Silent Witness (1996) s20e02 Episode Script

1 What's this about? Family members are missing.
Police think it's an extortion racket.
Is it my mother's? You trusted them?! I wanted to know if Mama is still alive.
There is no-one you can trust! I know what you are.
I know what you did with the van.
Where can you go where you'll be safe? I'm not buying her.
I'm taking her.
You come near me again, I'll kill you! Murder weapon? No obvious wood splinter.
A metal bar? Metal bar would do it.
Wear this.
You'll be safer.
A267.
B means "Back to London".
94 kilometres to Charing Cross.
It's not a password.
It's a place.
This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find upsetting from the start Costestes e spiritu Silentium.
Please! Where is my brother? When will I see him? Please, I have no more money Where is he? Please.
Please! When will I? Oh, please! THEY MOAN AND HIT THE WALLS SOFTLY SINGING FOGHORN BLASTS PA: 'Ladies and gentlemen, we will shortly be arriving at Dover.
'Le ferry est sur le point de partir.
'Les passagers sont pries de se rendre sur les points' Please.
Please.
Please.
Do we have any idea who these dead people are? No, not yet.
None of the bodies had ID on them.
Trafficking? I think so.
I need Butler in the loop.
I think these deaths are related to the killings in London.
You think that? These people died weeks ago.
The London victims are recent.
Both of my London victims had the A-road location marker in messages in their phone.
How are they involved? I don't know.
Ugh, no signal.
You have to You have to walk out to the road.
Out to the road? How did you call me? I walked out to the road.
I'm not a thief.
Can you work for a place to stay? Was it a mistake? They know when the van passed through Dover, did they die en route? Two murdered men knew the location.
So someone kills Jamal al Sham and Kali Aziz to keep the van hidden.
Did they know? The van was hidden.
Why would you hide it? Because you open the doors when you arrived and found the people inside were dead.
You didn't know what to do, so you hid the van.
No.
The panels of the van were pressed out.
You can see where they kicked and pounded the doors.
If it happened en route, the driver would have known.
Someone would have noticed.
Border Force, another driver.
No, they were alive when they got here.
Hidden in the trees and left to die, slowly.
In a metal prison they thought was going to save them.
Assalamu alaikum.
Wa alaikum assalaam.
Zakat.
Thanks for your help and everything you do.
Written in blood? Yeah.
DNA.
Police.
Do you rent rooms here? Yeah? How many people you got staying here? What's your name? Fred.
We found this address written next to the body of a gentleman who had passed away, Fred.
We have a facial reconstruction.
Do you recognise him? No.
We have a warrant to search these premises, would you open the door, please? OK.
I open the door.
OK? Thank you.
He's running.
Go! You all right? Yeah.
Yeah.
We did this.
We locked them in the back of the van and left them to die.
We created the problem and then we slammed the door.
Oh, God.
Teeth marks.
We made them beasts.
The beasts are the people that put them in the van, Nikki.
Gave them false hope and took their money.
And then their humanity.
If people migrate illegally, then they put themselves in danger.
Hobson's choice.
They're in danger if they stay.
We've consistently said we will help refugees, just only from a camp.
Then we've been consistently inhuman.
There are 14 million of them "Them"? What, we, we just take them all? Take them in or leave them to die? Not a tough choice for me.
Nikki, we can't afford it.
What is it? Someone's dreams of the future.
Diamonds.
They don't want to be a burden, Thomas.
They want to be safe.
Where are you coming from, sir? Calais, but I'm from Belgium.
You are You're Brian? No, I'm not.
Began your journey in Belgium? Yeah.
Is this your van? Aboon Dbashmayo No, actually, I borrowed it from a friend.
Nethcadash shmokh You borrowed it? Yes.
Teethe malkoothokh Nehwe sebyonokh Are you aware of your customs allowances, sir? Yes.
May we take a look in the back, please? Sure.
Can you pull into the inspection bay, please, sir.
Mmm-hmm.
His brother was in the van.
Does he know? Those from the van? Yeah.
All dead Bad choice of words.
Yeah.
They're charging.
I cross checked the address books, numbers received and numbers dialled on our two victims, Jamal and Kali's phones And? And they had each other's numbers.
One French mobile number in common, under the letters YH.
One English mobile number in common, marked AW.
Both have the MemoWire messenger app.
Hmm.
ALL PHONES BLEEP/VIBRATE WITH MULTIPLE NEW MESSAGES What should we do, Jack? Jack? The messages are being sent by the phones I found in the van.
"Please, in the name of God, don't let us die this way.
" They were locked in the back of the van.
No signal in the forest, the messages didn't send.
Batteries ran out searching for signal.
"Help us.
We're dying.
" Messages from the dead.
But this world it's nothing.
Soiled, meaningless.
We must say to the kafir as the Koran has taught us - you have rejected the truth, so, sooner or later PHONE RINGS .
.
a punishment will come.
MULTIPLE PHONE ALERTS Turn that off, please.
Off! Not in church.
Sorry.
Afternoon, chaps.
What do we have? All right, gents.
There's no need to empty it.
Load it back up.
Thank you for your time, sir.
I'll let you be back on your way.
DOORS CLOSE ENGINE FIRES, VAN MOVES I told you to turn that off in the church.
I need to find her.
My mother, she is alive.
TEXT ALER What is it? Akka just received a message from her mother.
Restores your faith in the universe.
This was four weeks ago at Dover customs control.
We don't get a clear view of the driver from the video, but, from the time stamp, we managed to retrieve his passport.
Alan Wilson.
He's from Croydon.
He was a youth offender, convicted of grievous bodily harm and sent down for seven months.
His exact whereabouts at the moment are unknown It seems likely the van came through Dover and was secreted and abandoned soon afterwards.
All seven victims in the van died of hypertonic dehydration.
Lack of fluid.
It takes between three and five days to die.
Depending on your general health.
All right, he parks the van amongst the trees and goes? Was Jamal or Kali Aziz meant to collect the van and the people in it? We don't know the answer.
Alan Wilson does.
Fingerprints, rear panel of the van Brian Hunt.
Works for Border Force.
Mr Hunt? How much do you lot get paid? New? Yeah.
Pia Butler.
I'm from Immigration Enforcement.
I'm helping the police investigate the deaths of seven people.
The ones in the van? Yeah.
Yeah, I heard.
It was a terrible tragedy.
Shouldn't have happened.
No.
They came through Dover? Yeah.
And I was the Duty Officer? Did you look in the van? A white van? I would have thought so.
Not always.
Sometimes I'll just have a chat with the driver.
Your fingerprints were on the rear handle.
Well, then I looked.
But not on the padlock.
Well, then I didn't.
It really is a very nice car.
Look, I can see what you're trying to do and say without saying it.
I'm not bent.
And you've got no evidence apart my very nice car.
And you are well out of order.
You know, when I spoke to HR, they told me you gave your notice in.
Yeah.
It's my last week.
Why? Seems like the job's been good to you.
Have you ever had to pull a migrant out of the crawl space of a lorry - someone who's risked their lives to get where you're standing - and then send them on to some overcrowded immigration referral centre? Every day.
Well, I got tired of shattering someone else's dreams.
And one day, so will you.
So you decided to look the other way? You broke the law.
Well, good luck with that.
Because if I don't find anything, then I don't find anything.
I guarantee you, the seven victims we found, they wished you had.
Blood on the iron bar found in the skip matches Kali Aziz.
Injuries to the victim are blunt force made with a linear object.
It's the murder weapon.
Thanks.
We lifted a clean print from the bar, yes? Yep.
And from the van.
You outdid yourself.
I'll write it up.
Alan Wilson, when was he in prison? 2008.
His prints and DNA will be on the database.
Yeah, I know.
It's Wilson's prints on the van.
And the iron bar.
What's up? I put Akka's DNA onto the database when we checked the tissue.
She is the mother of Akka Khoury.
What, so Akka received an old message when they came through today? And believed that Her mother was alive.
Do you want me to.
.
? No.
I'll tell her.
The person who's extorting money from Akka's family, they'd have known her mother was dead in the back of a van.
DRIVER GETS OU Elia Khoury, Akka's mother, was one of the deceased.
She was dead for a month while money was extorted from her family.
Whoever did this used the van as a prison.
Jack? Have you got it? Trafficker and extortionist.
Likely to be the same person or persons.
Sorry, I was waiting on the e-mail, just came in.
Blood on the cuff of Gyearbuor Asante's sweatshirt.
DNA match with Alan Wilson.
Proves contact.
Asante's brother was in the back of the van.
They were extorting from him as well.
DRIVER GETS IN ENGINE FIRES She's alive! I wrote her, but she didn't respond I need to find her.
What should I do? I don't want to go to the police.
What should I do? VAN STOPS DRIVER GETS OU My brother, Eapen? We found a young boy in the back of the van.
My aunt? My cousin? My uncle? It doesn't really look like her.
Assalamu alaikum.
Wa alaikum assalaam.
Where's Jamal? I don't know.
I hoped you did.
No, I went round to Kali.
He's not there.
Tried to call him, a woman answered.
Where is he? I haven't heard from him.
I got some messages today.
Old messages.
Seen the news? I saw.
Messages from those people.
Messages from the dead.
I have to go.
Prayers.
How did this happen? Ask Jamal.
Ask Kali.
No, I tried.
Now I'm asking you.
You were the driver.
What happened? They were kafirs.
Why do you care about them? Every one of them was a kafir.
They lost everything.
It's what they deserve.
Well, they don't have to worry about that now, do they? Did Jamal and Kali do this? I don't know what happened.
The van was parked in dense woodland, that's what it said in the paper.
Someone must have driven it there.
Now, I sent a van yesterday, did you meet it? I thought Kali was meeting it.
Now, why would you think that? You haven't heard from Kali.
Are they safe, Abdul? They're apostate.
Are they safe? Hey, hey, look at me.
"Those who reject Faith after they accepted it, "never will their repentance be accepted" Only Allah can change the essence of a man, who he is.
I am a true believer.
Business is something we accept, but a person who could do this? Let go of me, you filthy kafir.
That person is an insult to the Prophet.
That person is not a slave to Allah, Abdul.
That person is an impostor.
Your mother brought these with her to help you start a new life.
They belong to you.
Take them.
You have my brother here? Go inside.
I want my brother's body.
Who is your brother? Kwabena Asante.
Do you have him here? If your brother is here, the police will need you to identify him.
No police.
I only want to bury my brother.
Open the door.
I can't let you in Give me my brother's body! What is wrong with you English people, huh? Do you not feel nothing? Give him to me Everything OK? They killed him.
He was a sweet, good man and they killed him for money.
Please.
Please I need to bury my brother so he can rest in peace.
We can't release his body to you until the police say we can.
I'm sorry Please! I'm really sorry, bud.
They took money from me.
They said he would be safe.
Then tell the police and give your brother justice.
You don't understand.
They've been looking for you.
I told them the news.
God bless you all.
Where is Elia? You said she had gone to get her mother.
Where is she? Where? Akka? Elia is dead.
Eapen is dead.
They died a month ago in the back of the van that brought them here from Calais.
That's not true.
I'm sorry.
I will kill them.
I will find them and I will kill them! Liar! Why did you say she was alive? She thought she was.
Liar! No! She's not a liar.
She's lost her mother My daughter! Only a coward would hurt her.
I'm not a coward.
Come with me.
I'll find you somewhere safe to stay.
Make sure you're looked after.
I am NOT a coward! Come with me.
Please.
It is how they are.
Akka, you can't accept how they are.
I have no-one else.
Akka THEY SHOU "HELP" REPEATEDLY BANGING AND SHOUTING CONTINUES Have you logged all the messages? I did Jamal al Sham's phone yesterday.
And I was just checking the Kali Aziz phone and I found another message.
A new road marker location? Another van? DIALLING Detective Chief Inspector? Jack Hodgson.
We potentially have another van.
DISTANT BANGING AND CRIES FOR HELP BANGING AND SHOUTING CONTINUES Kafir.
"I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve.
"Therefore, strike off their heads "and strike off every fingertip of them.
" HE SCREAMS RADIO: 'Suspect vehicle reported moving into wooded area 'adjacent to A2 near Faversham.
' Come on! HORN You want to get in left here.
That's it.
Get out.
Go, go.
Bisur'a! Quick! Vite! Vite! Run! Run.
Run, run! There.
Yeah.
Got it.
PHONE RINGS Arrived.
Need urgent assistance.
No blues and twos.
What do you want to do? Mr Yusuf? Run.
Run! Police! Detective! Shit.
Ah Did you see anything? Bodies in the van? No.
Alan Wilson? Did he do it? He says he was still in the van.
Who let him out? Presumably, Alan Wilson's killer.
He let them out? Yep.
He let them go.
The killer took photos of the body, and sent them to Jamal al Sham and Kali Aziz.
He is YH.
He doesn't know they're dead.
No.
The brutality's a warning.
I'll get a tent up.
Armed police! Clear.
Detective? Yusuf Hamed.
It's clean.
Hmm.
Why is that? The rest of the place is a tip.
Smell bleach? Uh-huh.
Yeah.
Hello.
Yeah.
Hold that.
Oh, God.
Let's see.
Another migrant? Thanks.
Jack? She's missing a finger.
Stay here, sleep.
There'll be trains from that station in the morning.
No! I don't want you with me.
You'll slow me down.
He sat here all night.
He will not speak.
Varkey? There is no God.
It's all a lie.
Leave me.
There he is.
Alan Wilson.
We were looking for Janna.
He murdered Jamal.
Yes, but we're short on the evidence to prove it.
This is a ledger of money he collected from his victims.
He left them in the van to die, but kept giving their families hope in order to extort more money from them.
He went rogue.
That's what it looks like.
Where did the money go? Zakat.
Charity.
"True Faith Academy"? They take your mind and your money.
Let's go, we have to find him.
Yula, come on, let's go.
Why did you let him hit me? I'm going.
Are you coming with me? I'm going.
From Abdul Al Wilson's notebook, I was able to get into his MemoWire account and see the history.
The trafficking seems to have been well established.
And it IS Yusuf Hamed's business.
Wilson was simply exploiting a desperate situation.
There does seem to be a form of coded language that preceded payment and the arrangements being made.
What was it? "A friend needs your help.
"They have money.
" MESSAGE ALER He's confirmed.
I'm going to have him.
Where are your grandfather and your brother? They are gone.
I'm sorry.
It's how they are.
Akka! Sosa! Her cousin.
She was separated from Elia and Eapen in the chaos.
She's alive today because of it.
How'd she get here? Hasn't talked about it.
DOOR BUZZER Not to me.
Thank you.
No-one ever says that.
They're both under 16? Yes.
No parents here? They're cousins.
Akka's parents are dead.
Sosa's are unaccounted for.
They I think they'll qualify for asylum.
We passed the hat, bought them a few clothes.
Oh, thank you.
Twice in one day.
Hey, hey, shh, it's OK.
Just got you some clothes.
I'm going to come see you tomorrow.
How did you get out? There was a man .
.
called Mr Yusuf.
HE NERVOUSLY FLICKS THE LIGHTER INAUDIBLE Stand by.
Contact made.
Can't see him.
On my signal.
No No! This is Butler.
We need an ambulance at the market now.
We have a male with a stab wound to the back and to the chest.
Yusuf Hamed.
Male.
41 years old.
British.
It's very important that you don't use the guest house for a bit.
Don't even come to the house.
Do you think they found her? He's confident, careful, and forensically aware.
I'd be very surprised if he hadn't killed before.
Your sister's carrying my child.
If she was to play happy families with a junkie, that's her prerogative.
If they found out that you were in the area, we all know how quickly they jump to conclusions.
What about you, Ellie? Are you jumping to any conclusions? Testator silens Costestes e spiritu Silentium.