Silent Witness (1996) s10e10 Episode Script

SIRENS WAIL Keep down.
You're Adrian Burney, aren't you? Adrian? What were you doing at Whittingdon? I told you.
I was investigating a body.
Who was it? It was a young male.
I don't know anything else.
Describe him! He was in his twenties, blond, pale complexion.
That's Sam.
They're killing all of us.
MOBILE RINGS Don't answer it.
What if it's my parents? I don't care.
I haven't spoken to them in days.
I said, no more phone calls! MOBILE RINGS Don't do it.
Don'tdon't do it, OK? OK Come on, come on, come on Oh, please We'll take her with us, until we can find a safer place to dump her.
SHE DIALS PHONE Don't look at her and don't look at me, you understand? Fen? You remember the way? SHE STARTS ENGINE SHALLOW BREATHS OK, Justine Ben, have you got those pictures? Right.
This picture shows abdominal injuries caused by the kind of razor wire we saw being installed at Whittingdon.
They're not similar to these injuries.
These injuries were caused by the more old-fashioned barbed wire we saw being replaced at Whittingdon.
These injuries ARE similar to the injuries on this body.
And with these injuries and the dog bites, under the circumstances, it all looks consistent with a break-in.
Over here! Do you know where Robbie Sharpe is? Idon't know.
Robbie Sharpe.
Where is he, Justine? Where would he have gone? Where would he have gone? METAL TRAY RATTLES AND GLASS BREAKS Come on, you're a pro.
We know all about it, Justine.
You went on the raid.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! You've had a back-up plan.
Yeah? A place you'd go if something went wrong.
Yeah? Where did he go Justine? Wherehashe SHE WHIMPERS .
.
gone? You were the coroner who referred Mr Brown's case to Professor Clune, is that right? It is.
And what were your intentions? My intentions were that he would perform the minimum tests necessary to ascertain cause of death.
So, in your opinion, was there any justification for using the samples passed on by you in his research? He would have needed to get additional consent to use tissue for research purposes.
As far as I am aware, he didn't approach my office about this, and all samples should have been returned at the end of the postmortem, or disposed of.
And in your opinion, was there any way that Lionel Clune could have understood Amelia Brown's letter as consent for him to do that? The technical answer is no.
A consent form and a letter are two different things, however pleading the letter.
Thank you.
No further questions.
Having said that, I would like to stress my admiration for Professor Clune and the work he has done.
He is, without doubt, the most committed neuropathologist I've had the chance to work with as coroner, and I don't believe for a second he would have done anything that wasn't in the interests of the family.
Look, you know there was a WAE raid.
We need to get back in there and work out what they did in response.
Wait until we've got a witness to corroborate.
Let's have a go at Claire Ashern.
She isn't going to talk to the scum.
So there's no point in doing anything! There's no point in doing anything that wastes time.
Or that might upset your chums up at Whittingdon? Please shut up.
Let's get Claire in here.
Come over here please, Claire.
You know her, don't you, Claire? No, OK, come up here.
Claire! How about him? OhSam.
.
.
Sam.
Sam Priestley, WAE.
Is this the body of Sam Priestley, Claire? Died from drowning, probably after a whack over the head.
He was found lying face down in a woodland stream.
Did you think he'd made it out? Were they waiting for your friends? Is that what happened? Do you know her? Oh, Jesus How do YOU know her? How does an animal rights activist know the head of personnel at Whittingdon? Was Jackie feeding you information, Claire? Was she Burney's mole? I can't believe he killed her.
Who? Who killed her? Who killed Jackie, Claire? Who do you mean? She means Hewitt.
Don't you? Do you, Claire? Do you mean Hewitt? If that's the case, can we go back to Whittingdon, so I can have another go at that smug bastard? That won't work.
FENELLA: What shall I do? Stop here.
Don't even think about it.
Look, look, he's coming towards us.
OK, go Slowly.
Don't look at him.
DOGS BARK IN DISTANCE SHE COUGHS Come on, Justine.
Just tell me where Robbie is.
Hmm? SHE CHOKES Now he's taken something that doesn't belong to him, and you can't do that.
And now the owners want it back.
You do understand that, don't you? Now we can stop this right now, if you just tell me where he is.
Or, I can give you a bit more of this.
But I've got to admit, Justine .
.
it really isn't a fine art.
Now, you don't seriously want to end up like Lisa, do you? Hmm? OK.
HE PANTS Jackie Cooper was their girl on the inside.
The WAE did carry out a raid and Hewitt is lying through his teeth.
If Traynor's theory about activists killing each other off is wrong, then who is it? Who the hell is Smiley calling now? It's a no, I'm afraid.
Oh, bloody hell.
Hewitt's got clout.
We can bring him in, but not without rock solid evidence.
Get him to give us the evidence.
If you do that, you will end your career in traffic control.
Sod my career.
What matters is finding Justine Finch and Nikki while they're still alive! You can't just blunder around accusing people.
Says the spook! Hewitt's lying and you are as good as protecting him I know as much as you do! I'm assuming that you, as a copper, know that you can't do anything without physical evidence.
CAPSULE HISSES Correct me if I'm wrong, but whenever I've asked if prints could be taken off a body, I've always been told it's practically impossible.
Do you have any better ideas? What do I do? What do I do? Indicate and go round him.
I know you think I'm a bit crass, but when I get up in the morning I know I'm going to do everything I can to catch the people who do things like this.
It's as straightforward as that.
I wonder what Simon Traynor tells himself when he wakes up? Exactly the same thing, I should imagine.
Colin! Fen, go forward.
I can't They're blocking my road completely.
I can't Go forward.
I can't.
INAUDIBLE SPEECH POLICE RADIO MESSAGES That's her! Hey! Hey! Drive, Fen, drive! POLICE SIRENS Drive, Fen.
Fen, drive! Go, go, go, Fen! Into the trees, Fen! PANICKED CRIES So, in your opinion, what happened when Professor Clune was given these brain samples by the coroner? In my opinion, Professor Clune did what any other pathologist in his position ought to have done.
Which is? Everything he could to help this family understand the disease that killed their son and find the breakthrough that would stop other families from suffering as they did.
Do you believe that Lionel Clune breached his duty of care to Rufus's remains and the rest of his family? Well, in my opinion SYLVIA GASPS FOR BREATH SHE MOUTHS In my opinion, Amelia Brown's letter amounted to consent, because it was possible for it to be read as consent.
Excuse me, but isn't that a little cynical? You know as well as I do that in the past, consent was not an issue, and the judgement of doctors was trusted.
And who would want to ask a bereaved relative if they could take parts from a dearly departed loved one? We exercised discretion, and our breakthroughs were world-renowned and to me, legality or illegality is not the issue.
Well, what is the issue? Well, that we do not condemn our most talented doctors to a lifetime of impotence because of because of regulations, when they are trying to push medicine forward and and save lives.
That would be the real travesty.
Thanks.
It's a tox report on Lisa Finch.
Very high levels of sodium thiopental.
Isn't that what the Americans use in the lethal injection? Yes.
And supposedly used as a truth serum by Al-Qaeda.
What? A member of one of our search teams believes he may have spotted Nikki in a car.
Going where? They don't know.
Our officers tried to make it stop.
They found it crashed in woodland.
No sign of Nikki or anyone else.
They are narrowing the area.
It won't be long before they find her, Harry.
Do you want me to get you a? No.
It's just Just I had a conversation with her this morning which I .
.
which I didn't finish.
Whoever's print it is, it's not Hewitt's.
Or anyone else on the criminal database.
Sorry.
THUNDER CRACKS Ah! Sorry.
All they want to do is work out who killed Lisa and find Justine while she's still alive.
Isn't that what you want? And the best chance you have of doing that is to work with them.
Adrian, don't listen to her.
Can you walk? No, she can't.
Can you take her arm? Not unless it's to a hospital.
Bloody Robbie.
He should have listened to you.
Ever since everything's wrong.
Quiet, Fen.
We need to move.
Adrian, you can't do this all by yourself.
If the police get to Robbie before I do, he will clam up, and whatever time Justine has left will be gone.
So take her arm and help me to carry her, please! She needs medical attention.
OK.
Fine.
You do that.
You'll have Justine's blood on your hands.
Do you want that? I'm the one that can fix this.
Ah! MOBILE PHONE RINGS Hi.
How are you doing? Nikki is missing Yeah.
We think she may have been abducted.
She's going in.
OK.
Leo, sorry, I have to go.
Do you want me to come over? I can get an adjournment.
No, no.
Let me try one more thing first.
I'll call you back.
Bye.
Wellwe seem to be winning the moral argument, anyway.
Wouldn't you say? Will you all take your seats? This hearing will resume in one minute! Are you OK? Yes, yes.
I'm fine.
Is Sylvia all right? Oh, she's great.
Feeling better now we can see an end in sight.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm sure.
Will you all take your seats, please? Leowhat's on your mind? Hello, Claire.
I'm here to explain something to you.
We now know that no-one in your organisation is responsible for these murders.
You're all on record and the print we've got doesn't match.
So there we are.
Now, whoever is responsible .
.
there is no way that you are going to beat them, because you are a bunch of kids.
And it looks like they intend to take you out one by one.
ON SPEAKER: Ordinarily, I would just say that's your business.
But today, one of my colleagues has gone missing.
And I don't know whether she is with your group or with someone else.
But all I do know is that the only person who can help me find that out right now is you.
I'm sorry.
Claire, I know how you feel about the police, and I know how you feel about yourwar.
But the only lives that are at stake right now are the lives of people.
People, Claire.
Now all I'm asking is that you put aside your ideas long enough, that we can make sure that people that you and I care about don't end up on a slab, like Sam.
TAPPING ON GLASS What is it? Nikki's phone's been used.
Did you get a location? Nothing there.
If the phone gets used again we'll know right away.
Who's Nikki? She's the girl I've been talking to you about.
Is sheis she the pathologist who came to talk to me this morning? Yes, Claire, her.
Nikki.
Nikki is missing.
If you don't tell me what you know, I've no way of knowing whether she's alive or dead or whether I'm ever gonna see her again.
So, please, Claire, can you just help me? Please? Claire, you are hindering a police investigation into THREE murders! And if, as a result of that, anything happens to Nikki, I will make sure that you never forget it.
Do you understand? Please! Pleaseplease Don't make the stupid conversation I had with her this morning, the last conversation I ever had with her.
Please.
I saw them at the house.
What? Who, Claire? Who did you see? Hewitt.
Where? At Jackie's house.
I went there after the raid, to find out if she'd betrayed us.
And when I got there, Hewitt was coming out with another man.
Get her a brief and we'll take her statement.
We've got him! Thank you.
I've got the OK to put pressure on Hewitt.
I should think so.
This is a cast-iron eyewitness.
She's a terrorist, he's a CEO.
Her word against his.
Look, I'm going to go up and see Hewitt.
Just me.
Don't you I know you want to book him, but there are powerful people up to their necks over Whittingdon.
So what are you suggesting, we let him off? If there's a cover-up, then I've got the access to deal with it.
Let me go there on my own, and if he's guilty, I'll bring you his head on a silver platter.
Fine.
And that's the last we shall see of him.
Keep hold of her one second.
Robbie? Robbie? Robbie! Robbie! Why, you idiot! How many times did I tell him what would happen if he went ahead? Let's go in here.
But it doesn't matter, does it? Because the point is not to achieve anything, the point is to become a bloody martyr! You idiot! You idiot! You idiot! Robbie! Where are you? What is this? Can I use your phone? What? Can I use your phone? ROBBIE! Please.
I need to call my parents.
Please.
ROBBIE! APPROACHING FOOTSTEPS Come on.
How does it feel now? It hurts really bad.
Can you stand? I really don't advise that.
Shut up! Try again.
Come on.
Try.
Honestly, I can't.
OK.
We'll rest.
We'll rest for a bit and then we'll set off again.
Can't you see, she's not fit enough to go anywhere? I really think you need to get her to a hospital soon.
Not till we've found Robbie.
You keep saying that, why don't you look for him?! He's near here.
I just don't know where exactly.
She knows something.
What do you know? The sooner you tell me, the sooner Fen gets to a hospital.
This.
There was something like this under Lisa's fingernails.
And under Sam's.
This, or something like this? I don't know.
I would if I saw it.
You're coming with me.
Will you be OK? I'll be back to get you as soon as we're done, I promise.
See you later, then.
Right, let's go.
Come on! It's all right.
Not long now.
Be out in a few hours.
Where is he? Where's Robbie? Where can I find Robbie? Come on, where is he? MOBILE RINGS Yeah? Where have you been? Say hello.
I've been with him the whole day.
There's been no way I could call.
So what's happening? Fen? Where are you now? Yeah, and where's that? Yeah, I know OK.
Dump the phone.
Did you hear that, Justine? It's allover.
Justine? Screw you.
You know what .
.
you really are a soldier.
There's one thing I don't get.
Why didn't you go on the raid? Something didn't smell right.
We'd been under surveillance.
Maybe we were compromised, I don't know.
You don't seem the type to be easily put off.
It's more than that.
The WAE is all over.
The days of sleeping rough and climbing over barbed-wire fences have gone.
So what changed? We can win this war, but only if we see the bigger picture.
Strategy, organisation We're targeting the suppliers, financiers, the support mechanisms around these places.
With marketing and better PR we're raising the profile.
We have to be more than mindless vandals, we have to engage with the process to win hearts and minds.
And nobody needs to get hurt.
I'm going to law school.
I've been offered a place in Toronto.
They won't be able to write me off as an extremist when I'm in a suit facing them across a courtroom.
When I can look and sound like them, and still shred them to pieces, that's when I'll be really dangerous.
What about Fenella? She's coming with me.
You recognise it? Yeah, that's it.
Then I know where we're going.
And after the letter, did you have any other contact with Amelia Brown? No.
So, she didn't have any anxieties about what she'd written to you or what might have happened? No.
Why do you think you're here today, Professor? I've no idea.
My entire life, my entire working life, has been in the service of Amelia Brown and people like her.
All I've ever done is try to understand a disease that takes children and parents away from each other, husbands and wives, in the hope that one day it might be stopped.
Do you believe that you breached your duty of care to Rufus Brown, or to any other of the samples in your care during this time? Each one of us has their own moral boundary, inside themselves.
But I wanted to go so much further.
I wanted to give the mother of that boy, answers.
I wanted to tell her that no-one else would suffer like her.
But I didn't.
I went as far as I believed I could.
I have no other questions.
THEY WHISPER All right, when we reconvene, I think the panel would like to hear from Professor Leo Dalton.
You understand you're under caution? All right then, Claire, from the beginning.
We'd heard this rumour that Whittingdon were using animals to evolve their own HN51 virus, to get ahead in the race for a vaccine.
They havefurnaces at the back, where they dispose of the animals.
We'd noticed they were going Who had the idea for the raid, Claire? Jackie made contact.
She told us she'd been waiting for a chance to help and that she could get us in there.
She wasn't a member of the WAE? No.
But after she saw what happened there, she started to sympathise.
As we started planning, we could all see that Adrian was uneasy.
He and Robbie started fighting.
Eventually it got so bad they called a meeting.
About whether or not to go in? And Adrian stood up and he told us that he'd been thinking about it for a long time and he'd realised that violence wasn't getting us anywhere any more.
Robbie was socommitted.
And after the meeting he said he was going in anyway.
He called Adrian a sellout, and when he said that anyone who really cared about what Whittingdon was doing had to come with him Nobody felt they could disagree.
I didn't want to betray Adrian.
I went along with Robbie but somehow I knew something would go wrong.
That's why I called Adrian when I found Lisa's body.
Hewitt! Sir! Just a moment, please.
It's OK.
Do you know the police have a witness putting you at Jackie Cooper's murder? If you'd had the good sense to turn up on your own, you could have saved a lot of time.
I would have told you.
You would have realised that we have nothing to hide from each other.
You do understand that I'm not on your side.
I'm not here to help.
You have to realise we've been working on probably the most important health project in the world right now.
Call the number.
See if they say you should bring me in.
Vulnerable people depend on our work.
Do you expect us not to protect it against these idiots? These terrorists? In fact, isn't that your job? Call the number.
The vaccines we're developing could save millions of lives.
Oh, but this isn't about saving millions of lives, is it? It's about the share price.
Call the number.
Even the man they gave us.
He's one of yours.
Leo? What is it? Try to remember how it felt.
To have a cause, Leo.
To have a purpose.
Where is Robbie now? Claire! Where's he been hiding since the raid? I don't know.
I know he had a base he'd made.
In the woods.
He met Sam and Lisa there.
I joined them at the Whittingdon perimeter.
I promise you, I don't know.
Mumford! Yes, I'm looking for the results of a sample filed by Dr Nikki Alexander this morning.
It was residue found under the fingernails of a body.
No, THIS morning! This morning! Sorry.
Yep.
Yep.
.
.
Got a pen? Mm-hm.
Yep.
It's a lichen.
It's called Xanthoria wragiensis, which is a form of hooded sunburst.
Apparently it's extremely rare in the Southeast.
The labs are checking where.
This is Simon Traynor.
We know who you are.
Hewitt will show you where the agent is.
Get him out before the police get near him and stop being such a bloody fool.
What about the girl? PHONE CLICKS Where is he? Robbie? Robbie? I didn't think it'd be you.
Who's that? She's a friend.
Well, you did it.
No, we did it.
They don't look like a million quid's worth, but I think they're OK.
Well done, mate.
They were waiting for us, but I got them.
I bloody got them.
None of the others showed up.
How bad is it? Very bad.
Lisa's dead.
And Sam.
Claire and Justine? Claire's with the police.
She's a good girl.
She won't tell them anything.
We've got to stop this, Robbie.
We have to sort out this mess.
Whittingdon have got Justine.
We can save her.
How? No way.
She's one of us, Robbie.
Yeah, and she always knew there might be losses.
Can't you see, Robbie? We can never beat them like this.
We will lose.
It'll end up looking like we're the savages.
Maybe we have to be savages to win.
If Justine dies, it will be to save millions.
Millions of animal lives.
This isn't about millions any more.
This is about her.
Can you look me in the eye and say this is worth it? Robbie, look at me.
It's easy for you, isn't it? No, Robbie, it isn't easy.
But it's the only thing we can do.
RUSTLING OK.
We've got 17 possible locations for hooded sunburst.
Anything near Robbie's caravan? Yep.
Four miles away.
Hi, it's Harry.
Have you found Justine? I'm going in now.
Justine? I've found her.
But there's no-one else here.
Is she still alive? Barely.
We know where they are.
We've got a map reference.
Tell me where.
Because if I'm nearby there's a chance I can get there before you.
OK.
They made us do it.
They forced to act like this.
Ambulance, please? What are you doing? You make sure that girl gets to a hospital.
I do this, she lives.
Hello there.
Yeah, ambulance, please.
He is a very gifted pathologist, who's utterly committed to his work and to the benefits it brings.
So, for as long as you've known Lionel Clune, his only motivation has been to help people through his research? I would say so.
Yes.
Yes.
Thank you.
Professor Dalton, does that justify his actions in this case? Well, as a pathologist I understand why he did what he did.
But Professor Dalton, do you think that Lionel Clune breached his duty of care to Rufus Brown and his family? I Well most of my work is on the forensic side, which means that I spend a lot of time with what I've heard referred to all day here, as "the public".
The truth is that there's no such thing as "the public".
Just individual men and women such as Amelia Brown.
Ordinary people at the mercy of our decisions.
And that is why the law must be upheld, because without it, there's nothing to protect them from what we happen to decide may be right or wrong for them.
I ask again.
Do you think Lionel Clune breached his duty of care to Rufus Brown and his family? Yes.
Yes, I do.
THEY WHISPER Thank you.
No further questions.
WHISPERING CONTINUES Adrian! Fen? Are those the animals? Put the sack on the ground.
Fen, are you OK? What's going on? Go on, tell him.
Just give it to him, Adrian, please.
They'll let you go, and Justine.
Just give him the animals.
Cos you see, the thing is If she'd gone to bed with him instead of you, we could have wrapped this whole thing up the night they broke in.
Fen? Why did you? I didn't know it would go this far.
Adrian, what are we doing? Come on.
Hand over the animals and we can make like this never happened.
No.
Where's Justine? Safe.
You can have her back.
We don't know if she's still alive.
She was when I left her.
She is.
Adrian, believe me, I spoke to her.
Adrian, she's lying.
Come on.
Open the bag.
Open the bag.
Open the bag! Yeah.
Good call.
SIRENS And there's the police.
Right, you go and tell them where we are Dr Alexander.
VOICES IN DISTANCE No.
OK.
SIRENS GETTING LOUDER Robbie.
Oh, no! Adrian? Nikki? I did what I could.
Well, having heard the evidence put before us, the panel has reached its decision.
And this is that in respect of the human remains left in his responsibility by the coroner in August 2003, Lionel Clune did breach his duty of care.
And in line with the penalties that are attached to this offence, Professor Clune is suspended from all research, for a period of five years.
Well done, Leo you've just put back the cause of motor neurone disease research by five years.
INAUDIBLE It's a good job.
You should take it.
The reason I didn't tell you about it is that I was scared you'd say that.