Silent Witness (1996) s01e04 Episode Script

Can we turn him over? Rear of body appears clear.
Right, let's bag up the head and hands and get him down the mortuary.
What a nutter.
Same as Mark James.
Upside-down cross, garrotte, ivy.
You had this bloke Bird in custody and you let him out? Well, I'm off, boys.
Trevor.
- Love to Jenny.
- Richard.
Good night.
Oh, good morning.
Doctor.
Any witnesses? No witnesses, nothing.
A right clever bastard.
Coming through.
- Is he doing the PM? - Yes, ma'am.
Good.
I was worried, you left the phone off the hook.
- Well, I didn't want to talk to anyone.
- You didn't want to talk to me.
What are you doing for breakfast? Pouring milk on cereal, same as always.
- Where's Ricky? - In bed, asleep, same as always.
Well, go and get him up.
I'm taking you all out for breakfast.
How is he? I don't know.
He doesn't take any notice of me any more.
I didn't mean to make things worse, Wyn.
I know that.
All right, Fran.
Are you ready? Is this Daniel Finn? Trevor Stewart, the extraordinary pathologist in this extraordinary case, takes the stand.
A hush falls over the court.
Morning, all.
The body is that of a well-nourished, well-developed white male.
six-foot-two, eyes of blue.
Well, actually, five-foot-ten, weight 70.
5 kilograms.
It's for you, boss.
Tell whoever it is to kindly bugger off.
Your wife's having a baby, boss.
I know my wife is having a baby, Fred.
I played a not inconsiderable part in the process myself.
She's having it now, boss.
All right, calm, calm.
We're all right, we're absolutely fine.
- Just get us there, Trevor.
- Right.
Damn, shit.
- Come on.
- Just don't panic.
All right.
Shit.
All right.
Don't panic.
This is the life.
It is nice.
Thank you, Sam.
- Can we go soon? Someone might see me.
- Ricky! - What are you doing today, Ricky? - Nothing.
If nothing was an Olympic sport, Ricky would romp home.
Oh, funny woman.
There goes another rib.
Now, just you eat your breakfast.
- What are these? - They're sun-dried tomatoes.
- Hello? - Gross.
Fred, I thought I told you Oh, I see.
Yep, I understand.
I'll be there as soon as I can.
If we let him out again, he'll kill again.
We have to find something to keep him in.
I find what I find, Tom.
Shall we get started? The body was discovered at approximately 11 p.
m.
Life was pronounced extinct at 0015 by the police surgeon, Dr Owen.
The body is cool to the touch.
Rigor is present in the limbs, head and neck region.
The nails - Can we get a close-up of this bruising? - What is it? He's got a distinctive pattern of bruising on his knuckles on the back of his hand.
Meaning? Meaning his hand came into forcible contact with a hard object, almost definitely a ring.
Go on.
These bruises are consistent with Daniel Finn protecting himself from an assault, a succession of blows.
So, we're looking for somebody that wears a ring? Could be anybody.
A big ring.
Bird.
He wears that weird ring.
How accurate can you be in matching a specific ring to the bruising? If I had the ring, very accurate.
Mr Adams.
Sorry, was that you knocking? Show us your hand, Bird.
Just show her your hand.
Sebastianne Bird, I am arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Daniel Finn.
You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something you may later rely on in court.
Anything you do say may be given in evidence.
Sir, I think we've found something.
Will you excuse me, Mr Bird? - This is a cannabis plant.
- Yes, sir.
- This is what you wanted me to see? - Sir.
Jarvis, it's not 1960.
I mean, you don't even get your wrist slapped for this sort of thing any more.
It's still an offence, sir.
Excellent work, Jarvis.
Well done.
Sir.
Wait a minute.
What's this? It's just ivy, sir.
Good, send it to forensic.
Are you a keen gardener, Mr Bird? Not especially.
- I noticed you grow ivy.
- Really? Funny thing, that, growing ivy in pots when your house is crawling with the stuff.
I'm a funny kind of guy.
We found ivy on Mark James' body.
And on Daniel Finn's.
Have you got anything to say about that? No.
Would you describe yourself as a violent man? Only when people keep asking me stupid questions.
We found your blood on Mark's clothes, didn't we? He's explained that, Detective Inspector.
And Daniel Finn.
You gave Daniela bit of a going-over as well, didn't you? - No.
- No? - You didn't hit Daniel Finn? - No.
- Are you sure about that? - Yes.
I'm now showing Mr Bird one signet ring taken from him earlier today.
Is this your ring, Mr Bird? Yes.
It is.
It's very nice.
- Thank you.
- Don't mention it.
A pathologist can read a body like a book.
And this ring's the pen, isn't it? Does anyone else know what he's talking about? This ring left bruises on Daniel's body.
You might just as well have left your signature.
What is it, anyway? Some kind of an occult thing? What, that? That's a 16th century French Huguenot ring.
My parents gave it to me, it's what we call an heirloom.
Did they have black French Huguenots? My foster parents.
Whatever.
It left a distinct impression on Daniel's body.
Which pathologist? I beg your pardon? Who performed the postmortem on Daniel Finn's body? None of your business.
Dr Samantha Ryan.
A very respected pathologist.
And how is Dr Ryan? Do you know her? Well, early stages of a relationship.
We had a chat the other night.
- He's lying.
- A chat about what? Well, life, death, Mark James.
I liked her.
I liked her a lot.
- If you're lying to me, Bird - Of course he's bloody lying.
On my mother's grave, if anyone knew where it was.
Does this cause a problem of some sort? It means any evidence supplied by Dr Ryan wouldn't be worth the paper it's written on.
Oh, I'm so sorry, everyone.
Did you talk to Bird? - Excuse me? - Did you talk to Bird? He followed me from the station.
What could I do? I'm going to formally complain to the Home Office about your behaviour.
I'll inform them that I have serious concerns about your neutrality in this case.
I thought he was about to tell me something.
We'll get in another pathologist.
I don't want you anywhere near this case.
Is that clear enough for you? We have to work with these people.
Like it or not, we're part of a team.
- If we think they're wrong and we're right - Sam, you talked to the only suspect in a murder case! Who's wrong here? There hasn't been one dissenting voice.
Everyone wants Bird to have committed these murders.
Doesn't mean he didn't.
You know what your problem is? - No.
- You're no good at being part of a posse.
Which is what we are.
Farmer's the sheriff, you, me and Adams, we're the posse.
Just go with it or we're buggered.
Dr Stewart, I think your wife would like to start shouting at you - for making her pregnant.
- Right.
Good luck.
Give her my love.
Just walk away from this one, Sam.
Please.
What are we looking for, boss? If I knew, I'd tell you.
Another couple of bodies came in this morning.
One old boy dropped dead in the supermarket, another one on the khazi.
Well, they won't mind waiting, then.
Give me the photographs of his hands, Fred.
Start pushing.
Push down.
Good girl.
Put your chin on your chest and push.
Push, and again, push.
Why are these people leaving you? Mark, Daniel, Fran.
They all tried to leave, didn't they? But you don't like people leaving you, do you? Mark left and he's dead.
Daniel left and he's dead.
Is that it? Is that the best that you can come up with? I kill people because they leave me? What about Fran? You gonna kill her, too? That's it, this interview must be terminated.
I shall ensure that your tactics are brought to the attention of the PCA as well as the Court.
Sit down, Mr Brewer.
I say when an interview is terminated.
This is not an interview, this is a series of completely unfounded accusations and I won't have it.
Can I have a word with DI Adams, ma'am, outside? - What? - She's pregnant.
- Fran's pregnant.
- How do you know? When we brought her in she was sick in the toilets.
And every time her name's mentioned in there he flinches.
Well, why didn't you tell me she'd been sick? She threw up.
I didn't think it was that important.
Look, I'll bloody decide what's important.
You're the last person to say what is and isn't important.
- Sorry.
- What do you want? - Have you got a minute? - No.
- It's important.
- He'll decide what's important.
Excuse me.
How's the investigation going? Everything's at the lab.
When we know, you'll know.
I had another look at Daniel Finn.
The bruising could have been caused by coming into forcible contact with a ring.
- You told us that.
- No, I mean aggressively.
It's possible Bird was protecting himself from Daniel Finn, not the other way around.
Why do you do this? I'm just trying to make sure that you have all the information available.
I'm touched.
I will ensure that a full interpretation of my evidence goes to Crown Court.
Is that understood? Come on, Charlie.
How many times did Bird help you out? Bird's not here.
A gram on account.
You know he's good for it.
He's just been arrested for murder, Fran.
They're just about to start crawling all over his life.
Please, Charlie.
I don't even know who you're talking about, all right? Oh, shit.
Looks like an auction room in here.
They are being a bit thorough, aren't they? They're desperate to find something that fixes Bird to the murders.
I thought you were supposed to find the evidence first, then who it belongs to.
I heard you'd had a run-in with Farmer.
They found these at Bird's house.
Is this the ivy from the bodies? I got my own hand slapped for helping you find that, thank you very much.
Damned by a leaf of ivy.
We know you're pregnant.
How did you know that? We know everything.
Is Bird the father? If you knew everything, you'd know who the father was.
Of course Bird's the father.
You left him, didn't you, Fran? You went to Daniel's house and Bird came after you.
There was a fight and Daniel threw Bird out.
But Bird is not about to walk away from something like that, is he? You belong to him.
The baby belongs to him.
So he came back and he murdered Daniel Finn.
Now, if we don't find enough evidence to keep him in, he's gonna kill somebody else.
Who's he gonna kill, Fran? You? Kerry, I've found it.
Shit! There's thousands of them.
What would your missus say if you went home and did that to her? If I was doing that to my missus she wouldn't be able to say anything, would she? Right, what have you got? - Depends what you mean, sir.
- Look at those two Have you made any connection between these tapes and the murders? No, sir.
Not yet.
Don't be sad.
I'm happy.
I'm so happy.
I want to see what's on the other side of the wall.
I want to see if God's on the other side of the wall.
- Who's this? - Don't know, sir.
She's in a lot of them.
And a lot of them are in her.
Right.
I want every frame of every tape logged and described.
This is not a joke! This is a murder investigation.
Sir.
Right, now one big push, and push, and push, push.
And good girl.
You've got a lovely little boy.
Well, there are 10 types of ivy in Britain, and only one of them has anything to do with the occult.
Now, these These two are Hedera hibernica, and they have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the occult.
- Those were found on the bodies.
- Ah.
Now, this little chap, this is helix Poetica, the poet's ivy, and this has everything do with the occult.
- This was found at Bird's house.
- As I would expect it to be.
Well, Bird was an expert.
A pedant, even.
He wouldn't use the wrong ivy.
You don't think he did these killings? I've absolutely no idea, Dr Ryan.
But he wouldn't use the wrong ivy, not Bird.
Of that I'm quite sure.
The wrong kind of ivy? That's what Professor Clarke says.
What are you doing here, Dr Ryan? I told you I wanted you off this case.
I don't answer to you, I answer to the Home Office.
I'm just telling you what Professor Clarke said.
Would you find it insulting if I turned up at a postmortem and told you what to do? - Of course I would.
- So why are you insulting me, Dr Ryan? I'm just trying to help.
I don't want your help.
What I needed was your support.
Look, two people have been murdered.
If I fail to get enough evidence to persuade a magistrate that Bird has a case to answer, he will be released into the community.
If he is released and kills again, I will have to live with that for the rest of my life.
So what may look to you like an unseemly rush to convict an innocent man I never said he was innocent.
Is in fact my attempt to protect a community.
I think you'll find it interesting to see who we are interviewing at 3:00 today.
Professor Simon Clarke.
Hello? Hello, Jean.
What? What do you mean, acid? - Yours, I believe, ma'am.
- Thanks for calling me.
That's alright, ma'am.
Got one of me own.
Ricky! Ricky! Ricky! Magistrates' Court.
No bail.
Then remand.
Then you'll be on trial for murder.
Now, if there's one thing they love inside, it's an over privileged smart-arse.
They'll probably just sit around your feet, lapping up your clever stories about your big house, your class A drugs and all your naughty friends.
Oh, aye, they're gonna love you.
Ready, sir? Ready.
Let's go.
Come on, Ricky.
Sam.
Sam? I thought Dad would be up there.
Come on down, love.
I went up to see him.
- Dad wasn't there.
- It's okay.
He wasn't there.
I went up to see him and he wasn't there.
It's okay.
Why? He wasn't there.
Why? It's okay.
But we lost a dad we loved.
He hasn't even met his.
I don't know which is worse.
What are you going to do about him? What is there to do? - We can't let him go on like this.
- Like what? He's learning that life is one long bloody slog without much point to it.
What do you want me to do? Put on a clown's outfit and tell him he's wrong? There's more to life than that, Wyn.
Oh, for someone so intelligent and educated who spends her life poking around other people's misery, you can be bloody naive.
I don't give up easily, if that's what you mean.
You're born, your dad is blown to smithereens, and then you die.
And in between you sleep with too many men who don't give a toss about you, and you give birth to a son who will always hate you because he doesn't have a father.
It needn't be like that for Ricky.
What are you doing in Cambridge? I told you.
I want to be nearer the family.
Well, why come back now? We've always been here.
Why come now? Everyone thinks you're so bloody wonderful, don't they? But it's a bit more complicated than that.
I've seen what happens to kids like Ricky.
I see it daily.
You're edging 40.
You're single.
No man.
No kids.
What did you think we were? Instant family? Just add water? We're a buggered family is what we are, Sam.
But at least we know what we are.
I think I'd better be going.
There's one thing I've always wanted to ask you.
- What? - Why dead people? I mean, you could have done anything you wanted.
You could have been a GP or a surgeon or something.
I mean, you could have saved children, found a cure for cancer, anything.
You could have made a difference but you chose dead people.
I do make a difference.
Dead people don't ask anything of you, do they? You can get under their skin but they can't get under yours, can they? I'm sorry, I'm upset about Ricky.
Don't listen to me.
I do make a difference.
What the hell was he doing up there? Looking for his father.
Up a tree? His father jumped ship when he was a baby.
It hasn't been easy for him.
How do you know he jumped? - What? - How do you know he wasn't pushed? I've got two myself.
Two boys.
I didn't know.
They're not with me.
They're with their mother in Manchester.
I didn't mean to Listen, if you want me to speak to Ricky again, just ask.
Thanks.
I appreciate it.
People like Bird make me jumpy.
Ignore me when I get like that.
What's happened to Bird? He's at Magistrates' Court.
He'll be put on remand until his trial.
- Have you got enough on him? - We'll see.
Is his girlfriend involved? Not directly.
But her life's screwed anyway.
I mean, would you want that bastard's kid inside you? She's pregnant? Another kid without a father.
Well, he just goes steaming in.
You know - Fran.
- Teddy.
What can I do for you? Could you spare us a gram of coke, Teddy? Just untill get myself sorted out.
Yeah, of course, Fran.
Just untill get myself sorted.
You're a coke-head, Franny.
A coke-head whose sugar daddy is going down for murder.
You're never gonna get yourself sorted.
Please, Teddy.
Bird was good to you.
Bird was a prick with a bank account.
Please, Teddy.
Sorry, Fran.
Gotta be paid for.
I don't have any money.
There's more to life than money, Fran.
You're not a vegetarian, are you, Fran? Come on.
Just close your eyes and think of England, then.
She's doing it.
- Jesus Christ! She's doing it.
- Way to go, Franny.
She's doing it.
Hello? There was a gang of us.
Me, Mark, Daniel.
We met Bird at this party.
He was funny.
And he had this house and an apparently bottomless well of money.
We talked a lot about living outside society.
Bird gave us the means to do it.
That's not how Bird tells it.
You don't want to believe everything Bird says.
He sees himself as sort of diabolical Pied Piper, doesn't he? - What about witchcraft? - What about it? How serious about it were you? It was just a game.
Something to do, something to while away the time.
And sometimes it was genuinely frightening, which was good.
Anything which made us feel alive was good.
It wasn't just a game to Bird, though, was it? Wasn't it? Tell me about Bird.
There's nothing to tell.
I know about the drugs and the witchcraft and the cruelty.
But would he cross the line? Would he kill? Even if someone came between him and his child? The first thing in his life he can call his own? No.
In you go.
I'm 24 years old.
I've got no home, no career, no money.
No family.
No friends.
No shame.
No self-respect.
Apart from that, I'm in terrific shape.
Bird is going to go on trial for murder.
The father of your child will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing Mark and Daniel.
And I'm not convinced he did it.
But they've got no one else and they're getting nervous.
There's something you're not telling me.
There's nothing to tell.
There's always something to tell.
The question is whether you've got the courage to tell it.
He's so sweet.
And yet at the same time somehow virile, don't you think? Is Sam coming? She said to say sorry, she's very busy.
She'll get in as soon as she can.
What did I tell you, Richard? An A to Z kind of girl.
Let Richard hold the baby.
Trevor.
- Better get used to that.
- Hm? We'd like you to be godfather, Richard.
If you'd like to be.
I should be extremely proud.
Hello.
How are you feeling? Bit stupid.
Sometimes I think that if I did have a dad, it would be all right.
Stupid.
It's not stupid.
Sometimes I think the same thing.
- I didn't mean to scare you.
- I know.
I'll get rid of them.
There were four of us who'd known each other from school.
Me, Mark, Daniel and Louise.
Louise was the light and we fluttered round her.
It was Louise who spotted Bird at this party.
He was holding court in the kitchen but Louise had a nose for people.
She knew he was lonely and bored and she just went for it.
Bird didn't know what hit him.
We took over his house.
We took over his life.
What happened to Louise? What happened to her, Fran? Those first few weeks at Bird's were wild.
I mean, really wild.
But it was like the house protected us.
We could do anything we wanted.
We talked, we read, we argued, we got drunk, we did drugs.
We fell in love with each other.
I never thought it was possible to be so happy.
And where is Louise now? One night I think we'd been there about two weeks, we were all sitting round the fire, as high as kites, and Louise came into the room.
She said she'd taken an overdose and she was going to die and she didn't want us to stop her.
She said she was as happy now as she would ever be and that she didn't want to wait 50 years for the next adventure.
She wanted it now.
- Don't tell me this.
- It's what she wanted! We sat around and I stroked her hair and we watched her die.
That's what we did.
What a stupid, stupid waste.
She killed us all that night.
Me and Mark and Daniel and Bird.
It poisoned us, ate away at us.
Daniel got out straightaway but it didn't help him.
It haunted him like it haunted us.
And her mother and father, they were devastated.
Did they ever know what really happened to her? Her mother became very sick.
Just before she died I went to see her.
I wanted her to know the truth.
Did Bird know you'd told her? I didn't tell Bird I'd been to see her.
I didn't tell anyone.
- Just Louise's mother? - Yes.
What was her name? Tell me, Fran.
Her name was Janet.
Janet Owen.
Owen? Do you remember I had words with him for not wearing his forensic suit? Marcia found fibres from his jacket on Mark James's body.
Well, that's hardly surprising, is it? Exactly.
I never gave it a second thought.
What else? This is crazy! Owen came to see me, to apologise.
I told him about the strange cuts on Mark James's body.
It was Owen who put me onto Clarke.
Clarke who put me onto Bird.
He played me like a puppet.
All of us.
It's not exactly conclusive, is it? Is the case against Bird conclusive? We've got Bird's blood on James, his argument with Finn.
The ivy.
We've got motive.
We've got Owen thinks they killed his daughter.
His daughter killed herself.
I remember it.
Mark, Daniel, Fran and Bird.
They watched his daughter die.
She jumped off a quarry.
She left a note.
That's what they wanted you to think.
Get the car.
Nothing there, ma'am.
That must be his daughter.
Poor man.
Mark James is dead.
Daniel Finn is dead.
Bird's locked up.
Shit.
What? She was in the videos that we took from Bird's house.
We've got to find Fran.
I know where she is.
- Dr Owen.
How are you today, sir? - Fine, thanks.
All right? Owen doesn't care what happens to him.
She'll be okay.
There are some of our guys on the way.
Ricky's there with her.
I don't know, the youth of today.
What about you, Ricky? What do you want out of life? Me? Don't know.
You must have dreams.
Everyone has dreams.
- I want - What? I want my Mum to be happy.
I want her to be proud of me.
That's a good dream.
I haven't been too smart so far.
Right.
You all right, love? - Cheers then, Doc.
- My pleasure.
Next one, please, nurse.
- Sebastianne Bird, Doctor.
Medical.
- Ah.
Mr Bird.
Take your clothes off, please.
It's okay.
He can't get to her now.
Maybe he's gone to Bird's house.
I've sent a car there.
Owen? It's hard to spot something you don't want to see.
Sebastianne Bird.
Sebastianne Bird.
What? The name rings a bell.
Can you just do what you have to do? Lie on the bed, please.
On your front.
I think you used to know my daughter, Mr Bird.
I've known a lot of men's daughters.
I wonder if you remember her? Look, can we just get on with it Oh, I think you might remember this one.
Her name was Louise.
Louise Owen.
How do you feel about him now? I don't know.
I'm glad its father isn't a murderer.
- Ma'am! - What? I spoke to his surgery.
Today's his day at the prison.
Bloody hell.
Get in.
I'll tell you on the way.
Do you know, we hoped she'd be a lawyer or a solicitor.
Do you know, I honestly think the sky was her limit.
She was quite brilliant.
Oh, and I'm not stupid, I know she was experimenting, pushing against our expectations of her.
But in a few months' time, she'd have seen through you and your disgusting friends and moved on.
You stopped her from moving on.
You took her away from us.
All you had to do was lift up a phone and an ambulance would have come and she'd have been saved.
You disgusting, putrid little man.
You watched her die.
Like I'm going to watch you die.
It's locked.
Dr Owen.
Can you open the door, sir? - Inside! - Lock up! Lock up! My God, I wish she was here to see this.
She would laugh.
She always said you were a mad bastard.
She said that you had turned boredom into an art form.
She was experimenting.
She swore she would never live a life like yours, Owen.
A snivelling, worthless squeak of a life.
If anyone killed her, you did.
You have no idea what she was really like, have you? Not a clue.
You stopped her from moving on.
She despised you.
You and people like you.
She wanted to die.
Do you understand? She wanted to die.
Jesus! She lived more in one hour than you will live in your entire worthless life.
I'm coming, Louise! I'm coming! Do it, you stupid old git! Do it! She always said you wouldn't know what life was like if it sat on your miserable face.
- Is he in there? - Yes, sir.
With Bird.
Oh, Jesus Christ.
Get an ambulance.
You did this, you bastards! Bastards! "He that is born of woman hath but a short time to live, "and is full of misery.
"He cometh up, and is cut down like a flower.
"He fleeth as it were a shadow, "and never continueth in one stay.
"In the midst of life we are in death.
"Of whom may we seek for succour, but of thee, O Lord, "who for our sins are justly displeased?" "We therefore commit his body to the ground," "earth to earth, ashes to ashes," "dust to dust"