Innocent (2018) s01e02 Episode Script

1 Seven years ago, I was sent to prison for something that I did not do.
I lost my liberty.
And most importantly, I lost my kids.
They are not his kids.
He gave up that right when he killed their mother.
God.
You have such a fixed view of everything! The case.
Tara.
This! I'm so sorry.
I want you to investigate this case as if she were killed yesterday.
But there are some gaps.
Were you just screwing my wife? Or did you kill her too? Have you seen Jack? What if he's taken him? Oh, my God.
- He's just in town.
He'll be back any time now.
- I'm sorry, sir.
- It's his dad.
Why are you taking me? I don't understand what the problem is.
Get in the car, son.
- I haven't done anything wrong.
Jack? I just want to see my dad.
- Mind your head.
Jack! No.
No.
No.
No.
Wait! Wait, please! Jack! No.
No.
That's my son! Jack! Jack! I know this is a really confusing time for you.
I understand how difficult it's been for you.
You cannot go running off like that, sweetheart.
- Seriously, you frightened Rosie half to death.
You frightened me - I'm fine.
- Yeah, of course you are.
And we know you're not a child any more.
But we love you and we worry.
That's all Mum's saying.
Alice.
Jack, listen, we've got no idea what the next few weeks are going to be like.
He's my dad.
I know.
And if I want to see him, you can't stop me.
Jack.
Jack! - You should have called me, Phil.
- I did.
Several times.
I let him in.
But then Alice must have called the police, cos they turned up a couple of minutes later.
I'm his dad.
What do they think I'm going to do to him? I'm his dad! Did he say anything? What did he say? Well, not a lot, just just that he wanted to see you.
I missed him.
- David Collins is a sick man.
I don't know how many more ways I can say it.
- He was your best friend.
Well, right up until he beat his wife to death and dumped her body in a lake.
Look.
They may have let him out, but we all know he did it.
And anything he says now, any accusations he makes are just the delusions of a guilty man.
Trust me.
- What if Wilson calls the police? - I didn't touch him, Phil.
- Yeah, but you thought about it.
- He was sleeping with my wife.
- My best friend was sleeping with my wife.
- Dave.
Something happened, I'm not sure what.
But he killed her.
- We've been through this.
- He killed her.
- We've been through this a million times.
- He framed me to cover his tracks.
You have absolutely no proof of that, not a single shred of evidence.
- No - And I didn't spend seven years campaigning to get you out, so that you can chase shadows.
You Think of Jack.
And Rosie.
Right? They have to be your priority now.
And let the police deal with Tom Wilson.
Come with me.
Come on.
Look forwards, mate.
Not back.
Cause of death was a single blow to the head.
The shape of the wound suggests we're probably talking about some kind of hammer.
The lake was dragged repeatedly, but no weapon was ever found.
So, Tara was placed in a sleeping bag, and then wrapped in a tarpaulin, which was secured at both ends with a distinctive knot called a butterfly knot.
This one here.
And she'd probably still be down there if a diving club hadn't found her.
So, this was this was a meticulous job.
And whoever did it, was cold, calm and collected.
Jack wants to meet David and obviously we're very concerned for his welfare.
We're also worried about the effect it'll have on Rosie.
So, we need to know which side the judge is likely to come down on.
We both feel that it's not in the kids' best interests to have any contact.
Well, Jack is nearly 16, so who he chooses to meet is not a matter for the courts.
And as for Rosie, Mr Collins has a right to see her.
I received an Application For Contact from his solicitor this morning.
Well, we'll contest it.
Well, you can.
But I would strongly counsel you against it.
The courts take a dim view of that and in extreme circumstances, can reverse custody in favour of the father, if he demonstrates a more constructive attitude.
Look, instead of saying a blanket "no", we'll say a "not now".
We'll argue that Rosie's distress is such that she needs a period of three months or more, before any formal contact is made.
Look, I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but I'm just giving you the facts.
This process has started now and, I'm afraid, there's very little you can do to stop it.
The application only takes two to three weeks, but the Moffats may try to delay things, in which case you could be looking at three to six months.
- Sorry? I'm not allowed to see my daughter for six months? - Worst case scenario.
- Six months?! Be under no illusions, you're at the start of a long road.
Even when contact is granted, you won't be allowed unfettered access.
Initial meetings with Rosie will last no longer than an hour, supervised by a court-appointed volunteer.
- So, I have to prove to a bunch of strangers that I'm a fit dad? - Basically, yes.
Could you do that, Mike? Could you do that? Could you audition to be your kids' dad? In your position, yes, I could.
If you can find the patience, there is nothing to stop you having a full relationship with both your children in time.
In the meantime, there's no restrictions at all on non-physical contact.
Twitter, Skype, Facebook.
If I were you, I'd start there.
In a previous statement, you said that you met your sister at a local brasserie that night.
- Yeah, for a drink, yeah.
- And that you spent a pleasant evening together.
- And that you parted on good terms.
- Yeah.
OK.
It's just that we now have a witness who insists that, far from being a friendly drink, the atmosphere between you became increasingly hostile during the evening.
And ended with you assaulting Tara.
No.
No, that is absolutely not true.
She said you grabbed her by the throat and pushed her against a wall.
No.
No.
No.
I would never do that.
No.
Who the hell is this witness anyway? This is the first we've ever heard of her.
We are looking into why this evidence wasn't presented to you before.
Right now, we're treating it as credible.
She might think that's what she saw but I'm telling you now, that's not what happened.
Like I've said before, Tara wanted to talk about her marriage.
You said in your original statement that she was thinking of leaving her husband.
Yeah.
She hadn't loved him for some time.
She felt like the marriage had run its course.
But she was frightened about leaving because of the effect that it would have on the kids.
She felt very trapped.
And that night, she needed someone to talk to.
You know, to let off steam with.
She cried.
I cried.
You know, we both had a bit to drink.
Things got quite emotional because I felt that she actually had to leave him.
Because it wasn't fair to subject the kids to a toxic marriage.
And then, the end of the night, I gave her a big hug.
Maybe that's what your witness saw.
But I can categorically tell you that I did not push my sister anywhere.
What I can also tell you about what you already know, is that David Collins beat my sister throughout their marriage.
He put her in hospital three months before she died.
He had her blood on his jacket when he was arrested.
So, please, seriously, you know, for all our sakes, you do your job.
And you prove that he murdered my sister.
Excuse me.
There's no need to worry.
All that's happened is that your dad has made a formal request to see you.
Nothing will happen straightaway.
Ultimately, it is up to you two how little or often you see him.
The law is there to protect you.
To protect us.
Yeah, your dad's indicated that he'd like to see you as soon as possible.
But we feel it's best if we wait a little while.
Till everything settles down a bit, you know? We're going to suggest that nothing happens for the next three months or so.
Now, let's get to the end of term and then we were thinking that we'd go away somewhere fun.
Maybe, New York? What do you think? Yep.
I've got a confession to make.
The estate agent said there had already been loads of interest, and I knew you were snowed under, so I went and saw it on my own.
I know, I know, but it's perfect.
There's three big bedrooms, there's a huge garden.
Plenty of room for a trampoline.
And I really think if we move quickly we could snag it.
So, what do you reckon? Yeah, sounds great.
Just, I thought you didn't want to rush this.
But I love you.
And I want us to be a proper family.
DI Hudson.
'It's David Collins.
I'd like to meet.
' Tara was seeing someone else.
A year or so before she died, she went to a book group on Thursday nights.
She hardly read at home, but she never missed a meeting.
And then one day she just suddenly stopped going.
She never said why.
And I remember thinking at the time that she seemed really down.
And this was about four or five months before she was murdered.
And this was about the same time that Tom Wilson stopped coming to our house.
- So, you're saying you think it was him she was seeing? - Yeah.
Yeah, I am.
- And you think he may have had something to do with her death.
- Yes, because he lied.
He lied about what time he left our house.
Did you mention this to the original investigation? No.
No, because I hadn't worked it out, then.
But I had a lot of thinking time after I was convicted.
- Did you ever see them together? - No.
No, not like that.
No.
No.
You didn't find anything incriminating like photos or? No.
No, I didn't texts or anything? - I'm sorry.
- No, it's all right.
Tell me about your marriage.
Well - .
.
to start with, it was normal.
- We were happy.
So, why did she want to leave? I think in the end she found me limited.
I think she wanted something more.
Were there rows? Yeah, of course, yeah.
Towards the end.
Yeah, we did.
- Did you ever hit her? - No.
No, I have never hit a woman in my life.
Was she going to take the kids? Did you discuss that in the days leading up to her murder? - I don't remember.
- Alice Moffatt described your marriage as "toxic".
- She said you beat Tara, you were violent, you were domineering.
- Yeah, well, she's lying.
- Why would she do that? - Well, you ask her.
If I were you, I wouldn't believe a single word that that bitch says.
Alice, I'm off to the boatyard.
OK.
- What did Mum say? - She's not happy but I'm still going to see him.
Are you nervous? A bit.
- What are you going to say to him? - I have no idea.
Look, it's fine.
I'm going to be a couple of hours and then I'll be back.
All right? I promise.
Come on, let's go.
Thanks for coming.
I nearly didn't.
But in the end I couldn't resist.
Does Tom know I'm here? No.
Good.
- Can I get you anything? - Shall we cut to the chase, Melissa? I didn't come here for the coffee.
I wanted to ask you about Tom and Tara.
David Collins seems convinced that they were having an affair.
And what does Tom say? He denies it.
And you have reason to doubt him? No.
I'm pregnant, Louise.
Nearly three months.
- So, if there is anything that you know, anything you can tell me - Look, it's your life, Melissa.
But if I were you, I would get rid of it.
And get out while you still can.
I want us to have another look at Tara Collins' mugging.
She presented at A&E with a broken cheekbone.
She said she'd been attacked in the street.
I'm not convinced.
There were only three other assaults reported in Exminster that year.
All of them were teen-on-teen crimes.
- You think she was lying? - Well, it was three months before she died.
Maybe she hadn't decided to leave Collins at that point.
Maybe she was covering for him but he was convinced she was having an affair with Tom Wilson.
What was your interview with him like, Steve? He seemed pretty kosher to me.
I chatted with his PA and went over his diaries.
He did have an early surgery the morning after Tara Collins disappeared.
And I felt he was very credible.
I suspect he did leave when he said.
All right.
Can you check all hotels within a five-mile radius of Exminster? We're looking for credit card payments, hotel reservations in Tom Wilson's name, - anything to suggest he might have been having an affair.
- Yep.
In the meantime, I'm going to talk to the neighbour about the scream she heard that night.
What have we got on Alice and Tara? Everyone I've spoken to says they were close.
But I've checked their phone records and it's a bit odd.
Sometimes they chatted two, three times a day.
Other times they would go weeks, even months without communicating at all.
Get a warrant for the content.
And can we have another look at their finances? Their lifestyles.
Tara was younger, but she had the big house, the kids, the money, and that caused tension between her and Alice.
But this mugging, I think it's key.
Someone attacked Tara Collins in the months leading up to her death and I want to know who that was.
- I really can't believe this.
- Why why would she say something like that? - Why would she say something so disgusting? - Because she hates me.
Because I left her.
I mean, it's that simple.
To be honest, I'm more confused as to why you were even talking with her in the first place.
- Because you're not telling me everything.
- Because there's nothing to tell.
Louise is jealous.
And David wants the world to believe he's an innocent man.
I wasn't having an affair with Tara Collins.
Don't play their games, sweetheart.
Thomas or Tom Wilson.
I'm looking for reservations, room charges.
- 'No, sorry.
I can't help you.
' - OK, yeah.
OK, thanks.
Thanks for checking.
(Jesus Chris.
.
) My first instinct was that it was a fox.
- It was only later I realised it must have been a woman's cry.
- Right.
You didn't mention that in your original statement.
That you thought it might have been a fox.
- No, no.
The officer told me that wouldn't be helpful.
- I see.
I didn't want to let him down.
Because he'd been so kind, and so attentive.
OK.
Can you remember his name? The officer that you spoke to.
Hey.
Sorry, I thought you I didn't see you.
I thought you were going to come in through there.
This is just Do you want a drink or something to eat? Yeah, just a Coke.
Coke.
OK.
Yeah, please.
I can't stay very long.
Rosie's a bit scared.
OK of this.
I don't blame her, you know? Or you.
I mean, you hardly know me.
But I want that to change, Jack.
And I want to tell you that I loved your mum very much and I would never have hurt her.
And er I'm not who they say I am.
I know you're worried about today, sweetheart.
But it won't change anything.
Rob will always be your dad in every way that matters.
And I'm still your mum.
We love you, darling.
And we'll always, always look after you, no matter what.
OK? 'Guv, I've been going through Alice Moffatt's bank statements and I think I might have found something.
' - Is school OK? - You know, it is what it is.
- Yeah.
It seems like you've got a load of mates.
That Jason seems like a nice one.
- James, yeah.
- James, that's it.
- He is.
He's crazy but he's nice.
- And what about girlfriends? You must have them queuing up.
- Nah, not really.
It's not really my scene.
Oh, right, OK.
Sorry.
I thought Oh, not like that.
It's just It's just after Mum died everyone knew who we were.
And some people said really nice things but most people didn't.
And we moved schools and stuff, but it just was the same everywhere.
In the end it became easier to not let anyone get too close.
It's better off that way.
I'm sorry, Jack.
She's not at home and she's not answering her phone.
- She's shopping with our daughter, probably just out of signal.
- Perhaps you can help me? - Yeah, if I can.
- According to her bank statements, Tara lent Alice nearly £20,000 over a three-year period.
£6,000 in 2005.
Same again in 2006, and then £7,500 in 2008.
- And as far as we can ascertain that money was never paid back.
- No, it wasn't.
- Would you mind telling me what it was for? - No, not at all, it was for IVF.
- Right.
We had three rounds of IVF on the NHS, but our only option then was to go private.
We didn't have the cash but Tara was doing well, so I'm sorry.
Is that a problem? No, no.
It's just, probably wires crossed on our end.
But I thought the problem lay with you, not Alice.
- No.
No.
No, I was fine.
- Right.
Because Alice specifically told DCI Beech that she didn't have kids because YOU were infertile.
Well, she's probably just embarrassed, trying to protect herself.
Yeah, I'm sure.
Erm, I'm sorry.
I've got to pick Jack up.
Of course, yeah.
Can you ask Alice to get in touch when she can? - Yeah, of course.
- Thanks.
- It must have been ten years since I was last here.
- Yeah, me too.
All right, I'm going to race you.
Down there to the end of the pier.
- I mean, it's been a while, but - I mean, if you think you can handle it.
- OK.
- On your marks Hey! I'm gaining on you! I used to let you win back then as well.
There you go.
Careful.
OK? Yeah, good.
Thanks, Dad.
Aye.
Rob.
Rob.
- You should have seen the look on his face.
- What were you expecting? - Jack was standing right there.
- Maybe that was the point.
You know, Rob's been a dad to Jack for nearly seven years.
He's not going to want to give that up easily.
And by the looks of things he's made a pretty decent fist of it.
All I'm saying is you might want to think about what you owe Rob and Alice, you know? - What unites you? - I don't owe them anything.
- They stole my kids from me, Phil.
- No.
They did what they thought was right.
And there's no point getting angry about things that you can't change.
Well, that's easy for you to say, you're not the one that's getting stared at, and threatened.
- Hey! - And I understand that.
- Do you? I'm the one that's got the life sentence, Phil, not you.
You might want to remember that.
Was he like you remembered? Kind of.
I mean, he's older.
And thinner.
But still Dad.
I can't remember anything about him.
I've tried but there's nothing there.
Of him or of Mum.
- No, it's Wilson.
W-I-L-S - 'No room reservations under that name during that year.
' - OK.
Thanks anyway.
- 'But we do have a few credit card charges.
' - Really? Well, have you got the dates? - 'Of course, let me pull up the file.
' You two with me.
Warrant to search the premises.
- Study upstairs, is it? - What the hell is this? I'm after bank statements and phone records.
Contact between the sisters at that time was sporadic at best, but the day before Tara went missing, Alice texted, asking to meet.
- At the Brasserie.
- Mm.
Then later that night there was a flurry of texts between them.
I pulled the content from the phone company and they don't make for pleasant reading.
What have you done? What you talking about? All that bullshit about conducting "the most thorough investigation of your career".
When, actually, you just twisted the evidence to fit your first theory.
"David Collins, guilty.
" What are you talking about? I'm taking about you failing to mention the fight between Alice and Tara, pressuring an elderly witness into hearing a woman's scream, ignoring text messages sent by Alice to Tara the night she was killed.
Read them, Will.
Alice calls her sister "spiteful" and "heartless".
And accuses her of ruining her life.
And then hours later, Tara is dead.
Read them! I don't need to read them.
You're smart, Cathy.
You're way smarter than me but you are naive.
Every murder case I've ever worked on, and I've worked on a few, there are inconvenient bits of evidence that on first glance, seem to challenge the real story.
- "Inconvenient" - Let me finish.
- Oh, my God.
Now, in a decent world, in a fair world, these would get presented at court.
They'd be examined, considered, and then dismissed as irrelevant.
But we don't live in a decent world.
And if I'd let these be used, the defence counsel would have had a field day with them.
Manipulating the court, creating a completely unreasonable doubt in the minds of the jury.
And then a guilty and very dangerous man would have walked free.
But If you genuinely think that what I did was wrong.
If you think that it was somehow immoral.
Fine, go to Hillman.
Make a formal complaint.
And then you'll find out just how naive you really are.
I haven't been entirely honest with you.
I've done nothing wrong but I was in a relationship with Tara Collins.
Melissa, please, wait.
- Look, just come into the house.
We can talk.
- Get off me! Please, don't do this.
Look, think of us.
Think of our family.
We don't have a family.
Can you read them to me, Alice? I don't want to.
Tara accuses you of being "a parasite".
- You call her "evil".
- OK.
- We did argue.
- So, you lied to us before? - Yeah.
What was the argument about? I had asked her to pay for another round of IVF.
- And she said no.
- Why? She said that she was tired of throwing good money after bad.
Why would she say that? Everyone thought that Tara was perfect.
But she she could be a complete bitch.
Did you attack her? Did you grab her by the throat outside the brasserie? - I regretted it straightaway.
I tried to apologise.
- Did Rob know about this argument? No, absolutely not.
OK.
We'll leave it there for now.
But we're going to need to go through all your movements that night again.
- From the moment you and your sister parted, OK? - I did not kill my sister.
You OK? Just taking your advice.
Collins! Get up! What have you done to me? Ow! I loved her, you bastard.
I loved her! What you doing?! So, we have evidence that your former husband was having an affair with Tara Collins during 2008 and 2009.
- Did you know about this? - Yes.
- And, was it one of the reasons your marriage broke up? - It was THE reason.
When did you discover the affair? Erm.
Couple of months after Tara died, I found some texts.
On the night Tara died, were you with your husband between the hours of 11 and 5am? I don't know.
I'd had a hard day with the kids and I conked out about ten.
I didn't wake up until seven and he was in bed then.
But I've no idea what time he got home that night.
It was a brief relationship.
No more than a few months, and one I regretted as soon as it started.
- Why? - Well, because she obviously wanted much more from it than I did.
- What did you want? - Well, for me it was just a physical thing.
Which was exciting for a time and then it wasn't.
- And Tara? Do you think she? Do you think she loved you? - Yeah, I think maybe she did.
- Did she tell you that? - Yeah.
And she thought you felt the same? Well, maybe.
She was used to getting what she wanted in life.
So, you ending it would have been difficult for her? I suppose.
We have records of her making a number of calls to your mobile, your office and your house, in the weeks leading to her death.
- Was this her trying to get you back? - Yeah.
- And what did you say to her? - Well, I just reiterated that it was over.
- And you only spoke on the phone? No.
No, she'd come to the hospital, wait outside my house.
- And did you speak to her in person on those occasions? - Yeah, a couple of times.
Yeah.
- I imagine those exchanges would have been pretty heated? - Well, from her side, yeah.
- Not yours? - Absolutely not.
All I ever did was defend myself.
Physically? I tried to make her understand that I would never leave my wife.
And then, one night, she just went for me.
Punching and kicking.
And I threw out an arm to fend her off and .
.
accidentally, I caught her in the face.
But I never meant to hurt her.
Where in the face? Her cheek.
Your ex-wife has now said that she was actually asleep when you got home on the night of Tara's murder.
- I left David's house at 10:30, no later.
I went straight home.
- You're sure? - Yes! This is insane.
I would never have hurt Tara.
- You just admitted you did.
- Accidentally.
- Maybe you killed her accidentally? A row that just got out of hand? - No! I did not kill Tara Collins.
I swear.
I did not kill her.
- Why the hell did you lie to the police in the first place? - Because I was ashamed.
- And that's all there was to it? To the argument at the restaurant.
- How can you even ask me that? - So, what happens now? - They want to see me again.
- Jesus! - What the hell do they want from you? - Where's Jack? - Alice, are you listening to me? - He should have been home an hour ago.
Oh, great.
You want to add snooping to our list of our misdemeanours? I knew it.
- This is exactly what I wanted to avoid.
- Alice.
Alice.
Going there won't help.
Jack? Alice.
This is not a good idea.
And James walked right up to him I used to have a friend when I was in school called Gary, and what he used to do, he used to write Dave.
In the car, Jack.
Now.
Perhaps you should go, mate.
It's getting late.
- Yeah, you should.
We'll do this again.
OK? - This is bullshit.
You can't stop him coming here.
You won't win this fight, Alice.
I will see you in hell before you take my children away from me.
(Your children? Your children?) - Hey, Dad.
- Hey, sweetheart.
What are you doing here? - Are we going to be OK? - Of course, sweetheart.
Look, I know this is all scary.
It's scary for me too.
But we're going to be fine.
We love you too much to let anything bad happen to you.
Look, pass me that rope.
Right, give me your hand.
Spread your fingers.
What is it? This is like our little family.
Pull that.
Go on, pull.
Unbreakable.
Go on, pull.
- Come on.
Let's get home.
What's for tea? - I don't know.
I think fish fingers.
Oh, no.