Silent Witness (1996) s01e05 Episode Script

"There's nothing vaguely romantic to leave behind.
"Just the graffiti sprawl of miserable Larne.
"The ignoble funnels and towers of Ballylumford.
"Merging with the smog as my childhood slips.
"I came here to escape bad blood.
"A land of martyrs with their kneecaps smashed.
"Bonfires blaring as the war drums sound.
"And I wanted to escape the daggers behind language.
"The subtle testing out process at teenage discos.
" "'What school do you go to then?'" "Meant 'Which foot do you kick with? Right or left?'" What shall we do? Club? I don't think so, Allen.
I'd just like to get back to the hotel.
Oh, right.
Absolutely.
I'll just pay the bill.
Allen.
Allen, there's no misunderstanding, is there? I mean, I've had a lovely evening and everything but No, we'll go back to the hotel, have a few drinks and play it by ear.
I don't think so.
I've had a lovely evening.
I mean that.
I'll see you in the morning.
Tracy.
Tracy! No, you misunderstood.
- Tracy! Come back! - No, you pay bill! Get out of the way! Tracy! Not you again? All right, Sarge? What have you done this time? Oh, no drugs or nothing.
Just caught robbing a radio out of a car.
Oh, well, that's all right, then.
No, no, you don't understand.
I've got to get to the hotel.
I've got to go to the hotel.
- Oi, oi! - The hotel! A bit of quiet, please.
What's he done? He got a bit overexcited in a restaurant.
Why are you doing this to me? - In the tank.
- Come on.
Oh, no, no.
I'm not going in there.
- Yes, you are.
- Sleep it off in there.
Oh, bloody hell.
Chicken and cashew nut.
You're gonna miss all this, aren't you, Sarge? There you go.
Uh, would you like to come out for a drink? Um I'm being whisked off to dinner, I think.
Thanks.
Maybe next time.
Would you sign this for me, please? Certainly.
Sam.
- Hello, Liam.
- Shall we - How are you? - I'm good.
How long are you in Cambridge for? Just a few days, teaching.
We should make a move, I'm afraid.
Dinner calls.
So should we, Sam.
First night away from the baby.
Your child? No.
Well, it was good to see you again.
You too, Sam.
Liam? Shall we? Phone me before you go.
What? What? I'm on my way now.
I'm always a good boy.
Ooh! Bye, love.
Yeah, Jeff.
All right, son.
Look, do you want me to bring anything? Yeah, well that kind of comes with me, doesn't it? All right.
See you in a minute.
Yeah.
Bye.
Hey, what's going on? Nothing to do with you, sir.
Can you empty your pockets, please, sir? We haven't done anything.
- Then you've got nothing to hide, have you, sir? - Don't do it.
Do you want to move on while you can, sir? Or do you want to come with us? I want you to stop harassing these people.
You're under arrest, mate.
There's already one in here.
Well, he just got company.
You're making a big mistake.
Yeah, yeah.
Get in.
I'm gonna get a lawyer and I'm gonna sue you.
There's a mattress there.
Sit on it.
Get me a lawyer.
I want a lawyer.
When you sober up you can make a call.
Sorry about this, mate.
I should keep your back to the wall if I were you.
Come on, open the door! - This is unreal.
- Shut up! Come on.
Let me out of here, now! Oh, bloody shut up! Oi, oi, oi, oi.
Who rattled your chain? There's people trying to sleep in here, mate.
What's going on here? We just nabbed a pillow-biter for obstruction and assault.
He's a bit upset.
My last night, it's like a bloody asylum down here.
Can I have a word, Sarge? - About what? - It's sort of private.
All right.
Let me just sort these buggers out.
I'll be in the social.
Come on, open the door.
Quiet.
- Look, this is harassment.
- Quiet! Hey, this man's sick in here.
Mate.
You okay? Open the door! Get me out of here! Come on, open the door.
Get me out! Ricky? "We'll miss his cheerful smile" "and the moths that come out of his wallet when he goes to the bar, which isn't often.
" "Bob, you're a mean-hearted, thick-skinned, hard-nosed bastard.
" "And we'll miss you.
" Speech! Better than a clock, eh, Sarge? - You bet.
- Come on, Sarge, speech.
Speech! No, no, I gotta do my rounds.
I'll do 'em.
Speech! Come on! All right? Yeah.
All right in there? It's no secret why I'm retiring early.
You lot can look after yourselves, but my wife Well, it's time for me to move on.
Thank God for that.
But I want to say one thing.
If any of you are ever in any trouble, no matter how big or how small, if ever you need a shoulder to cry on, a friend, for Christ's sake, don't come to me, because I'm retiring.
Get it down, you Zulu warrior Get it down, you Zulu chief, chief, chief Get it down, you Zulu warrior Get it down, you Zulu chief, chief, chief I said you could use the cottage for studying, not as a hotel.
Can she stay over? No, she can't.
What would your mother say? If she didn't know, she wouldn't say anything.
Don't push it, Ricky.
I mean, you used to like a good time, didn't you? Short skirts.
Loads of boyfriends.
- Who says? - Mum.
I hope you're using something.
- Sam.
- Well, are you? I was.
Won't need anything now, will I? - What have we got? - Two drunks in the same cell.
Now one of them's dead.
All officers have handed in their shoes, uniforms and shirts.
All existing prisoners have been moved out and there's a log of everyone who's been in and out of the cell.
Is there an office we can use? This way, sir.
Oh, and, Hartley.
If you find so much as a speck of dust, I want to know.
With respect, Superintendent, I don't answer to you.
The nose is broken, with one, two, three, four, five, six, seven lacerations.
What did the other man say? Symonds? He says he was asleep the entire time and then when he woke up, the fairies had stamped all over his cellmate.
You don't believe him? There was only the two of them in the cell.
And your man here is gay.
Was gay.
Well, that's it, then.
Look, Symonds wakes up in a police cell, it's dark, he's drunk, he's confused, and some bloke wants to play hide the salami.
Have you ever heard of the word "homophobia", Tom? It's not homophobia.
It's motive.
You must remember something.
I don't.
Did anyone else come into the cell? I can't remember.
Did Mr Pearce say anything to you? No.
Did he do anything to you? - Did he touch you? - No.
I don't know.
I can't remember! I'm trying to help you, Allen.
You've got no record, you've never been in trouble with the police before.
Now, if he touched you and you pushed him away Superintendent.
I would understand that.
Any man would.
It's only natural.
I'd have been angry myself.
That's enough.
He's in no fit state for this.
Did you kill him, Allen? I can feel multiple rib fractures.
Probably with flail segments.
What would've caused that? It's consistent with shod feet.
Kicking? More like stamping.
These are very severe injuries.
I've seen bodies that have been run over with lesser injuries than this.
Crazy bastard.
Which blow killed him? None of these.
They were all made after he was dead.
Afterwards? Although these are very severe injuries, there is no bruising, which means the heart had already stopped pumping when they were made.
Turn the head, Fred.
So Symonds killed him and then carried on stamping on him? There's an area of bruising, purple in colour, behind the left ear.
That was made when he was still alive.
Is this the blow that killed him? Let's find out.
Who killed Michael Pearce? Police killed Michael Pearce! Who killed Michael Pearce? Police killed Michael Pearce! There is no evidence or indication of any cover-up - What's the matter? - Nothing.
However, every possibility will be explored.
So you're saying there is a possibility that police officers were involved in this? - If you listened - A possibility? There has been no cover-up.
There is nothing to cover up.
- There is no vendetta - Get the door.
Against the homosexual community in this town.
- There never has been, there never will be.
- Will you get the door? Can you tell us why two drunks were in the same cell? - Is that normal policy? - No, it is not normal policy.
- Is Jerry in? - Yeah.
Come on in.
I can tell you that your question will form part of an ongoing investigation.
- How's Natalie? - She's all right, thanks.
Are you confident that none of your officers were involved in this? - Jerry, Stephen's here.
- My officers were deeply shocked and upset at what happened here.
And we all send our condolences to the family of the deceased man.
Jerry.
Traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage.
That was the cause of death.
What does that mean? It's a haemorrhage arising from some form of blunt impact to the back of the skull.
Subarachnoid means bleeding over the surface of the brain, caused by tearing to a blood vessel.
Someone hit him over the head? Possibly.
Or he fell over.
Fell over and died? Well, we know he'd been drinking.
A high blood alcohol content can facilitate haemorrhaging.
How long would it take to die? Maybe he fell over before he got to the station.
No.
It's almost certain he collapsed and died instantaneously.
So he must have received the blow in the cell.
Hang on.
Ma'am.
Ma'am.
Where's Dr Ryan? She's still in there.
It's pretty much as we thought.
Symonds must have gone berserk and assaulted him.
Hello.
Don't often see you in here.
Dr Ryan.
May I buy you lunch? Yes, I'd like that.
I'll just clean up and I'll be right with you.
I found him wandering the corridors.
Liam, this is Superintendent Farmer.
Hello.
Well, I've come to take you away from all this.
Lunch? I'm afraid I've got a previous engagement.
Oh, right.
Well, I'll see you in another 20 years, then.
No.
Come to dinner.
Dinner, huh? How's your food? It looks great.
What is it, Harriet? Is there anything, any little thing, that points to someone other than Symonds having done this? What makes you say that? Anything at all? AIII can tell you is what I know.
Pearce died from a blow to the head and was then brutally assaulted after death.
The footprints and kicking imprints over his body are consistent with having been made by Symonds' shoes.
Tell me about it.
Some of the boys were teasing him and mucking about.
Well, that's nothing new but this time they were really cruel.
What were they teasing him about? He's never had a girlfriend.
They said that that he was queer.
Was he? I don't know.
Then what happened? I went up his room to see if he was all right.
I think he'd been crying.
I said to just ignore them, but he seemed very depressed.
So I said why don't we go out for a drink or a bite to eat or something? And you ended up at the Chinese restaurant? I didn't want to go back to his room with him.
That's why he was so angry.
I was 20.
I think it was my second week in the job and I was doing a shift on the duty desk.
These two officers, both married, kids, brought in this black prostitute.
She was only a kid herself.
But she was effing and blinding and calling them every name under the sun.
Anyway, they took her in the cells and told me not to let anyone through.
What happened? Later on the girl accused the officers of raping her.
Had they? Of course they had.
But in the end, it was her word against theirs.
A black prostitute against two upstanding officers.
Did you say anything? Said nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing.
One night in the bar, one of the officers came up and bought me a drink.
He congratulated me on keeping my mouth shut.
If anything untoward happened in my station, I wanna know about it.
I don't care who's involved.
If anything untoward happened, I would tell you.
Thank you.
Is she a good pathologist? She's probably the best I've ever seen.
No, I'm a good pathologist.
I'm professional, I'm experienced, I work hard, I care about what I do.
But sometimes I go home and forget about it.
Sometimes I get drunk with my friends.
I argue with my wife.
Play with the baby.
Sam's life is her job.
Keen.
Almost as keen as he is.
What did he say? I'm not sure it bears repeating.
Something about the way the sun shone through your school uniform.
Oh, really? Boss, there's a bloke in the office to see you.
Who is it? Colin Trafford.
Colin Trafford? Let me see him, that's alll ask.
Mr Trafford, please try to understand.
First there has to be a full inquiry.
I just want to see him.
I'm afraid that's not possible.
He died in suspicious circumstances.
I had to perform a postmortem on him.
Oh.
Oh, God.
Go home, Mr Trafford.
This is no place to be.
They're saying he sexually assaulted this man.
- Mr Trafford - He would never do that.
They've got the wrong man.
Why is he dead? Why? Why are they saying these things about him? Was he a close friend of yours? Yes.
Yes, he was my lover.
I'm very sorry.
I don't want you to be sorry.
I want to know what happened.
He was coming home to me and now he's dead.
Why has that happened? I don't know.
What is going on? Thank God for that.
I thought I was gonna have a coronary.
Would somebody mind telling me what's happening here? We thought we'd make you dinner.
Ricky, can I have a quick word, please? Yeah.
What? It's a very nice gesture and any other night I'd be delighted.
- But not tonight.
- Why not? Liam is a very old friend.
We haven't seen each other for ages.
We've a lot to talk about.
Oh.
So would you and your friend mind making yourselves scarce? I hope you're using something.
Just bugger off, Ricky.
Is he here? He is.
He practically lives here.
Look, if he's making a nuisance of himself, just throw him out.
He can study in our place.
It is not the madhouse he makes out, you know.
- They were just leaving.
- They? Who's this? Sarah.
- My - Girlfriend.
You haven't got a girlfriend.
What's going on here? - Wyn - Is she staying here? - Not exactly.
She - "Not exactly?" Then what, exactly? Hello, Wyn.
- What the hell is he doing here? - Wyn, listen You have that scum under the same roof as my son? What's the matter? The matter is he's one of the murdering bastards that killed your grandfather.
I'd like it if you could show a little respect to a friend of mine.
Respect? Him? How dare you come into my house It's all right.
No, it's not all right.
My house.
My friend.
Now, I didn't invite you here.
- You're welcome to stay - I wouldn't breathe the same air.
Then you know where the door is.
- Ricky.
- Mum.
Now.
And you.
I don't know who the hell you are but I'm not leaving you here with him.
Come on.
Sorry, Sam.
It's all right.
I'm sorry, too.
You've nothing to be sorry about.
You know that I had nothing to do with what happened to your dad.
Do you think you'd be standing there if I thought you did? Sam! Sam! Sam! Sam, what is it? It's all right.
It's all right.
Stephen? Stephen.
What's the matter? Stephen, what's happened? Tell me, Stephen.
Take a week off.
Take a month off.
Hello, Trevor, it's Sam.
Listen, I've just woken up with a rotten cold and I think I'd better spend the day in bed.
Yes! Great.
Thanks a lot, Trevor.
I owe you one.
Okay, bye.
I just lied to my business partner.
I know.
And doesn't it feel great? What's that? "You are being used"? Very beautiful work.
I'm sorry about the scene in your office.
That doesn't matter.
You look very happy together.
Yes, we were happy.
When can I have him back? It's difficult to say.
If it's a murder investigation, the defence often want to bring their own pathologist in.
There might have to be a second postmortem.
I want to bury him.
I know.
This other man in the cell, Michael would never have touched him.
Not unless he was upset or something, then Michael might have put an arm around him or something.
But to want to kill him Mr Trafford I just want to know what happened, stop them saying these things about him.
Did you put that on my windscreen last night? I'm not angry.
I know how upset you are.
I've never seen this before in my life.
What are you looking for? I don't know, exactly.
This mark.
- Which one? - This one here.
Above the heart.
It's a different shape to all the others.
They all look the same to me.
Well, they're not.
Let's get a photograph, Fred.
Okay.
There you go.
That's a heel mark.
And this is Symonds' shoe.
But that shoe didn't make that mark.
There are hundreds of marks made by Symonds' shoes and you've found one that, in your opinion, doesn't match the others.
Is that right? Yes.
The curve of the mark.
You said it was all right.
I know.
And at the time, I was as sure as I could be As a matter of interest, why did you go back to the body? I found a note on my car.
What note? It said, "You are being used.
" Someone leaves a note on your car and you change your evidence? I don't leave stones unturned.
Nor would you expect me to.
So I went back to the body.
And you'll mention this anomaly in your report? Yes, of course.
I'm very sorry if you thought I misled you.
Then I have to get a second opinion.
Again.
That's your prerogative.
Excuse me.
You wanted to see me? It's one mark.
There's probably a very simple explanation.
Are we clean, Tom? I think so.
Is she saying different? I want you to have a quiet word with every officer who was on duty that night.
If there are any whispers, any at all, I want to hear them.
I want my officers to be clean, but if they're not, there'll be no cover-up in this station.
- Yes, ma'am.
- And you come to me.
Not Hartley.
Yes, ma'am.
Oh, and Tom.
Ma'am? Are you having a relationship with DC Cox? I won't have senior officers compromising their ranks.
Either drop her or look for another station.
What about Symonds' nails? Any traces of Pearce's skin? No.
Some of his blood, though.
If there had been a fight, you'd have expected skin fragments, though, wouldn't you? It was hardly a fight in that sense, was it? One blow to the head with a blunt object.
Everything else was postmortem, so you said.
So what's he like? - Who? - The Irishman.
Small town.
Marcia.
If I asked you to do some tests on this, as a friend I found it on my windscreen.
Bingo.
Tom, have you got a minute? I'm off duty.
It's important.
Well, can't it wait till the morning? At the station? I didn't want it to go to the station.
Sorry to interrupt.
You're not interrupting.
Detective Constable Cox was just leaving.
Weren't you? What do you make of this? Anyone could have sent you this.
Symonds' solicitor.
Pearce's boyfriend.
Marcia did an ESDA test on it.
Apparently it's a piece of paper taken from some sort of pocket book.
A police pocket book.
That doesn't mean anything.
The imprint from the pages above came through.
It's not particularly distinct but Marcia says if we can Wait a minute.
What are you trying to do here? I'm trying to find out what happened.
All right, then.
If Symonds didn't do this thing, then a police officer did it, is that what you're saying? That's not for me to say.
And if a police officer did do it, cold-bloodedly killed a man in his own station, then other police officers must have helped cover his tracks and then thrown an innocent man at the murder.
Is that what you think of us? If we can get some handwriting samples from the officers on duty that night Jesus Christ.
I'm not doing it.
Only you, me and Marcia need ever know.
No.
Otherwise, I might have to make my suspicions public.
Stephen? Stephen? What are you doing here? Look at the state of you.
Stephen! I love you, Natalie.
I bloody love you.
You're leaving that bloody job.
Look at you.
Apparently the DI shags anything that moves.
Yeah, so they say.
You think he was trying to boff the pathologist woman? She says a copper sent her a note about the Pearce murder.
So he was trying to get into her knickers by finding a handwriting match.
How do you know that? Well, I heard someone say.
- Dicks-for-brains, some blokes.
- Yeah.
Cheers.
- Supposed to do? - Why? Why the bitch pathologist? She's like a dog with a bloody bone now.
Jesus.
Everything was all right.
- It wasn't all right! - Everything was all right! You were in the clear.
Natalie.
What's happening? Nothing.
Oh, yes? Are you sure? And what about the pathologist? Jerry? You know that bloke who died in the cells? The man who was drunk? Yeah, the pathologist is trying to point a finger at a police officer.
What do you mean? The other man did it, no? I know that, you know that, but some people just want to dump on us.
Stephen.
Do they think you have something to do with it? No.
Since when did that bother them? She gets her way, we'll all be under suspicion.
Farmer asked me to have a look at Pearce.
You don't mind, do you? Did you see the mark? Sam, you can't be sure this mark wasn't made by Symonds.
Look at the curve of the heel mark.
It's subtly different Are we sure it is a heel? Well, what else could it be? Fred, can you leave us for a moment? Yeah.
Sam, this has got to end.
I've spent years building up a reputation.
I've got a good working relationship with the police.
Yeah, maybe too good.
Sorry.
I shouldn't have said that.
Is this to do with your father? Is what to do with my father? I've noticed it in you before.
A knee-jerk reaction against all things establishment.
Oh, for God's sake.
Sam, I like you.
I want to work with you.
But I won't watch my reputation go down the plug hole because you have a problem with the police.
I don't have a problem with the police.
I do my job to the best of my ability and I get treated like a leper.
You shouldn't let them get to you.
I've a good mind to jack it in.
Just let them sort it out for themselves.
God, you sound like your father sometimes.
Oh, he'd have smacked a few heads together.
- That he would.
- I wish he was here.
You and I are gonna get into one of those misspelt obscenities and go floating off into the horizon.
Don't tempt me.
Forget the coppers and the bodies.
Just you and me.
- I've got a lecture.
- Sod the lecture.
I can't.
- Will I see you tonight? - You will.
How is she? Uh, we have our good days.
What do the doctors say? I won't have her this time next year.
Oh, Bob, I'm sorry.
Do you know the worst thing? When I think of the evil so-and-sos I've had to deal with down the years.
Why her? Why take her and let the other ones live? God knows.
Oh, bugger him.
So what do you think of this Pearce business? You didn't think they'd miss the opportunity to put the boot in, did you? You don't think there's anything in it? Look, the guy was being a pain in the arse.
I was there, remember? Maybe someone gave him a little slap.
You saw his body, Bob.
It was a bit more than a slap.
Exactly.
I know every man and woman in that place.
I'd put my life on it that not one of them would do a thing like that.
That's what I think.
Bob! Look, I'd better leave you to it.
Tom.
You're a good man and you're a good cop.
Don't let them take advantage of you.
Well, you might think you're getting to the bottom of everything, getting everything all bright and clean.
Whereas they, they might just want you to dig up dirt to use against good officers.
Bob, can you come, love? All right, love.
I think that'll do for today.
I'll see you all tomorrow.
Do you have any idea what it's like? Excuse me? I'm the wife of Stephen Johns.
You know he's a policeman and you are persecuting him.
I'm very sorry Don't you think that's enough, what he saw that night? He has nightmares because of that.
He is drinking, he is crying, but I'm sure you don't care about that.
Mrs Johns, if your husband has something on his mind, then perhaps Leave him alone.
You can't accept that one drunk killed another drunk? - I can assure you - Leave him alone! Sam.
Glad I caught you.
Is this to do with work? Looked at the handwriting.
Don't tell me.
I don't want to know.
I think you will.
Marcia, I'm tired, I want to go home.
Go and tell Trevor.
Go and tell Farmer.
Sam.
What do you know about an officer called Johns? PC Johns? Well, not much.
He's only been in the job a couple of months.
Quiet, reliable.
Why? I think he might be involved.
- Kerry.
- Doctor.
Oh, we were just doing some paperwork.
Tell me about Johns.
She thinks Johns is involved in this.
No, I know him.
He wouldn't hurt a fly.
His wife came to see me.
She was all over the place.
She said he was cracking up.
Crying.
Drinking.
I'm not interested.
She said he'd been having nightmares.
- About what? - About what happened that night.
In the cell? Well, he wasn't anywhere near the cell.
He wasn't even in the station at the time of the murder.
He was ten miles away, interviewing a suspect.
This is his statement.
That may be so.
There are other statements to back it up.
He wasn't in the station.
You're barking up a very wrong tree.
This is the result of the ESDA test on the note that was pinned on my car windscreen.
Compare it with Johns' statement.
Hello, Natalie.
I'm Detective Inspector Adams.
What is she doing here? Natalie You should be ashamed of yourself.
You've been a guest in this house.
We'd just like a quick word with Stephen.
Is he in? Please, Natalie.
We just want to help him.
You bastards.
Can we come in, Natalie? He's taken the puppy for a walk.
Where did he go? Stephen! Stephen! Stephen! Is that the dog? Stephen! Here, boy.
Come here.
Stay.
Come here.
Stephen! It's Tom Adams.
I just want to talk to you.
Do you think he saw us? Don't know.
Come on.