Silent Witness (1996) s12e04 Episode Script

He removed this face for a reason.
I want to know what that was.
I hadn't fully appreciated how well this has been done.
You think they've done it before? Hm, not even a nick.
Oh, my God, it's Fran Price.
Fran Price presented a crime show.
Leonid Polyak was a Russian gangster she helped put away with her show.
You had her killed because you found out she was writing a book about you.
I don't understand.
Chapter One.
All about how you set up a network in Russia that connected business and crime.
I'm a final year medical student.
A student? Is that a problem? Seems not.
She was using opiates by injection, yes.
I don't want it out there she may have been killed over a drug deal.
This is going to be huge.
Media, I mean.
It doesn't concern us.
We're in the middle of it.
This has nothing to do with the press? Nothing has nothing to do with the press.
There are things in the newspaper that have come from our office.
I'm reading all about so-called breakthroughs in the case.
Where did this stuff come from? It claims the police have some unspecified forensic evidence.
But we didn't find any extra DNA.
Now I feel stupid for having put so much trust in her.
Strictly speaking, it should go to another team.
No.
Well, you shouldn't do it.
I should do it.
I was the least involved with her.
OK.
Come on, let's go.
We are expecting the police any minute so let's get our paperwork ready.
Oh, Jesus.
Shouldn't we have a different SIO? Shouldn't we have a different pathologist? It's one case, in our opinion.
We know that before the PM? The SOCO's are telling me there is a remarkable absence of what they call noise around the body.
Specifically? Smudges, footprints, fibres.
So the killer was wearing protective clothing? OK.
We are all here.
I think we're ready.
This was our colleague and friend, but let's try to treat this as a case like any other, yeah? MUFFLED SCREAMING There are incised wounds .
.
and burns on the upper torso.
SCREAMING And cuts to the forearms, which are consistent with defence wounds.
SHOUTING There are pressure marks on the throat SCREAMING Damn you! .
.
and above the left eye orbit.
There is a cut inside the left nasal passage.
SCREAMING We're saying she was tortured? I'm just describing wounds.
Cause of death appears to be a deep wound to the throat.
This is the same thing as the Price girl.
We're only doing one PM here.
Have you looked at the cuts, can you say is it the same blade? The cuts are not inconsistent with Oh, come on.
Please! The cuts are not inconsistent with it being the same weapon.
Can you photograph this, please? What is it? What have you got? It's the tip of a blade.
It's the same man.
Of course it's the same man.
The shape's triangular.
It's a Number 11 surgical scalpel, used for delicate dissection.
The tip would easily break off if it encountered bone.
Everybody OK? Not the same as a dissection, is it? Bit too much for some people.
It was way better, it was great.
Thank you.
Good.
A normal looking pair of lungs externally.
Are you OK? Fine, it doesn't bother me.
Are you religious? God, no.
That's hedging your bets.
Why, are you? What this shows me is that you get one chance and you better make the most of it.
She inhaled blood 'We're the doorkeepers.
'What?' We're the people who stand closest to death's door.
If anyone was to ever see through, it would be one of us.
Ask someone to make Detective Superintendent Barker a cup of tea with sugar in it, will you? There we go, loads of sugar.
We are now going to remove the pelvic organs.
- Could you wait a moment, please, while I fetch him? - OK.
Are you OK to come back in? OK.
Go on, please.
There were no obvious external signs of sexual assault, but we are now going to take a closer look at the pelvic organs.
For Christ's sake! She was one of your team! Were you involved with her? Would you leave? No, I bloody well won't! I am the SIO! I don't care who you are.
If you can't control yourself, then you'll have to leave.
I'd like to apologise on behalf of Detective Superintendent Barker.
Apology accepted.
You can understand the strain and the shock, even for an experienced officer like Mr Barker.
Understood.
I'd better go and see him.
Guys, could you give us a minute, please? And me? No, stay.
One of our team has been targeted and tortured and murdered and I do not trust Detective Superintendent Barker as the SIO in the case.
Janet, can you give us some idea where the police investigation has got to? Leonid Polyak, who's serving a life sentence for murder, was sent a photograph of a face the day after the murder of Fran Price.
Why wasn't it shown to us? How did they identify it if we didn't see it? Detective Superintendent Barker believes Polyak commissioned Fran Price's murder for revenge, which Anyway, I agree with him that the assassin was probably a Russian contract killer who stayed in the country after his companion led a trail to Moscow.
And now he's murdered one of us! The story in the paper that seemed to suggest the police had forensic identification of the killer probably triggered the second attack.
The killer needed to know if he was safe.
So he risks identifying himself by carrying out a second murder? No, he's clearly a professional, which is why he had to know if he'd made a mistake.
Could Holly have been identified because she had her photograph taken by the press? Possibly.
I have something to tell you, I saw Barker visiting Holly's house.
I went there to talk about leaking information to the press.
When I left, I saw him arriving.
Did he see you? I don't think so.
I only went for the reason given.
How did you know where she lived? From the night I took her out on call and dropped her off, and had a cup of coffee and left.
What are you suggesting? That Barker was using Holly to leak information to the press.
Shh.
Leo, we have to talk about what we are Not here, not now.
Janet, I'm going to have to speak to the police about this photograph.
Could you? Harry, I've just done something I've never done before.
What? I've concealed PM evidence from the police.
What evidence? She'd had sex.
Oh, God, I've never done this before.
Why did you do it? I don't know.
Not because you thought it was me, please? I did it because I was frightened.
What are you frightened of? Barker? His DNA will be on the database.
Oh, God, what's happening here? for good reason.
Barker wants to speak to us.
I didn't want him back in here so The sooner that man is out of here, the better.
This PM isn't finished, Leo.
Meaning? It has to continue, after the police have left.
I've fixed up close protection for the lot of you.
Is that really necessary? Yes, you will have armed protection around the clock.
Thank you, but It's time I told you about our chief suspect, Leonid Polyak We already know about your chief suspect.
Why didn't you tell us he'd been sent a photograph of a face? Why weren't we shown the photograph? Did you need to know? Yes, we did need to know! I make the decisions on this case.
May we see it now? Yes, you may.
Each of these men is a close protection specialist.
You will take their advice on each and every occasion they offer it.
Do we get to pick? I'm a water sign.
Sense of humour, very healthy.
Defensive sarcasm, actually.
Well, I'm sure that will come in very handy in a tight spot.
Meanwhile, do as you're told.
You think there's another target, don't you? It's possible.
Why else would the killer stay in the country? I want to make one thing clear.
No close protection in the cutting room.
That's the first thing the boys asked us to make clear.
No bodyguards around the bodies.
Well, if you'll excuse us then.
I assume this is for us? Leo I thought you might want to talk? Oh, erm, no, we're we're fine, really, but thanks.
I can see why he didn't pass it on to us.
Why? It doesn't add anything to our work.
That's very generous of you, Leo, as always I want to keep the temperature down, all right.
So, why isn't this post-mortem complete? She'd had sex.
Why didn't you say? She might have been sleeping with Barker.
Ah.
I want to have another look at the way Fran Price's face was removed.
There's nothing to see, we removed the head.
Think we may have missed something? It's the incisions.
Do they follow the lines of a rhytidectomy? A facelift, and removed the scars.
Yeah.
Hello.
I'm going to make that visit.
Right, be careful.
Don't worry.
CAR ALARM BLEEPS Shouldn't you check underneath or something? I've done that.
You drive.
Are these minders in close protection or close surveillance? It would be extremely difficult to go over Barker's head.
Let's give Harry the time he's asked for, let him talk to Derek Pargeter.
That doesn't matter, just tell me where he is and I will go to him.
Yes, we're all busy these days, aren't we, but I'm sure he can spare a few minutes.
Thank you.
The Hapsburg Hotel.
Heart of London's fashionable West End.
What's that? It's an invisibility cloak for a car.
Level 1.
Can I keep it? You've got one of your own.
It only works when someone's dead.
I'll try to be more flexible.
Who were you last assigned to? The Prime Minister Ah.
.
.
of Qatar.
Oh.
You a soldier? I'm whatever they told you I was.
Just through there.
CHATTERING Ladies and gentlemen Ladies and gentlemen, would you take your seats, please? Thank you, and we will begin.
They are going to take some pictures.
Yeah, all right, fellas, you've got it, thank you.
That's enough.
Mr Kovik will answer questions after he's read his statement.
KOVIK CLEARS HIS THROAT Yeah, yeah.
I am Oleg Kovik, businessman.
Frances Price was my good friend and she has been brutally murdered.
Today I am alive and I am here to tell you that my enemies in Russia have killed my friend, but I am their real target.
I am saying this because the whole Russian community is in fear, but I want my countrymen to know Oleg Kovik is target of anti-democrats.
I am seeking political asylum to stay in this country.
Now, I know Kremlin will put out lies about me, Kovik the criminal and this and that, but this is smokescreen for new KGB, for criminals and the gangsters.
Yes, please.
The Russian government says you defrauded the state of valuable assets.
I buy my shares in state auctions, legal privatisation, all citizens get shares.
Which they sold for food because they were starving.
It was free market, yes, like you have and like you wanted for Russia.
I admire the values of the West.
(Who is that man over there?) INAUDIBLE Yeah? What do you say to the Russian government's charge that you made your first fortune smuggling narcotics out of Chechnya into Europe? More lies.
That you were the main link between the Chechens, the Russian mafia and the Europeans? To destroy my reputation as someone who opposes Kremlin that denies free speech and democracy.
I call on the British government for protection.
That's it, thank you.
Read the statement.
Mr Kovik, are you prepared to name names? Excuse me? Who are you saying is responsible for the murder of Frances Price? Leonid Ivanovich Polyak.
Um, this press briefing is closed.
ALL SPEAK AT ONCE CAR TYRES SCREECH You're the pathologist, aren't you? What the hell was all that about? Which bit didn't you understand? I want to talk to you.
On the street, after what just happened? I see you've got yourself a minder.
Very prudent.
Oleg has doubled his security.
What exactly was Oleg's connection to Fran Price? Am I going to be asked to accompany you to the mortuary? She'd had cosmetic surgery.
Who doesn't? Where did she go? Somewhere you won't get papped.
Russia? Yes.
She went to St Petersburg.
Did that man help fix it up? He's a generous man.
He knew Fran.
You heard what he said.
Anti-democratic forces in the Kremlin? You heard what he said.
Stay safe.
How did you know she'd had cosmetic surgery? I just realised if she'd had a facelift, any scars would have been removed with the face.
I thought we were there for Comrade Kovik's press conference.
I'd never heard of Comrade Kovik.
Well, you have now.
Hard left.
Now! It's a dead end.
Nowhere to go.
Oh, Jesus.
Pull over! Radar One, I have had contact.
Over.
Bike.
Couldn't outrun it.
What the hell is going on? Copy that, Radar One.
We're going back to your address.
Back up.
Now! Was that guy trying to kill me? If he had a weapon, I didn't get sight of it.
Oh, you didn't get sight of it, very reassuring Jesus Christ! It's OK, he's with us.
Just give me a warning or something.
Christ! Just keep away from the window.
All right, all right.
Just double check everything, yeah? I'll see to him.
Be out in a minute.
OK, we are secure.
There's a man outside, yeah? All right.
Have a drink.
Treat yourself.
You are secure, yeah? Harry? OK, OK.
We're secure.
OK.
HARRY: She'd had cosmetic surgery in Russia.
I think the man she opened her door to was someone from the clinic.
I think the reason she was sitting in the chair was she thought he was gonna look at her scars.
So the removal of the face also removed the scar tissue? He cut along the incision lines.
Are we talking about a murdering plastic surgeon? I do not know what we are talking about.
Motorcycle assassins, God knows.
I've got two men on guard outside my door.
Me too.
Hell of a luxury.
Watch out for motorcycles on the way home.
And mopeds - they are lethal.
PHONE RINGS Yep.
I was only trying to give you something.
Give me what? I've put it on secure website for you.
I have just sent details and password to your personal e-mail.
PHONE DISCONNECTS PHONE RINGS Yep? Come to this address.
OK.
I'll be in the cutting room.
Barker is not our leaker.
We are talking bodily fluids, yeah? And? And it's not Harry either.
Thanks.
I'm making the assumption no-one is going to try to kill you in this meeting.
Oh, good? As a precaution, I'll be outside the door.
They know I'm armed.
What if they do decide to kill me, but think it's best not to warn you first? Here.
I stick this in my assailant's ear, should I? No.
Just click on it, it's an alarm direct to me.
I will need that back.
Yeah? Yeah.
KNOCK AT DOOR Come in.
Please No, no, no - stop.
I am Oleg Kovik.
Please, sit.
So who is this? This man is plastic surgeon in Russia.
Akimovich was honest man once maybe He's the man who removed Frances Price's face? British police will not find this man.
He's protected by Kremlin for sure.
So Akimovich left London, my colleague was murdered by his accomplice And now he wants to kill me.
OK, but there's something I don't understand.
There's many things.
Leonid Polyak is not in the Kremlin, he's in a British prison.
Correct.
Please sit.
Listen to me, huh? Kremlin uses gangsters.
They want to kill me.
How to kill me in UK? Who to use? Who has motive? Who has connections? Polyak.
What does Polyak want? He wants revenge on poor Frances Price.
So Kremlin and Polyak, they help each other out.
Two victims, Price and Me.
Why you? I own things.
They order me to sell them.
I decline.
They kill the girl, remove her face.
They ask me again, sell these things to them.
What things? I own shares in gas and oil companies, pipelines across the Caucasus, owned by my bank.
The state, they want this.
They want power over former satellites.
I speak here about freedom of whole countries, that is what is at stake here.
But is maybe OK now.
You can help.
Truth is being concealed.
Second girl knows this, is murdered, but now we will be OK because you and me, we are friends, yes? You work for me.
No, I don't.
Yes, look, I pay you.
No, you don't pay me.
Evidence will come out.
What evidence? You're suggesting I plant evidence for you! Be calm, be calm.
I'm calm Be calm.
I'm calm, OK.
I'm calm.
If you have evidence about the murders of Holly Farr and Fran Price What? I go to police? Wonderful British police.
Yeah? How you know what they conceal? Evidence destroyed, but you can make this right because you are pathologist.
You can restore British reputation for justice, in your hands.
What's this? It's the blood of Russian man who killed girls.
Known associate of Leonid Ivanovich Polyak.
Can we stop? What can you do when someone puts money into your bank account? Have a drink.
£9,900 Ten grand they get reported.
Money laundering regs.
And yet he knows my account number, he knows my branch.
Could we have a minute, please? OK Once there, the Russian Mafia was able to target her, but they waited until she got back to the UK.
You've been busy.
Because a double deal had been done on her murder.
Leonid Polyak promised to carry out two murders, the second target is an oligarch called Oleg Kovik.
And the evidence for this? Almost none, but we could plant some if we wanted to.
Mr Kovik has planted just under £10,000 in my current account as an inducement.
He's trying to bribe you? Yes.
And you said? Oh, I said "yes," Leo.
"Yes, bring it on.
" What do you think I said? Well, it sorts out your overdraft.
Right, we need to get all this to the police.
Who? Barker? The DNA profile didn't match Detective Superintendent Barker's.
He didn't have sex with Holly.
No? No.
OK No ,he just used her to leak information to the press about the crime scene claiming that the killer had left forensic evidence and got her tortured and murdered.
Do you have proof? Harry We had an agreement.
That you were going to see Pargeter.
I met someone else.
We cannot conduct a parallel investigation to the police.
We cannot trust Barker.
It isn't his DNA! I saw him going to her house.
We're not saying Barker's a nice guy or anything.
Check it! There have been DNA mistakes before.
How many Barkers do you think there are in the UK police? We've nothing to check it against.
No? Frank, you haven't told Barker about the man on the motorbike, have you? No.
Because you don't trust him? Because YOU don't trust him.
My job is to protect you.
If there's someone you don't trust, it's my job to pay attention to that.
I think there could be a permanent post round here for you somewhere.
What's that? You ordered tea for Barker, remember? Isn't that illegal? She was one of our team and we were responsible for her.
Can I have a word? I've been looking at the evidence lists, both crime scenes.
And? There was no desktop or laptop computer at Fran Price's house.
She was a writer.
She was a drug addict? Correct.
Where's her works? Syringes, that kind of stuff? Then I see that there's no laptop at Holly Farr's address.
Because it's there.
But I saw a lap-top at her house yesterday.
Maybe it wasn't hers.
Harry Leo the evidence list from Holly Farr's house does not include a lap-top.
Well, should it? This one is hers, but I saw one there yesterday.
Maybe it was Barker's Harry .
.
and he didn't want it to be taken in for examination.
Why not? I don't know.
But both sets of evidence lists are incomplete.
Fran Price was an opiate addict who apparently had injected within hours of being murdered, but there's no trace of syringe or drugs or anything.
What else is missing? Bloodstained pages How many? The first chapter of her book about Leonic Polyak.
So where's the rest of it? I want you to tell British government this is lies.
They clearly have no evidence against you in the Price murder investigation.
But what? They're saying you may have corrupted prison officers, produced correspondence you'd had with Price.
They didn't find it when they searched your cell.
I was in prison in Moscow, remember? They realise that.
And? They're talking about transferring you.
HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN OK, we're fine.
HE PANTS Hi.
Hi.
I need your help with something.
Really? I thought you didn't want to see me again.
That's not true.
I didn't want to expose you to any more risk.
Leo.
It's not unreasonable, is it? Well, which risk is the one you're most anxious to avoid? SHE GASPS So what are we looking for? A hiding place.
A stash has to be simple to get hold of.
If you're high you're not going to be using a screwdriver or standing on a chair.
Harry Wait a sec Russian.
Show me.
Tishina.
Is there anything you can't do? Two years in the section at the Moscow embassy.
What does it mean? "Silence".
We need to see what's on these.
My laptop's in the car.
It's her book? It's her book.
MOBILE RINGS Hi, Nikki.
Barker did have sex with Holly.
Thank you.
Where are you? 'I'm gonna meet someone.
' Fran Price had started a book on Leonid Polyak.
Chapter One was printed out and recovered at the crime scene but nobody asked if she had finished it.
Harry, listen When I was in Africa You know, sometimes you get hold of information 'you just shouldn't have.
Information that's dangerous for you.
' I knew people who were set up 'reporters.
' I'm not a reporter.
Have you got this book? Yes, I have.
I'm going to call you back.
Fran Price must have been highly functional for a heroin addict.
This city's full of highly functional heroin addicts.
You got her a publishing deal and introduced her to Kovik? They met.
I happened to be there.
Kovik offered help with her project.
She'd asked me for contacts in the Russian community, OK? This is Leonid Polyak, isn't it? Yes.
Did she tell you what she was putting in the book? It was about Polyak, how he made his money in Russia.
Did you read it? She only finished one chapter.
Couldn't get on with it.
Went back to her bad old ways.
I don't think so.
I think she went back to her bad old ways because she discovered who Oleg Kovik really was.
Oleg Nikolaevich is a businessman, pure and simple.
Fran Price finished her book, Derek and then she made the mistake of telling Oleg Kovik that she had finished it.
Maybe under the influence.
How do you know that? It's why he had her murdered.
I just do PR.
And you do it well.
My relationship with my clients is purely business.
BELL CHIMES IN DISTANCE Leave door! It's OK, don't worry.
We're private.
KNOCK AT DOOR Harry What's exactly is this meeting about? Dr Cunningham.
Hello.
I'm Alan Douglas.
How do you do.
Mr Graham, my assistant.
How do you do.
He'll take notes.
Please The Home Office need agreement from the Prison Service on where to put you.
I've told them in the clearest possible terms you don't want to be transferred.
They say your wishes don't come into it.
Now you concede that you took a DNA sample illegally? Because I had an supervising officer I believed to be corrupt or incompetent or both.
And you thought the ends justified the means rather than going up the police chain of command.
This girl Price, she writes to me.
She wants my story.
I write back I tell her I kill my attacker in self-defence.
She wants to know who is behind the attack.
There are a lot of things you haven't said.
I leave Russia because I want to live.
In Russia you cannot be finished until they have eaten your flesh.
Cut off your face.
When I leave Russia, I keep silent.
That's what I tell this Price girl, silence.
Silence.
Silence is word for me.
Do you know who killed Frances Price? Yes, of course.
Do you have evidence? They never leave evidence.
A name? YesI have name.
The idea was that this man, Leonid Polyak, wanted Frances Price dead because she was writing a book about him that he didn't want published.
but nobody ever asked whether she had finished it.
Where did you get it? On a CD hidden in her house.
It turns out that that book is not entirely about Leonid Polyak.
It's also about someone he met in prison in Russia.
In this country he isKovik.
Oleg Nikolaevich Kovik.
Is a Russian word meaning "sailor".
In Moscow the name of prison is Matrosskaya Tishina, means "sailor's silence.
" Kovik had befriended Price and it was he who had, er, steered her towards writing this book that would incriminate Polyak in various dodgy business deals and murders in Russia, but Price was a better journalist than she seemed, there are two sides to every story and she contacted Polyak, and there are several of these Russian assassinations that he lays at Kovik's door.
But I am wrong to trust him.
He was jailed with me to get my trust.
I give him share of my interest to help me, but he gets release, he takes my money.
He uses my contacts.
I come from prison I find he has control of my business.
I see no future for me in Russia.
Is this the man that tried to have you killed in London? Yes.
If I die this is man.
Tell them to leave me here.
Here Here I am safe.
If you do decide to take disciplinary action against me, I want it on the record that I have been acting on my own initiative and almost entirely in opposition to the wishes of Professor Dalton.
So that is my responsibility, but the government should know that Oleg Kovik is a very dangerous man.
He is applying for asylum and citizenship.
I would like to communicate what I know to the individual in charge of the Immigration Department.
I am the individual in charge of the Immigration Department.
Detective Superintendent Barker will be removed from the investigation, but so must you.
Will there be any disciplinary action taken against my team? In view of what's happened, I don't believe so.
Thanks, Janetfor all your help.
Are you OK? I think so.
Barker is waiting to see you.
In the cutting roomfor privacy.
It gets to you the same way it gets to me, yeah? They're meant to tell us something, your dead bodies.
We're meant to walk out of here with the vital clues in our hot little hands and have databases that don't make mistakes.
It's all white coats and rocket science in here but out there it's never like that.
I didn't fiddle around in the DNA database.
I have no access to it.
It was a mistake.
Drop me in it over the girl if you want, but I've done my work on this case as well as it could be done.
Using a student to leak your bull-shit to the press? I was trying to flush out Price's killer.
Well, you pretty much succeeded.
There's no evidence against Polyak.
He's protected up to his eyeballs in prison.
He's bought everyone around him.
Did you take money from someone called Oleg Kovik? No.
OK, did you refuse money from Oleg Kovik? I was introduced to him.
He had no useful evidence.
She didn't want to be a doctor, you know.
When she found out what Pargeter got Price for her advance, she got very excited.
She told me she'd always wanted to be a writer.
That's why she came here in the first place.
She was using you.
'We're the doorkeepers.
' We're the one's who stand closest to death's door.
If anyone was ever to see through, it would be one of us.
I'm sorry you're not applying to stay with me full-time.
My loss.
Quite offended in fact.
Cheers.
Cheers.
I couldn't have done it without you.
Course you could.
My team are telling me I've won.
I don't feel like I've won.
Can I try it just once? Well, it won't work.
Why not? It's just a pen.
You bastard.
It's a good pen.
OK.
I hope you have gun.
No wait I have medical condition Is on my file I have asthma.
So kind.
What? Found in the back of a security van being transferred between prisons.
Paramedics are saying it's a possible heart attack.
He was claustrophobic.
Is that the medical file? And severely asthmatic.
He was prescribed salbutamol, self-administered.
Where are the items found in his clothing or near his body? There's no inhaler.
Where's the inhaler? THEY CHATTER It's very hard to trace, especially the stuff coming out of Russia and no-one else was effected by it.
Police are asking for likely toxins.
Soman.
Cyclosarin? More likely Soman because it can be made into a aerosol.
Armed police, stay still Get out the car! Move! Step back.
Over there! REPORTER: 'The arrest of a Russian businessman seeking political asylum 'in Britain over the alleged murder of a rival 'has led to renewed claims of state involvement in murder.
'The toxin that killed Leonid Polyak in the back of a prison van 'could only have come from a military facility, 'a spokesman for the Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down has said.
'The Metropolitan Police say the case is being handled 'by the Anti-Terrorist branch who are questioning Oleg Kovik over his alleged involvement 'in three murders: Leonid Polyak, television presenter Frances Price, and medical student, Holly Farr.
'In other news today, the Chancellor has dismissed reports' I read the news today, oh boy Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire And though the holes Were rather small They had to count them all Now they know how many holes It takes to fill the Albert Hall I'd love to turn you on transcript : chocolate sync : innuit