Unsafe Convictions (5 page)

‘
No, sir.’

‘
But you didn’t really look for them, did you?’

‘
There was nowhere to look. Everything in that house was destroyed: no address book, no record of any ads sent to papers or magazines, and no replies. We contacted every publication in the country which carries personal ads, and found where Trisha placed hers, but that was the end of the line.’ He paused, gathering thoughts. ‘The main attractions of personal ads are secrecy and anonymity. Any of the four million or so readers in the area could have replied to her box number. Mr X sends his letter to the paper, addressed to the box number, and it’s sent on unopened. The paper has no idea who Mr X might be.’

‘
Why did you give up so easily, just because the obvious way failed? Why did you assume these men were both untraceable and innocent?’ McKenna demanded. ‘Wasn’t Trisha ever seen with a man? Where did they go for outings? Surely Linda Newton knew about them?’

Dugdale
flushed. ‘Linda only knew what Trisha told her. People always keep secrets from each other, no matter how close they are. Trisha might’ve been embarrassed about advertising for company, or just ashamed of the types who replied. Personally, I think the all-round battering she had from Smith put her off men altogether.’ He paused again, measuring his words. ‘At the trial, Smith’s barrister twisted the whole thing for his own ends, and shoved Linda into a corner. She knew about the ads, but she didn’t know if Trisha had met any respondents. That was an assumption, for the benefit of the defence.’

‘B
ut as Smith’s barrister so rightly pointed out,’ McKenna said, ‘simply for Trisha to advertise in the personal columns was hardly consistent with her alleged state of mind.’ He watched Dugdale’s face. ‘Was it?’

‘I
don’t know, sir. Trisha’s not here to explain herself.’

Hinchcliffe
roused himself once more. ‘I feel obliged to draw your attention, Superintendent, to the quite exhaustive documentation relating to my client’s search for these elusive letter writers. In my opinion, he did all that could be expected, and I would defy even yourself to have been any more successful. You will also note, I hope, my client’s examination of the entirely plausible, if probably unprovable, possibility that Beryl Stanton Smith instigated the murder, and paid someone to do her dirty work while she gave herself a near-perfect alibi.’

McKenna
nodded. ‘I have Mr Dugdale’s report to the Crown Prosecution Service. I also have a long list of people who gave what he described as “negative” statements.’

‘
Which I think you will find,’ Hinchcliffe commented, ‘constitutes most of those he interviewed, including the ladies busy in St Michael’s church, Father Barclay’s evidence notwithstanding. As is usual in such matters, no one saw, heard, or knew anything of significance, or even, relevance. Nor, I may add, was it possible to find a voice match with that of the recording of the 999 call about the fire.’ He gazed at McKenna, pale eyes wide. ‘What more could my client do, Superintendent? He isn’t Superman, you know.’

Ignoring
the solicitor’s barbed remark, McKenna turned to Dugdale. ‘In the CPS report you refer to Julie Broadbent, a care worker at the Willows, which I understand is a home for the mentally handicapped. You indicate that she was friendly with Trisha.’

‘
I think I wrote “acquainted with”, sir, not “friendly with”,’ Dugdale said. ‘Trisha had talked about working there. Now she had the freedom to choose, I suppose she was thinking about something with a purpose, instead of any old job to keep Smith in idleness.’

‘
Why did you report that Broadbent “appears to he holding back”?’

‘
Wendy Lewis and Colin Bowden interviewed her. They tried to talk to the residents, too, but as few of them can speak more than gobbledegook, it wasn’t very productive.’

‘
Broadbent, please, Inspector.’

‘
That was their impression.’ Pausing again, Dugdale clenched his fingers. ‘It had to be recorded, even though it wasn’t necessarily correct. As they aren’t local, they didn’t know about Julie’s circumstances, and what they perceived as “holding back”, and significant, was probably only her automatic response to the police.’

‘
Why?’

‘
She’d come to police attention in the past. Persistent truancy, a bit of teenage delinquency. That kind of thing.’

‘
Does she have a criminal record?’

‘
She was cautioned twice for under-age drinking, and once for shoplifting. That was the end of it, which is all to her credit, given her background,’ Dugdale said. ‘Her mother was the town tart, and she never knew her father, or any other family. She had no proper schooling, no guidance, no support, and no love, so it was no surprise when she went off the rails for a while.’ There was something near outrage in his voice. ‘No one ever gave her a fighting chance, and all you ever hear about her is “like mother, like daughter”.’

‘
In other words, Broadbent has a piquant reputation?’ McKenna asked.

‘
Which I don’t believe she deserves,’ Dugdale insisted. ‘Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before Wendy Lewis got wind of it, and she was all for crediting Julie with guilty knowledge on the assumption that she’d given Trisha a taste of the high life and introduced her to the scum who battered her face and set the house alight.’

‘
And as you will know,’ Hinchcliffe added, ‘my client also made an exhaustive, and to my mind, unnecessary, pursuit of
that
line of inquiry.’

McKenna
ignored the solicitor’s sarcasm. ‘At what point did Smith begin to feature as a suspect, or did he only become so by default, as it were?’

‘
He featured from the day after she died, when we saw the divorce petition.’

‘
But according to Beryl, Smith made no secret of his shameful behaviour towards Trisha. Indeed, it’s almost as if he gloried in challenging her to take the risk of marrying him. So, as he had nothing to hide, Trisha posed no danger to his new-found comfort.’

‘
I have to disagree, sir. Even now, Beryl probably knows only what Smith carefully calculated he couldn’t keep hidden,’ Dugdale said. ‘And, of course, there was the fact that Trisha was planning to sue him for maintenance.’

‘
But why?’ McKenna queried. ‘He wasn’t earning. Beryl had no liability, however rich she might be. Trisha would get nothing.’

‘
Beryl was giving him a hefty monthly allowance,’ Dugdale said, ‘as well as picking up the tab for all the bills, so, technically, he had an income to annexe. Once Trisha proved that, to all intents and purposes, Beryl would be forced to keep her, which Beryl wouldn’t like one little bit.’

‘
So are you suggesting she issued some kind of ultimatum that provoked the murder?’

‘
Simply voicing her objections would be enough to make Smith fret that his new, and much fatter, milch cow might disappear into the distance if he didn’t rid himself of the millstone round his neck.’

‘
Very colourfully put, Inspector, if the metaphor is somewhat mixed, but all assumption.’

‘
Smith had motive, opportunity, and means. Anyone can get their hands on a can of petrol.’

‘
He doesn’t drive, and there was no record of his buying petrol.’

‘
Beryl’s garage was converted from the old stables. It’s full of all sorts, including several spare petrol cans. She couldn’t say if any were missing, or empty when they should have been full, and nor could her hired help.’

‘
I think you must agree, with or without the benefit of hindsight, that your reasoning was based on rather tenuous links. There was no physical or forensic evidence whatsoever linking Smith to the murder.’

‘
In a case like this, sir, the best you can hope for is circumstantial evidence. All in all, it was a very clever crime.’

‘
Where was Broadbent during the crucial period?’

‘
At the Willows. She lives in, and she spent the afternoon asleep in her flat because she was due on the night shift.’

‘
The Willows is no significant distance from the house.’

‘
The other staff say she never left the building.’

‘
Was her voice compared with the 999 call?’

‘
No, sir.’

‘
Perhaps it should have been,’ McKenna told him. ‘Now, I want to discuss Linda Newton. How well do you know her?’

Hinchcliffe
sighed theatrically. ‘Is that question
strictly
germane, Superintendent? As you’ve already been told, my client has known Linda Jarvis, as she was, since they both attended All Saints primary school, albeit that he was about to leave for senior school when she entered at the age of five.’ He paused, summoning a little smile. ‘To my mind, the issue is
not
relevant. My client is a local man, and is therefore acquainted with a great many local people, a fact which, while often of great assistance in police business, is not significant to this case.’

‘
At one stage, your client’s relationship with Linda Newton went far beyond mere acquaintance,’ McKenna said.

Hinchcliffe
snapped: ‘Is this true?’ When Dugdale nodded, he asked: ‘Why on earth didn’t you say so?’

‘
I didn’t think it mattered,’ Dugdale muttered.

‘
Of course it matters!’ The lawyer almost squealed with exasperation. ‘When did this happen?’

‘
A long time ago! Linda was about sixteen.’

‘
And as you were twenty-two,’ McKenna added, ‘her father thought the association was quite inappropriate. He ordered you to stop seeing her, didn’t he?’

‘
Yes,’ Dugdale admitted, ‘but only because he was over-protective with both girls after their mother died. There was no ill feeling.’ He paused. ‘Nothing would have come of things, anyway, even if he hadn’t interfered.’

‘
Was the relationship sexual?’ McKenna asked.

Dugdale
gazed at him, almost amused. ‘We never got beyond sweaty hand-holding and whispering promises, because Rene Minshull had put the fear of God in both those girls about what she called “goings-on” out of wedlock.’ Completely sober once more, he said: ‘Not many get to the altar as pure as Linda, and the pity of it is that Trisha got there at all, chaste or not.’

‘
And you’ve remained friendly with Linda?’

‘
I have a very high regard for her, sir, and I get on well with the whole family, including her husband Craig, their two boys, and Fred Jarvis. I was also very fond of Trisha.’

‘
So when she fell victim to a vicious killer you would naturally do your best to nail that killer,’ McKenna suggested. ‘You attended the post-mortem, and must have been quite appalled by her injuries.’

‘
Is that a question, or a statement, sir?’

‘
Whichever you wish, Inspector.’

Hinchcliffe
intervened. ‘I think my client is concerned with the implications.’

‘
Inspector Dugdale must accept that certain issues have yet to be explored, one of which is the possibility of collusion between himself and Linda Newton.’ Turning to his notes, McKenna went on: ‘Clearly, he had a long-standing relationship with the whole family. More pertinently, as other suspects were excluded, often on very dubious grounds, leaving Smith as the sole focus of police interest, it could be construed that Linda Newton was directing operations. As Inspector Dugdale is an experienced investigator, that could not have happened without his consent and co-operation. Linda had every reason to want her former brother-in-law punished and, given Inspector Dugdale’s admitted affection for her, he may well have decided to oblige.’

‘
I see.’ Hinchcliffe tapped his cheek with spindly arthritic fingers, staring first at Dugdale, then, with a frown, at McKenna. ‘Tell me, Superintendent, in the wholly hypothetical, and most unlikely, event that criminal charges may be considered against any of the officers under suspension, are you in a position to offer them the usual opportunity to resign on health grounds?’

Face
suffused with anger, Dugdale jumped to his feet and strode to the window. ‘I will
not
resign! I’ve done nothing wrong!’

‘
You also failed to disclose your interest in Broadbent,’ McKenna said.

His
face now as grey as the sky beyond the window, Dugdale asked: ‘Who told you?’

‘
My sources of information are not relevant,’ McKenna replied. ‘Rest assured they will be checked and double-checked, and the informant’s motivation taken into consideration.’

‘
What else didn’t you think fit to tell me?’ Hinchcliffe demanded of his client.

‘
I used to go out with Julie.’ Dugdale shambled back to his chair. ‘I was seventeen, and she was sixteen. She’d left school, but I was still in the sixth form.’