Silent Witness (1996) s01e01 Episode Script

Nice kid.
You gonna kill him, too? Take your time.
The body's going nowhere.
Look first, act when you and your colleagues are ready, and act together.
Because the scene, be it a living room or street corner, begins to deteriorate the moment the first person finds the body.
They say a victim dies only once, but a scene can be murdered a thousand times.
Thank you.
It seems the university has made the right appointment for once.
- What's her deal with you? - Equal partnership.
- Worth leaving Guy's for? - I think so.
We have some very interesting bodies in Cambridge.
Well, I do hope you'll stay.
Not here.
Now.
- Someone's gonna see.
- No.
Oh, God.
Oh, gentle! Not so quick.
- Wait.
- I can't.
- Gary - Mum! - Mum! - It's the kids! - Help! - It's nothing.
- Forget it.
Dean is there.
- Sarah! Help! - Sarah! - Mum! Mum! Help! Mum! Mum! Oh, God.
Come here.
Come here.
It's all right.
It's all right.
It's all right.
Jesus.
Dean! Go on, pull her.
Pull her up.
Jesus! I'm okay.
Are you sure you're okay? - You stupid little bitch! - Stop it! You were supposed to look after her.
Where were you? I was over there.
Where were you? I'll deal with it.
Come here.
Come here, Sarah.
Come here.
You ruin everything! You bloody ruin everything! Come on! Get up! Spending my time in here, I can't help wondering what prison is for.
Repentance? I doubt it.
Punishment? Definitely, but punishment isn't enough.
Not even when you are inflicting it on yourself.
What God wants from you, Marion, is repentance.
What you offer him is pain.
Three and a half years of silent, self-inflicted pain.
- I confessed.
- Only to the police.
Not to God.
- Nothing changes, Trevor.
- Certainly the food hasn't changed.
Excuse me.
Just a moment.
I'm serving a customer.
The service hasn't changed, either.
Ah, there's my wife.
Don't mention the baby.
She's a bit sensitive.
It's her first.
Our first, my third.
I know, it's hard to keep up.
Jenny, this is Sam.
- Hello.
- There's no air in here and I feel sick.
Jenny? - Are you all right? - This is a horrible place to meet.
I'm sorry.
Police.
- Well, you're gonna have to take me home first.
- I'll take it.
- Would you? - Sure.
Do you want me to come along to introduce you? I think I can manage.
Hold it, hold it.
Excuse me.
I'm sorry.
If you could go through the gate about 100 yards down there, then you'll see the rest of them.
- Dr Ryan? - Yes.
I'm the forensic scientist, Marcia Evans.
Sam Ryan.
Are you keeping an eye on the SOCOs? You get bored out of your box stuck in a lab all day.
- What have we got? - Possible drowning.
Why didn't the police surgeon certify it? He wasn't happy.
It's not straightforward.
- Are you the pathologist? - Yes.
Sam Ryan.
Inspector Adams.
- When was she found? - About an hour ago.
The old guy over there pulled her out of the river.
I'll need to take some temperatures right away.
Has anyone else touched the body? Just the police surgeon and the officer who took the call, to see if she was alive.
I imagine you're waiting to assemble the team before we start.
Relax, I've done the course.
Super's arrived, sir.
Am I gonna be embarrassed? I don't think so.
Good.
Show her where to walk, then.
There's also a guy from the news.
Tell him to piss off.
The fisherman found her very close to where she went in.
The body snagged on a branch over there.
She must have swung right out.
Body temperature 32 Celsius.
Water 12.
Air 20.
That's a big difference.
And there's no trace of froth at the mouth.
That's what the police surgeon said.
Is there any rigor? That wouldn't tell us much.
The water would keep her floppy, and she hasn't been out of it long.
Cutis anserina and maceration.
She had been in the water for a long time.
- Have the SOCOs got all your samples? - Yes.
It's a cold spot.
Virtually permanent shade in the summer months.
Can you ask the man if he covered her with his coat as soon as he found her? He's in shock.
Yeah, I need to know.
Well, there's no more I can do here.
Let's get her back to the mortuary.
It's a big setup, Tom.
You've got half the force here.
- This is the pathologist.
- Trevor's new partner? Yes.
- Dr Ryan, Superintendent Farmer.
- How do you do? How long has she been dead? Anywhere between three and 12 hours.
- And no one's reported her missing? - Not yet, no.
- Was she sexually assaulted? - Doesn't look like it.
How old was she? Six, maybe seven years old.
- Looks a lot younger.
- They always do.
Well, if she's from round here, the schools will recognise the description.
I'm onto that.
I've got one of the local guys over to take a look.
Sir.
Can you put her down? Here will do fine.
Do you know her? Yeah.
She's from round here, then? Fen Reach.
Couple of miles away.
- Can you get to it across the fields? - Could do.
- Do you want me to tell them, Peter? - No, mate, I'll do it.
- Did you get the work? - No, time-waster.
Where's Sarah? - She wasn't at school? - No.
She hadn't been there all day.
I asked her teacher.
- She can walk to school on her own.
- You shouldn't have let her.
Well, it's only a little way.
Well, she's obviously gone off.
You know what she's like.
Mrs Crew? I've got some bad news, I'm afraid.
This is Gary's mum.
Right.
It's her.
I'm so sorry.
Mr Phillips, you're not Sarah's father? What do you mean? How long have you known Sarah? Four Four years.
Then we're going to need a blood relative for the formal identification.
The coroner will insist.
No.
I know it's difficult, but sometimes it really is the best thing.
No, I don't want to.
If it was my little girl, I'd have looked.
- Helps you believe, doesn't it? - If you need help.
I am just a lonesome cowboy And I'm travelling all alone I ain't even got a nickel Fred, can't you think of something more lively? To call my baby on the phone We have a long cotton dress.
It's still quite wet.
I've already got a sample.
Dirt marks on the skirt and some little tears on the front.
The initial examination is now complete.
I'm starting to examine the body itself.
Two centimetre abrasion on the right forehead.
Can you give me a photograph here, please? Consistent with a face down position.
Some sand in the mouth.
Rigor beginning to develop in the neck, the fingers and the limbs in general.
There's some bruising on the shoulder here.
I'd like that photograph taken with a colour comparison card.
Fairly severe rope burns.
Right.
Let's take a look at these abrasions on her legs.
They're consistent with dragging the body along a rough surface.
- When he pulled her out of the water? - Excuse me? The man who found her dragged her up a bank, a gravel bank.
Yeah.
There's something in these abrasions.
It could be gravel.
I need to take a sample, please.
Thank you.
Would you photograph this as well, please? - There's some marking evident here.
- Well? Nothing unexpected.
I don't like the look of this.
How's your boy these days? Boys.
I have two.
I hardly ever see them.
They're living in with their mother in Manchester.
I hope.
There seems to be some skin discolouration on the inner left calf.
Scar tissue.
Could be old cigarette burns.
There are two old fractures on the left side of the chest, which aren't mentioned in the medical records.
Anyone see the girl on her way to school? No.
- When are you going to do the appeal? - Tomorrow.
Inspector Adams, I think you need to take a look at this.
I'm discontinuing the postmortem at this point to allow for a radiological examination.
We'll take a break for an hour or so.
The radiographer can take his time.
What have you found? Something old.
Is there a social work file? Yes.
Nothing much on it, though.
There was a phone call to Social Services.
They checked it up and the child seemed okay.
- Someone should have followed it up, though.
- It's not that easy.
Ribs heal on their own.
Bruising disappears.
Can you tell what she'd eaten? Sweets, I think.
Not much of a breakfast.
When will the report be ready? - Tomorrow.
- Night, boss.
Night, Fred.
She's asleep.
You're late.
I'm sorry.
I was working.
Oh, yes.
We all know you're a very important person.
All my mates go to pubs.
- Those hooligans? - Hello, Ricky.
Why not? - Wyn? - Because I say so.
- Don't tell me I've grown.
- All right, then, I won't.
Wyn? She's your mother, too.
Look, Mummy, who's come to see you.
Hello, Mummy, how are you? You'll catch your death.
Hmm.
That boy is a hoot.
Boy? What boy is that, Mummy? That boy on the TV there.
A hoot.
Do you fancy a quick one later? Just the one? Inspector Adams.
- Guv? - What are you doing with all my police officers? Is this a murder investigation? Not yet, but Sarah was a possible abuse case.
- Possible.
- The injuries went unreported.
Well, why didn't anyone take her to school? The mother had too much to do, and the guy had to go to Peterborough.
Well, someone must have seen her on the way.
What was the route? She could have gone through these woods and across the fields to the river.
- Sir.
- Cheers.
We're still waiting for the path report.
But you're already jumping to conclusions.
You're not paid for that.
One step at a time.
Tom.
Look, if someone murdered that little girl, I don't want them getting away with it because you can't remember how to do your job.
No, ma'am.
You're keen.
Did you sort out the papers for the Impington case, Jean? - On your desk.
- Obviously, you're a treasure.
What was the cause of death? - "Unascertainable"? - Probable drowning.
Rope burns on her hands.
She'd been on the swings.
Sweets in her stomach.
Well, what about the abuse injuries? These marks here.
- On the ribs.
- Yes, fractures.
Multiple fractures probably sustained over a long period of time.
Can you say what caused them? There are several possibilities.
Kicking, punching, someone holding her up under her arms and shaking her.
Like this.
When? I can't put a time on it.
AIII can say is the injuries are old.
So there's no connection with the cause of death? I can't say they're connected directly.
Well, what can you say? Probable drowning? - There was no water in the lungs.
- It could be a dry drowning.
Vagal inhibition.
She falls off the swing, hits the water, there's a violent change in temperature, her heart arrests.
It happens every day.
You can only ever prove drowning by excluding everything else.
Is this a murder investigation or not? I've given you my professional opinion.
Your professional opinion.
What do you really think? I think Sarah was the subject of furious and brutal attacks.
She screamed.
The neighbours must have heard, but children's pain isn't like ours, is it? It doesn't matter.
It isn't real.
And we don't help.
Not enough.
I think children like Sarah learn to stay out of reach.
Unnoticed.
She'd been in that water all day.
An accident, then? Sir.
Unascertainable.
What can I do with that? We went there for a picnic at the weekend.
"We"? Ronnie, me and Sarah.
And Dean.
It's a popular place, weekends.
And did Sarah like it especially? Loved it.
Wanted to play on the swing, and we wouldn't let her 'cause it wasn't safe.
So she went ahead and did it anyway, fell in.
Fell in? Why didn't she listen? Did Sarah always walk to school on her own? She was old enough.
Well, usually I took her, but that morning I was doing Gary's books.
They were urgent, tax and that.
Would you say that Sarah was depressed? How do you mean? Worried about anything? You see, there's the matter of the social work report.
- What? - Bastard neighbours sticking their noses in.
I know it's distressing but I do have to ask these questions.
Look, kids can really wind you up, can't they? So have you had any trouble like that recently? - Like what? - Have you had any reason to hit Sarah recently? - No.
- And before? - Well, it's all over now.
- Okay.
- Hasn't she suffered enough? - As I said, I do have to ask.
If you got anything else to ask, save it, 'cause we're getting a solicitor in.
It's disgraceful.
The little girl's dead and all they can do is blame the mother.
Thanks, then.
Bye.
Poor kid.
- She's well out of that.
- It's this job.
It does your head in.
Dean, do you know who I am? Yeah.
You know why I'm here? Is there anything you want to tell me? I'm underage.
You can't talk to me without my parents there.
No, but there's nothing to stop you getting in touch if anything comes to mind.
Is it my imagination or are his knuckles really dragging on the ground? He took the card.
She was a good girl.
She She sort of lived in her own world, really.
But I know she wouldn't have talked to strangers, 'cause I taught her that.
She could have wandered off.
She did that sometimes.
What do you think? It wasn't disobedience.
It was just that she didn't really think.
Poor cow.
Earlier today, the mother of Sarah Crew issued an emotional appeal for anyone with any information to come forward.
She was wearing a red dress and a patterned blouse and canvas shoes.
And she had a slide in her hair with Minnie Mouse on it.
If anybody saw my little girl, Clare Avenue, Keats Close, or anywhere near Peter's Hill Primary School, will you please get in touch with the police? I wish I was coming with you.
She is driving me crazy.
Maybe next time.
The feeling is mutual.
I can never make my hand do that.
You're so like him.
Me? Don't you know that? I just forget sometimes, Mummy, that's all.
I thought I was the one that did that.
If we were gonna hear anything, we'd have heard by now.
Yeah, I know.
Have you any reason to believe it was not an accident? - Sarah was physically abused.
- Yeah, well, so are lots of children.
- There was no water in the child's lungs.
- Dry drowning.
Or smothering.
Dr Ryan couldn't rule it out.
Dr Ryan.
And the boy, Dean, he took my card.
- Your card? - Yeah.
So he's polite.
Sarah was killed.
There was no evidence of sexual assault.
- It wasn't a sex murder - She bunked off school, went to the river and fell in.
That just doesn't make sense.
Accidents don't make sense.
Accidents are meaningless.
Murder is different.
There's good and evil and someone to blame.
You think it's the mother, don't you? It's a possibility.
Make me believe it and I'll go after her, Tom.
But what have you got? No witnesses, no forensic evidence and a pathologist who will give you absolutely nothing.
Look, Tom, leave good and evil to the priests.
We deal in evidence.
Case closed.
- How old was she? - Six and a half.
Maybe I missed something.
Well, it's too late now.
You've broken the continuity of evidence.
Thanks, Trevor.
- Did you? - What? - Miss anything? - No.
Well, you've done your job, then, haven't you? - Rule number one, right? - Rule number one.
I think I'd better tell you, I'm changing my opinion.
- How can you do that? - It's all a matter of emphasis.
Will the court please rise? You may all sit.
- Is everyone here? - Yes.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
We're here to examine the circumstances of the death of Sarah Crew.
One possible cause of death is so-called "dry-lung drowning".
Vagal inhibition possibly caused by the shock of cold water on a warm day.
The water at that point is in perpetual shade and is particularly cold.
Would a temperature difference of 20 degrees Celsius be sufficient? Yes.
However, there are other possibilities.
Suffocation prior to the immersion of the body in the river could give the same appearance.
I see.
Taking this with the multiple fractures of the ribs suffered at some time in the past and unreported, I'm not satisfied this death is accidental.
Is it your opinion that these old fracture injuries were connected with the cause of death? I'm unable to say.
But you remain unsatisfied as to the circumstances of the death? Yes.
And you informed the police of this before the inquest? Yes.
Inspector Adams, I am at a loss to understand why this case has been brought before me at this time.
In view of Dr Ryan's evidence, I am suspending this inquest pending further investigations by the appropriate authorities.
In addition, and in view of the evidence, I must warn you, the family of the deceased child, that these investigations could well involve yourselves.
Court, please rise.
I should have remembered, shouldn't I? Stitching people up is your job.
You made us look gormless.
Complete tossers.
Why? It was the only way to keep the investigation going.
- There is no investigation! - Exactly.
You closed it down.
There wasn't a scrap of evidence.
- What else could we do? - So what's your opinion? Not your professional opinion, Inspector Adams.
What do you really think? An accident? - An accident? - Look, Superintendent Farmer is an excellent officer.
- All the resources of our - Thank you.
- For what? - For telling me you think I'm right.
So what am I supposed to do now? Your job.
Catch a killer.
Dr Samantha Ryan is the forensic pathologist responsible for the evidence which has led to the suspension of the inquest.
This unexpected turn of events means that the investigation into the death of Sarah Crew will be resumed.
Marion.
- Who did that to your arm? - It was an accident.
I wanna make my confession.
And they called it puppy love Just because we're Well, well, well, Sam.
I've been bashing this patch for 15 years.
You know how many times I've made the local telly? Put your headphones on, Fred.
Three.
- And you manage it on your first case.
- You gave me the case, Trevor.
We need to maintain a proper, professional relationship with the police.
I had no choice.
She was murdered.
I just can't prove it.
And the police aren't even trying.
- Get that for us, boss.
- My hands are full.
- Yes? - Dr Stewart, I've got a message for Dr Ryan.
- Thanks, Jean, she's here.
- A Marion Wallace called.
- Who? - Marion Wallace.
- How did she get the number? - She didn't say.
She wants Dr Ryan to contact her solicitor, a Mr Boyden.
I've got his number.
You really have got them crawling out of the woodwork.
Who's Marion Wallace? Just another child murderer.
Innocent, though.
They are all in the nick, you know, Fred.
No wonder there's so much crime on the streets.
All the bloody criminals are on the outside.
My word, he was a liver.
- So what was she? Mad, depressed? - No.
An immoral slag, so the prosecution maintained.
A highly indiscriminate sex life, which her child interfered with.
Too noisy.
Very inconvenient.
So she fed it tranquillisers to keep it quiet.
It wouldn't.
So she gave it enough to keep a horse quiet.
Killed it.
- You claimed no extenuating circumstances? - She admitted it.
Frankly, she was just too thick to lie.
What happened to your arm? It's what happens in here to people who kill their babies.
So you did kill your baby? - Not like they said.
- You confessed.
I know, but it wasn't really like that.
She wasn't a good baby.
Not like my Michael.
He used to play on his own for hours.
But Kim was quite bad with crying and that.
You know? Go on.
Well, you expect that when they're new and you're getting to know them.
But this went on night after night.
I thought it was maybe colic or something, but it didn't stop.
And I didn't know what to do.
I thought it was my fault somehow.
You didn't go to a doctor? - It's not a good idea.
- Health Visitor? She got on his nerves.
Who? - He was on telly.
- Who? With that other one.
The mother of that little girl that drowned.
- He was on telly when you was.
- Who was on telly? My Gary.
Gary Phillips? Well, I couldn't say nothing 'cause they'd blame it on him, he said.
- Because of what he did.
- To your baby? It wasn't his fault.
He just couldn't bear it.
I mean, especially if we was together.
He just went wild.
Well, that's when I gave her the tablet.
I had them for me first, to cope.
And I broke the - Capsule.
- Yeah.
I put some in her milk to calm her down.
- It was only a little bit.
- The levels of the drug were very high, Marion.
Yeah, well, the slightest thing set him off.
So you gave your baby more.
- Sometimes me just feeding her was enough.
- To keep her quiet? - Ten tablets? - No! No.
No.
It wasn't that much.
No, there was a mistake.
Why didn't you tell me this? - I couldn't.
- Why not? What did he do to Kim when he was set off? What did he do to her? Shouted.
And what else? Well, she'd cry then.
Yes? Well, he shouted some more, and then she'd cry and cry.
And he was rough.
How? Well, he He'd shake her.
- He'd shake her and that.
He'd He was shaking - Shook her? Excuse me.
Look, you don't know what he was like when he was angry.
- And you let him? - Mr Boyden! Look, that was just his bad side.
Show me how.
Well, like this.
Like this, he just Well, he'd shake her, and he'd shake her, and he'd shake her Sometimes he used to pick her up by her ears and shake her head, like, from side to side, just shake.
Till she went all floppy and was quiet.
You gave Kim the tablets to protect her.
I thought I could make him better.
- Why didn't you say this at the trial? - Gary.
He said it wouldn't seem so bad if it was me.
But you admitted it.
You said you were guilty.
Guilty because you didn't protect her from him.
I thought I said to myself if I could love him enough, he'd change and everything would be all right.
She was a little baby.
I wouldn't have given her all them tablets.
That other little girl, the one that drowned.
Sarah.
Do you think that was my fault? Kim Wallace.
No x-rays.
Then obviously they weren't needed.
The toxicology evidence was rock solid.
A halfway competent defence would have torn that to pieces.
- Dr Matthews was a very experienced pathologist.
- Who got you a conviction? That's a matter of interpretation.
Wallace confessed.
I was there.
I heard her.
She was guilty.
Yes, but not of murder.
Two children.
Kim Wallace, beaten then killed.
Sarah Crew, beaten then dead.
Gary Phillips knew them both and it's a coincidence? So he chooses a certain kind of woman.
That doesn't mean to say he kills their children.
There is no evidential link.
Then let me x-ray the Wallace baby.
Do you understand what you're asking? That community was shattered by what happened to that baby.
And now you want to dig it all up again? Every injustice has losers.
The person wrongly convicted, the victim's next-of-kin.
Marion loses on both those counts.
But there's a winner, too, isn't there? The bastard who got away with it and did it again.
And again? '92, a night in the cells and another caution.
'93, assault.
Convicted and fined.
So he has a few pints and he throws a few punches.
There's a lot worse.
There is nothing here on the Marion Wallace case.
We should have known if he was one of Marion's boyfriends.
- There's a story in that house.
- I don' t doubt it, but I don't think it adds up to murder.
Gary knew Marion and her baby.
- That added up to murder.
- She says.
Do it.
- DC Cox? - Yes, ma'am.
Have you moved to Vice? No, ma'am.
So what's eating her? It was her that put Marion Wallace away.
I thought that was our new Deputy Chief Constable.
He took all the credit.
She did all the work.
Everybody knew Marion.
Were you her boyfriend? Marion was the village bike.
Ten pints with the lads and it's either a curry or get in the queue for Marion.
Did you know her at the time of the death of her daughter? Kim.
You knew her, didn't you? Yeah.
Shit.
Michael.
Hello, mate.
Look, I won't let him.
No, I won't.
I promise.
I've made myself clear so you get it sorted, all right? Bye.
- Thanks, Jean.
- Thank you.
Thanks.
I doubt I'm ever gonna work for you again, after my last interview with DS Farmer.
Well, that's why I'm here.
Excuse me.
Hello, Dr Ryan.
It's Marion Wallace.
What? Look, everything I told you, all them things.
It was all a lie.
What are you saying? It was all lies.
It was me.
Thanks for letting me know.
We're going to apply to the Home Office for permission to exhume the body of Kim Wallace.
Do we have your support? Of course.