Silent Witness (1996) s19e06 Episode Script

Paul can have the life he wants.
I ain't doing that again.
You want people here knowing what you did? David Sellars, 31.
Someone's tried to clean up.
Where were you that day, between 7pm and 10pm? Oh, right.
Get it.
Pull another lifer in for it.
I'm outside flat 63.
The warden, Ryan White, there's blood in his bathroom.
Better get down here.
How can we contribute unless we know who and what we're dealing with? I know you're Joe Sherringham.
He's out, Sylvie.
I was going to call you.
Fire crews found a body in the kitchen.
We're just waiting for the fire investigators.
This isn't Joe Sherringham.
No, but this is.
I can tell you who killed Joe.
We need to take Sylvie to the building in the woods.
Impact abrasion to the upper right cheek.
It's almost circular.
Bruising to the surrounding area.
Also to the knuckles of his right hand.
Thomas Raise your arms.
Turn around.
Clear.
So, what did Ted Blake tell us dead that he couldn't when he was alive? Puncture wound made by a small blunt object.
We haven't been able to match it with anything in the house, and it wasn't made by the murder weapon.
Bruising on the knuckles of his right hand, but we didn't find any matching bruises on Joe.
We think Jack was right - there was someone with him at the scene.
So you're suggesting there was a fight between Ted and this third person? This is the likely spread of the fire from the set point outside the kitchen door, OK? Body's here.
Here it comes open sesame kaboom! Now, the extent of Ted Blake's burns would require higher temperatures than those caused by an accelerant.
He also had a distinctive crescent-shaped burn on the palm of his right hand.
From Joe Sherringham's front doorknob, on the outside.
So the house was already on fire when Ted opened the door? Yes.
The sudden increase in oxygen created the fireball.
Hence the flash burns.
So there was a fight.
Ted tried to go back inside.
He was trying to save Joe Sherringham? - Nikki.
- It's happening.
Mitchell wants us to drive up together, we meet Marcus at the scene of Craig Blake's murder.
Sasha? I'm on my way.
Ben! Not working today? I think Mandy's expecting you.
Er I'll go in later, I'm just here to see Sasha Dr Blackburn.
Oh.
All right.
I have to be somewhere.
Can we can we do this later? - Hey Was the other night real? - You shouldn't have come here.
Not now, you mean.
I won't embarrass you, I just need to know.
Yes, it was real.
Well, hang on a minute.
What are we afraid of? What else matters? I have to go.
This isn't fair.
What am I supposed to do? You are in my head.
Every minute, I see you, I smell you.
My heart's going, my head's gone.
- Please! - Hey I can't do this now.
Right, everything's in place.
Chadwell is here to tell us about the current murders.
Nothing else.
He's never confessed to anything.
You're both across the forensics.
He says anything that differs from the trial transcripts, I need to know.
Are we sure about this? I want him to talk.
This is my choice.
I want to know.
I'm going to bring him out now.
He's not going to get anywhere near you, OK? Don't meet his eye or speak to him directly.
Understand? Today is about Chadwell inflicting maximum pain.
He's going to tell lies, he's going to sow doubt to get attention.
It will glorify him, and you're letting him do it.
Open it up.
Er Nikki.
Sylvie.
Craig always wanted to know what we got up to here.
Came on his bike.
Green, I think.
Can you remember, Sylvie? Chadwell! You're here to answer our questions, nothing else, or it ends now.
I'd been here with other boys.
Joe was a late addition.
We were experimenting.
And you persuaded Craig, ten years old.
Not much, actually.
I didn't need to.
He was curious.
He wanted to know.
Joe and I brought him in.
Me there, Joe over there.
Joe showed Craig one of his girlie mags.
We were going to introduce him to one of our games, but Craig got upset.
He didn't want to play any more.
That's when he tried to leave, - and you stopped him.
- Yes.
- Craig was scared.
- Yes.
Started to cry.
He kept saying he was going to tell his mum.
And did that make you angry? I don't like people crying.
And he was such a baby.
So you tied him with wire and then attacked him with a knife? - Yes.
- Why the face? Why did you attack his face after you killed him? I just wanted him gone.
We're getting nowhere.
Did you influence someone to kill Joe Sherringham? No, no, Superintendent, that's not why we're here.
He's enjoying this.
Please let's stop it.
New information now, or you're back in the van.
Don't you want to know the most important thing about your boy? May I? He was here.
Yes, you said Craig was on the floor.
Not Craig.
Connor.
Connor was standing right here watching.
You see, Connor was in my little group.
He took part in some of our games.
Didn't you know, Sylvie? No.
How could you? He was late that day.
But he could see that we had Craig in here, showing him the magazines, trying to get him to join in.
And then Connor was gone.
Connor ran away, left us to it, and now he is angry.
Trying to kill the people that made him ashamed.
Hello, mate.
Fancy a chat? None of my business how long it's been going on all that, but this has to stop.
None of it is your business.
Have you thought about what'll happen to Sasha? She's fine.
I don't think that's true.
I don't think you're facing things.
Think about her.
Does it make you feel you're better than me, helping Sasha out with them creeps, following her around the place? I mean, I know why you're there.
It's her.
Am I right? It can go wrong for people like us.
Very quickly, Ben.
Where's Mum? She's fine.
She'll be home shortly.
Why am I here? Did she see him? Yeah.
She was very brave.
I just need to clarify a couple of things.
Can you describe the relationship you had with Marcus Chadwell and Joe Sherringham? All this came out in the trial.
I know.
Well, I knew them from school.
Um they lived close to us.
Marcus wanted me to be his friend, but I didn't like him.
No-one did.
He had this weird hold over other kids, so I stayed away.
And your brother? I didn't want Craig to have anything to do with Marcus.
But he wouldn't listen.
How do you mean? Well, he looked up to older boys.
He just wanted to be cool, show me he didn't need me.
Marcus saw that, befriended him.
Craig was just a kid.
Where were you the day that Craig died? Why are you asking me this? Marcus suggested you were at that building in the woods.
Jesus Christ.
I was at the park.
He claims you saw that Craig was with them and that you left without saying anything.
That's not true.
If you had been there, you'd never forgive yourself, would you, Connor? All that guilt turning to anger.
You'd want to hurt him the first chance you got, I understand that.
- Did Mum hear him say this? - Yeah.
And you let him do that to her? You have no proof I did anything Marcus Chadwell told you, have you? Craig, my dad, now me.
Can't you? Can't you see what he's doing? I'd like to take a swab of your DNA, Connor.
This is a joke.
Is it your dad's? - What, this? - Hmm.
No.
Why would it be? Can I have a look? Thanks, Connor.
Oh! Jack, I thought you'd never ask.
You're already taken.
- Meh.
- Look for Ted Blake's skin or blood.
Where are you with the screwdriver? I got DNA from the handle, I'm cleaning up the profile now.
Are you OK? Yeah.
If it works, I want you to check for a match.
Right, Ted Blake.
- I'm on it.
- Not Ted.
His son, Connor.
Hello, this is Ben.
I'm not here right now, but you know what to do.
Ben, it's me.
Look, I'm sorry about earlier, it was just a bad time.
I want to talk.
I'm worried about you.
Call me, OK? Tell us about David Sellars.
He was a lifer, friend of Joe's.
Yeah? No, I've never seen him before.
I've no idea what you're talking about.
I think you do.
I think you realised he'd found out about Joe Sherringham's new identity.
I think you forced him to tell him where Joe lived - and then you killed him.
- No.
After that, you visited your dad.
You knew that he would want Joe dead, too.
All those years of grief after what Joe did to your brother.
So you both went to Joe's, only Ted changed his mind.
He tried to stop you.
Is that when you hit him? No, that's not right.
We found traces of your dad's blood on your signet ring.
So with your dad quiet, you killed Joe Sherringham, - lit a fire to cover your tracks.
- We searched your house.
Forensics found lighter fluid on your clothes.
- I didn't murder him.
- Then explain it all to me, Connor.
He was already dead! Joe Sherringham came to my dad's house, told him who he was and where he lived.
Then dad came to me, drunk and crying.
He could never have done it on his own.
Done what? What was the plan, Connor? It was to hurt him.
Set fire to him.
Kill him and then cover up the tracks.
We got to Sherringham's flat and Dad started sobering up and saying he couldn't go through with it.
You couldn't leave him.
Not now.
Not after what he did to your little brother.
Dad was pulling me back, so I hit him.
I took the lighter fluid, but the front door was already open.
I went in.
I saw Joe in the kitchen.
He was covered in blood.
He weren't moving.
I panicked.
I lit the fire in the hall to cover our tracks.
And then you ran.
Except Dad wouldn't.
I was dragging him away, but he couldn't leave Joe in there.
He ran back to the house.
He opened the front door and boom.
That was it.
And you didn't stay to help him.
You tried to save yourself.
- Mum needed me, I couldn't just - You ran! Just like you did that day in the woods when Craig died.
Marcus was telling the truth.
You and him did things to each other in that wood, and then one day, you saw Craig with him, wanting to be like you.
And you knew what was going to happen to him.
And you didn't get your little brother out of there.
You ran.
Left him to the wolves.
This wasn't about revenge.
This was about your guilt, wasn't it? I wanted to kill Joe Sherringham.
I wanted him to suffer, just like Craig did.
But he was dead when I got there, I swear.
We'll charge him with arson, conspiracy and manslaughter.
Not murder? You think he's telling the truth? Sherringham was already dead when he got there? Let's wait for the results from the screwdriver.
If it's Connor's DNA, we'll know he's lying.
Ben just popped out.
He shouldn't be long.
You're welcome to wait.
I thought you were out.
I couldn't find you.
I was out back.
- Do a little dance for me - What? then I'll show what I've got here.
Oh, you made a DNA match, didn't you? On the screwdriver? - Do the dance first.
- What's the name? What's the name? He already did ten years for a double murder.
Name's Bennet Walker.
Oh, you little diamond! You know the dance I mean.
- Riverdance.
- Later.
You weren't answering your phone.
Are you high? Are you using again? Don't be stupid.
Let go, please.
Is this coke? You promised if you ever came that close, you promised you would find me first.
- You weren't there, were you? - I promised I would be, I swore to you.
You know your licence - this puts you straight back inside.
Well, turn me in, then.
Get your cop mates right now, and I'm out your hair for ever.
You can't destroy yourself just because of this.
- Cos you're afraid.
- I'm not afraid.
Everything you have fought for, everything, it is so much more important than me.
You don't get it.
There is only you.
What have I got to do to make you feel that? You have to let me go.
We'll help you.
- We? We?! - You need help, Ben.
You can't take me like this, huh? Am I not turning you on? You think I'm messed up? Look what you do.
Look at you.
No, you've made your choice.
You'd rather spend your time helping psychos.
You've chosen them instead of us.
What is wrong with you? What's going on in there? Jack.
Hi.
What you looking at? What, you got a problem? Nice car.
Clear out now.
Put your hands on me! What do you want? What, you want some? Leave him, leave him.
Let's go! The DNA on the screwdriver is a match, and we already established that the puncture wounds on Joe Sherringham correspond, too.
So, Bennet Walker, both murders.
Different implement, same style of attack.
Victims knew each other.
I'd say yes.
We've got the address.
Get a tactical team down there.
One of yours, isn't he? Killed two dealers outside a club, baseball bat.
Anything else we should know? I've just heard.
Sasha, are you OK? Do you want to sit down? No.
No, I'm fine.
Bennet Walker is not at his home address.
We've got it under observation.
Left early, didn't say why.
I'm checking his work space, - personal effects - Sasha.
What's happening? Police want to talk to me about Ben.
They suspect he killed someone.
No.
No.
Do you believe them? Do they know about you two? I want to help you.
I don't care about what happened.
I just want you to be OK.
Sasha? What do I tell them? Just tell them the truth, Oliver.
Nikki.
I-I've been in a relationship with Ben Walker.
I was with him today.
Does anyone know this yet? Well, you have to tell them now.
Do you understand? Yes.
- I'm going to.
- Tell them! Where is he, Dr Blackburn? I've said, I don't know.
I'm allowed to press you for the truth.
You understand that, right? Of course.
Where would he go? He's using cocaine, he's drinking.
If he doesn't know that you're after him, he's probably fallen into offence-parallelling behaviour.
In plain English? If you break out of rehabilitation choices, you revert to old, destructive habits.
It's a way of regaining control, to prove that you haven't been brainwashed.
Including murder? I'm talking about self-destructive habits.
Because you don't believe that Ben Walker is a killer - this time.
- No, I never said that.
His DNA is on the murder weapon.
His profile, the manner of these murders, it doesn't make sense.
Do you know you have tracking software on your mobile phone? My guess is that Ben put it there.
He was stalking you.
You see, I believe you are what connects the two victims.
However unwittingly, I believe you led Ben to David Sellars and Joe Sherringham.
You've already told us he wanted you to stop working with those people, correct? He hated your job, didn't he? And we know what drove Ben's first two murders - two drug dealers, ten years ago - jealous rage.
I don't hold you responsible for what he's done.
Your own opinion of your conduct? That's your business, Dr Blackburn.
Do you think she's been protecting him? No.
- No.
Do you? - No.
What was she thinking? She wasn't.
Got in over her head.
Is that an excuse? I don't know.
Can't help who you love, can you? Why have I got a feeling I'm not going to like this? Both victims were attacked in this distinct style, the face targeted, like there was a desire not just to kill, but to obliterate them.
So there's something personal about this kind of hostility? Right.
But Ben Walker and Joe Sherringham never served or did probation together.
They never even met.
- Do we know that for sure? - No.
But Sasha Blackburn would.
- Nikki, she's suspended.
- She also knows the case in detail.
Style of attack, psychological motive, it's central to these killings.
They've got a prime suspect.
Look, I'm not saying that Ben Walker didn't do this.
His DNA is all over the murder weapon.
One of the murder weapons.
The police want him for both murders.
All we have at this moment are similarities, conjecture.
It's not enough.
- Is Max OK? - Yeah, he's fine.
How long is he going to be there? He's just there as a precaution.
Why don't you just say it, Mum? Everything you ever thought about me is true.
Do you think I take pleasure in this? You always said that I'd end up hurting you or Dad.
We wanted you to be happy.
You wanted me married.
And you chose a job to drive your husband away, to drive us away.
And this man? The one the policeman in the hall is trying to protect us from? You can stay here as long as you As long as you need, darling.
How are you? I can hear you out there, Mum.
Have they arrested him? You're up to speed on the case details.
I want a professional opinion.
Both David and Joe received these blows to the face after death.
Seems like a deliberate targeting, mutilation, something very personal about the hostility.
Yeah, the face represents a person - destroy the face, destroy the person.
You supervised Ben Walker and Joe Sherringham.
- Did their paths ever cross? - No, they were in different facilities.
Why? I suppose I don't think you're reckless enough to believe Ben Walker's innocent just because you were in a relationship with him.
You're still not certain Ben Walker did it, are you? It's very hard to fake your way through 12 years of tests and therapy.
Take Marcus Chadwell, for example.
A straightforward psychopathic personality type.
Plenty of people are and have successful jobs in business, politics.
What makes a psychopath a killer is almost always childhood trauma.
Abuse, parental neglect.
But none of that happened to Ben.
His issues are to do with addiction, rage, but these The focus, the will, the need to obliterate I don't know.
These are something else.
Why are you doing this? There's already enough evidence to arrest Ben.
Because, pathologically, there are still things that don't make sense.
And I need to make sense of them.
Psychoanalyse that how you want.
Why are they after me? Don't don't run.
You'll make it worse.
They want me for David and Joe Sherringham.
They want me?! Right? Did you track my phone? Did you follow me? Is that what they're saying? Your DNA's found on the screwdriver that killed Joe.
Right.
- Right.
- You have to stop this now.
- It's too late.
- Ben, please.
I am not going back inside again, I'm not! Just listen! Bennet Walker has just made contact with Sasha Blackburn.
I've checked the house.
There's no sign of him in the immediate vicinity.
Sasha came into the workshop yesterday.
- While you were at the centre.
- You never said.
Did you know something's going on with her and Ben? No, there isn't.
There isn't.
You think she's some angel.
Mandy, stop.
Ben.
No, you're all right, Mandy.
Don't be afraid of me.
Please, whatever you've done - Have I got this wrong? - It's OK.
Tell me I've got this wrong.
Do we go to the police now? Is that what we have to do? It's Sasha.
Why you killed them.
Why you go to the centre.
- Cos she's there.
- Oliver.
No, no.
No.
It's just talk.
You set me up.
My screwdriver Christ, I see it now! You had me trusting you.
You need to trust me now.
Please don't do that.
I'm sorry, I'm calling the police.
Yeah, do it.
Do it, bring 'em.
Mandy.
Mandy Yeah, yeah.
It's me and my wife, we've been attacked.
Er I think she might be dead.
Yeah.
Yeah, please come, as quickly as you can.
Hello? Check upstairs.
Through there.
Please help her.
Victim's Mandy Bright, wife of Oliver Bright, also attacked.
Looks like she got in Walker's way.
Right, managed to get a statement out of Bright.
He said Walker tried to attack him, drunk or high.
They tried to calm him down, he grabbed the knife, started attacking Oliver.
Wife tried to intervene, Ben went berserk.
Knocked her out with a chopping board, started stabbing.
Oliver tried to stop him, got thrown against the table here.
Walker was about to attack him again, then suddenly fled.
Blood trail.
Ends at the back door.
Catch him.
Please! He's a monster.
I want the ambulance escorted and 24-hour protection on him - until we find Walker.
- Guv.
There you go.
- Thanks.
- Sugar, no milk.
Does this mean I don't have to go to school for the whole day? - In other news - Mum! the police are on the lookout for a man in connection with a double knife attack earlier today in which a woman was fatally stabbed and her husband injured.
Police have stressed that, if spotted, Bennet Walker should not be approached under any circumstances.
Laceration near the vertex of the skull.
Blunt force trauma matches the chopping board found next to her.
- Is that what killed her? - Immobilised her, at least.
Multiple stab wounds.
Five, six, seven to the face.
Consistent with the kitchen knife collected at the scene.
- Only seven wounds to the face? - Mm.
And none around the eyes.
They're more uniform than the other attacks.
Shallower.
Haven't penetrated the skull, facial bone.
Much less force was used.
Because it had nothing to do with jealousy.
She just got in the way.
Hi.
Could Mandy Bright have moved after being attacked? Negative.
Disabling blows, she would have fallen where she stood.
Hm.
You've gone quiet on us, Jack.
There's a bubble pattern in the blood.
Aerated.
Chest wound.
Mandy couldn't have got near the door and Oliver had injuries to his arm and forehead.
It's Ben Walker's, he'll be bleeding heavily.
Yep.
Yeah, this is Snow.
I'm going to need a sweep of the area immediately, around the Brights' house.
- Clarissa - Multitasking now, Nikki.
Oliver Bright never mentioned Ben Walker was injured.
Defending himself in a knife attack.
Maybe he just didn't realise.
He missed his attacker sustaining a deep chest wound? - Is that likely? - It's not impossible.
Where's this going? The wounds on Sellars and Sherringham, as we know, made with extreme agitated force.
Mandy Bright's wounds.
Not so tightly grouped, not nearly so forceful, and none around the eyes, as if they'd been deliberately avoided.
As if he was forcing himself to inflict them.
No anger, no rage.
Why? To match Sellars and Sherringham.
Ben Walker's already the suspect.
He'd have no reason to do that.
Oliver Bright volunteered at the Origins Centre, he knows Sasha and he knows all the victims.
It's circumstantial, it's not enough.
Oliver Bright's a lifer.
What's the name of his original victim? Downloading the postmortem files now.
Have you caught him yet? We'll tell you when there's news.
You're fine here.
Is it just one of you? PC Nelson's taking over in 15 minutes, OK? OK.
This shouldn't be too uncomfortable.
The wounds on Sellars and Sherringham, as we know, were made with extreme agitated force.
This is the reconstructed fracture sequence of a murder victim 14 years ago.
Forensics performed a CT scan of the injuries, but at the time, they couldn't model fracture sequences, so they couldn't have seen this.
It gives us a narrative, the sequencing of the blows.
These were targeted.
Watch the increasing force around the eyes.
Almost identical to the patterns found on Sherringham and Sellars.
- Who is this? - Charles Moore.
Killed with a tyre wrench in a road rage attack.
By who? Oliver Bright.
- He got ten years for the murder.
- Oliver Bright? No, no, no.
You convinced us that the killer's victims meant something personal to him - anger, jealousy.
This is a road rage attack, random.
He knows Ben Walker, Sasha, he knew David Sellars.
- Joe Sherringham.
- Now his wife has been killed.
He's connected.
To all of them.
OK.
All right, we'll talk to him.
Shit! Come on, let's go.
Check the other corridor.
This is Snow.
Oliver Bright's not on the ward.
Repeat, Bright has left the ward.
What, you think Oliver did this? That doesn't make any sense.
Could Oliver have hidden his true reasons for killing Charles Moore? He would have had to mask his symptoms from the start.
The psychometrics, assessments, all my work with him.
But is it possible? His rehabilitation wouldn't have been addressing the reasons he killed.
So he wouldn't have been getting any better, - but he could have been getting worse.
- Oliver knew the recent victims.
These are intensely directed, personal attacks.
His murder was random, a stranger.
What if it wasn't random? What if he did know Charles Moore? Ben.
Ben, can you hear me? Mitchell, I've found Walker.
- Garden half a mile from the crime scene.
- He set me up.
My screwdriver on the dead guy.
He killed his own wife.
He killed them all.
Just make sure Sasha's still OK.
Mum.
I'll be a couple of hours.
Ben's been attacked.
Sasha, no.
It's not him, Mum.
He's not guilty.
- Oh, it's the police again.
- Don't go, please! Who else is here? Please let them go.
We think Oliver Bright is in the house.
We've lost contact with the officer inside, and Sasha too.
Stay back.
Let's go.
I can protect you.
You see that now.
Yeah.
Yeah, I can see you, Oliver.
You're here for me.
Of course.
Always.
- You can protect me.
- I do protect you.
Then we don't need anyone else here, do we? - Sasha - Mum.
We can let them go.
Can't we? - We can be alone.
- Just me and you.
How can we be together, tell me, how can we do that? We are.
Now.
That's why I came.
Can we leave here? Just you and me.
- No.
No, there are police.
- Don't worry about the police.
We have each other.
- Officer down.
- Go.
Where do we go? There's nowhere.
- Are you pretending now? - No, no, I won't pretend.
I know why you killed Charles Moore, I know the truth, Oliver.
Charles took your mum away.
I showed him who was strong.
- He shouldn't have hurt you.
- No.
But you shouldn't have hurt him.
- No.
- You don't like hurting people, do you? You You want to protect people.
People who need you.
Yes.
You don't need that.
You're not going to hurt anyone here, are you? - Mum! Mum, get out! Go, go! - No! Leave us alone.
- Stay back.
- Go, go! Watch your step here.
- Are you both OK? What about Sasha? - I don't know! You said we'd be together.
You're scaring me now, Oliver.
You don't hurt people you love.
You wanted to leave me.
Why? Why? Killing Charles Moore didn't bring your mum back.
Did it? Joe.
David.
Killing them, it's not going to make me be with you.
You know that I'm strong.
And you can stop this.
We can help you, please.
No.
I don't need you.
I don't need you, Oliver.
I'm not your mum.
I don't want you to protect me.
I want you to stop.
- I love you.
- No.
You just chose me because I tried to help you.
No.
No.
I don't love you.
I just try to help people.
I've got movement.
Go, go! Move in! You OK? You all right? - Armed police! - You sure? Where's Max? Where's my mum? We've got them, they're safe, we've got them all.
- All right? Look after her.
- All right I don't know.
I can't see.
Premises clear.
Looks like he cut his own throat.
I was in the area, so I thought I'd pop by and see how you're doing.
All change.
Hi.
Tea? - No, thanks.
- Please How's he coping? - We'll be OK.
- What about the new place? It's nice.
It's It's light, airy.
It's a shoebox.
But it'll do the job.
Till I get a job.
What about everything else? I have to find out, don't I? Armed police! Single gunshot wound to the head through the eye.
- Sure you're ready for this? - Definitely.
I want to talk to you about Helena Lubas.
The Helena Lubas in the school photo? Big smiles, cute ponytail.
Or the one whose boyfriend shot my colleague in the face? The victim's mouth is sealed, then chilli powder mixed with carbonated water is forced down his nasal passage.
A form of torture associated with drug cartels.
- What is it? What's happened? - We've lost the witness.