Silent Witness (1996) s01e06 Episode Script

1 No.
No! Go and tell Farmer.
Don't phone.
Don't radio.
Go and tell her.
Bag his head.
Get him straight to the mortuary.
Isn't there someone else who can do this? I'm doing it.
Let's get on with it.
Right, let's have a look at his lungs.
There's froth in the trachea, main bronchi and the smaller air passages.
In addition, there are scattered pieces of weed present.
The lungs are over-inflated in appearance and feel crepitant, which is consistent with drowning.
PC Stephen Johns was 24 years old, married and lived in Cambridge.
This is the second death to have involved the East Anglia Constabulary in three days.
Michael Jason Pearce - Do you think I should phone Natalie? - No.
Jerry, what happened to Stephen? I mean, I knew there was something up.
I'm not stupid.
Shut up.
He was such a lovely man.
Shut up.
There's a wound to the back of the head.
A superficial linear laceration with surrounding abrasion and bruising.
It's impossible to say whether the bruising occurred prior to or during drowning.
It's possible he banged his head on his way down or when he hit the bottom.
Could he have fallen? His wife said he couldn't swim.
It's possible.
I just can't say for sure.
I'm sure it would be of great comfort to his wife if I could tell her that he'd slipped, that it was accidental death.
I'm sure it would.
I'm afraid I can't give her that comfort.
Good night, ma'am.
- Is there someone with his widow? - Yes, ma'am.
Good night.
Sam, I want to meet your family.
You've met my family.
Have you lost the will to live? It's time.
I don't think so.
- Wyn - Wyn is a deeply unhappy woman, that's what Wyn is.
What good would it do? When I think of you and Wyn, I see myself.
Defined by a conflict that has left us high and dry and knackered.
It's time we all moved on.
Maybe we're not all ready to move on.
Have you got me hat? All right, Sarge? - Bob.
- Sorry, sir.
I mean, Bob.
You two, out! Members of the public enter the police station through the front entrance.
I've come to see Superintendent Farmer.
Have you got an appointment? So there's no trace of Pearce's blood on any police clothes or shoes? No.
Did you get Johns' shoes? Nothing wrong with them.
There was one odd thing, though.
Sergeant Claire.
He was the Custody Sergeant.
It was his last shift before he retired.
Exactly, but his shoes were brand spanking new.
So? I mean out-of-the-bag new.
Odd thing to do, don't you think? Your last ever shift and you wear a pair of shoes straight out of the shop? Just a thought.
You know what everyone's saying, don't you? Johns killed Pearce and then killed himself.
It's not possible.
Tell me why it's not possible.
Apart from the fact that there's no evidence that he did, nobody in this station has a bad word to say about him Yeah, apart from that.
We know that he wasn't anywhere near that cell at the time of death.
How do we know that? He was at a suspect's flat.
- Which suspect? - Stevo.
A petty dealer.
- Have you spoken to him? - No, but Hartley has.
He can verify everything that was in Johns' statement.
I don't care about Hartley.
I want you to speak to him.
Come in.
Mr Claire.
Bob.
I heard the news.
It's a terrible business.
Did you know Johns well? He was a good lad.
A bit green.
A decent boy.
He would've made a good officer.
You were the Custody Sergeant that night.
Is there any way, in your opinion, that Johns could have been involved in Pearce's death? Stephen Johns didn't kill anybody.
All right, Bob.
It was just a question.
Ma'am Come in.
- Ma'am, they're about to - About to what? Open Johns' locker, ma'am.
I'll do that.
It's not for you to do.
- I thought he gave his shoes in? - He did.
These must be his spares.
But all the lockers were checked on the night of the murder.
Well, maybe he put them in later.
There's no crime in that.
We'll see.
Get these down to the lab.
Priority.
Get his personal effects to his wife.
- Ma'am.
- Bob, could I have a word? It won't take a minute.
Please.
What are you doing? What am I doing? What I have to do.
What I should have done.
Why? We're all right.
Why? He's dead.
Then don't let him die in vain.
Did you hear about the policeman? That might be good news.
- But he's dead.
- I know, but What if he killed this man and then felt so guilty he killed himself? That's what people are saying.
But what if they're wrong? You didn't see what I saw in that cell.
What if I'm actually capable - of doing something like that? - You didn't do it.
- Tracy.
- I know you.
I know you couldn't do a thing like that.
The geezer came and spoke to me.
I told him what happened.
- Which geezer? - The investigating geezer.
And what did you tell the investigating geezer? Why don't you go and ask him? Because I'm asking you, you little wanker! I've got nothing else to say.
It's all been sorted.
- Come here! - Hey! Leave it out! - Tom! - Shut it! What's been sorted? I told the geezer.
Aye, and now you can tell me, and I want the truth.
- I heard him.
- Heard who? - The bloke in the next cell.
- Which bloke? You know.
You mean you were in the station when the murder was discovered? Yeah.
I heard this bloke go apeshit.
I mean total shed collapse, man.
There's people coming and going.
Some whispering.
- Then the cop opens me celldoor.
- Which one? - I don't know.
- Which one? I don't remember.
All right.
It was the young one that arrested me.
The one who topped himself.
What did he say? He said I was free to go.
There would be no charges.
What else? - Please.
- What else? He said if anyone ever asked, I was to say they was here searching my flat for drugs.
Sir.
- Do you want a game? - No, I want you to look at this.
So? It says you and Johns were searching Stevo's flat between 10:45 and 11:15.
Well, that's not true, is it? Must be.
It's what it says.
Don't piss me about.
Sir, it's in my statement.
It's in Johns' statement.
Aye, but Johns is dead.
So I've only got your word for it.
And Sergeant Claire.
He knew where we were.
If you've got anything to tell me, you tell me now.
Were you in the station at the time of the murder? No, I wasn't.
I swear.
What about Johns? Jerry.
He was with me most of the time.
Most of the time? Well, where else did he go? He said he left his wallet in the station.
I waited outside in the car.
He went back into the station to get it.
At the time of the murder? Yeah.
Is Claire involved in this? Claire? He was the Custody Sergeant.
He must have seen Johns going in and out.
He didn't.
We told Claire we were at Stevo's, and he believed us.
Right.
If this is true - and all you did was protect Johns - It is true.
Then you're an idiot.
But if you're worse than an idiot, if you're a murderer, I'll come for you, Jerry.
No rank, no rights.
I'll come for you.
I spoke to Wyn today, and I asked her.
And? Well, what did she say? She said Declan was a murdering bastard who got everything coming to him.
- And that you - What about me? You were "an arrogant, good-for-nothing moron "who had learned to rhyme 'moon' with 'June'" and thought you knew everything about everything.
- And then she said - Right, yes, thank you.
Got the message.
Then she said she'd come.
- You're joking.
- No.
Wyn, Ricky, Mammy.
They're all coming.
Bloody hell.
That's not them? No, tomorrow.
- Hi.
- Hello, Tom.
- Can I have a quick word? - Sure.
Thanks.
The Custody Sergeant in a station knows everything.
He's like God.
If an officer nicks a pencil, he knows.
If an officer knocks off five minutes early, he knows.
So if an officer murders a prisoner, he knows.
I haven't met very many people in my life that I really look up to, but Bob Claire's one of them.
When I was a kid copper in Glasgow, he looked out for me.
He'd seen it all, you know? But it never made him bitter or cynical.
In his statement, he said that Denning and Johns weren't in the station at the time of the murder.
That's a lie.
Have you spoken to him? What do I say? He's retired, his wife's dying, one of his young coppers may just have topped himself, and I go crashing in and accuse him of falsifying a statement? A man died in my station.
He was in my custody.
He should have been the safest man in Cambridgeshire.
So, yes, I was a little disturbed when I saw the inside of that cell.
It was my last night, and I was bloody devastated.
You said in your statement that Johns wasn't in the station at the time of the murder.
Tom, I said I didn't see him.
Do you think Stephen Johns killed Michael Pearce? No.
I think Allen Symonds killed Michael Pearce.
- What about - I'm sorry, Doctor, I don't care what rabbits are pulled out of what hats.
You will never persuade me that one of my boys did what I saw in that cell.
We should go.
I think that Symonds killed Pearce, and I will always think that.
And I think if some people spent a bit more time proving that, rather than running around pointing the finger at police officers, I think this whole bloody mess would've been over.
And I think Stephen Johns might still be alive.
That's what I think.
We can see ourselves out, Bob.
Sergeant, why were you wearing a brand new pair of shoes on the night of the murder? My wife bought them for me.
She wanted me to look my best on my last night.
Is that all right, Doctor? Let's go.
That's the trouble with pulling rabbits out of hats, Dr Ryan.
Might look clever, but it's just another stupid bloody rabbit, isn't it? Here are the results from the shoes found in Johns' locker.
- And these are definitely Johns' shoes? - Definitely.
And someone had tried to clean them? They'd been doused in cleaning fluid, scrubbed, buffed.
But I found a blood trace in the cotton stitching.
- Michael Pearce? - Same blood group.
So Johns was in that cell.
Fred, if anyone needs me, I'll be at the police station.
Okay.
Mrs Johns, I'm very sorry.
- You.
- Come on, Natalie.
- I hope you rot in hell.
- Come on.
Look, Tom.
- Well, that's that, then.
- What? I'll be eating on my own for the rest of my life.
We found blood on Johns' shoes.
Someone had tried very hard to clean it off.
- More fan mail? - I thought you'd want to know.
That one of my officers is a murderer? Not really.
- I'll see you out.
- Don't bother.
So let me get this straight.
Wyn and Liam are coming around to your house to have dinner? Yes.
On the same night? Yes.
Same room? - Jesus, Trevor, get out! Get out! - What is it? Penny.
Do they know what it is? No, but they're gonna blow it up anyway, just to make sure.
Why would anyone wanna blow you up? It said "For Johns".
Someone thinks I'm responsible for what happened to him.
We can hardly arrest the whole police force.
That's not funny.
I did nothing to that man.
It was him who contacted me, remember? Well, it wasn't a bomb.
I think we might have just blown up your laundry, ma'am.
Liam.
Sam.
Don't you dare get drunk on me.
Sam, your sister is coming to dinner.
- It was your idea.
- I know.
But I didn't say I was gonna be sober.
It all looks lovely, Sam.
Thanks.
Liam helped.
- Ricky? - No.
Mum! He's got school tomorrow.
La-di-da.
La-di-da.
There you go, Mrs Ryan.
Don't tell me you've got school tomorrow.
How's work? Oh, you know.
A lot of cars go that way, some go the other way and then a few come in and get some petrol.
Right.
Would you like a straw, Mrs Ryan? You trying to be funny? No.
- I'm asking if she would like a straw.
- She's well able.
So, anyway, I'm walking home from school, minding my own business It must have been one of the only times he went to school.
Aye.
I'm walking round the corner and all of a sudden, smack! What? A bloody great slab of concrete hits me on the head, knocks me off my feet.
So I'm lying there, blood spouting out of me like I'm Niagara Falls and your mother looking down on me.
You did it, Mum? It was only a pebble.
And what does she say? "I'm so sorry, Liam.
Hold on there while I just go and get some help"? - No, she didn't.
- Liam.
No, she says, "Serves you right, you Catholic bastard.
" "You Catholic bastard"! Wyn, I'm sorry about what happened to your da.
I was sorry then, and I'm sorry now.
And don't ask me to forgive and forget.
Ricky, would you pass the water? Don't you want to remember more, Wyn? Leave it, Liam.
It's too fast.
20 years.
Too fast? - Leave her alone.
- Let him talk.
He likes talking.
Wouldn't you like to remember the smell of a classroom on a wet afternoon? The butterfly thrill when Michael McBride told you he loved you at the Youth Club dance? Jesus.
Lying half asleep on your father's chest, listening to his voice boom around in your head? Enough, Liam.
What happened to your da will always be central to your lives.
That's right.
That's proper.
But the other things must come, too.
So that what did happen to your da, to thousands of men like your da, like Declan, can have a proper context.
And when they have a context, you can look back with more than bitterness.
You can look back with love.
Look at you there, Till.
You were wearing that dress the night I met you.
Remember? Oh, look! Blackpool! Hey, let's go back there in the spring, eh? Yeah, yeah, why not? Liam? Come back to bed.
I'm gonna go to America, Sam.
I've had a ticket burning a hole in my pocket for a month now, but I've been putting it off.
All the time you've been in Cambridge you've had a plane ticket in your pocket? I'm tired of looking back.
It's time to move on, see what's round the next corner.
Oh, I'm very pleased for you, Liam.
So what was this? Come with me.
I spoke to a friend out there.
He says there's a vacant chair in pathology at the University of Massachusetts.
How dare you? Sam, listen to me, please.
- My life is here.
My family.
My career.
- I know why you're here with your family.
It's like huddling into a lifeboat.
It's crap, but at least it's crap with other people.
You're very clever, Liam.
But you're not half as bloody clever as you think you are.
You come swanning back into my life after 20 years Get out of the lifeboat, Sam.
Get some bloody joy.
And be like you, you mean? Running round the world, measuring your life in young girls? - How balanced is that? - Okay.
- I know I should have brought it up earlier.
- How arrogant of you.
- I'm in control of my life, not you.
- You're not in control of your life.
You're an obsessive.
You think if you fill up your life with other people's emotions, you won't have to deal with your own.
Sam, you are an incredible woman, but you're not in control.
You think that you are.
You pray that you are.
But you're not.
You're not even in control when you're sleeping.
- Get out, Liam.
- Sam.
Get out.
Do you know anyone called Nng? N, N, and G.
They look like the name tags you used to have inside your clothes at school.
Hello? Do police officers have name tags in their clothing? Sam.
Liam Slattery.
It can wait, Sam.
I'm sorry, Liam, she's in a meeting.
Can I take a message? I found blood on some of the shirt fragments.
- The same blood group as Michael Pearce? - You've got it.
Someone was trying to tell you something big-time.
That's his phone number.
That's when his train leaves.
get you some lunch.
Now, where's Daddy? - Mrs Denning? - What? - I'm Dr Ryan.
- I know who you are.
You sent me a package.
I didn't get to see what was inside it.
- I don't know what you mean.
- You wrote "For Johns" on it.
It was a shirt, wasn't it? It had blood on it? - I don't know what you're talking about.
- You liked Stephen Johns, didn't you? - Yes.
- You don't believe the things people are saying about him? - I have to go.
- Stephen Johns is dead.
Michael Pearce is dead.
A man is going to stand trial for murder.
What was in the package, Mrs Denning? Was it your husband's shirt? Jerry.
- What is she doing here? - I don't know, Jerry.
- I haven't spoken to her.
I haven't said anything.
- Get in the car.
- But Jerry, I didn't - Get in the car! Can't piss on me, Doctor.
I'm not Stephen Johns.
You try and hurt me or my family, and I promise you I will hurt you back.
You harass my officers, now you're harassing my officers' wives.
Patricia Denning wanted to tell me something.
Patricia Denning has just been on the phone.
The woman wants to make an official complaint.
Only because her husband told her to.
Quite right, too.
Someone sent me a package because they had something they wanted to give me.
Which you helpfully blew up, didn't you? My father was in the RUC.
He was killed by an IRA bomb.
So I have a slight problem with bombs.
- Trevor.
- Hm? What would you say if I said I wanted to take a sabbatical? Sabbatical? I'd say you only just bloody got here.
Liam? Yes.
He's going to teach in the States for a year.
Wants me to join him.
Well, as your business partner, I'd have to say I think you'd be crazy.
I couldn't afford to keep your job open on the off chance that you might come back.
It's only hypothetical.
But as your friend, I think it would probably be a good idea.
I'd keep your job open as long as I could.
And it wouldn't be the end of the world if you and I started afresh, would it? No.
Let me know what you decide.
Are you sure it was intentional? All right, I'll get some people to go and take a look.
Thanks.
You all right? I missed a train.
Look, you just stay here and get some rest.
I'll sort it out.
Shit, shit.
Hello, this is Sam Ryan.
I can't come to the phone at the moment, but if you leave your name and number, I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
Hiya.
- I'll phone the police right now! - Natalie.
- Get out of here.
- Somebody tried to kill me.
Good! Why? Do you know what people are saying about your husband? Leave him alone.
That he murdered a man.
- No.
- Murdered him and then stamped on him so that another man would be accused of his killing.
No.
That he couldn't live with it, and he had to kill himself.
He would never kill anyone.
And he would never, never leave me.
Your husband sent me this.
Why? What was he trying to tell me? I don't know.
Did he say anything to you? He said it was an accident.
What was an accident? Whatever happened.
I said to him, "You had an accident with this man?" But he said to me, "No, it wasn't my accident.
" Whose accident was it? I don't know.
My own wife.
My own wife.
We can do this on our own, Jerry.
Let them go.
It's nothing to do with them.
If you make a move, I'll take you out.
I won't make a move.
Jerry, don't do this.
Get out, Patricia.
- Jerry.
- Get out! Come on.
I think you'd better tell me what this is all about.
Jill, Jill, wait! Sergeant.
It was my last night.
I was upset.
I was nervous.
Get me out of here! Pearce was making a fuss.
Come on, open the door! So I went into his cell just to speak to him.
That's all.
Just to speak to him.
But he kept whining, complaining, saying Symonds had attacked him.
Then he tried to get out of the cell.
Now, I pushed him up against the wall.
I didn't hit him.
I swear I didn't hit him.
I know you didn't hit him.
He sat down on the mattress, and I shut the door like I've done a thousand times.
He died of a traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage.
When you pushed him up against the wall he must have banged his head.
Oh, God.
All right in there? Johns found him.
He knew I was the last one in there.
If he had raised the alarm, he'd have still been alive now.
So what did he do? He told Denning, and Denning covered it up.
Denning stamped on Pearce to make it look as if Symonds did it? Then he realised that his shoe marks would be on the body.
So they took the shoes from Symonds and used them to stamp over the body.
Why didn't you go to Farmer? There was a second when I might have gone to Farmer, the second that Johns found the body.
After that, no one was able to own up, not without dragging down officers with them.
You don't do that sort of thing.
What's happening? Denning's got Tom in Adams in there.
He's got a knife.
In the end, the murder's down to Johns.
People will understand that.
You're not a murderer.
You, you bastard.
You were so busy trying to shag the pathologist, you let her piss all over us.
So you bloody sit down! All right, all right.
House 25 clear.
26 clear.
You scumbag.
Creeping around and stealing stuff for Ryan.
We all knew what you were doing.
I went to see Johns.
Told him that he was gonna drag us all down with him if he didn't pull himself together.
He was gonna give himself up? He phoned me and told me he was gonna go to Farmer.
I persuaded him to meet me down by the old quarry.
No.
I didn't mean to kill him.
I just wanted to talk to him.
But he'd broken.
He'd just gone completely.
He was gonna go to Farmer and that was that.
Don't let anyone get in those back gardens, all right? Keep your eye on the lot of them.
We've asked for a negotiator.
- Armed response? - Mm-hm.
- You all right? - Mm-hm.
This is why there are rules.
We had a fight.
The next thing I knew, he was in the water.
I tried to pull him out, but I couldn't.
He was so heavy.
And he wasn't helping.
He was just letting himself sink.
He wouldn't help.
I couldn't understand it.
I was shouting at him to help! He was unconscious.
Jesus Christ.
I thought I heard somebody coming.
I just panicked.
I just got out of there.
You can go.
Promise me you'll tell his missus I'm sorry? No, Jerry.
- Promise me.
- I promise.
I promise.
- But for God's sake - Jerry! Jerry, it's me, Sergeant Claire.
What's that bloody idiot doing? Sergeant Claire.
Sergeant Claire, get back here now! Come on, Jerry.
It's all over.
You're a good friend, Jerry.
- All right, get him out of there.
- Wait, Harriet.
I should never have let you do what you did, and now it has to stop.
I've told them everything.
I don't want any more people hurt for what I did, Jerry.
What did he do? What did Claire do? They know I killed the man, Jerry.
I didn't mean to, God knows.
They know you and Johns covered for me.
A man's dead, Jerry.
Johns is dead.
Let's stop this thing now.
Harriet.
Come on, son.
Put the knife down.
Jerry, throw the knife away.
It's all right, son.
It's all right.
It's all right.
I'm sorry.
DC Cox! What the hell happened to you? I'm all right.
I had a bit of an accident.
- You seen a doctor? - Trevor, don't fuss.
Did you see Liam? No, I missed him.
He's been phoning all afternoon.
He didn't get on the train.
He said he couldn't believe you wouldn't at least say goodbye.
Is he still there? He might be.