Judge John Deed (2001) s02e04 Episode Script

- Hello.
Boyd, where on earth are you? I'm on Brookbean Road.
What are you doing down there? I thought you were coming home.
I'm going to Danny's.
I did tell you.
What about your homework, Boyd? When are you going to do it? I'm gonna do it when I get to Danny's.
I will.
- No! Mummy.
No! - Give us it! Give us it! - Hey, that's my phone! - Boyd? Boyd? - Hey, that's mine.
Give it.
- What's happening, Boyd? Give it him.
Let him have it! Are you all right? Son, son, can you hear me? He stole my phone.
I think he's been stabbed.
Mr Ryder.
You are patently not a bad man, and it's possible that your actions may have helped to protect many commuters.
However, in most of these instances, you acted as an agent provocateur, intentionally attracting muggers to yourself.
I accept that it wasn't your intention that any of them should die, but one did.
So the verdict of manslaughter was the right one.
I commend you for staying at the scene of the crime until the police and ambulance arrived, but it is appropriate that you should go to prison.
Shame! First, I would like pre-sentence reports.
No, there's no point in asking for bail, Mr Connors.
Three weeks, Mr Clark.
All rise.
That decision's not going to make you very popular, Judge.
I don't pander to public opinion.
- Well, you could release him into the community.
- Community service? I don't think so.
You could devise a scheme where you release him into the community - in the care of others.
- Not my job.
It's the Home Secretary's.
- Charlie phoned.
She'd like you to call her.
- Yeah, I know what that's about.
The hunger striker.
He was convicted for conspiracy of firebombing halal meat trucks.
This was politics, Dad.
Proving the Crown isn't racist.
Well, he's probably not the only one who doesn't like the way Muslims slaughter their animals, but Muslims have rights, too, under the law, don't they? The law that permits these ritual killings completely contradicts the 1911 Protection of Animals Act.
Now this extends to every single high street butcher shop.
Dad! - Have you tried your grandad? - Oh, he's so stupid.
To the right of Richard Nixon, perhaps.
Stupid, no.
The appeal's only part heard.
They've yet to give a ruling.
Grandad wants to be a Law Lord.
He's gonna rule against Richard Jones.
- We can't just let him die.
- Isn't that his choice? Supposing I said I was gonna go on hunger strike? What would you do? - I'd try to stop you.
You're my daughter.
- Yeah, well, he's someone's son.
Do you really think we should care less just 'cause we don't know him? Don't we care more for our own? Yeah, that's why we go on tolerating what's happening to animals and people in the Third World because they're not our own.
- John.
Charlie, how are you? - Fine.
John, someone's coming in for an injunction.
I'm going to Glyndebourne.
Can you deal with it? If it's not too complicated.
I'm hearing the opening in the cell phone murder.
- It involves a child needing a new heart.
- Okay.
I trust your college work's keeping you busy, Charlie.
Either that or I'm just very slow.
I have told you about the Lord Chancellor's files, haven't I? Yeah, the system where everyone reports on barristers who want to be judges.
On all lawyers, law students as well.
Your clever remark to the Presider will have been noted.
Look, if the law can't help Richard Jones, well, I don't wanna be a lawyer.
- You coming to see me? - Michael Nivan, I think.
- For the injunction? - Yeah.
It's me.
Jason Powell doesn't want the transplant.
Although he is only 15, he is sufficiently mature to understand the consequences of that decision.
And it'll cost him his life.
He doesn't want the heart or to have to live on drugs for the rest of his life.
His parents' consent to the operation doesn't seem unreasonable.
Oh, it wouldn't be if he were five.
And the operation can't wait? A heart's become available.
The hospital are pressing the parents.
There's no clear precedent that favours the parents and disfavours the child.
He can lawfully decide his own fate if he truly understands what's happening.
There's no doubt about that.
All right, I'll grant the injunction pending a full hearing first thing tomorrow morning.
Can you alert all parties to be ready by 9:OO? Do you want some food? I should get back.
The hospital might make a pre-emptive strike.
They wouldn't dare.
Coop will call them.
Thank you, Coop.
You all right? You look a bit done in.
Why are you taking this on? You're before me in the cell phone murder.
This is momentous, John.
It won't diminish for you taking 15 minutes to eat.
Come on.
How can you do this? What if it were your son needing a heart? Then I'd probably feel like you do, Mrs Powell.
- Then why are you doing it? - Mel, don't make a scene, it doesn't help.
- You're useless at times like this.
- Mrs Powell.
We're here to represent Jason's views.
- He has to get that new heart.
- The judge has to decide.
Jason's going through an animal rights phase.
We never thought it would come to this.
- Why don't we go outside? - No! It's my son's life! God, I hate them.
It's just a game to them all! Could you find out if there's any change in the condition of that hunger striker in prison? Well, do you need to know now? They're ready for you to hear the injunction.
When you've got a moment.
Those of you not familiar with Family Division, this is less formal than others courts but no less serious.
We are to hear why the injunction preventing Jason Powell from receiving a heart transplant should or should not be lifted.
It has to.
- Are you the mother? We will get to you.
- He does need this new heart.
No decision will be taken until we've heard from you, Mrs Powell.
But it can't wait.
He'll die.
I understand your concerns.
We must hear the arguments.
So I suggest that we hear a statement from both sides, and then we'll hear any witnesses.
Are they present? - And you are? - This is Malcolm Evans, sir.
Consultant of cardiac surgery at Brighton, St James's.
I'm Dennis Jordan, sir, for the parents.
There is evidence from the National Transplant Unit about the scarcity of hearts.
This we are submitting in writing.
Thank you.
- Mrs Mills.
- We will be calling Orlando Figes.
He's a hospital social worker who talked at length with Jason Powell.
Good.
We'd best hear first from those opposing the injunction.
Our case, my lord, is based entirely in law.
Jason Powell is a minor and as such falls entirely under the protection of his loving and caring parents, Andrew and Melanie Powell.
- Their position in law is unequivocal.
- I'd be interested to hear that, Mr Jordan.
I thought the law sensibly considered that parental rights terminated provided the child could demonstrate sufficient intelligence and understanding to fully comprehend the consequences.
- Yes.
- That was Lord Scarman's view.
Yes, we would argue that those circumstances do not exist in this case, therefore, the parents have the right to decide.
I would direct Your Lordship to re R 1991, Volume 4 of the All England Reports at 177.
The dispute concerning a girl aged 15 and 10 months.
Lord Donaldson, the Master of the Rolls, stated that, "Medical treatment can be administered to an under 16-year-old "even if the child is legally competent to refuse consent.
"Consent can be given by someone who has parental rights or responsibilities.
" My lord, Jason Powell is a 15-year-old with all sorts of unrealistic He became obsessed with the animal rights lot.
We will get to you, Mrs Powell.
While accepting that parents have rights over decisions about their children, we argue that this has ceased to be the case with Jason Powell.
Here is a young man who, at 15 years, 11 months of age, is mature and wise beyond his years.
He's reasoning and highly articulate.
In deciding not to have a heart transplant, he has done so after having weighed all the available evidence.
He is sincerely committed to the position he has adopted on animal rights.
He asked me to inform the court that he sees no logic to his life being extended at the expense of animals sacrificed to further develop drugs to prevent his body from rejecting the heart.
Jason meets every criterion set out by Lord Scarman.
The rights of the parents cease if and when the child achieves sufficient intelligence and understanding.
One five-minute conversation with Jason tells one he has.
In his own words, "The exploitation of one species "opens the way for the exploitation of all others.
" Not the words of someone incapable of making a rational choice, or following a fad, as his parents suggest.
Thank you, Mrs Mills.
This case is more complex than I had originally believed, and I have another trial waiting.
Before proceeding further, I would like to meet with Jason.
He's in intensive care.
Mr Evans, will he survive a further 24 hours without this transplant? Any delay is detrimental.
But 24 hours, I don't feel will prove critical.
Would you arrange for me to meet with Jason after adjournment today, Mrs Lawson? We should be there.
With respect, my lord, there must be the opportunity for all parties to witness the interview.
Yes, via a video link.
Until 9:OO am tomorrow.
My apologies for the delay in resuming this morning.
I had a complicated injunction to hear.
Can we have the jury? The case before you is both tragic and brutal in equal degrees.
It involves two self-confessed drug addicts who, in order to feed their habit, mugged a young teenager, Boyd Payne, for his mobile phone.
This he had worked hard for at weekends and saved all his pocket money to buy.
Courageously and with great spirit, Boyd resisted his robbers until one of them, the man on your right in the dock, David "Dwarf" Lavender, as he's known, egged on by the other defendant, Paulo Dorrell, stabbed him five times in the stomach with a serrated paring knife, causing wounds that were to prove fatal.
When that blood come out of his mouth, I thought we was dead.
- And what did you do then, Mrs Histon? - I held him.
I couldn't let him lay on the pavement.
It didn't seem right.
Were you later able to identify the two men who stole Boyd's phone? Yes.
Well, one of them.
The one who stabbed him.
I heard the other one.
Did you hear him clearly? Yes.
He said, "Give it him, Dwarf.
Let him have it before we're nicked.
" - Who said this? - The one in the car.
So that the jury are quite clear about who did the stabbing and who egged who on, can you point out the defendant who did the stabbing and who you subsequently identified at an identification parade? The one on the right.
Please stand up, Mr Lavender.
Are you sure that this is the man? He was dirtier, but that's him.
Were you able to recognise the voice of the man you say you heard encouraging Lavender? Yes, I heard it on tape.
My lord, I will be calling evidence from the police inspector who conducted this voice identification.
The voice Mrs Histon picked out Number six.
- Number six, was Paulo Dorrell.
- Is this disputed? It's disputed that he's the man.
Not that Mrs Histon picked out his voice.
That's what I meant, Sir James, as you well know.
Let me put a hypothetical to you, Mrs Histon.
The death penalty has been restored.
A guilty verdict will send these two young men to the gallows.
Would you still be as certain? - I think so.
- Is that enough? Think carefully.
You were walking along the street chatting to your partner.
He saw nothing until the boy was on the ground and the car was speeding away - He heard him shout.
- But not what was shouted.
You, on the other hand, happened to be glancing in the right direction.
- You were glancing in the right direction? - Yes.
How long for? A second? Two seconds? - Could have been longer.
- It could have been shorter.
Did you really see all that happened? Or did you subsequently piece it together based on what the police had told you? Make sure we don't get clamped.
The camera's set up in Jason's room, Sir John.
- Does he mind? - He doesn't stop asking questions.
I can't answer most of them.
Procedures, drugs, how and when they were tested.
I'm sure I didn't know half of them were tested on the poor wee animals.
The judge is here, Jason.
Ring the bell if you want anything, sir.
Compassion: The Ultimate Ethic.
It's not exactly light reading.
Dad says I should be reading Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings.
- Have you read those? - Yes.
They're okay.
Neither's got a workable or consistent philosophy.
Isn't that something we develop along the way? If there's time.
- Do you know why I'm here, Jason? - Mum told me.
She's along the corridor at the video link.
She's very concerned about you.
- She doesn't want you to die.
- Nor me.
That's what's going to happen if you go on with this.
I don't want anyone or anything killed just so I can survive.
Like who? The girl whose heart they want me to take for a start.
The donor's brain dead, Jason.
She's not coming back.
Not if they take her heart, she isn't.
Brain stem death was something they thought up in 1995 when they couldn't find enough donors.
Parents can't imagine the possibility even of surviving their children.
That's probably why so many of them respond so generously after the worst possible tragedy by donating their children's organs.
Not thinking what it costs in animal lives.
The techniques and drugs are already developed, aren't they? They still go on testing.
There are laws to protect animals.
They're seen as property owned by humans.
When Jesus said, "Suffer those who be as little children to come unto me," he wasn't just talking about my kind.
"So hurt not, therefore, one of these little ones "for whom the heavenly Father-Mother careth.
"If anyone hurts or destroys one of these little ones, "it would have been better for that one had he never been born.
" Sayings of the Master.
Don't we have dominion over the animals? Which means a duty to protect them.
Laws are in place to protect them from abuse.
We abuse the animals every day.
Exploit them for food and clothing.
Neither of which is necessary to our survival.
We use them to test chemicals, medicines.
We do this with compassion.
No, that's how we justify the abuse.
The animal doesn't know for what noble purpose it's suffering, or if it will ever stop.
Countless people have benefited, Jason.
No one benefits from theft and murder.
That's what it is.
Life has been pretty miserable since I was struck down with this.
I think what it might be like going to university, having girlfriends, even playing for Man U.
You could still do most of those things.
Do you think it's right for people in the animal rights movement to use violence to further their cause? It's not right in any cause.
It's better to suffer or to be oppressed than to raise a single stone against the oppressor.
Hmm.
How do you think your parents would cope with your dying if they know that you could be saved? - They'll take it badly, I think.
- You bet they will.
I don't want to hurt them, but I hoped you of all people wouldn't resort to emotional blackmail.
You don't have to die for your beliefs.
But living without them is not living.
Knowing that the suffering goes on.
Will your actions stop it? No.
But someone has to accept some responsibility for what they're doing to others.
You've decided to lift the injunction, haven't you? My wishes will be ignored.
I can't ignore your wishes, Jason.
I haven't heard all the arguments yet.
Rosie! Rosie, come here.
Come here.
Hello.
Good dog.
- What's wrong? - Nothing.
I needed to take your mind on something.
I can't square the circle on this.
It seemed straightforward.
Have the boy live.
- Yeah, but you have to respect his views.
- He's 15, Chaz.
You said he meets all the legal criteria for deciding his own fate.
He's not like any boy that you have ever met.
He's got a mind like Scarman.
Or Denning.
- Dominated by compassion.
- Yeah, then he's capable of deciding.
- You're thinking like a parent, Dad.
- I am a parent.
His parents love him.
If he's forced to have the operation, he might grow to hate them.
I would.
Well, I think, "What if it were you?" I would want you to have the operation even if you never spoke to me again.
Have you thought what he might do if you let the transplant go ahead? He might stop taking the drugs.
Then you'd be back arguing about whether to force-feed them to him.
For some people, Dad, life isn't about quantity at any cost.
What you can't cope with here is someone of Jason's generation making such a mature decision.
I'm grateful for the opportunity of meeting with Jason.
It doesn't make my decision any easier.
I'll hear from the surgeon first and then the parents.
Jason is suffering from acute hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
A disease of the heart where progressive thickening of the muscles severely restricts blood flow through the heart.
We can't cure it because we don't know what causes it.
What is the prognosis if he doesn't get the transplant? He will die.
Opinions of clinicians on this are unequivocal.
This bright, young 15-year-old with a brilliant future ahead of him is dying while I am prevented from doing what natural justice dictates I should do.
How long will he live without the transplant? A week or two.
No longer than two months.
Because this was diagnosed late, other organs become threatened the longer we leave this decision.
Mr Evans, what would happen to Jason were he to have the transplant? After about 36 hours he'd resume a normal, healthy life.
Eat normally.
Start exercising.
Within a week, he'd do strenuous exercise and be home soon afterwards.
Is a new heart likely to suffer the same problems? I can't guarantee that it won't, but there's a real chance it won't.
Meanwhile, Jason's body will be trying to reject the heart.
We have drugs to prevent that.
Do you know what Jason's philosophy of life is? He could live to change his mind.
Isn't it not to have any creature suffer for any purpose? These are purpose-bred animals.
According to Jason's beliefs, there is no difference in degrees of suffering nor between animals and humans.
Jason is a romantic.
I feel his views are less important than his life.
How many people, much less teenagers, do you know that have such a clear and resolute belief system? We are talking about a human life.
There's no comparison.
Mr Evans, that is your opinion, that you feel must take precedence over this teenager's deep conviction.
- I know what's best for the patient.
- Is it best for Jason? That's what we have to decide.
Jay and I have always been close.
I know what he's feeling almost before him.
And do you share the same affinity with either of your other two children? We're close but not in the same way.
He must have this operation.
It's what he really wants.
He feels he can't let down his friends in the movement.
What if he has the operation and comes to hate you and your husband? I don't care.
He'd be alive, and if he's alive, then that's all that matters.
Mrs Powell, did you tell the hospital social worker that Jason was going through a fad? He would change his mind.
He would.
When did Jason become vegetarian? - When he was two and a half.
- What happened? He asked me what meat was.
When you told him, did he not say to you, "Don't ever let me eat it again"? Mrs Mills, no one's asking him to.
My lord, this goes to the core of Jason's belief system.
Whether a person of 15 years and 11 months is sufficiently mature to form a view and decide for himself.
It would seem that he was at two and a half.
Yes, I'm concerned that we get to a point where it's other than academic.
I will try to be brief, my lord, but I must be thorough.
Yes, go on.
Mrs Powell, has Jason consistently refused to eat dead animals from the age of two and a half? It wasn't life-threatening then.
Did those principles further develop into veganism and a philosophy of the sanctity of all life, whether human or animal? He was always very kind to animals and everyone.
We were proud of him, even though he was different to other boys.
And he was different, everybody said so.
I just wanted him to be ordinary.
Like the other children.
Do the things that they did.
I couldn't I couldn't bear if his being different means his dying.
I couldn't.
God, why can't he be like other boys? Why can't he? Thank you, Mrs Powell.
Mr Powell? Mr Evans, how long will the donor heart be available to Jason? A matter of days.
The donor heart is deteriorating, the same as Jason's.
- At the same rate? - At a similar rate.
Despite being on life support.
There is pressure from the Transplant Unit, my lord, for a decision.
Yes, yes, I understand.
I do have to resume the trial I'm hearing.
I am going to adjourn until 4:15 when I will hear your concluding submissions.
Can you tell the court how you came to charge the defendants, Chief Inspector? The local CID had interviewed a known drug dealer, Hugh Jenks, on an unrelated offence.
He informed the officers that he'd supplied Lavender and Dorrell with crack cocaine in exchange for three cell phones, one of which we subsequently identified as belonging to Boyd Payne, the deceased boy.
Exhibit 2C.
Show it to the witness.
Is this the phone, Chief Inspector? Yes, its serial number corresponded with the phone he'd purchased two days prior to his death.
Did you find anything else that connected the phone with the defendants? Inside the mouthpiece cover we found part of a thumbprint that we identified as Paulo Dorrell's.
Plus, there was a call that had been logged to a Madeleine Carter, sister of Dorrell.
- Not a very clever set of thieves.
- Drug addicts rarely are.
Did this drugs dealer have a previous criminal record, Chief Inspector? Yes, sir.
Three convictions for possession.
Two for dealing in class A drugs, one for class B.
On the last occasion he was arrested, I believe Mr Jenks was found in possession of both class A and class B drugs, yet was charged only with having the latter, is that so? I work for the murder squad not the drug squad.
Is that yes, Chief Inspector? Yes, sir.
Would it be reasonable to assume that a deal was done with the CPS, whereby for giving evidence against the two defendants, Mr Jenks would be pursued on a lesser charge? It would be naive to pretend that such deals don't take place.
Was such a deal in place, Chief Inspector? It's not so much a deal, more of a recognition of the inevitable, my lord.
Yes, I see.
Sir James.
Usually it's the absence of evidence that causes the police most problems.
Yet here, you seem to have a situation with Mr Jenks where there was such an abundance of evidence that the police ignore the more serious class A drugs in favour of the less serious class B.
Would it be unkind to assume that through undue persuasion, Mr Jenks was helped to say things he might not otherwise say? That's a question for that witness, surely.
It just started.
It started for no reason.
Get help! Do something, do something! Where's Mr Evans? What minimum number of ridges do you need on a lift in order to make an unequivocal identification of a print? There is no longer a minimum requirement, sir.
I was satisfied that the unique characteristics of the print identified it as belonging to Paulo Dorrell.
How many ridges found were identical to the defendant's? Three, sir.
Not long ago you had to find 15.
- We recently changed our practice.
- Moved the goal posts.
Something urgent has happened in another case I am hearing.
I need to adjourn for the day.
This does seem to be a convenient moment.
All rise.
The boy's stable, but the hospital don't know how long he can remain that way.
- All the parties present? - Apart from the mother, Judge.
This is without doubt the hardest decision that I've ever had to arrive at in my years on the bench.
In reaching it, I have tried not to allow Jason's deteriorating condition to have any influence.
It's made doubly difficult by the fact that he's only two or three weeks away from an age when legally he could make this decision for himself.
Jason impressed me with his incisive logical mind.
He has great clarity of understanding and has shown compassion and humanity about the dilemma now facing his parents and the hospital staff.
The sincerity of his position in relation to animals and animal testing and his fervent desire to see an end to such practices puts him way beyond his peers.
It is therefore with great reluctance that I've decided to lift the injunction and allow doctors to make a clinical judgement as to what is best for Jason.
Should this decision be in favour of a transplant, I hope that he will live to be grateful for it.
It is, of course, open for you to appeal this.
In the circumstances, I hope that you won't.
My lord, with your permission, we seek leave to appeal this decision.
- What? No, you can't.
You can't.
- Mrs Powell, as disappointing as this is for you You just said he could have the operation.
- The appeal can take place very soon.
- This isn't right.
- Do something, you're a barrister.
- We'd appeal if it'd gone the other way.
- What kind of evil woman are you? Mrs Powell, I understand what you must You're all in this together.
Nobody understands.
My son is gonna die! Mrs Powell - My son is going to die! Get this heard as soon as possible.
We still haven't heard anything.
God, what are they doing? I've spoken to our transplant coordinator.
She's in touch with the donor hospital.
The retrieval team are standing by to remove the heart as soon as we get word.
- Why can't you just do it? - Mel, you can't ask Malcolm that.
Why not? Soon it's gonna be too late.
I would just do it.
Save his life.
The donor hospital won't move until they hear the Appeal Court's decision.
Go home.
Get some rest.
We will get there, Mel.
I know we will.
Mr Jenks, at what point did you realise the phone the defendants traded you for crack cocaine was stolen from a murder victim? - Paulo swore on his mother's eyesight he found it.
- And did you believe him? Are you kidding? Ajunkie.
How did you make the connection between this phone and the death of Boyd Payne? I got a visit from the clods.
They mentioned the killing for the phone.
It was like I weren't gonna get involved.
I mean I know how bad it gets for strung-outs.
That's why I supply them.
A bit like Social Services, are you, Mr Jenks? - Supplying the needy? - You could say that.
Yeah, I bet you vote Liberal, too.
- When did you last take heroin? - I don't.
I'm in prison.
But ordinarily you're a drug user? I have a dip, take the edges off the day.
- And the mind, too, I venture.
- I don't think so.
Then cast your razor-sharp mind back to May the 3rd when the two detectives visited your carpet shop.
- What did they find? - Some whizz, that's all.
Whizz? - Yeah, whizz.
Yes, what is it? Well, whizz.
It's amphetamines, my lord.
Thank you, Miss Neil.
Didn't you have class A crack cocaine? A taste, like, not much.
Enough to get you sent to prison for a long while, I venture.
Why weren't you charged with this class A drug? - Well, I give them Dwarf and Paulo.
- A simple trade.
The clods told me the kid was killed by heads out of their brains.
You saw an ideal opportunity to save yourself a long prison sentence and so you gave them the two defendants.
They'd have done it to me faster than light.
It's a dog eat dog world, Mr Jenks.
How are you sure the phone you gave to the police was the one the defendant supposedly gave you? I don't know, I am.
Of the 47 stolen mobile phones the police found in your possession, you identified this one.
Couldn't it as easily have been any one of those the defendants gave you? They give me some of them.
They nick phones.
You weren't charged with possessing stolen property.
- Nope.
- Why is that? Clods was only interested in the one they killed the kid for.
Exhibit 2C.
The Motorola One.
The phone Boyd Payne purchased two days before on May the 1 st.
That's the one.
The receipt that he had for the phone that he had purchased that day was a Nokia 8310.
The clod said it was a Motorola what was nicked.
Did they tell you it was stolen from the dead boy before or after you had produced it? I don't remember.
I don't think you remember very much at all, do you, Mr Jenks? Mum, what are you doing here? Just wanted to see you.
It's been a while.
Breakfast, wasn't it? I thought you had a big appeal hearing in the Strand.
We lost.
Bad? I don't think I can keep doing what I'm doing, Mark.
- It takes too much out of me.
- We've been there a few times, Mum.
What would you do instead? Stack shelves in Tesco's? How would that pay for my school fees or Tom's college fees? That's what I needed.
A good dose of Mark's common sense.
- Are you home for supper? - I don't know.
Are you? I'm going out with Skywalker and the Space Cadet.
You better catch them up.
Do you have any spare cash? Thanks.
I'll catch you later.
We're ready in theatre, Jason.
No, I don't want to.
- Please.
- They know what's best, Jay.
I have to believe that they do.
Jay, I know where you're coming from, babe, but I can't bear the thought of you not being able to do all the things you've only dreamt of doing.
This way you'll be here to fight for the animals.
No, Dad.
Please don't let them.
I don't want it.
No, Jason, Jason, Jason.
Jay.
Please, Jay.
We love you so much, Jason.
- Are you sure we're doing the right thing here? - I don't want this, all right? - Please, don't let me lose him.
- Midazolam.
- The heart's on its way.
- No, I don't want it.
Get off of me.
Dad! Help me.
- The judges said - It's the right thing to do, believe me.
It's all right, Jay.
Jay, look at Mummy.
Look at Mummy.
- No! No! - Look at Mummy.
Jay, it's okay.
Mr Bushnell.
With your leave, my lord.
With your leave, I call Dr Adam Graceman.
I wasn't the first to examine the boy.
Hospital doctors who tried to stop the haemorrhaging further opened up the wounds to find the severed artery.
But were you able to determine the extent of the stab wounds? I was able to form an opinion.
A 10-centimetre serrated paring knife was thrust into the lower abdomen by a short, left-handed man, each blow striking home to the hilt.
Around each puncture wound there was bruising where the fist enclosing the hilt of the knife struck the body.
Would you examine exhibit 3C and say whether this was the weapon used? It was this or one exactly similar.
If it might be passed to the jury to remind them that this was the knife that the police found in the abandoned car that was identified as being used during the robbery.
How do you know the assailant was short and left-handed? The victim was a little above average height for a 13-year-old, at one metre 69, and the wounds were low on the body.
The angle traversing the appendix into the lower intestine tells us it was left-handed.
Equally, Doctor, it could have been a tall right-handed person attacking from behind.
Leaning over and stabbing the victim in an upwards-thrusting motion.
The calculation is based on the evidence.
Why a short left-handed and not tall right-handed person? I was asked whether a short left-handed suspect could be ruled in or out.
Then this wasn't arrived at independently? Of course it was.
But you have to start with a set of givens.
Well, had you been told the assailant was 6'3" and right-handed, is that how your evidence would have read? - I might have formed that opinion.
- Thank you, Doctor.
Mrs Mills.
Let us look again at the murder weapon.
If defence have no objections, I should like the knife to be removed from the bag for the purposes of a demonstration.
- Have you, Sir James? - No objections, my lord.
No objections, my lord.
Can you tell us about the serrating? Yes, it has the toothed edge on the right, the right-hand side.
If you put the knife in your left hand, which side is it on? It makes no difference.
Can you tell us to what side of the wounds the serration tears were? On the right or the victim's left.
Doctor, would you pretend to be a short left-handed person and stab an imaginary victim in the lower abdomen? The lower abdomen, Doctor.
Thank you, Doctor.
The serration tears are on which side? The victim's left, of course.
Thank you, Doctor.
Would you pass the knife to our tall usher, please? Mr Usher, would you hold the knife in your right hand but with the blade towards you, like this.
Now, lean over an imaginary victim and pretend to stab him in the lower abdomen as defence counsel suggested.
Would you freeze just there? The knife held in the right hand with the blade upwards would put the serration tears on the victim's right, - not his left, would it not, Doctor? - Of course it would.
Hi, this is Charlie Deed.
Please leave a message.
It's me.
I'll call you later.
The sit - down protest outside Kemply prison where the hunger strike by Richard Jones, convicted of firebombing butchers' trucks, is entering its 33rd day.
Mr Jones, a former medical student, is protesting about the 20-year sentence imposed by His Honour Judge Mealy at Southwark Crown Court.
Doctors are Excuse me, my lord, Mrs Mills is here.
She doesn't appear to have an appointment.
Okay.
If I may say so, my lord, she appears to be the worse for drink.
Ah.
- Perhaps you could make her some coffee.
- My lord.
Mrs Mills, my lord.
Jason Powell is dead.
He never regained consciousness after the operation.
Yes, I know.
The hospital rang.
I'm sorry.
Not half as sorry as you should be.
He died without ever waking up.
- Did you drive like that? - I'm not drunk.
I haven't even had a drink.
I could do with one or two or three.
I don't care how much damage I do to my career by coming and telling the high and mighty judge how arrogant and stupid he is! That dear, caring boy could have died with his last wish in place.
He could have died at peace with his conscience, and you denied him that! I know.
You far exceeded both the reach of your concern and your understanding.
You were unqualified and unworthy to sit in judgement of Jason Powell.
You're no better than those arrogant surgeons.
You think you can play God! Jason was light years ahead of you all.
Yes.
I have to come to terms with what I did.
Why are you so maddeningly reasonable? Do something! Throw me out, get angry with me, threaten to ruin my career, but don't just Will Mrs Mills be wanting dinner, my lord? Yes, that might help.
You should eat something.
- I can't find my bag.
- Did you arrive with one? Nothing changes, John.
You're still an arrogant man who presumes so much.
I really don't care if I ruin my career.
Well, you've already done that.
You got totally drunk.
I put you to bed.
And you got the reputation and none of the pleasure.
Pleasure? Jo, you did your best for the boy.
I I I try to be very relaxed on my circuit.
I endeavour to exercise judgement concerning the behaviour of judges.
But we do have a standard to keep up, John.
It's important that we're seen to behave properly? What are you talking about, Michael? You don't make this easy.
There are rumours that you have barristers who are before you in your room.
Now, I can ignore gossip, but I've just seen Mrs Mills.
In no fit state to drive.
We did have one or two last night.
This does create a problem with the Lord Chancellor's department.
Sir Ian Rochester believes that you are having an affair with Mrs Mills.
Well, he's wrong, Michael.
Whatever happened in your rooms with Mrs Mills, the staff now believe that you're lovers.
They also know that she is before you in court.
It was wholly innocent.
End of story.
Did I get it wrong about that transplant, Chaz? You're only Spider-Man, Dad, not God.
As judges we're supposed to be right.
The judges weren't right about Richard Jones.
You want them to be wise, infallible, but, well, they're from the same planet as everyone else.
Could you stick around for lunch? A group of us are going down to Kemply prison to look at the vigil.
Don't get into any trouble.
Seriously! It's enough that one of us has a big, fat file at the Lord Chancellor's department.
- Do you want some money? - I'm a student, Dad.
I certainly didn't envy you that decision, John.
Either way, the boy lost.
Had he lived, he'd have probably changed his mind.
I believe he was ready to die for his principles.
At that age, everything's a matter of life and death.
What about this hunger striker? I thought this was about Jo Mills.
- Are you seeing her again? - Who knows? Going out with her is a bit like having you around.
Oh, dear.
The evidence against the hunger striker in Kemply was sound.
Oh, they didn't catch him burning the meat trucks, or find him with the incendiary devices.
Though there were candles and firelighters and matches at his house.
He got 20 years, Row.
You know conspiracy charges, they're a necessary evil.
You can't always catch these people at it.
Doesn't mean to say they didn't do it.
My doubts are increasing.
It's reckoned there's seven million pounds' worth of property damage at this lad's door.
- This could cost him his life.
- And the lives he put at risk? If he did it.
Charlie thinks that he'll die before he backs down.
You were just now complaining that you didn't let a young man die for his principles.
Seems peaceful enough, Stephen.
For now, Judge.
It may not stay like that if the hunger striker's condition gets any worse.
The protesters will get bored.
Or the police will.
Did you see Charlie there, sir? Let's go.
I mustn't keep you from home any longer.
- John! This is a surprise.
- I came to see your father.
Still have dinner on Wednesdays? We might give back Gibraltar, we might even adopt the Euro, but Wednesdays wouldn't be Wednesdays without Daddy.
He's on the terrace, smoking.
A re-examination of the evidence, Joe.
It's not much to ask.
The Court of Appeal looked at the boy's case.
I've given an indication that I intend to rule against the appeal.
- Twenty years is an appropriate sentence.
- One year would be unjust if he's innocent.
There's nothing to suggest that Charlie is right simply because she's young, or that this firebomber is innocent simply because he is refusing prison food.
He's not simply refusing prison food.
He's starving himself to death.
Have you paused with your bleeding heart to consider that the man might just be bloody-minded? I'm becoming convinced he's right.
I repeat.
We reviewed the evidence.
It was sound.
I wish I could be as certain in my judgements.
If you can't, you have no business sitting in the High Court.
Oh, dear, that sounds like fighting talk.
I thought perhaps you two could become friends.
On what might we base that friendship? I had to try, Joe, for Charlie's sake.
Charlie came to me with some foolish argument that the trial judge may have been influenced by the media.
- Which is a possibility.
- It can't happen! We don't have trial by media.
Let's calm down and have dinner, shall we? You'll stay, John? - No, I've decided to go to my club.
- No, no - Sorry if it inconveniences you.
- I can't stay anyway! - Don't be ridiculous! The food's ready.
- My mind is made up.
George.
Daddy.
Well, you'll have to stay now.
How's your cabinet minister? I've had more fun with a church minister.
Oops.
I can't stay.
Jo Mills is in a bit of a state.
- I want to make sure she's all right.
- Oh! Poor little Miss Oxfam.
Hi, this is Charlie Deed.
Please leave a message.
Hi, Chaz, it's me.
I spoke to your grandad, he's completely intractable.
So do some work on the trial-by-media angle.
Call me soon.
- Hello? - Jo, it's John.
Which John is that? You only know one John.
What is it you want, John? - I'm concerned about you.
I'd like to come round.
- I'm tired.
I'm in bed.
Someone at the door.
I have to go.
- You normally go to bed like that? - Seems I do.
Did it occur to you that I might feel as badly as you do about Jason Powell? You have a remarkable facility for hiding it.
There was never any question in my mind but that he should live.
He had principles that he was prepared to die for, but He told me, you know.
He told me I'd find in favour of the transplant.
He begged me not to.
He begged me not to lift the injunction.
So I told him I hadn't made up my mind, and he saw right through it.
Saw the lie.
I thought I could save him.
He was such Such an extraordinary young man.
I betrayed him.
Why is it that I always end up feeling concerned about you? - Why is that? - You don't need to.
Did it occur to you why it was me that came for the injunction? When the solicitor for the guardian ad litem asked me to help, I said yes, hoping that you would be on-call.
I thought I would easily persuade you of my views.
He nearly got Michael Nivan.
Regrettably, John Deed has lost my confidence, Ian.
Oh.
You were always one of his staunchest supporters, Michael.
Yes, I've argued his corner in the past on principle.
I was mistaken.
Not many admit their mistakes nowadays, much less apologise.
That leaves the question of what to do about him.
As long as you don't send him to a court that I'm next due at.
What has caused this loss of confidence? I must get back.
The Lord Chancellor will be missing me.
Lan.
I believe that John Deed lied to me about his having relations with Mrs Mills.
There's little one can do to Deed in the circumstances.
However, I know exactly the sanction one can employ against Mrs Mills.
She may yet prove to be his Achilles heel.
With your leave, my lord, I would like to call Brian Payne, the dead boy's father.
My lord, I cannot even begin to imagine how Mr Payne can be a material witness to the events that happened to his son.
I believe he was at work some 20 miles away at the time.
I'm at a loss, Mrs Mills.
Neither of my learned colleagues raised any objections at the pre-trial review, my lord.
Why didn't you object earlier? The witness was on the list.
- It seemed indelicate.
Something changed? - I have no objections.
- Mr Brandy? I have none, either.
He wanted a mobile phone ever since he was a young kid.
He was never really into toys, unless they were electronic.
But we resisted letting him have a phone, and then we run out of arguments.
Ironically, kids on their own and getting into difficulties was what persuaded us.
But we made him save up and pay for it himself.
He worked weekends doing gardening jobs for the neighbours.
He pestered them to let him clean their cars.
It seemed to take him no time at all to get the £109 together.
He didn't stop until he had enough money to buy it.
What sort of phone did he purchase, Mr Payne? He wanted the Motorola WAP, but I persuaded him to get the Nokia.
But he wasn't happy with it, and he took it back to the shop the next day and he switched it for the one he wanted.
The Motorola.
- The shop let him switch like that? - They have a cooling-off period.
When your son took the first phone back, did they give him a new receipt? No.
There was a slight difference in price, but he took a spare cover for it.
So the receipt we have here showing a Nokia being purchased is the only receipt there is? Yes.
I I shouldn't have tried to argue it out of him.
He knew exactly what he wanted.
He knew exactly what he wanted.
There wasn't a function on that phone he couldn't run backwards in the dark.
Oh, God, I miss him.
I really miss that boy.
Look at you.
You're not much older than Boyd was.
I don't know if you did this.
But whatever happens, whatever the outcome, nothing will bring him back.
And nothing will undo what has been done to our family.
I would hate to see any more lives destroyed by this senseless act.
I'm sorry.
Thank you, Mr Payne.
Sir James.
I have no questions.
Mr Brandy? Your Honour.
Thank you, Mr Payne.
You can step down now.
That was my last witness, and concludes the case for the Crown, my lord.
Thank you, Mrs Mills.
Doesn't your heart just break for that poor father? Yes.
Does make you wonder how they managed to carry on.
Mrs Powell rang, Judge.
Jason's funeral is on Thursday at 11:OO.
Anarchists joining the silent vigil began hurling stones at the police, three of whom were injured.
A number of protesters were also injured, two seriously.
Richard Jones, the animal rights activist, is on the 37th day of his hunger strike.
Doctors are now concerned for his life.
A hospital spokesman said, "If he survives, "he could be blind and suffer serious liver impairment.
" Workers at Hi, this is Charlie Deed.
Please leave a message.
Chaz, it's me.
I hope you're at college and not at Kemply prison.
Call me.
This had better be good.
- It's John.
- Oh.
I thought it was Neil.
- Have you heard from our daughter? - Should I have done? - It's late, I can't get her.
- She's 21.
At that age the evening's just beginning.
Yes, you're probably right.
This is not really about Charlie.
John? Have you given that drip of a cabinet minister the elbow yet? Good night, John.
What is this, John? A wake up call? I need a favour.
I think Charlie was in the riot at Kemply and I can't get her.
Can you find out anything? Well, it's not the most convenient hour to get information.
The rioters could be dispersed anywhere.
I'll call you back.
Thanks, Row.
What are your feelings, Rosie? - Any messages, Coop? - Only Mrs Channing, Judge, wanting to know if you've heard from Charlie.
- Hello? John.
There were 39 arrests.
None were bailed because all gave their name as A Smith.
There are 24 Miss Smiths.
They were taken to the Magistrates' Court this morning.
Was everyone arrested? Well, all bar four demonstrators.
They were injured and taken to hospital.
Two were kept in.
Look, I'll call you as soon as they're identified, okay? Yep.
Thanks, Row.
- Are they ready, Coop? - They're all in, Judge.
Mr Dorrell.
I'm sure by now the 1 st of May is a day seared into your mind.
Would you tell us how the day started? - Woke up.
- Yes? Where? At Dwarf's squat.
He was looking after it for someone.
We woke up late.
I was strung.
I needed something.
There was nothing in the house.
No booze, not even a cigarette.
I went upstairs and borrowed something from a neighbour.
- A neighbour you knew? - No.
I told her that I had a job interview.
That's why my hands were shaking.
She gave me two Valium.
I injected them.
Dwarf went crazy.
He didn't get nothing.
So we went out looking for something to nick to get us something to get us on.
And then we saw this kid with a mobile phone.
Not the one we killed.
I mean, we're supposed to have killed.
Not that kid.
We never met him, did we, Dwarf? It was a black kid.
We got three phones from the black kids, one from a woman's bag, and I don't know where we got the other one.
The man said they weren't worth nothing.
The man being Hugh Jenks, the dealer? He said go and get some more if we wanted a good hit.
Did he give you anything for the phones? Some crack.
What did you do after you got the drugs? We went back to the flop and got it on.
Having got it on, what did you do? We were gone, man.
Out of it.
- Where did you get the car you were driving? - We didn't have no car that day, did we, Dwarf? Your fingerprints, and those of David Lavender, were found in a car stolen from Sainsbury's car park at 14:15, two hours before Boyd Payne was killed.
Well, you saw the video footage from the security camera earlier in evidence.
- Would you like to see it again? - I thought that was another day.
What were you doing during those two hours before you saw Boyd Payne? It wasn't me that saw him.
I mean, we were getting phones from the black kid.
One phone.
Plus one from the woman's bag, that makes two.
You traded three phones with Hugh Jenks.
Jenks says that one of them was Boyd Payne's phone.
- Was he mistaken? - He must be.
Who saw Boyd first, you or Dwarf? - Dwarf can spot an easy mark - But he wasn't such an easy mark, was he? He fought back.
Did you expect that? Not many fight back.
You show them the blade, that's it.
- Whose idea was it to carry a blade? - Dwarf always carries a blade.
Someone always tries to steal your score.
Before you answer this next question, I want you to think very, very hard about it.
When you shouted, "Give it to him, Dwarf.
Let him have it before we're nicked," do you mean the phone that the boy was struggling to keep or did "Give it to him" mean "Stab him with the blade"? This is important, Mr Dorrell.
Very important.
What was the question again? When you shouted, "Give it to him, Dwarf.
Let him have it before we're nicked " I just wanted to get going.
I mean, I had something but Dwarf was so strung he was going crazy, he was.
He needed something.
He wasn't gonna let it go for nothing.
I just wanted to get out of there, but Dwarf wasn't gonna give it up.
We knew we weren't gonna get nothing for the rubbish that we'd already got, so But I didn't care.
I didn't know he was gonna stab him.
Dwarf just went crazy.
Thank you, Mr Dorrell.
This does seem to be a convenient moment.
All rise.
- Where is she? - She's not been positively identified.
None of the prison protestors have.
A girl answering Charlie's description was injured.
- She's unconscious.
- Where? Erith hospital.
And there's no identification? None of the protestors have broken ranks to identify anyone.
Coop, call Charlie's mother.
Tell her I'm on my way.
Thanks, Row.
Is there any more news? The hospital don't seem to know very much.
I'm waiting for Daddy.
He's coming, too.
I'm sure it's not as bad as it sounds.
Why does she always get involved? I'll see you there.
Oh, Mr Deed.
I'm Sister Lee.
The young lady's gone for an MRI.
Is this her? It looks like her.
Are you sure? The face is swollen.
There seems to be brain damage.
Can I see her? - We sent her to Dartford hospital for the MRI.
- Okay.
- She'll be about two hours.
- I'll go there.
- They'll be very busy.
I'll come and tell you - No, no, I'll go there.
Please, tell them.
- George, where are you? - In a taxi, 30 minutes away.
They've taken her to Dartford hospital now for a brain scan.
- Oh, this is too awful.
What is it? Is it Charlie? - I haven't seen her yet.
I'll see you in Dartford.
John? - Still no news.
- Someone must know something.
- I've asked every ten seconds.
- Who's in charge? - There's a nurse somewhere.
- Is there a doctor on duty, a consultant - Are you in charge? - Are you Mrs Deed? - Tell me what's happening to my daughter.
- We'd best wait for the doctor.
- No, tell me! What is it? Tell me! - I'm sorry I'm sorry, she died during the MRI.
She arrested and they couldn't resuscitate her.
- Don't be ridiculous.
MRI doesn't kill anyone.
- Was she positively identified? - The doctor is on his way.
- Why isn't he here? - Yeah, what's going on! - Daddy! I blame you for this! Your emotional incontinence, your lack of parental authority.
You shouldn't have let her get involved in such protests.
Where is she? I want to see her.
She'd have been taken to the mortuary.
It's not her.
It's not her! Thank God! It's somebody's child, Joe.
Yeah, I know.
Some wretched parent will have to go through what we've been through.
I'm sorry, I don't know her.
I'm sorry.
- Hi, Dad.
Just picked up your messages.
- Charlie! You stupid, stupid girl! You're fortunate no one on the protest was identified.
Yeah, well, the police stopped trying to get our names after Caroline Denning died.
- They're afraid of the consequences.
- What are you saying, Chaz? They conveniently haven't got any witnesses to the protestor's death.
Do you have proof of that? Well, at least your name won't appear on any of the Lord Chancellor's files to blight your career as a lawyer.
Don't think I want to be a lawyer any more, Dad.
What's happening to Richard Jones has made me realise that it's so often about lying and obfuscation.
- It can be about truth and justice.
- Yeah, well, too often it just masks justice.
Ordinary, caring people never even coming close to it.
That's what's happened to Richard.
He will die for want of justice and no one cares.
- Caroline died and no one cares! - You care, Chaz.
- Sometimes one person is all it takes.
- Yeah, but nothing changes, Dad.
Nothing ever will if people like you quit.
A few good people can make a difference.
Don't give up on your hunger striker, Chaz.
Right now, you're all he's got.
Just how much time do you think I have to waste on this case? I gave what I thought was an unequivocal answer.
This man is going to die unless somebody prevents it.
The remedy is in his own hands.
He's a man of principle who argues that he is innocent of this crime.
- Yeah, I'm glad you said this crime.
- And it's the only one for which he's been tried.
Joe, you were recently given back your granddaughter whom you presumed dead.
- All thanks to this hunger striker! - She made a principled stand for justice.
Now she's thinking of giving up the law because of its remoteness to justice.
- Yes, that would be most regrettable.
- Joe.
You got her back.
Give somebody else their son back.
Emotional poppycock! Before we commit this dearly loved young man into God's care, I'd like to take a moment for anyone who wishes to remember Jason.
Perhaps in some personal way, or to read a favourite poem.
Sometimes emotion is best expressed in silence.
Um You all knew Jason better than I did.
There is a poem that I was sent when my mother died, I was just a bit younger than Jason.
Do not stand at my grave and weep I am not there I do not sleep I am a thousand winds that blow I am the diamond glints on snow I am the sun on ripened grain I am the gentle autumn rain When you awaken in the morning hush I am the swift uplifting rush Of quiet birds in circle flight I am the soft stars that shine at night Do not stand at my grave and cry I'm not there I did not die.
Someone has to accept some responsibility for what we're doing to others.
This animal rights hunger strike is causing the government a great deal of concern, Joe.
Yeah.
It's hard to read this government from one day to the next.
Their concern is he might die.
Well, that's his object.
To bring undue pressure to bear.
Democracy cannot accede to emotional blackmail.
The Chancellor's keen to show the law with a more human face.
- Even if that face distorts justice? - Heaven forbid, Joe.
Justice tempered with compassion could provide a neat exit from the political impasse.
It could only be done if somehow the case were found to be unsound.
Unsound? I was hoping to find an honourable compromise.
Well, that's no bad thing.
Nothing functions well from the extremes.
My sentiments entirely.
No matter.
Shame about the death of Lord Ramsey of Howell.
- He seemed one those indestructible types.
- Yeah.
Law Lord for eight years.
Still We must canvas for a replacement.
Dominic.
Oh, Dominic! I've been re-reading the evidence in the case of that hunger striker.
I am less of the opinion that we are right.
Well, I'm surprised, Joe.
You were the most convinced of all three of us.
Yes, well, before we give our ruling, do you think we might have a further conversation about it? Yes, of course, my dear fellow.
Yes, of course.
Mrs Mills? - Could I have a word? - Well, if it's brief, Sir Ian.
I have a con.
The briefest of exchanges is all that's necessary.
I'll catch you outside.
It's come to the Lord Chancellor's attention that you recently stayed the night in Mr Justice Deed's room at his lodgings.
I'm surprised the Lord Chancellor concerns himself, Sir Ian.
We take particular interest in Her Majesty's counsel.
Whom we advise the Sovereign to appoint.
Especially where they are having carnal knowledge with High Court judges and such acts take place on Crown property.
Most especially when the QC in question is before the judge in question.
You pursued His Lordship with a similar false accusation.
Have you learned nothing? We're civil servants, Mrs Mills.
We rarely learn from past experience.
Not even when it's germane to the present situation, which we don't believe this is.
It's not His Lordship we're concerned about.
Your professional body could hardly regard your conduct becoming.
Worse than a doctor and his patient, in a way.
Even if there were anything, it would be a private matter between two consenting adults.
Adult you may be, and indeed, consenting.
But there's no such thing as a private life when it concerns a High Court judge.
However, one could always retire rather than face the embarrassment of a disciplinary hearing.
I've worked very hard to get where I am.
I hope to be a judge one day.
- Joe, they can't be serious.
- They're deadly serious.
They wouldn't dare to take it any further.
The only damage likely to result will already have been done.
An entry in the secret file.
You've heard all the arguments.
A loving son was snatched from his parents, whose lives were to implode as a result.
Now you may think that these two defendants are wastrels.
You know by their own admission that they're thieves who stole to feed this tragic addiction which so blights their lives.
You have to decide if they are murderers.
Now, in order to find them guilty of murder, or even of manslaughter, then you must be certain beyond any reasonable doubt.
If you have any doubts, then they must be reflected in your verdict.
And that verdict must be unanimous, unless I instruct you otherwise.
Now, don't feel that you're under any pressure to arrive at a quick verdict.
If your sensible deliberations don't give us a verdict today, then you may be able to do so tomorrow.
So go away now, and carefully consider your verdict.
Richard Jones, who was sentenced to 20 years for alleged firebombing, was close to death when, by unanimous verdict, three appeal judges ruled the sentence was unsafe.
Lord Channing said on announcing the judgement that while Mr Jones was a prime mover in the Animal Liberation Front, the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction - Hi, Dad.
- Charlie.
I'm just watching it.
Isn't it fantastic? It's brilliant! The old boy has blood in his veins after all.
Should I call grandad and thank him? Well, of course you should call him.
Every day.
He's your grandad.
Charlie, somebody still firebombed those lorries.
Somebody broke the law.
In the case of the first defendant, Paulo Dorrell, on the charge of murder, do you find him guilty or not guilty? Not guilty.
In the alternative of manslaughter, do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty? Guilty.
In the case of the second defendant, David Lavender, on the charge of murder, do you find him guilty or not guilty? Not guilty.
In the alternative of manslaughter, do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty? Guilty.
You find both defendants not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter in the alternative? You're not required to account for your reasons, but I'm sure the court is curious.
Can we add an observation about the need for a degree of mercy? It's not encouraged nowadays, but I'll hear your recommendation, yes.
We've seen these two men give totally confused and contradictory evidence.
We know they killed Boyd Payne.
But we felt that as they were lost in a world of drugs they were no longer responsible for their actions.
They lacked true responsibility.
Well, I see.
I won't be asking for further pre-sentence reports.
I already have probation reports, drug rehab reports, psychiatric reports, the only thing I haven't got on these two is a financial report.
We already know that their lacking the means to support their wretched drug habit lead them to take the life of a young man who had everything to live for.
Paulo Dorrell and David Lavender, you are without any discernable remorse for the destruction that you have wrought in the lives of the Paynes.
It's clear from his testimony that Brian Payne is a man with space in his heart for forgiveness.
So you can be grateful that at least you don't have to bear hatred and enmity from him.
There is a forgiving God, of that I am convinced.
And if it were in my power I would compel you to spend every day of the sentence I am about to give you on your knees begging for forgiveness.
Should you, as a result, ever experience true remorse, you may come to feel that it would be better had you not been born, than to take the life of this little one.
All that might have been decent about you was leeched away through drug use, and for that you are to be pitied.
But manslaughter is what you've been found guilty of, and manslaughter gives me the broadest scope for sentencing.
You will therefore each go to prison for 25 years.
That is a sentence which, by its very severity, could be appealed.
However, I have every confidence in the common sense of the Appeal Court judges, who I'm sure will uphold this sentence.
Take them down.
Yes? - Did I wake you? - Oh, I wish.
- Are you free later? Just as soon as I've sentenced my commuter vigilante I am, yeah.
I'll find you.
All reports I have on you, Mr Ryder, suggest that you are a pillar of society.
Someone who takes the responsibilities of citizenship very seriously.
The problem we have is your tendency to take the law into your own hands.
This tendency led to the death of a young mugger on Brighton station after you had intentionally put temptation in his way.
There are many bad people around, Mr Ryder, and fewer and fewer citizens prepared to have a go.
And I accept that it was not your intention that he should die, but he did, as a result of your precipitous action.
Such an act cannot go unpunished.
Having been found guilty of manslaughter you will go to prison for two years.
I could suspend this, but I'm not going to.
Instead, I'm going to recommend to the Home Secretary that he starts a support release scheme, because too many people are languishing pointlessly in prison.
Please, please.
To qualify, you will need to find three people, not related to you, who are prepared to support you and guide you in the community to secure your release from prison.
I'm sure that any number of these people would be prepared to support you in such a scheme.
I'm equally sure that the Home Secretary will adopt it.
Take him down.
I received a letter from the Lord Chancellor's department this morning.
I'll bet that does you no good.
They're referring the question of my relationship with you whilst appearing before you to the Professional Conduct Committee of the Bar Council.
Then you'll need a good lawyer.
- Or a good witness.
- Listen, John, you don't understand.
We will not only fight this, we'll comminute these people in the process.
- It's not me they want, John.
- Me, they can have on a platter, or my bones ground up before I'll let them even touch you.
- I won't let you do that.
- You won't have any choice.
How could they possibly think that they were going to get away with this? Even if they had any evidence? They don't.
Do they? John, I may have got drunk, but I wasn't that drunk.
John, come here.
Come here.
Don't I can't run! I'm wearing heels!