Briefs s01e01 Episode Script

1
The drugs that were found up in the
loft were not yours.
Your fingerprints won't be on them,
will they? Absolutely not? No. OK.
More than half of them are legally
aided,
their lawyers paid by the taxpayer.
He did spit in my face, so I spat in
his face.
Britain's busiest legal aid practice
is Tuckers.
They handle thousands of these cases
every year.
We've spent 12 months filming with
them,
gaining access to the privileged
relationship, between lawyer and
client.
Were you, like, interested in him
romantically or what?
I certainly wasn't interested in him
romantically.
There's a great difference in age
between us, for a start.
If you did plead not guilty, I don't
think you'd win it,
simply because you've got 22
previous convictions for burglary.
At a time when the legal system's
under increasing scrutiny,
this is how justice really works.
I just wanted to go out for a beer.
(BLEEP) the courts, what the judge
said.
Don't, like, speak any more cos it's
not a private conversation for you
there
because they can hear what you're
saying.
Alex Templar, he's one of our
clients.
He was arrested at seven o'clock
last night
It's now two o'clock in the
afternoon.
It's a burglary.
Just sit tight. Rest assured that I
am on the case, OK?
And I suspect that you will be
interviewed within the next hour.
So just sit tight and don't do
anything silly
and don't be interviewed without us,
right? Promise me.
Shab Aslam is the lawyer sent to Alex
Templar.
We get told very little before we go
out to a job.
The basics, really, it's a burglary.
I think we are aware it's a
non-dwelling burglary,
which means it's not a house. It's
possibly commercial premises,
a garage or something like that.
(BEEPING)
Unusually, a camera is being allowed
in to film the client interview.
Shab gets the details of the burglary
from the police.
His client has been arrested in an
office block.
Hi, Alex. Hi.
Are you all right? Yeah.
Within your client's
rucksack, the police have found two
laptops
which are believed to have been
stolen from one or both of the
premises.
A report's been received that a
mobile phone has been stolen around
that time
from one of the buildings.
I'm not getting bail out of here, am
I? It's not looking good at the
moment.
It's not looking good, cos you've
got quite an extensive record with
the police
for similar type of offences.
If you did plead not guilty, I don't
think you'd win it,
simply because you've got 22
previous convictions for burglary.
Alex offers Shab an explanation for
his predicament.
OK. Yeah? I want to tell you
something, between me and you.
Right. I took nothing. Here's what
it is.
Tell me which way do you think we
should go. OK.
Here's what happened. I took a loan
out from a loan shark.
This is a mistake I made. He's given
me a Ј300 loan.
I'm supposed to pay him back on that
loan every week.
Yesterday, now, right, I've called
him, right.
See? Right, the day before I've
called him.
He says, come on down, let's have a
beer, really nicely. I didn't think
nothing of it.
When I got there, he says 'What do
you take me for, a (BLEEP) mug?
You think you can take my money and
not pay me?'
Him and his cousin were there. They
grab me, push me up against the
wall.
He says 'Listen, you had better pay
me my (BLEEP) money or I'll slice
your throat.'
This is why I'm between a rock and a
hard place. I just had to do it. OK.
Shab knows he's in for a long night
in Longsight.
Good morning, Tuckers.
Criminal legal aid costs the taxpayer
a billion pounds a year.
Tuckers handles more of these cases
than anyone else.
Why are you not coming into
Manchester? Now, is that definite?
Franklin Sinclair runs the
Manchester office.
Everybody, on the face of it, is
against our client.
The police are against him, he feels
the court's against him, the
prosecutor's against him.
He thinks the judge is against him.
So, we're the only friend.
We're there to support them, to
explain everything to them
and we're there to help them as best
as we can, and so we have to make
them feel like we're on their side.
Just read a file of a client we're
going to see.
Vera Kennedy and her daughter Joanne
Hume.
Both charged with possession of a
very large amount of amphetamine
with intent to supply it.
She's a regular in that when she
gets into trouble she always asks
for us.
She's normally in court with her
husband
and she did appear with him
last year and he got sent to prison
for supplying drugs.
She got a suspended sentence and, of
course, now if she's found guilty of
this new allegation,
she's in breach of her suspended
sentence and she's the oldest drug
dealer in town.
Smile, you're on Candid Camera.
Oh, dear.
Nice and slim, you, aren't you?
Well, I'm not bad.
You knew me when I was a lot fatter,
didn't you? You weren't fat. I was.
I was quite chubby. In the '90s,
when I started dealing with you.
Vera's husband Terry has just been
released from jail.
But now Vera's in big trouble.
Now, this is the most serious
position we've ever had you in.
I know.
Eight months prison sentence, wasn't
it? Yes. Suspended.
And if you're convicted of this,
you're in breach of it.
I mean, how's your health at the
moment? Still the same, it's not
good.
Not good.
No.
We got a lot of medical reports last
time, didn't we? Yeah.
This time the judge may say, 'Well,
we heard that last time,
and we can treat her in jail.'
Yeah, well
You know, they may do. Jail would be
tough for you, you're 63, aren't
you?
Yeah.
Jeez!
What you need to know is this. The
police came, searched the property
and there's lots of powder in
different places, right?
All over, literally. There's stuff
in the kitchen.
They're not bothered about that. I
know you're not bothered about that.
No, they weren't. No, they're not
but the key thing is, in the loft
is three containers of white powder,
and that white powder is, first of
all, substantial,
and secondly, it's it's quite high
purity,
and they're valuing it at Ј28,000
and we have scales, obviously, as
well.
With traces of caffeine and a clear
Tupperware box.
That had about a gram's worth in,
that was in the freezer.
Tupperware box in the freezer.
We go to the police station, and
correct me if I'm wrong, Shab
advised you to make no comment.
But you don't, do you?
I don't make no comment.
You have, you've made plenty of
comment. You said, 'First of all,
it's both of ours'
and then you said, 'No, it's just
mine'. You were then asked about the
money
and you said it was rebates from
council tax and rent that you got.
Then you were asked about the drugs
from the loft.
You said it was amphetamine that was
yours, for your own personal use.
You said it had been up there for
six months, to keep it cool,
and it says here 'She stated that
she was physically able to get into
the loft.'
It's a typing error, isn't it?
I did say I could get up there.
Did you say you could?
Yeah. Yeah, but you've never tried.
I've never been up there, ever.
No, you couldn't get up there.
I think what we'll do is, after the
committal,
we'll get you in the office.
Yeah.
And discuss some options, now that
you're out, now that you're out.
I don't think there's a lot you can
do, to me, anyway.
There's nothing they can do to you.
There's nothing they can do to you.
No, you've done your time, you've
done your time
and this was discovered whilst
you were serving a prison sentence.
Yeah.
Don't worry, we'll have you in
Tunisia as soon as you can breathe.
You need a bit of sun, that's what
you need.
I know, and so do I.
I've got that prison tan on me.
I know.
I'll catch you again. Right, all the
best, Terence. Take care, see you.
The victims of crime in Manchester
include two famous faces,
Wayne Rooney and his wife Coleen.
It all started when Coleen went to a
concert at the Manchester Arena.
Her camera went missing and with it
hundreds of private family photos.
I'll buy or sell tickets
The crime generated huge publicity.
Three people are now charged with
demanding Ј5,000
for the return of the pictures.
One of them is a Tuckers client,
Steven Malcolm.
Iain Johnstone is his lawyer.
He's one of the firm's most
experienced advocates.
His assistant is Lisa Paton.
The situation is, if you take into
account
the whole of the circumstances,
it does amount to blackmail.
Iain and Lisa are about to meet their
client,
to advise him whether he should plead
guilty or not guilty.
What do you think he should do?
It's one of those ones which could,
literally,
boil down to who likes Wayne Rooney
and who doesn't.
You in a world of your own, love?
Hello, Lisa. All right? How are you,
darling?
Super.
Good, good.
Steven Malcolm is a 42-year-old
handyman
with a history of petty crime.
But he's adamant it was his boss
who'd got hold of the Rooney pictures
and dreamt up the blackmail plot.
So he borrowed your phone once or
twice. Yeah.
Started when you got your phone back
and that's the first time
you had any involvement in it and
you didn't know what was going on
then.
This is about Thursday Thursday
afternoon.
So I finished work round about five
o'clock Thursday.
Goes to the local pub, have a few
drinks.
Goes home, starts making tea. It was
round about eight o'clock, something
like that.
The next minute, gets a phone call.
Don't know who it is. Hello?
And that's how it started.
Steven says his mobile phone had been
used by his boss, Lee Platt,
to start the blackmail negotiations.
He went along with it because he was
tipsy.
So, I phones Lee up. 'Lee, this
guy's on the phone,
don't know who he is. What's going
on here?'
'All right, yeah, yeah, tell him
we've got these images
and I want five grand for it.' So,
next minute, I hangs up,
this guy rings me back. Oh, hello,
yeah.
Erm Yeah, my boss says he wants
five grand. Simple as.
'Right, OK, then, meet you down at
the Marriott Hotel at half-past two
the next day.'
Steven, why didn't you, at any stage
in those phone calls,
say 'Listen, mate, got nowt to do
with me. Speak to my boss, here's
his number'
and give him Lee's number for him to
then ring direct?
I never thought about that at the
time. I just Don't know.
But then why then agree to sort of
like be a party to the delivery and
set up
Yeah, but you've got to understand,
right, I work for him. Yeah.
He assures me that 'You're not going
to get arrested,
it's a gentleman's agreement, it's
all above board.'
And so I'm thinking, well, OK. So
that particular day I hadn't got a
care in the world.
It was when Steve delivered the
images to the Marriott Hotel the
following day
that he was arrested by undercover
police.
Doesn't matter what you say about
the negative sort of side of it,
I'm pleading not guilty, anyway.
We're duty bound and we have to tell
you, Steven,
that if you was to plead guilty
you'd get credit for that guilty
plea. Yeah.
I can't say it would mean you
definitely staying out as opposed to
going to prison.
But there is a possibility it could
make that difference.
We can say to the judge, 'Without
prejudice, Judge, our client's
pleading not guilty,
but he would like to know, with
respect,
what is the worst you would do if he
pleaded guilty?'
It would be nice if you ask him.
Right. And see where we go from
there.
At Longsight Police Station, Shab
Aslam is still dealing with Alex
Templar, arrested for burglary.
Alex is desperate to get out of the
police station on bail.
But he's forgotten the phone numbers
of two people who might help him.
What happens next is a shock for
Shab.
I'm going to give you the
two people's names. Yeah. I'm going
to do something
I don't know if I should be doing
this. Go on.
Right.
I've got a phone, but it's my phone,
it's not no stolen phone. Right.
I don't know if you want to show
this on the
No, I don't think you should show
it, Alex, but tell me, go on.
Right, there's two people I would
like you to call, right?
I have their numbers on the thing,
that's why I have to pull it out.
One of them, right, is Sarah.
Listen, listen
I don't know if you should be
showing it on camera, you know?
I don't really want to go back in
there with it.
You can't give it to me, Alex.
Alex, you do know that you'd get
into a lot of trouble for having
that phone.
Well, that's too bad. That's too
bad, you know.
Did you have it in your pocket and
they didn't find it?
They just didn't find it. This is my
phone.
Prisoners in custody are forbidden to
have a phone.
It puts us in a difficult position.
We've got to advise him to hand the
phone over.
Otherwise we'd be party to him
possibly perverting the course of
justice.
So we have to be quite
straightforward and say, look, Alex,
you have to hand that over to the
police.
If you get arrested with that or
they find it later and you're making
phone calls from your cell,
you're going to be in a lot more
trouble.
Alex Templar handed in the phone.
He eventually pleads guilty to
burglary and receives a 12 month
prison sentence.
90% of all Tuckers' business comes
from their returning clients.
The clientele's very mixed. There's
the kind of sad drug addicted ones.
There's the alcoholic ones. There's
ones with mental problems.
And then there are people who, I
suppose,
you could say have a bit of an
attitude.
And are easily disturbed, quite
volatile.
Monday morning. The lawyers who cover
the police stations
have been summoned to the office.
Right, guys, thanks for coming. A
bit of an impromptu meeting.
I let you know on Friday that I
wanted you to come in.
Essentially, just to put everybody
at ease, nobody's losing their job.
Thank goodness for that.
OK?
No-one's getting a bollocking.
Tuckers earned Ј10 million in legal
aid last year.
But the government is cutting these
fees.
So law firms need to bring in even
more clients.
Each police station client brings the
firm Ј180.
The fees mount up if the case goes to
court.
Times are really, really hard at the
moment.
I'm on the marketing team and I go
to a lot of the management meetings.
We are We need more quantity.
Mm.
OK? We need shoplifters, we need
repeat offenders.
The thing is, we can do all the
marketing in the world
and we can write to clients and we
can have these gizmos and gadgets.
When we've got someone at the police
station, we need to keep them.
That is a fixed fee, that is your
client.
That is someone that's going to have
a mags case and a crown case,
and so when we've got 'em we need to
be concentrating on the ones we've
actually got.
They're the ones that are at least
asking for us. Get loads of clients,
loads of co-accused.
In the Rooney blackmail case, it's
time for Steven Malcolm to make his
plea.
He's been waiting to see if the judge
is likely to give a reduced sentence
for a guilty plea.
But the judge doesn't say.
So his lawyer tries to strike a deal
with the prosecution.
But Steven gets angry with this
plea-bargaining process
and goes off to the pub.
Iain tracks him down.
Right, they've decided they will
accept our basis of plea
and we've persuaded them to drop the
handling charge, as well,
to bring it down to one count.
Erm On the basis that you were
just acting as an employee,
but you have been actively involved,
to a degree,
where you've crossed the line,
basically.
Where are you at the moment?
Calm down now.
I don't think he's got the willpower
to control that behaviour.
And if he kicked off like that in
front of a jury,
it wouldn't go down very well.
Steven finally leaves the pub
and returns to court.
All I wanted to do was just go for a
beer.
I went with my mate, yeah, I just
went for a beer.
(BLEEPING) the courts, what the
judge said.
I just wanted to go out. I even
bought headache tablets.
I was stressed out. Do you know what
I mean?
I've had I've took four of them
at the minute,
and I've got to go back in
here and see what my outcome is.
His boss, who Steven blames for the
blackmail plot, pleads guilty.
The court then asks Steven Malcolm
how he pleads.
His lawyers advice had been to plead
guilty and avoid a trial.
But it's not what happens.
In my mind I just wanted to plead
not guilty. All the way.
Cos I know what happened on the
events.
And all right, for a lesser sentence
and plead guilty,
erm in my eyes, why should I?
So Steven Malcolm will face a full
trial for blackmailing Coleen Rooney.
It's Christmas in Manchester.
At Strangeways Prison, Gary Cox has
spent four days on remand.
He's an accountant. He's also a
convicted sex offender,
and he's now charged with harassing
his former victim.
Tuckers have just managed to get him
bail.
I wasn't aware that anything was
happening,
but just very grateful that it's
happened and that I've got bail.
I don't live in the Manchester area
and I need to stay away from here.
I need to stay at my parents' house
as a condition of my bail, every
night.
Three weeks after Christmas, trainee
lawyer, Jonathan Enston,
is off to see Gary Cox.
Two years ago, Gary got a community
order for sexually assaulting
a young man,
and was later convicted of harassing
him.
He now faces a fresh charge of
harassing the same man.
Were you, like, interested in him
romantically? No.
I certainly wasn't interested in him
romantically.
There's a great difference in age
between us.
So, how old is he, cos I know -
He's 20 now.
20 now. So at the time he was 18.
Yeah, 18.
So there was clearly quite a
difference in age between us
that obviously I was very aware of,
and so, you know,
even if I was interested it was a
non-starter because of the age
difference.
He's very good looking, he's very
intelligent, he's very confident.
You know, he could basically have a
relationship with whoever he wanted.
Gary is accused of following the
young man one night at Salford Quays.
Gary says he was actually there to
gather evidence
to appeal against his previous
conviction for harassment.
He says that he then decided to hang
around that area to feed the ducks.
So, tell me about feeding the ducks.
Tell me I know, it sounds
I know it sounds so ridiculous.
'Quackers'! Absolutely.
I couldn't put it better myself.
When I used to live in Manchester,
I had occasionally gone to Salford
Quays.
I knew there were a load of geese
and whatever that winter there.
So, you know, I had fed them there
before.
So, I thought while I was in the
area,
I'd walk down and there were usually
a few ducks and geese around
and there were loads and loads,
dozens of them, this night.
So I was down there feeding them for
quite some time and obviously
You didn't see anyone? I saw one or
two people walk past
but, you know, didn't pay any
attention to them. Mm-hm.
Too busy - I was just feeding the
ducks, to be honest.
Jonathan heads off to Salford Quays.
He's checking out statements made by
the prosecution witnesses.
'At the footbridge, between the
Watersports centre and the
Beefeater,
I noticed Gary to my left. He was on
the left side of a smaller canal
bank.'
Which I presume is just down there.
The prosecution's version of events,
that comes from the victim and his
brother,
is that they are walking this way -
I'm walking backwards now
but walking forwards having come
from the Lowry Theatre.
Gary's informed me, and this is why
he wants me to come here,
that he was actually over there, by
the Holiday Inn, feeding the ducks.
It's about undermining the
credibility of the witnesses.
That's something that's definitely
been improved by coming down today
and taking photos.
There's a week to go before the start
of the Rooney blackmail trial.
Lawyer Iain Johnstone has had a car
accident and broken his leg.
He's hobbled into the office for a
pre-trial meeting with his client.
But there's no sign of Steven
Malcolm.
Hiya, Chuck, what are we going to do
about Mr Malcolm's no show?
Still not here, no. I'll give him
till three.
Has he got a current mobile?
Permanently switched off and he's
not updated us.
Okey-dokey.
Some people don't seem to care at
all about their fate.
If it was me, I'd be at my
solicitor's office every day,
going 'What's new? What can we go
through? How can we attack this?'
But, obviously, that's me. Not
everybody is as bothered.
Friday prayers in a Rochdale mosque.
Among the crowd is one of Tuckers'
busiest lawyers, Asim Ali.
I go there because it's a sense of
community,
see people that I wouldn't
ordinarily see.
Clearly, if I'm there and if
someone's got a problem,
I'm quite happy to speak to people
in confidence.
And I make no secret of the fact
that I am a lawyer
who works in criminal defence.
Today he has a trial in Bury and he's
meeting the client at Tuckers' local
office.
Nice tan. I know, I've just come
back from Egypt.
I know. Did you enjoy yourself?
Yeah, it were all right.
Nigel Walker is charged with racially
aggravated assault.
He took a cab home one night in
Rochdale.
The police say he attacked the Asian
taxi driver.
Nigel says the taxi driver attacked
him and Nigel had been the one who'd
called the police.
We'll say to him the reason he's not
rang the police is because he was
the aggressor.
The court's going to say to you, you
were drinking from three till about
midnight.
So, that's quite a few hours, that,
to be drinking.
We'd only had eight pints through
the day. We'd had our dinner.
And I take it eight pints isn't a
lot for you to drink.
Not really, not Carling.
Were you probably merry but not on
your way?
No. I mean, it's impossible to get
drunk off Carling.
Is it?
It is, yeah.
You said that the driver was talking
about American foreign policy
and didn't seem to be happy about
you being drunk.
So, was he going on about the way
they interfere with other countries?
I was trying to have a conversation
with my friend and the taxi driver's
interfering
and trying to make conversation with
me and my mate what was in the taxi.
What were you talking about?
Me and my friend? Mm.
Er Just day to day things what
had gone on in the town and that.
Now, you say he spat in your face,
and did you tell the police that?
Er I can't remember.
OK.
He did spit in my face, so I spat in
his face.
You denied you were being racist,
throughout.
Cos you don't really have any
problems with people.
Not really. I might have been a bit
racist
when he cut my hand in the kitchen
when the police officers turned up.
If they believe you, then you'll be
acquitted. Yeah.
If they don't believe you, then
unfortunately you'll be convicted.
That's how it works. It just works
on who they believe on the day,
with these type of cases.
The trial is being held at Bury
Magistrates Court.
Nigel's fate hangs on whether Asim
can undermine the witness for the
prosecution.
The taxi driver was a young Asian
chap.
The way he put forward his account
was thoroughly unconvincing.
He went so far as to deny some of
the things he'd admitted in his
witness statement,
and the key fact is in his witness
statement he admitted to having a
screwdriver
and waving this at Mr Walker.
But in court he denied he had
anything in his hand at all.
With the main witness changing his
story, Asim asks the magistrates to
drop the case.
Well, Nigel. Cheers. That was a good
result, hard earned.
The court, obviously, having heard
what he had to say, and the police
officers,
they felt that they couldn't believe
what he said,
and he obviously tripped up about
the knife/screwdriver part. Yeah.
So, a good result. Yeah. Trust you
won't get in trouble again.
No, I won't, no.
All right. So, take care.
You've got my number if you need
anything. Yep.
Very happy how the case went. It's
been hard in that I've had a few
arguments with my girlfriend,
because she wasn't sure whether I
was telling the truth.
Yeah, I don't like going to courts,
you know what I mean?
It can be a bit intimidating. Er
Because they try discrediting you,
making you out to be the liar,
which wasn't the case.
The Gary Cox case is Jonathan's last
as a clerk on the magistrates' team.
He's just qualified as a solicitor.
I think you're going to have a
fantastic career, so all the best to
you. Congratulations.
He's due to hand over his notes on
this case to trial lawyer Caroline
Wilbraham.
But Caroline can't find the notes and
she's an exacting colleague.
Just where are the instructions that
he's taken? Where is everything?
Why is it not on the file?
On the eve of Gary Cox's trial, the
stress is showing.
Absolutely (BLEEP)!
If you had my casebook - I've got to
do the fucking trial tomorrow!
Have we got these instructions?
Gary Cox is charged with harassing a
younger man he's already sexually
assaulted,
and Caroline rates the prospects for
him as pretty bleak.
He says that he didn't follow them
and they wouldn't
have been able to see him from where
they say they are.
So there are questions that I can
put to the witnesses
but erm it all depends on
t'magistrates but I think the
magistrates will find him guilty.
It's the morning of Gary Cox's trial.
Caroline's finally got the papers as
she wanted them,
and makes her way to court.
Her client is less breezy.
Just trying to keep it together
basically.
But Gary's trial doesn't happen
because there aren't any witnesses.
Unfortunately, the Crown Prosecution
Service hadn't prepared their file
properly
and they hadn't warned their
witnesses to attend.
The prosecution want to adjourn the
trial to allow the alleged victim to
give evidence.
But Caroline stops that, using a
legal manoeuvre.
There's a new initiative at the
moment that's been implemented from
January,
called Stop Delaying Justice which
essentially means that all cases
should go ahead at the first
available opportunity.
The magistrates agreed that there
was not a good and compelling reason
to adjourn the case on this
occasion.
So, unfortunately for the
Prosecution Service,
the magistrates ordered that the
trial go ahead today
in which case, because the
prosecution witnesses weren't here,
there's no evidence that the Crown
can offer in respect of the charge
and so the charge has been
dismissed.
Something at last has gone right in
my case.
So for it finally to get dismissed
was very good news and a huge relief
for the family, as well.
I can fully understand that, with
the case being dropped,
the alleged victims may feel a
little aggrieved at that.
You know, at the end of the day,
they've made a complaint about
somebody
for something they believe has taken
place and it's been dropped.
You know, if somebody is guilty,
it's not up to me to prove that.
It's up to the prosecution to
prepare their case
and if the client is guilty, they
should be able to prove that through
the evidence.
The media are out in force on the
opening day of the Coleen Rooney
blackmail trial.
Iain Johnstone has heard nothing from
his client.
He's not even sure Steven Malcolm
will show up.
I'm hoping that the court'll open
reasonably early
so that I can get in and get changed
in court.
Hello. Hiya.
Are you all right.
What have you done?
I've bust my knee. Oh, aye?
So, where have you been hiding?
We've written to you and tried
ringing you. Yeah, I know.
To get you in to go through it all.
Yeah, but I feel it is (BLEEP) up to
you.
Yeah? I feel that there's nothing to
discuss,
cos on the last visit, you're
telling me I virtually had to plead
guilty.
So why should I come into your
office to discuss things.
You tell me that. Because I can tell
you the sort of questions
that the prosecution are going to
try and put to you.
If I plead not guilty.
Yeah. Right.
But you're coming across on the last
visit - this is what I'm trying to
say to you - to plead guilty.
So why should I come in and see you?
Are you all right?
Because what I said to you last
time, Steven, was,
you're sitting on a very fine line.
Yeah, course I am.
You're sitting on a very fine line
and it all boils down to, really,
your knowledge of what the
prosecution can show.
The prosecution can show, obviously,
that you were instrumental in the
drop,
and that you had telephone contact
with the undercover officer the
night before,
and really that's their case.
That you're associated with Platt,
that you were doing his running for
him
and that you knew what it was about.
Tell you what I'll do, right.
Hurry up, cos I'm losing my patience
with these (BLEEP).
So, hurry up and we'll go in court
cos these fuckers here.
I can see them standing there.
So, just waiting for Lisa to turn
up.
The trial gets underway and on day
one at least,
Steven Malcolm's feeling confident.
I feel good at the minute because I
knew from the start
I was pleading not guilty,
and at the minute I'm feeling pretty
good. Yeah.
So, I'm just going for a beer. I
need a beer.
On day two of the trial, Steven's
opting for a suit.
By pleading not guilty, he's hoping
to avoid prison altogether.
But he's been warned that if he's
convicted,
he'll pay for it with a longer
sentence.
He insists his family makes the
gamble worthwhile.
My oldest daughter, Joanne, I only
got in contact with her
three three three years and a
few months
and I've got a bond with Joanne.
When she turns up, I always make
sure that the heating's on,
there's food in the cupboard, the
duvet's always changed,
nice and fresh for her.
I get on here. So in the morning,
it's hectic
because she's using the shower and
I'm, like, knocking on t'door,
'Are you finished?' 'No.' Right, all
right.
It's just like a dad thing that I've
missed for so many years.
And I don't want to lose that.
It's day three of the trial.
Steven's about to give evidence and
he's given up on the suit.
I'm thinking to myself, hang on a
minute, the jury take me as I am.
And the circumstances surrounding
this case.
So, I shouldn't have to come here to
make an impression and put a tie on.
After today, as soon as I've been
questioned,
it all gets a little bit easier.
Up to this point, Steven Malcolm's
line has been
that he didn't realise what he was
involved in was wrong or illegal.
On the stand, he changes his tune.
What he in fact said was, he did
realise it was wrong,
and he realised it was illegal. At
that point the prosecutor said,
'In that case, Mr Malcolm, why are
we all here?'
I was quite sad, really, watching
him
being cross-examined in the way that
he was.
He was clearly struggling with his
answers.
I think she ran rings round him but
I think a lot of it, as well, with
him was,
not necessarily sure he really
understood what was going on.
It was though he was lost.
His lawyers tell Steven he's left
with no option but to change his plea
to guilty.
The judge accepts Steven's plea and
says he'll sentence him after
Christmas.
Feel a bit shit at the minute so I'm
going to go home.
Yeah What more can I say?
So erm See you in January.
I feel completely deflated and if I
was going to say anything about it,
and I don't pass comment very often,
that's why we have pre-trial
conferences.
They are our clients and we do what
they instruct us to do.
If they don't want to follow advice,
that's a matter for them.
How are you?
Not bad. Haven't seen you for ages.
Vera Kennedy, the oldest drug dealer
in town,
turns up at the office for a meeting
with Franklin.
Hi, good afternoon.
Hiya.
And how are you, my love? Good
afternoon, Terence.
They need to work out how she's
going to plead
when she appears in court the
following week.
Lisa's here, as well, because Lisa
did your last case
and did a very good job, as she
always does.
She's here, she's brilliant.
The situation is complicated because
Vera admitted to the offence at the
police station.
When we last discussed the case, you
were telling us
that in reality the drugs that were
found up in the loft were not yours,
although you actually admitted to
them at the police station.
But in fact you said at the police
station that you could get into the
loft.
Can you get into the loft?
No!
Is it impossible for her?
Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
And if we have to - Never been in
it, never. Never been in it.
She wouldn't fit.
He's very flattering, isn't he? He
knows how to flatter a woman.
It's a small gap, I wouldn't get
through it.
Did you know they were there or
not?
So, you didn't know they were there
and your fingerprints won't be on
them, will they?
Absolutely not?
No. OK.
Can you explain the position with
regard to those drugs that were
found around the house?
The freezer, the living room, etc.
It's just what we all have. We all
have amphetamine, all of us, all my
lot.
You take it and to help pay for that
and also to help pay for a debt,
I'm right in saying that whilst
Terry's been in prison
have you been selling it, as well?
Yeah. Right, OK.
So, because of that, Vera's going to
have to enter a guilty plea
to possession of drugs with intent
to supply, OK?
Vera is already on a suspended prison
sentence.
So if she pleads guilty, it means
she'll almost certainly go to jail.
I'm anxious to avoid a contested -
any kind of hearing.
I think that Vera is such a
Well, she's such a nice lady.
She'll agree with the nice
prosecution barrister
and he'll go 'Isn't it this?' and
he'll put a lot of pressure on her
and he'll scare her. You know what I
mean? Yeah.
I tell you what, if we keep you out,
that will be an amazing, an amazing
result.
Vera Kennedy pleads guilty to
supplying drugs.
Her daughter pleads guilty to
possession.
They are both currently awaiting
sentence.
It's been suggested that we profit
from our clients' bad behaviour.
Obviously, in very simple terms, we
do.
But firstly, let me point out that
we are a business
and if we don't make any profit, we
won't survive,
and there won't be any criminal law
firms defending anybody.
And, as a senior judge recently
said, nobody else protects the
vulnerable,
as well as criminal lawyers do.
It's sentencing day in the Coleen
Rooney blackmail trial.
Steven Malcolm's brief is waiting for
him at court.
Steven Malcolm, however, is on the
other side of town.
In the pub with his mates.
I just hope the judge, right
has a heart. Do you know
what I mean? Has a heart.
You go to jail, all right, you're
privileges, your privileges are all
gone.
You can't, like, open your front
door, open the window.
You can't go to the shop, you can't
have sex with somebody, you can't
spend your money.
But it's not going to
It's not going to change me, OK?
The only person that's going to
change me is my mother.
When I come out, right, and I go to
my mam's,
and Mam says, 'Son, don't do this
again, cos it'll break my heart',
this, that, and the other.
Whatever she says, not the judge,
whatever my mam says, goes.
Not the judge.
All you've got to do is treat it
like a holiday, treat it like a
holiday, do you know what I mean?
You'll be all right.
His daughter Joanne has come along to
support him.
We come back into contact last year,
2011, April. I was just
I'm going to miss you. I'm going to
miss you.
Get over there! Erm April. I was
going to London,
and I know this is his local, so as
I was in the taxi,
I was getting on the coach. You
know, National Express, round the
corner.
I had 45 minutes to get on my coach
to go to London cos I had a hen do
on the Saturday.
I'd seen his little ginger bald head
and I thought right, get onto you.
'What have you been doing, you
naughty boy?' He said it's a long
story.
I said I'm back from London on
Sunday. Tell me what the script is,
exactly what you've done.
And we'll go from there, and this is
why I'm sat here today.
So, all you can do, it's family, you
know what I mean?
No matter what you've done, what
you've caused,
blood's thicker than water, so so
what more can I do?
Yeah. Yeah.
You'll be all right, Dad. Mm!
It'll be OK. Yeah, course it will,
course it will.
Mr Malcolm
Mr Malcolm.
Don't want to know, don't
want to know.
Go.
There's no need for that. We've
already spoke to the bleeding TV
people.
There's no need. I'm his daughter.
There's no need.
The judge describes Steve Malcolm as
a willing accomplice and sentences
him to 20 months in jail.
That's just four months less than the
main blackmailer, Malcolm's boss.
I think the sentence was too high.
The distinction between them of four
months was, on the face of it, not
enough.
Perhaps he should have kept his
appointments when he had them.
For some bizarre reason, some people
seem to think they know better
than I do, as to the correct way to
proceed with things.
And obviously, in Mr Malcolm's case,
he didn't know the correct way to
proceed with things.