Unravel a Crime - Tangle With Women (10 page)

“
That must have been along
winded process?”

“
It was and so the procedures
were changed, so that firstly, witnesses did not have to give evidence; their
statements could be read out; then the procedure was changed again so that the
statements did not have to be read out at all unless the defence requested it,
and finally if there was no challenge to the evidence, the magistrates could
rubber stamp the committal for trial. "

"A bit of a farce
really."

"Yes, but the right to
run the case before the magistrates to see if they will throw it out still
stands, and this is what we're going to have to do I think in this case."

"Will you be successful.
"

"I doubt it, not in front
of magistrates. "

"Why, what's wrong with
them?"

"Middle aged, middle
class, middle minded, and conservative. Always take the safe option. If PC Plod
says 'I got him bang to rights, your worships,' then as PC Plod wears a uniform
he must be right, even if he is lying his teeth out. "

Lisa sat back in surprise.
"Oooh, you must have had a bad experience."

"No, just general
experience," said Brakespeare with a sigh. "Ask any lawyer who has
defended before magistrates; it's always an uphill battle. Although the law
says you are innocent until proven guilty, you really have to prove your
innocence before magistrates - only don't quote me. I'm not sure of the
statistics, but most people who appear before magistrates and plead 'Not
Guilty', are convicted. "

"I don't believe you.
"

"Look let me tell you a
story. I was in a country magistrates court, not far from here, and my client
had been charged with speeding, which he denied. The Police said that they had
followed him at a steady 45 miles per hour in a 30 miles per hour zone, or
something. His defence was that they hadn't followed at a constant speed but
had in fact caught up behind him, and so were travelling faster. It was a
classic case of Police versus the Man in the Street. The Magistrates took two
and a half hours, yes, two and a half hours deliberation on their verdict. Now
if it takes that long then they must have some doubt and ought to acquit.
"

"On the basis that they
have to be satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt in order to convict?"

"Quite, but instead of
acquitting, the Chairman comes out and says to my client, 'Mr. X, we're not
sure what to do on this one, and so we're going to give it to the Police!"

"You can't be
serious", laughed Lisa.

"Unfortunately, I am. We
appealed and of course were successful in getting the conviction quashed. What
chance do you think we have with Newberry and a three million pound, or
whatever it is, fraud charge against him. Do you know what the magistrates will
do? They'll say to themselves, 'if there's three million involved, then there
must be something in it.' They wouldn't dare dismiss charges in a case of that
magnitude. "

"So what are you going to
do."

"The only way out of it
would be to try and demonstrate to the Prosecution in some way that they don't
stand any real chance of success, and persuade them to drop the charge.
Unfortunately and at the moment I don't think that we are able to do
that."

"I wonder if I can make a
suggestion?" Asked Lisa slowly.

Brakespeare smiled
quizzically.

Lisa continued. "While
you were out, I thought that I might have a look at some of the papers."

"Oh" Brakespeare
said with interest, "Go on."

"Well as I understand it,
this man Black, who says that David Newberry's valuations are fraudulent,
originally valued the properties about a year ago. He was then asked to give
retrospective valuation for two or three years ago."

"That's how I understand
it. "

"Well, everyone knows
that property prices have been falling." She paused as if to make sure
that she had properly paved the way for whatever point she was about to make.

Brakespeare nodded, "All
property prices fell - it was the state of the market. "

"And so you would expect
that the fall would be consistent." She said slowly.

"Meaning?"

"That all properties
would have fallen by roughly the same percentage."

"Well, more or less
depending on the area. Property prices fell more in some areas than others.
"

"But these are all
properties in London, in fact West London. "

"So they should all fall
in value by more or less the same amount."

"But not according to Mr.
Black."

"What?!"

Lisa pointed to a sheet of
paper on his desk that Brakespeare had not noticed.

"What's this? "

"I put the figures on a
computer spreadsheet, and this is what the result is in respect of the
properties supposedly mis-valued. Black has some properties actually increasing
in value over the last three years. Look"

She came round to
Brakespeare's side of the desk and put the paper in front of him. As before, he
showed no inhibitions in letting her body touch him as she demonstrated the
figures she had printed out from her computer. Brakespeare wished that he had
the courage to put his arm her.

The sheet listed all the properties
which Black had valued. In one column she had entered Black’s retrospective
valuations, and in the next she had entered his later and current valuations.
In a third column of the spreadsheet she had calculated the percentage increase
or decrease between the two valuations..

Sure enough, Black showed the
properties increasing in value.

Brakespeare was getting
excited. "What's the average increase?"

"11 % over the four
years" .

"What we need is some
data as to what actually happened to house prices at this time."

Lisa smiled. "I've
already found that. The National publishes little brochures now and then, with
information as to house prices. They’re also on the website"

"Oh, yes, I've heard news
items on the radio and television quoting the National's figures."

"Have you ever been in
Dick Ridley's room?"

"Not yet."

"Well he throws
absolutely nothing away, and files things meticulously. He had no problem in
finding the brochures for me, and bingo, this is what they say. "

She lifted the spreadsheet,
and beneath it was another sheet of paper in which she had analysed the
National's own figures.

Brakespeare stared at them.
"I don't believe this. "

"It's true. According to
the National, over the last four years house prices in inner London fell by 20.6%
and in Outer London by 13.6%"

"Well either way, the
average fall is, what, 16.5%."

"16.6% actually, but if
you compare that percentage fall to Black's 11% increase, you come to a 27.5%
difference between what the National itself says happened to house prices, and
what Black says happened, which means that is Black must be way out "

Brakespeare pushed his chair
back, and leaping to his feet hugged the girl. She felt small and soft and
yielding in his embrace. He was glad of the excuse. She did not resist, but
allowed him to sway with her in his arms.

"Lisa, you're a
genius."

"No, I'm no genius."
she said laughing and gently pushed him away. “It’s just basic number
crunching.”

"This spread sheet of
yours, what else can it do?"

"Well we can put all the
information we have into it and it will convert it into statistics; just as I
have already done. I’m not sure what we will come up with, but it might be
significant."

"Really, can we do it
straight away?"

"Of course, if you wish.
But remember, as far as computers are concerned, the motto is, "Rubbish
In, "Rubbish Out" .

"Understood"

Lisa led the way to her small
room in the attic of the office. On the way a visibly excited Brakespeare put
his head round the door of Margaret's office. "Margaret, if anyone wants
me I'm not available. I think that Lisa may have cracked the Newberry case, and
we'll be working in her office. "

Margaret could have looked
more pleased, he thought. There was something that she did not like whenever
Lisa's name was mentioned.

"Oh, that's nice to hear.
I won't disturb you. " Margaret replied.

In the office, Brakespeare
squeezed himself into a chair next to Lisa, who sat at her desk. It was
dominated by a large computer.

"Sure, I got Gordon to
buy it for me. "

"He must love you."
said Brakespeare, as a throwaway comment. He was unprepared for Lisa's
reaction. She turned in her chair and stared at him. Her face was only a few
inches from his.

"What makes you say
that?" she demanded.

Brakespeare was genuinely
puzzled. "To buy you the computer?"

"It's for the office.
"

"I know it's for the
office. "

"Well then," Lisa
turned back to face the computer.

"Well then," added
Brakespeare. There was a silence.

"Right," he said, in
a jocular tone, "what are we going to do then. Had any good
thoughts?" he asked, suspecting that she had. Lisa flashed him one of her
smiles.

"Well it has occurred to
me that we really ought to see where David was in all this. We know there were
other surveyors who did the valuations."

"Yes, I noticed that, and
they haven't been charged with anything. That's a good idea. Let's start by
seeing how about seeing how many of the valuations were carried out by David.
Is that possible. "

"Sure is."

With a skill that amazed
Brakespeare, who had had no use for computers, Lisa called up her spreadsheet
programme, and rapidly entered information which she asked him to call out from
the prosecution evidence, into the boxes on the screen.

With a click of the virtual
buttons on the computer screen, she then sorted the information into a
meaningful order.

Then, by clicking on another
button, marked "wizard" she quickly converted the information into a
chart.

They worked both quickly and
well together, and by late afternoon they had compiled several sets of
statistics, printed out with coloured graphs and charts, giving the addresses
of the properties, showing who had valued them and on what date, the valuation
figure, and the location of the copy of the valuation in the exhibit bundles.

Brakespeare studied the
statistics that Lisa had produced. “I don't believe this!" he said.
"This is fantastic Lisa. You may have demolished the Prosecution case
against David. "

"Do you think that you
have enough to challenge the case in front of the Magistrates?"

Brakespeare thought before
replying. "Well, we should, but again, the trouble is going to be to get
them to accept all this. If the Magistrates understand as little about
computers as me, then I foresee problems. "

"What can we do then?"
She looked at him anxiously.

"I'm glad that you said
'we'. We, is going to write a letter to the Prosecution. It's the only
way."

"Saying what?"

"Saying that there case
is a load of old rubbish and that they ought to drop it. "

"And we've enough to go
on."

"Well we've nothing else
to go on."

"But won't this give the
prosecution advance warning of David's defence."

"Yes, but they can't
change the facts, can they. They can't change this information," he said,
gesturing to the computer data that had been printed out.

Lisa gave him a slow warm
smile.

"Good old Miss
Barnes." said Brakespeare, wanting to kiss her – long and slowly.

"Ms. Barnes." The
smile became broader.

"Would Ms Barnes type up
the letter, on her computer?"

"It might put Margaret's nose
out of joint. "

"Then take a letter Ms.
Barnes, and remember, this is all down to you. I would never have thought about
using one of these spreadsheet things. Right, who are we writing to. "

Lisa reached for the office
file and opened it at the correspondence. "Crown Prosecution Service,
Headquarters, 50 Ludgate Hill, London EC4M 7EX" she said as she typed.

"Right, let's see,"
and he began to dictate slowly, often pausing as he searched for the facts that
he needed from the evidence. Lisa typed patiently, helping him to find
information when she could.

"We write to invite you to
consider, whether in this matter, there is sufficient evidence to show a Prima
facie case against our client David Newberry.

At all material times, Mr. Newberry
was employed as a surveyor with the National Bank .... "

"Building Society."
Corrected Lisa.