irishman?”

“I wasn’t able to get what you asked for. Will you still be a witness?” replied Paddy.

“I don’t have any choice, do I? Well played, Paddy Irishman, well played,” replied the Mechanic.

Colin Hall then took control of the consultation and began to go through the possible questions the Mechanic could expect to encounter during the prosecution’s evidence in chief. The Mechanic was visibly dejected by Paddy’s news that he could not secure him a new start. After thirty minutes of intense discussion, Paddy and Colin left the Mechanic’s cell and were escorted via the underground tunnel to Woolwich Crown Courts. The Mechanic would remain in his cell until he was called by the Court to testify.

***

They didn’t enter through the public entrance; instead they arrived in one of the court rooms via the corridor leading to the judge’s chambers. Paddy took a seat in the public gallery and pulled out his touch pad to begin taking notes, whist Colin Hall and Tony Morley took their positions and read through their papers. A skeleton crew of court staff arrived. There were also two armed prison guards at the main entrance to the court room, two snipers on the balcony overlooking the court, and two guards standing either side of the judge’s bench.

A court usher walked up to the judge’s chambers’ door and popped his head inside. After a few moments he reappeared, nodding to another clerk who stood to address the court.

“All rise,” said the court clerk.

Both Colin Hall and Tony Morley stood, as did the various court staff. Paddy stood also.

The judge peered around the room and sat. “Thank you.”.

After everyone else in the court sat down, Tony Morley remained standing. “May it please your Lordship, I, Tony Morley QC, appear on behalf of the Special Prosecution Service in this matter.”

Colin then stood. “May it please your Lordship, I am Colin Hall QC and I represent the defendant, Mr. Abdullah Atwah.”

The judge smiled. “Thank you, bring in the prisoner.”

The door into the dock was at the back of the room. Aside from the two bailiffs who brought Abdullah Atwah into the dock, Paddy was the nearest to him of anyone in the courtroom.

“Now make sure it’s locked,” said the judge. There were a few grins from the court staff. The judge then began to address the defendant. “Mr. Abdullah Atwah.”

The defendant stood.

“This court has historically been known as the Privy Court. These are secret courts, and whether you are convicted or released you will not divulge the existence of this court or the evidence given herein to anyone, is that understood?” asked the judge.

“Yes, your Lordship,” replied Abdullah.

“Mr. Morley, please,” said the judge.

“Thank you, your Lordship. This case concerns an international terrorist, namely the defendant, Abdullah Atwah.

“I refer your attention to the decision of Lord Griffith in Somchai Liangsiriprasert, 1991, located at Tab 1 in your Bundle. His Lordship stated ‘[u]nfortunately in this century crime has ceased to be largely local in origin and effect. Crime is now established on an international scale and the common law must face this new reality.’

“Nearly 20 years on from that decision, those words are now truer than ever. On 1 August 2011, the defendant was caught by Her Majesty’s Special Air Service supplying materials including uranium, and technological as well as logistical information to build and transport a dirty bomb to London. You will hear and read evidence that will prove that this dirty bomb was intended to be detonated in the City of London during a busy period of the year.

“Under the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty of 1968, the materials in question were regulated by the International Atomic Agency and are listed as a banned substance for those without appropriate permissions.

“The defendant was taken into custody on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The defendant is a Pakistani national, and current head of the Pakistani Intelligence Service, namely Inter-Services Intelligence.

“It is the opinion of the Judge Advocate General of the British Army that this arrest occurred within the special extraterritorial jurisdiction of Great Britain and Northern Ireland under subsection 59, 62-63 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and Section 17 of the Terrorism Act 2006. It is further submitted that the Treason Acts of 1351 and 1543, and the Treason Felony Act 1848 also have application in this matter. All relevant statutory provisions are located at Tab 2 in your bundle and are highlighted for your Lordship’s convenience.

“It is the prosecution’s case that under the 1848 Act, the defendant by supplying these materials and information has committed a felony to ‘compass, imagine, invent, devise, or intend’ to bring about universal suffering against the people of the United Kingdom in order to levy war against the Sovereign.

“You will learn how this man fooled the world and even his own government into believing that he was a force for good. A decorated man, a senior man of influence within not just his own country but also the international community. You will learn how he deceived, schemed and conspired to destroy the heart of the United Kingdom.

“Once you have heard all of the evidence, your Lordship will be left in no doubt that this man should be convicted of High Treason.” Tony Morley slowly sat down.

This was fascinating stuff. Up to now, Paddy had always assumed that the crime of treason was a long out of date charge, not used since the post-war era. The last person to be publicly convicted for the crime of treason was William Joyce in 1946, an Irish Fascist. However, it seemed that the Treason Acts had been regularly secretly invoked throughout the last fifty years in the Privy Courts. Colin Hall had explained to Paddy on the walk over to the court that the crime of treason still carried the death penalty, until 1998 when the Crime and Disorder Act was enacted. After 1946, the death penalty fell out of favour as a method of punishing Britain’s most dangerous and violent prisoners. As a result of this developing attitude, the Privy Courts were reconvened for the first time since the American Revolutionary War.

The judge turned to Colin. “Mr. Hall, thank you,” said the judge, flicking through the defendant’s papers.

“Thank you my Lord… firstly, despite your Lordship’s ruling, the defendant reserves the right to appeal the jurisdictional question at a later date,” stated Colin.

“Oh, do you now. Why?” replied the judge.

“With the utmost respect, your Lordship, the very authority of this court rests on that question and you have made your ruling on it. The same issue cannot be tried twice or opened up for re-inspection by the same judge, to do so would effectively grant the prosecution leave to appeal. This would naturally be undesirable for the defendant,” replied Colin.