Silent Witness (1996) s09e05 Episode Script

This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.
(Lucy.
) Mr Alexander, your daughter's on the phone.
Thank you.
Nik? 'I called you earlier.
'Wanted to warn you about Gran' Why, what's happened? She passed away 'about an hour ago.
'It all happened quickly, 'but it was peaceful' Last thing she said was, ''I'm looking forward to getting my new body in heaven.
'' 'Then she slipped away' Nik? You there? I was going to visit.
I'm sorry.
Testator Sile-ens Costestes e Spiritu-u Si-ilenciu-um.
Hi.
Hi.
You look lovely.
Thanks.
We better go in, then.
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord.
Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
We've come here today to remember before God our sister, Vivian.
To give thanks for her life, to commend her to God, our Merciful Redeemer and Judge, to comfort one another in our grief.
And to commit her body to be buried.
Right.
Come on.
This is the right time? If it isn't, someone's made a very costly mistake.
Is that the SlO? It is.
Sorry to interrupt, Harry Cunningham, the Pathologist.
Detective Inspector Bob Mumford.
Can you wake Auntie Dawn up? Who found her? She did.
The deceased's sister.
She's been staying here with her little girl.
What was she doing out here? Dancing.
So the husband says.
It looks like she was smacked on the side of head.
It's peripheral cyanosis.
In English? It is English.
Means blue lips and foam around the mouth.
Which means what? She probably drowned.
Well, I suppose it's possible.
After someone coshed her one.
What makes you think someone coshed her one? The thousand quid necklace.
Where? Exactly.
That's her husband.
Chris Pivcevic, teacher.
Says she was wearing the necklace when he last saw her.
Now it's gone.
Could someone have jumped over this? No, there's no back alley entrances.
The only way in is through the flat.
No, you'd have to be Spiderman.
We have entrusted our sister Vivian to God's mercy and now we commit her body to the ground.
Earth to earth.
Ashes to ashes.
Dust to dust.
In the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Mr Pivcevic? My name is Harry Cunningham.
I'm the forensic pathologist.
I'm very sorry for your loss.
I know you've spoken to DI Mumford, but it would help me if you could tell me what happened.
I don't know what happened.
I can only tell you what I saw.
I bought her the necklace yesterday.
I left it under the pillow before I left to work.
An hour after I left, she called me and told me to come home right away.
She was .
.
full of life.
Come on, let's go.
Where? The garden! Come on! We felt like celebrating.
I went to get the bottle from the kitchen.
It was the .
.
last time I saw her alive.
I heard the door buzz.
Julie arrived with her daughter, Tamsin.
She had a row with her husband again! Then I heard a scream.
At first, I thought it was Dawn.
Then I saw her.
I can't have been gone more than three minutes.
It's been good to see you, Nik.
Despite the circumstances.
I can't believe she's gone.
I know.
I've got some things she wanted me to give you.
Maybe when you visit? Maybe.
Look, I've got to go but it would be nice to see more of you.
I don't know that it would.
What do you think happened in those three minutes? Well Pivcevic went back in that way, the sister arrived at the front door, so our intruder can't have got to the garden through the house.
So how did he get in? We're doing door to door, but looks like the family upstairs weren't home when it happened.
There's no sign of break-in there, either.
In fact, so far no-one recalls seeing anyone else.
Is Auntie Dawn still asleep? Tamsie.
Come back in.
You don't want to be seeing that.
How was she lying before you tried to resuscitate her? Her head was facing away from here.
I'm not sure.
Just found this.
Embassy.
Is this yours? Smoking is for stupid people.
Ask her.
It's not my brand.
Do you wanna check out Spiderman's DNA? Hi.
Detective Chief Inspector Tom Wimber.
Leo Dalton.
This is Nikki Alexander.
Hi.
We think it's the body of Lucy Philips.
She was kidnapped several days ago.
She's the daughter of Clive Philips.
CEO of Panacorp.
They sent a ransom note along with her little finger.
What went wrong? An exchange time and place was agreed.
Money was delivered.
But they didn't collect it.
Panacorp? They make everything that makes you feel better.
Unless you're an animal.
Hence the suspicion this may be the work of an extreme animal rights group.
Female, 30 to 35, consistent with stated age of Dawn Pivcevic.
We'll need a full tox, stomach contents, blood, urine, vitreous and hair.
Is all that really necessary? Traditionally considered quite useful, yeah.
Mark on the face consistent with blunt trauma.
We'll need to fix the brain for neuropathology.
LOUD CHEWING Looks as if her body was dragged across here.
Then thrown there.
Didn't make much of an effort to hide her, did they? What time was she found? About 9am.
She was found by a security guard.
They check round here every 24 hours.
There are early signs of decomposition, I suggest that she's been dead for a few days.
That'd mean she was dumped here when she was already dead.
Which would mean she was already dead the day they intended to hand her back.
The lungs are hyper-inflated.
I can collect some of this fluid for diatoms.
But these and the foam round the nose and mouth would do for drowning.
They could have bungled it, killed her by mistake.
Maybe they thought they'd get the money an_ay.
Or she tried to escape.
Have photographs been taken of the wrists? Ligatures? Yes.
No sign of grip marks on her arms, no fingertip bruising.
Looks like they took her without too much trouble.
Think maybe she knew her abductors? Or they took her by surprise.
Mud on the toes of her shoes could be consistent with the marks in the mud over there.
Suggests she was face-down when she was dragged.
And her front's covered in mud too, as though she'd been thrown in face down.
See these splash marks? I'd say they're suggestive of her falling here.
So what's she doing Lying there face up? Is this where she was found? Yes.
She hasn't been moved.
This is fresh.
Looks like whoever dumped the body, spared the time to go back, turn the body over face-up.
Why would they do that? Well, keep on it, I'll be with you in half an hour.
Found the intruder yet? None of the neighbours I've talked to saw anyone.
Do you like cutting people up? Mmm.
Oh, what the hell are you doing there? Cutting a sample of bone from the femur to test for diatoms, which should help confirm that she did drown.
What about a blow to the head? I'll keep the brain for neuropathological tests, which should show if someone else delivered the blow or if she got it when she struck the ground.
You really think she drowned? I'm fairly sure that's why her heart stopped.
People don't just drown in three inches of water.
I could drown you in one inch of water, if I wanted.
Now excuse me, bit more cutting up to do.
Oh, my baby.
I'm afraid you can't touch her.
What kind of person does this? It's utterly meaningless.
That was a tough one.
Even a bad reason for being killed is better than no reason at all.
You all right? Copy of the ransom note.
Forensics have treated the original for DNA and prints, came up with nothing.
There's something almost self-consciously amateur about it.
It's like a parody of a ransom note.
Which suggests they're being cute.
It's like a joke.
A sick joke.
You think the animal rights people would do this? Well, we can't discount them.
What about Clive Philips? What do we know about him? impeccable history.
Happily married.
very good at his job.
No, I don't think this was about him personally.
Until they killed his daughter.
The little finger on the left hand has been severed at the knuckle, consistent with the one sent with the ransom note.
I think I'll watch from the fish bowl, it isn't really my scene.
OK.
Bruising on the shins.
Could be consistent with being bundled into a vehicle.
The garrotting's been done with something like twine.
All very calm and controlled.
It doesn't smack of panic.
You'll check for traces of sedation? Tox reports will take a while.
At this stage, I'd estimate time of death is likely to be at least of any rigor mortis, discolouration of the right iliac fossa and marbling on her limbs.
In other words they, well, they, he, she, whoever killed her, before sending the ransom note.
Which would suggest a bungle.
And yet a bungle would, should, suggest a struggle, but there's no evidence of anything like that.
Any more ideas on why she might have been turned over? No.
I don't know.
Could be nothing.
Mum or Dad in? No.
I'm Detective Inspector Mumford.
I'm investigating the death of your neighbour, Dawn Pivcevic.
I need to ask you some questions.
Well.
I'm not Having a sneaky fag? What's it to you? Shouldn't you be in school? It's games.
I've got an exemption.
What happened? Fell off my bike.
Oi! What are you doing? You think you could climb down there? Not with this.
Were you here yesterday morning? No.
You want to be careful where you throw your fags.
There was an Embassy butt near that paddling pool.
You were here yesterday when Dawn Pivcevic died.
I wasn't.
Oh, come on.
You were here.
You could have climbed down and taken the necklace and it all went wrong.
With this? Shouldn't you be saying, ''Ouch''? Hi, I'm here to see Victor Alexander.
Thanks for coming.
I haven't a lot of time.
How is work? Any interesting cases at the moment? It's a little posthumous to start taking an interest in my career, isn't it? I am interested.
You've been busy at work.
I just wondered what it was.
You said you wanted to give me something, from Gran.
She specifically asked me to give you this.
insisted on keeping it at her bedside at all times.
Bloody depressing thing if you ask me.
For some reason she thought you'd appreciate it.
Is this what you wanted to see me about? Let's talk outside.
I need to talk to you about Gran's estate.
About your inheritance.
Right.
It isn't what you might think.
I hope not.
Because what I'm thinking right now is that you want my money.
Just for a while.
Oh, God! Even Gran's death is an opportunity for a scam.
Why are you so hard on me? Well, let me see, where would you like me to start? Could it be to do with the way you've treated people? Or that you use friends and family to get what you want? Nikki.
I have to go.
I need to finish this conversation.
Can I call you? If you like.
'You won't say anything to my mum?' About the bunking off school or the pretending to be injured? The smoking.
Smoking's not a crime.
Yet.
No, I can keep schtum.
But you need to tell me what you saw.
Do you mind? I'll join you.
I hear them a lot.
They leave the bedroom doors open.
They were always at itor arguing.
So what happened? I was in here having a fag.
She suddenly ran out into the garden.
You got a good look? Then he came out and they messed about.
Then he went off into the house.
And she was wearing the necklace? I think so.
Then I went to the toilet.
When I came back she was Lying face-down in the pool.
Well, how long were you in the toilet? A few minutes.
Teenage boy.
Half naked woman.
Joys of spring.
Then what? I went back out and saw the little girl standing over the body.
The little girl? Then the woman came out.
She screamed.
I watched for a bit but I felt bad, so I went in.
And the necklace? Don't remember.
And you didn't see anyone else enter or leave the garden? No.
You washed your hands before you boxed those? Shhh! Babes, going over to the new place.
See you there.
Know where you're going this time? Think so.
every time you deliver a cold Capricciosa you cost me.
You know how much profit we made on your last delivery? minus 8 quid.
Any more refunds because you got lost and you're chip wrappers.
This can't be right.
Jen? Can you check the address on my drop? Lost again? It's a good job he's not here! He called from a mobile, I've got a name here.
Jeremy Bentham? I'm on Albert Drive and I can't see a single bloody house.
I'll try the number.
Hang on.
Tone, there's no answer.
Have you checked for other Albert Drives? Could be Albert Row.
An_ay, better get on before your husband gets the hump.
Same time and place tomorrow? 'You're bad!' Tony Lane.
Pizza delivery rider, called out to a non-existent address.
Cash belt still full.
I suspect he was stabbed from behind at first while standing.
But this wound to the neck, he'd have garrotted, which would explain the arterial splatter pattern.
He collapsed here.
He should've fallen on his front.
Did anyone trample over the scene? The pizza company called the police.
The officer who found him was the first to see him since the killer.
Has anyone lifted this visor? That's how they found him.
The blood spatter pattern is consistent with the arterial spray from a stab to the neck.
But the face is clean.
Someone lifted the visor after he was dead? Unless he did it before he died.
No, the neck wound would've incapacitated him instantly.
He'd have died very quickly.
Someone's turned him over.
Sounds familiar.
Lucy Philips, the kidnap victim.
I think I'd better call Tom Wimber.
Are you all right? You left the PM early.
Yes.
I saw all I needed to.
Was there anything else? We think that Tony Lane had intercourse shortly before his death.
We'll check for the presence of anyone else's DNA on the swabs.
So why did you leave early, then? I'm allergic to dead people.
You've chosen a strange job, then! It never used to bother me.
So, can you show any link between this and Lucy Philips? I don't wish to be rude but you look Amul? Terrible.
Not sleeping well.
Are you religious? Not really.
I got it from my gran.
She died last week.
Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.
She'd lived a good life.
She was 87.
Even so.
It's the end of a life.
Though Gran believed it was the start of another.
I hope she's right.
Drop your linen and stop your grinning.
The necklace.
Little girl, took it for her Tiny Tears.
She had it all along.
So we can discount the thief.
Oh, and you can put away the chemistry set.
I think I could have an answer to this already.
The husband.
The kid upstairs, the secret smoker, he heard the Pivcevics arguing, a lot.
I think he did it.
He murdered her.
I've got means, motive and opportunity.
Yes.
Well, before you get too excited, you might want to have a look at this.
Come round.
I did some initial neuropathology on the brain.
So? We're interested in a phenomenon called coup and contra-coup.
That's French and Latin, by the way, brain bounce in English.
It concerns the damage to the opposite side of her brain from the point of impact.
It might tell us whether she was knocked out by a fall or from a blow to the head.
There wasn't much damage to the brain because it wasn't a violent fall.
But to make sure and get the results quickly I fixed the brain in the microwave and sliced it.
All right.
I would say that this amount of contra-coup, makes it likely that she was rendered unconscious by her head striking a rock beneath the pool, not from a blow to the head.
So he pushed her over.
It's possible.
I don't know why you're all so, ''I know better'' about it.
No.
I mustn't let the facts get in the way of the case.
Meaning? It's my impression you're keen to make this a juicy murder case, whether it is or not.
Chris Pivcevic may have pushed his wife over.
But on the evidence that we have so far, I would say that it is extremely unlikely.
Well, let's ask him, shall we? sorry I'm late.
I'm getting hungry standing here.
So, what's the verdict? Well, there is no verdict yet.
I'm still tying to establish if Tony Lane was killed in a random incident or by someone who knew him.
So, you were are at this party from when? I left here about 8.
30, right after Tony left.
How long had Tony been working here? Too long.
He was the worst delivery boy I've ever had.
Never once delivered a warm pizza.
How distressing for you(!) Look, sorry about what happened, but I'm not about to be giving a memorial speech at his funeral, saying what a great pizza delivery boy he was.
Will you be at his funeral? No.
Of course I won't.
I hardly knew the kid.
I employ eight delivery riders here, I don't make friends with them.
Most of them only stay here about as long as it takes to make a margarita.
Look, I'm opening a new place in an hour, I need to be there.
I hope you find who did this.
We appreciate your time.
We just need to clarify a few things.
Did Tony have a girlfriend here at the restaurant? Not to my knowledge.
He had sexual intercourse shortly before his death, which means after his shift began.
Might explain the cold pizzas.
You know, you have a curiously inappropriate sense of humour.
sorry.
Jen? Do you know if Lane was seeing anyone here? No idea.
sorry.
Maybe a customer? Well, do we know where he was in the two hours before he left at 8.
30? You'll need to talk to Jen, she does the orders.
The neighbours said they often heard you and your wife arguing.
They gave me the distinct impression things weren't that great between the two of you.
Well? You nodded, so it's true.
Dawn's sister staying caused quite a bit of friction.
Your neighbour said he heard you going for each other for months.
Well? Yeah.
We had been having fertility treatment.
We'd tried one lot, it hadn't worked.
She wanted to try one more time.
I wanted her to stop.
It caused a lot of tension, arguments and it was expensive too.
But you could still afford a grand's worth of diamond necklace? That seems a lot for a teacher to spend on his wife.
How much should you spend on someone you love? Huh? on our next cycle of IVF.
When I bought that necklace, we had just decided not do any more.
A week before Julie came to stay, we'd finally agreed to leave it.
That necklace marked an end of it.
It was meant to be symbolic.
Making the decision felt like a release.
You think I killed her? interesting interviewing technique.
It's my job to ask the right questions, all right? Mine too, but your implication was based on scanty evidence.
There's no burglar.
We're agreed no-one else could've got in.
He must have done it, nobody else had the chance.
Supposition.
You have no evidence.
So what do YOU think the answer is, Professor(?) Doctor, for now.
I haven't got all the tests back yet, I need to check if the diatom results are ready.
Good idea.
You do what you're paid to do.
I'll do what I'm paid to do.
He did the first delivery at six.
To a 34 Collingwoo Were you close to Tony Lane? What? No.
I hardly knew I mean, Ged's my husband.
Jennifer, this is a murder investigation.
It was a fling.
Ged doesn't know.
Please don't say anything.
She says they had a quickie in the stock cupboard between deliveries.
Maybe the husband found out? sorry.
His alibi stacks up.
He went straight from here to their new site.
Four witnesses say he was there at the time Tony Lane was killed.
The order for Albert Drive has been traced to a pay-as-you-go mobile.
Hardly likely to be the killer's real name.
Jeremy Bentham.
Vaguely recall that name from my school history lessons.
Philosophy.
He was the ''greatest happiness for the greatest number of people'' guy.
I only did the O level.
Took me a while to decide what I wanted to be.
Neither death was motivated by money.
Different places, different circumstances.
Different motives, you'd think.
Unless killing people is your motive.
Is there any motivation for the animal rights people in this case? Not unless they decided to target non-vegetarian pizza restaurants.
What are you thinking, Leo? I just can't get the particularity of finding two bodies within a week that have both being turned face-up after death.
That's not a coincidence, that's a pattern! Not a pretty pattern, but a pattern.
What about our pizza affair? The time and alibis make it impossible for Jennifer or Ged to be responsible.
This isn't a crime of passion.
It was thought out.
Randomly selected maybe, but it was thought through.
Hope that face means good news for us poor confused people? It's really rather intriguing.
We have plenty ''rather intriguing'', Frank.
Can we have some ragingly obvious instead? As you know the kidnapper used a random selection of newspapers and magazines to construct his note.
Some of them are very recognisable.
Here we have a letter from the Sun, this B is Bella magazine? Yes.
Some of the others are a little harder to determine.
Most periodicals use However, I took soft X-rays of the notes so we can see what's on the back of the letters.
You see, that's at 250/o visibility.
Now I can increase that to 50, Now if we just flip it, your kidnapper wasn't quite as random as he thought.
This one here, I've traced it through the British Library, it's from a journal called Ethics Today.
Three of the letters in the note are from the same publication.
It's a scholarly specialist review.
It publishes articles on modern morality.
And who reads it? Well, that's the handy thing.
Practically no-one.
Academics.
Not pizza restaurant owners? Or animal rights campaigners.
It's that obscure you could fit every reader in a telephone kiosk! Hello? Good afternoon.
I'm Detective Chief Inspector, Tom Wimber.
This is pathologist Doctor Nikki Alexander.
We're looking for Dave Stubbs, the editor of Ethics Today.
He's not here.
He left a few months ago.
Well, who is the editor now? Me.
I'm Paul Fordyce.
Can I help? I'm investigating the kidnap and murder of a young woman.
Who is she? Her name is Lucy Philips.
The ransom note used Letters from this publication.
We need to find out who receives the magazine, get hold of any back issues that we can.
Right.
Well.
I can help you there.
So where is Dave Stubbs? He left about three months ago.
He'd mentioned going to Africa to do some missionary work.
We presumed he did.
There.
Who receives the magazine? It goes to about 200 people on a regular basis.
Although I intend to get it to a wider audience.
The reputation of the journal dwindled under the previous editor.
And why was that? Let's say, he tended to use the journal to preach his own world view.
Which was? He was a Christian.
Anything wrong with that? Plenty.
Especially if you're introducing metaphysical mumbo-jumbo into what is essentially a serious philosophical journal.
I think Nietzsche put it well - ''Christianity is the crutch of the weak-minded.
'' Didn't Nietzsche go crazy? You're interested in philosophy.
Prefer women's magazines.
Well, most of us need a crutch of some sort.
Mine's coffee.
We'd like to boost your circulation figures and purchase some back issues if we can.
You can take these.
They're all spare.
Thanks.
What're you looking at there? Dawn Pivcevic's histology.
Cause of death IS drowning.
But I have absolutely no idea how it happened.
I'm just thinking, no, I'm hoping, there's something I haven't picked up cos at the moment, I have this DI who is intent on adding a murder case to his otherwise rather dull CV.
Well, can't hurt to keep looking.
What do you make of it? A lot of confusion in a meaningless world according to Paul Fordyce.
What did you make of him? Gave me the creeps.
Don't you think it's odd that the editor of an ethics journal would leave his magazine without telling anyone? Busy? What you see here could be the essential moment in the deductive process.
Looks very taxing.
''The universe is pitiless.
''To talk of good and evil, kindness and cruelty is to miss the point.
''Nature is callous and completely free of the supposedly benign purpose ''that the religious would have us believe in.
'' Who wrote that? Paul Fordyce.
One day you're digging the earth for someone, the next day someone's digging the earth for you.
Whoever killed him waited for him to put his safety belt on.
Any signs of being broken into? No, it was either open or the killer got the keys.
The receptionist was the Last to see him.
He let her go home early, said he was staying to do the books.
Could I have a word? sorry? You work for Mr Elliot? Yes.
How many of you work here? Er, eight.
I can't believe this has happened.
Hi.
sorry.
Can I have a word if you've got a minute? Sure.
Do you have any ideas as to who might have done this? I can't imagine who's done this.
Well, if you can think of or remember anything that you think might help, then don't hesitate to call me, OK? Thank you.
Cause of death 1A, multiple stab wounds to the back.
I'd like to say we've made the leap from unlikely coincidence to likely pattern.
But we have three deaths with no obvious connection.
The first two murders looked very different but turned out to be similar, this one looks similar but there are striking differences.
I thought it was the same kind of knife? Well, broadly similar in Length and width but the thrust of the knife is left-handed.
The stabbing action is frenetic.
Not like the measured, accurate blows inflicted on Tony Lane.
Which were almost certainly right-handed.
Well, maybe the thing that binds them all is the brutality, the callousness.
When is murder not callous? Henry Elliot was a young person getting on with his life, not obviously causing offence to anyone.
Lucy Philips and Tony Lane were the same.
These murders haven't been committed for love or money.
Is that for bad breath? No, I have trouble producing saliva.
It provides my spit.
Thanks for letting me come with you.
No, it was your hunch.
This way I can blame you if it's a red herring.
You know they were smoked herrings.
They were used to divert bloodhounds away from the smell.
You're full of useful facts.
Don't tell me, women's magazines? Girl Guides.
Do you have any idea where David might be? Someone at the journal said he might have gone to Africa.
He talked about going.
Always full of plans.
He's not in any trouble, is he? I'm investigating a kidnapping and murder.
The ransom note used cuttings from your son's magazine.
We'd like to talk to him about his subscribers.
So when did you last see him? The day after the funeral.
Funeral? His grandfather died, my father.
When was that? Three months ago.
I usually run David to the station at Wickham, but he said he wanted to drop by the church to say one last farewell.
That was the last time I saw him.
Was he close to his grandfather? They were very close, especially as my husband died when David was very young.
You think something's happened to him, don't you? We don't know.
Where was the funeral? It was here in the village.
At St John's.
This is the last place he said he was going to.
Stay close.
I've got a thing about graveyards.
Morning.
Hi.
This is it.
Excuse me.
Do you always separate out the soils? Yeah, I always put it back right.
The clay's underneath, so that goes back in first.
Thanks.
What is it? Clay.
This mound has clay in it.
So? If you look at the grave he's digging over there, he's separated out the soil so he can put the clay back in first where it was found.
This earth hasn't been put back right.
It's been disturbed.
I've found something.
Keep going, gently.
Can you photograph that?