Silent Witness (1996) s23e01 Episode Script
Deadhead (1)
1 The UN's talking about getting refugees back, but there's no water, no electricity, no work.
There's nothing to go home to.
So we should focus on basic infrastructure.
Yeah.
Jun0537, London Centre.
Climb and maintain flight level 130.
Route direct to Ashwood Airfield.
Come on, come on.
So you want to come see the flight deck? Can I, Mum? Come on, come on.
Right, go.
Jun0537, London Centre.
Radio check.
Jun0537, climb and maintain flight level 130.
Adjust your altitude, Jun0537.
Hey.
Open up.
Come on! Jun0537, London Centre.
Climb immediately, repeat, immediately to flight level 130.
Hey, kiddo.
Dad! Dad! Mum's hurt! Where is she? They couldn't get through the door! Jun0537, London centre.
Dad! Please, help! Adjust your altitude, Juno Help us! Please! Climb immediately, repeat, immediately to flight level 1 # Testator silens # Costestes e spiritu # Silentium Testator silens.
Dr Alexander? Yes.
I'm Jess Fisher, AAIB.
Hi.
So who was on it? A couple of pilots - Alex Vitarnen and Rowan Cole.
Passengers were Miriam Heller, head of a charity - the Global Crisis Committee.
Her son, Ezra, along for the ride.
11 years old.
And Jonathan Kraft.
The Jonathan Kraft? As in ex-US Ambassador Jonathan Kraft? He was onboard? Hi, this is Matt.
I can't get to the phone.
Please leave a message.
Matt, can you give me a call? As soon as you get this.
Love you.
The coroner's on her way.
Our priority is body recovery.
Which is for us at The Lyell and the police to co-ordinate.
Yeah, absolutely.
Have all the bodies been accounted for? Not all.
The captain is still in the left seat, and there was a second non-flying pilot hitching a lift back from Amsterdam, the originating airport.
The passengers are harder to identify.
There was a child on board, 11-year-old Ezra Heller.
We haven't yet identified his body.
Both the adult passengers were public figures.
Miriam Heller was the public face of an NGO, which is why they were in Amsterdam for a conference, and Jonathan Kraft, obviously, so we need to rule out foul play.
So body recovery.
Minimum recoverable tissue is what? In the past, we've worked on five millimetre cubed and up.
New guidelines are to recover everything we can.
Of course.
We done? Can I ask that we restrict the site to UK personnel only? I don't want a tug-of-war over bodies.
Thank you.
Hey.
Hey.
The Embassy called.
What's happening? Matt Jonathan didn't make it.
No.
I'm so sorry.
He was on a target list.
He's been getting terrorist threats from fascist groups in America.
Do the police know? They'll be following that up.
Not if they don't know, and they won't know unless somebody tells them.
I'll come down.
Maybe wait.
They're restricting access at the moment.
What about his family? I told the Embassy I'd call Louise.
She's in Washington.
Their son .
.
Charlie's at Caltech.
I love you.
I better go .
.
make that call.
Yeah, so we need to make sure all the markers are in the right places.
Significant damage to his head and neck from the collapsing roof.
I'll say.
His hands are still on the control yoke, too.
Body's relatively intact.
Miraculously.
I think it's because of the angle of impact.
Plane came down, I think, nose pointing up.
The tail hit the ground first.
Looks like a straight fuel fire.
First impressions.
Aw, can you take a look, Jack - see what you think? Sure.
Finnish.
Finished? No, as in he was a Finn.
It's on the manifest.
Oh.
The boy's phone.
Mr Heller.
Mr Heller.
Look, I know.
I understand, but it's a restricted area.
I know it's hard, but now you're here, let's go and talk over here.
OK? Thanks.
Was he thrown clear or did he move himself? Open comminuted fractures with a traumatic amputation of the right leg below the knee.
No blood trail, so that would suggest he was thrown clear.
Hey, Jess? Do you know if any of your AAIB people approached the site from this direction? Not to my knowledge, no.
We all came in from over there.
What about emergency services personnel? They came from the west, same as us.
You sure no-one came in this way? Why are you asking? Hey.
Where are you? Hi.
Edge of the woods by the nose.
Listen.
Someone's accessed the site from the east, the woodland there.
Can you look in to it, please? Yeah, I'll check with the first responders, yeah.
Thank you.
We've got the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder.
They're still in the tail section.
It was a work thing for Miriam.
I wasn't invited.
But Ezra was? We've got friends in Amsterdam.
His best friend, Noor.
He sent a cheeky e-mail to Jonathan Kraft to ask if he could hitch a ride over.
He was really nice about it.
Ezra called me from the plane when it was in trouble.
OK.
Wanted me to help them.
Michael, we need to know if it was a deliberate act.
Did Ezra say anything about the plane - about what was happening? that Miriam was hurt, and they couldn't get through a door.
A door to the flight deck? There was another pilot on the plane.
A non-flying pilot.
Did Ezra mention him? Was he on the flight deck? I don't know.
I wasn't there.
Is that the black box? It's orange.
Jess? I think it's the boy.
We need a HEMS teams over here right away, please! Ezra.
Ezra, it's going to be all right.
Get some Fire Service down here! We need cutters.
Nikki, it's the boy.
Talk to him.
Ezra.
Jess, how we doing? On their way, Jack.
It's going to be OK We're going to get you out of here.
Fire, down here! Jess, I want to get in here.
No, Jack, wait! They're almost here.
No.
I'm not waiting.
Get me something! Are you sure? No, I'm not waiting.
Can we get Fire in?! Let them do their job.
11 years of age.
Pulse tachycardic at 140.
Ezra? He's not responding.
Blood pressure 80 over 50.
Ezra! Ezra, can you hear me? What software are you using for the drone mapping? KiteTech.
Clarissa's recommendation.
Better not slag it off, then.
How did you get into this AAIB business? I was a pilot on commercial airlines then studied aeronautical engineering.
Clarissa came and gave a lecture on aviation forensics.
Did she now? Any joy with the bootprints, by the way? Nothing.
I'll check our crew again for you.
It may have been one of them.
Stepping on the wreckage? Why would they do that? Well, I've asked.
Nobody's owning up to it, even when I put the screws on them.
Hi.
Hi.
Miriam Heller.
Jonathan Kraft.
We've ID'd body parts as well as we can at this stage.
Dental records? Got Miriam's, and we're waiting for Washington to send over Kraft's.
There's a vertical laceration over the frontal bone, distal radius fractured on both arms, obviously displaced.
That's why I think high-impact trauma rather than heat damage.
What, some sort of reflex action? She puts her hands out when the plane goes into a dive? Clarissa.
Hi.
I wanted to let you know that counter terrorism are gathering prints and DNA from ground crew for elimination.
Jack's on it.
Dutch police are doing the same thing their end.
I'm working on Ezra's phone.
OK, great.
Anything else, let me know, yeah? OK.
Thanks.
Bye.
I thought maybe .
.
I should identify Jonathan's body.
I could come tomorrow.
Surely the Embassy can take care of that? It's Louise.
We're receiving reports of a business jet coming down in woodland a couple of miles east of Ashwood Airport.
Emergency services have been on the scene since first light, and we're still waiting for more news on the crew and the three passengers on board, one of whom, we've been informed, is a child.
More on that when we have it.
So the plane comes down nose-high, hits the tops of the trees there, and as it hits the ground, the rear fuselage breaks away with Ezra inside.
The impact causes these deep furrows.
Then what? This section breaks away.
There's aviation fuel everywhere.
The ATC radar shows it in a steep dive before it disappeared, but there must've been an attempt to pull the nose up because the tail of the aircraft hit the ground first.
The rest of the aircraft slams into the ground.
It slides another 50 metres further west.
The front of the aircraft separates and rolls further forward.
The plane comes to rest in three distinct sections - we've got the cockpit, passenger cabin and the rear fuselage, the rest of it in woodland on the east side of the debris field.
And the flames? Fuel tanks, ignited by sparks from the fuselage and the wings, most probably.
Or explosives or incendiaries.
The flight data recorder should help with that.
Absolutely.
We're still trying to download that.
We've seen no evidence of blast damage.
It all seems consistent with ground impact and fire.
So possibly not a deliberate act.
Is that what we're saying? Some instrument, mechanical malfunction? An accident? All to be investigated further, but that's the initial picture.
The pilot, Alex Vitarnen, Caucasian male, aged 32.
Soft tissue loss over both shoulders and clavicles.
Query seat belt abrasions.
Considerable trauma to the left side of the head and neck.
Blunt force trauma to the torso.
Patterned abrasion on the chest.
Might represent the steering yoke.
From the position of the bodies, we think Ezra would've been at the back left-hand side of the plane or in the toilet when the plane went down.
Dad! Dad! Mum's hurt.
Jonathan Kraft would have been somewhere here.
MUM! Miriam Heller I don't think she's OK! .
.
and obviously Alex Vitarnen.
So where was the non-flying guy? Rowan Cole.
Rowan Cole.
The child's seat belt.
Unfastened, is that right? Yes.
Well, did he leave his seat for some reason? Possibly.
Dad! Help us! Maybe.
When the nose came sharply up before impact, he would have been thrown against the floor and backwards to the tail of the aircraft.
Air traffic control says that, after the initial dive, it levelled out for 60 seconds.
Really? Went into a dive again.
An attempt was made to pull up at 1,000 feet, but, by then, it was too late to rescue the aircraft.
Was autopilot ever engaged? We'll see.
The flight data recorder should tell us.
Hiya.
Anything? No obvious signs of a natural cause of death that would have led to the crash.
Looks like something got spilt on his hands and clothing.
Maybe coffee or tea? You find any cups on the flight deck? I'll check the AAIB records, see what they've catalogued.
Hi.
I've got another body, not directly related to this but Does it have to be now? We've kind of got our work cut out here.
Of course.
I'm just flagging it up.
Because? Commander Reed is asking for you specifically.
OK.
Text me the address.
I'm on my way.
You OK to hold the fort for an hour or so? I'm needed elsewhere.
Sure.
Peter Sachs.
First impressions, he's tilted his head back and shot himself through the roof of the mouth.
Wife didn't see it coming at all.
Wow.
Was she here when he did this? No, she was up in town for the whole day.
Came back and found him.
Oh.
You do realise, right, any pathologist could have handled this? Thomas, will you come with me for a sec? So there are a couple of possible connections to the air crash.
We found this in Peter Sach's browser history.
Hm.
This group have endorsed far-right terrorism.
Miriam Heller and Jonathan Kraft both received death threats.
From this organisation? We're not sure.
It could be a coincidence, except for this.
Peter Sachs was tracking the flight Jun0537, and .
.
he was tracking it in real time.
Wow.
Obviously, we need to check it out, but we want to keep it under wraps until we know more.
OK, I'm with you now.
Just the one shot, I think.
I'll confirm that or otherwise in postmortem.
Mm-hm.
Well, we found a single bullet.
Passed through his head and into the wall.
And the weapon? 1980s handgun, don't know where he got it from.
The serial number's been scratched off.
Check for gunshot residue.
Right or left-handed, do we know? I'll check with the wife.
His wedding ring.
Where's that? Right-handed, yeah.
Is that relevant? I think, at this stage Yes, anything might be relevant.
Um, I was at work, and I got back and he'd locked the garage door and the door from the kitchen through to there, and he'd put a note on it saying not to come in but to call the police.
Siobhan, had he been low in the past? Um he got better.
But then when it came back this time, the melancholy We called it melancholy to try and take the sting out of it.
It was like it was like he needed to get me to love him for it.
Does that make sense? Yeah.
And what caused this melancholy? Was there a reason for it? His mother, she I mean, it's all on file, but I suppose, put simply, you'd say she was abusive, so he struggled to make relationships with women, and when he did, he said he felt trapped.
By you? By your marriage? I'm sorry to ask.
I'm not like his mother, and I think he He had an affair.
A couple of years ago.
He wanted to hurt himself back then, and I think that was his way of doing it.
But you worked it out? Yeah, yeah.
We did.
Yeah, we got to the heart of it .
.
I thought.
Do you mind me asking, did he always wear a wedding ring? Had he taken it off? He'd taken it off?! Peter Sachs, presumed suicide.
Face and head.
Exit wound to the upper occipital region.
Ragged edging.
Bruising to the lips.
Radial tears around the mouth.
We have multiple parallel linear scarring to both inner thighs.
More pronounced on the left.
Appearances of differing ages.
Some scars deep enough to have been sutured.
Top of the left arm also.
Deliberate.
Consistent with self-harm.
Minimal back spatter to the dominant hand.
Yeah, and to the left hand, too.
Not unusual.
Hm.
Fresh scarring on the inside of the left wrist.
Like a smiley shape.
Two eyes and an upturned mouth branded into the skin.
The non-flying pilot - Rowan Cole.
Aged 52.
Multiple injuries.
Lacerations and extensive bruising to the torso and the head.
No marks of external damage to the neck or shoulders.
No seat belt abrasions, unlike the pilot Alex Vitarnen.
Right leg, traumatic amputation below the knee.
No signs of explosive damage to the body.
Right hand, fractured thumb and wrist.
Tears to the palms.
Same on the left hand.
We have marks here.
Burns.
Two eyes and a smiley face.
I think made by a cigarette lighter held to the skin.
Really? I found the same marks on the suicide victim - Peter Sachs.
DI Rosen.
Hi.
It's Thomas Chamberlain.
Look, I thought you should know, both Peter Sachs and the non-flying pilot Rowan Cole have identical cigarette lighter burns to the inside of their left wrists.
So not a coincidence, then? It'd be extraordinary if it was.
I don't know what it means, but it's another connection between them.
Do you think they knew each other? Not that we're aware of.
There's nothing concrete to confirm that.
Maybe there is now.
Hi.
What's going on? Louise can't face coming over here on her own.
Charlie's flying to Washington to be with her so she's asked me to identify Jonathan's body.
Matt It's what I'd like to do.
No.
I promised I would.
And I said no.
This isn't going to be a straightforward ID.
We're going to have to rely on dental records and DNA.
It's not for anybody who loved him.
Come on.
Let's get out of here.
I'll get my stuff.
If it wasn't for Jonathan bringing me over here to run the Embassy, you and I never would have met.
Thank you, Jonathan.
Thank you, my friend.
God, this .
.
this sort of thing kind of brings up some stuff, huh? Like what? You know, the conference in Amsterdam .
.
Jonathan was talking about Syria, and we were there for a couple of years, 2016, on a diplomatic assignment cos I know a lot about Syria .
.
and .
.
that's why I was Why you were? Let's go somewhere else, no? I want to go somewhere else.
Let's go.
What else have you got? London air traffic control tried to communicate with the aircraft, but there was no response.
Is this after the aircraft's initial dive or before? Before.
There was no response from Alex Vitarnen, so my question is, is there anything from his postmortem that could explain that? We're still waiting on toxicology, but, so far, no.
What about the Peter Sachs case? Clarissa, anything on that gun? The exhibits officer is processing it.
Paperwork, eh? The UN's talking about getting refugees back, but there's no water, no electricity, no work.
There's nothing to go home to.
So we should focus on basic infrastructure before we talk about moving people back in numbers or If we can get other countries to do that, then This is before the first loss of altitude? Yeah.
I've time-coded it.
So you want to come see the flight deck? Can I, Mum? There are other files, but they're corrupted, except Ezra! Ezra, are you OK?! So .
.
where was the non-flying pilot during that? Flight deck? Alex Vitarnen had seat harness burns, shoulder and collar bones, but Rowan Cole didn't.
So Cole was, what, on the flight deck but not buckled in, or back in the passenger cabin? Is his voice on the cockpit voice recorder? No, nor Alex Vitarnen's, not for the last 22 minutes of the flight.
Here.
This is what it picked up.
Hey, everything all right? Hey! Open that door! What's going on?! 100, 500, 1,000, 2,500.
Jun0537, London centre.
Climb immediately.
Repeat, immediately.
- Pull up! Pull up! I've been running toxicology on the coffee.
The results, there's caffeine, and this is what's really important - benzodiazepine.
Wow.
OK.
I don't understand.
It's a class of drug used to treat a variety of conditions including seizures.
And anxiety.
I'll see if his bloods are in yet.
Yes, it was present in his blood sample.
0.
3 milligrammes per litre.
That's enough to sedate him, maybe even knock him out.
OK.
OK.
Thank you.
Alex Vitarnen's not registered with a GP in the UK, and his doctor in Finland has no record of him being prescribed anything regularly.
Never a benzodiazepine.
You can buy them on the street easily enough.
He was anxious so he bought meds on the street to treat it? They wouldn't show up on his medical records that way.
And, what, he took them on the flight, got the dosage wrong? Maybe.
All we can say for sure is that he took enough medication to knock himself out - whether by accident or design.
Sorry.
Hey.
How you feeling? I have to go back Washington.
When? Today.
My flight's in four hours.
Really? Yeah.
I don't want to, but I have to.
Are you OK? Yeah.
Oh, my taxi's here, though.
I better go.
I'll call you when I land.
These came from the galley.
Right.
Are these the same kind of mugs that the pilot Alex drank from on the flight deck? Yes.
OK.
He didn't leave the flight deck.
Are we 100% sure of that? There's nothing on the CVR to suggest it, and autopilot wasn't engaged at any time, and Rowan Cole wasn't cleared to fly this trip, so, yeah, Alex would have had to stay on deck.
Now, then.
The coffee.
That was stored somewhere in the passenger cabin, wasn't it? No, the cups and mugs and coffee were all stored in the galley at the rear of the aircraft.
I see.
Before we talk about moving people back in numbers or If we can get other countries to do that, and that's a big if, there's this massive tussle between what's politically expedient and And what's morally right.
Absolutely.
So you want to come see the flight deck? Can I, Mum? Right.
What if Rowan Cole laced the drink, closed and locked the door of the flight deck, just him and Alex in there .
.
and one drugged coffee.
Now, why would a man do that? You all right? Hiya, Mum.
Where've you been? You know where we've been.
I've been worried out my mind.
Don't do this again.
Every time.
Go to your room, darling.
Everything I do.
You know I was just taking her climbing.
Not till this time.
Just pick up the phone, that's all you've got to do.
I can't even walk in my own home without all this.
Just pick up the phone, Kyle.
Communicate! Go to your room.
It's all right, darling.
Listen to your mum.
Go to your room.
Say it.
Say it's my fault.
Say it.
Tommy's not here any more and he's never coming back.
His dad's responsible, yeah? That's what you think? You don't even trust me with Ella any more.
10 minutes late and you're already pulling out your hair.
What do you think I'm going to do - hurt her? Cos I'm a killer? Is that what you think? Go on, say it.
Is that what you think?!Yes.
That's what I think.
It's exactly what I think.
You don't know how right you are.
You don't know the half of what I've done.
What are you talking about? You don't want me here, do you? Just be honest, Kate.
You might as well carry on.
All right.
Do I want you here? Not like this.
No.
Right.
Then I'll go.
I'll find somewhere else.
What are you looking at, darling? Nothing.
Just outside.
Why don't you come downstairs for dinner now? I'm here.
All right? Dad'll be OK.
Hi, this is Matt.
I can't get to the phone.
Please leave a message.
Matt, please, will you give me a call when you get this? Let me know you're OK.
So none of this can be proved.
All we know is that Rowan Cole made coffee.
We don't actually know where he was when the plane came down.
He may have been on the flight deck or he might not.
Toxicology's confirmed that neither Alex Vitarnen or Rowan Cole were affected by an excess of carbon monoxide or any other toxic gas, and no other victim had benzodiazepine in their systems.
So Alex Vitarnen could've been in and out of consciousness, lost control of the aircraft, then wrestled to get it back.
I don't think Alex left the flight deck.
But we know the non-flying pilot Rowan Cole did, and he brought the coffee with him.
So say for a minute he spiked the coffee in the kitchen.
He goes through with the kid to the flight deck, gives Alex the coffee, and he returns the kid to his seat.
On his way back .
.
he closes and locks the door.
Excuse me.
Why would he do that? Because Jonathan Kraft was a far-right target.
Sorry, that was my team.
Rowan Cole was seeing a psychotherapist.
I saw reports of the crash online, but they didn't mention Rowan's name.
He was a private client.
What was he depressed about? This is an ongoing investigation.
No need to worry about patient confidentiality.
Did something trigger his depression? No single incident, no.
Mm, what can I tell you? He lived alone.
Was never married, never had a partner, no children.
He'd spent most of his working life flying around the world.
Living out of hotels so he had no roots.
Nowhere he felt he belonged, and the thing that he did have, his job, was under threat because of his mental health.
He didn't report that.
Did you report the state of his mental health to the authorities? No.
Huh.
I'm not medically trained, so, unfortunately, they wouldn't take my word for it if I did.
So you don't prescribe medication? No.
That's a psychiatrist.
Did he express suicidal thoughts to you? Not to me.
Rowan was driven more by anger than despair.
Mostly at live news updates on his phone that he'd get just to have something to rail at, something other than what he perceived to be his own inadequacies.
Friends? No.
He was entirely disconnected.
Isolated.
Like I said, news and politics.
That was the limit of his regular conversation.
And where would you place him on the political spectrum? Oh, right-wing.
Quite definitely.
Right-wing how? Attila the Hun right-wing? Mussolini right-wing? It's nothing to be flippant about.
I am not being flippant.
No.
I mean Some men don't have clear societal roles any more.
They feel that they're no longer listened to .
.
which leads them sometimes into extreme associations or extreme behaviour.
That anger has to go somewhere.
Sometimes it's directed inwards, an impulse to self-destruct, and other times they look for others like them.
They look outwards.
Online, maybe? Yes.
Did Rowan Cole do that? Did he look for others online? I believe so.
From the things that he said, groups he associated with, yes.
Men like Rowan can be easy prey for extremists.
They're the rallying point for that anger.
They stoke it and give it direction.
And that anger, specifically in terms of Rowan Cole and your sessions with him, that anger was aimed at .
.
politicians? Yes.
You OK? You're not knackered? We were out late.
That's not like you.
Matt's struggling a bit.
Jonathan.
Yeah.
I can't seem to help him.
Alprazolam.
Hm? The type of benzodiazepine in the coffee Alex Vitarnen drank.
It's Alprazolam.
Rowan Cole.
Let's see.
Browser history deleted.
Shall we check out the slack space? We've managed to recover some of Rowan Cole's browsing history.
Sorry.
Hey.
Where are you? I haven't been completely honest with you.
About what? Not honest how? I don't know.
I just feel like I'm in the way.
What are you talking about? You know, our thing is supposed to be fun and easy.
I don't know.
Maybe I just need some time to myself.
I need some time to think Look, I understand you're upset, but please, don't take this out on me.
On us.
That's not fair.
I'll call you when I get home.
What do you mean? Are you? They're boarding the plane.
I have to go.
I'll I'll call you when I get home.
Matt? Hi, this is Matt.
I can't get to the phone.
Please leave a message.
So we have a drugged pilot and a second pilot suspected of spiking his coffee, hm? After which he takes control of the aircraft in order to murder a former US Ambassador.
I don't know.
Plus, we have online activity linking the two events and matching burns, deliberately administered, to both Sachs' and Cole's bodies.
OK, but there's this, too.
I think this is massively significant.
It's also from Rowan Cole's search history.
Somewhere he spent a lot of time.
It's a chatroom for people who struggle with suicidal thoughts.
How many people are on here? Looks like about a dozen regulars who come and go.
They talk about wanting to end their lives.
Not using their real names.
Cole's posting as Ridley33.
So these are all handles? Mm-hm.
Manfred068? Yeah.
Manfred is a frequent poster.
"It is not seen as insane when a fighter, under an attack "that will inevitably lead to his death, chooses to take his own life.
"How is it any different when you are under attack by your own mind?" So he's not just supporting them.
He's actually encouraging them to take their own lives.
Desperate men looking for someone to trust, and he's preying on them.
Can we scroll back to the conversations before the plane came down? Sure.
Yeah, around here.
It's Rowan Cole.
"I want to knock myself out and let my aircraft take me.
" "Do it.
Stop hurting.
" "With you.
" This is incitement to suicide.
Can't the police stop it? Just shut it down! We shut one site down and another one pops up, and the online filters just can't catch everything.
And if you close this chatroom, that's it.
We'll never be able to trace them, and we need to track this guy down.
So who is Manfred? More details have emerged of the passengers onboard the Juno Airlines flight which crashed near Ashwood Airport.
One of them, Jonathan Kraft, was the US ambassador to the UK during the time of President Obama.
He and his fellow passenger, Miriam Heller, were both killed.
The third passenger, Mrs Heller's 11-year-old son, is in hospital.
His condition is said to be critical.
You think it's a good thing he killed himself? Police, please! Manfred's on the move.
People struggle and people recover.
Hi, this is Matt.
I can't get to the phone.
Please leave a message.
Matt, please let me know you're OK.
# Testator silens # Costestes e spiritu Silentium.
There's nothing to go home to.
So we should focus on basic infrastructure.
Yeah.
Jun0537, London Centre.
Climb and maintain flight level 130.
Route direct to Ashwood Airfield.
Come on, come on.
So you want to come see the flight deck? Can I, Mum? Come on, come on.
Right, go.
Jun0537, London Centre.
Radio check.
Jun0537, climb and maintain flight level 130.
Adjust your altitude, Jun0537.
Hey.
Open up.
Come on! Jun0537, London Centre.
Climb immediately, repeat, immediately to flight level 130.
Hey, kiddo.
Dad! Dad! Mum's hurt! Where is she? They couldn't get through the door! Jun0537, London centre.
Dad! Please, help! Adjust your altitude, Juno Help us! Please! Climb immediately, repeat, immediately to flight level 1 # Testator silens # Costestes e spiritu # Silentium Testator silens.
Dr Alexander? Yes.
I'm Jess Fisher, AAIB.
Hi.
So who was on it? A couple of pilots - Alex Vitarnen and Rowan Cole.
Passengers were Miriam Heller, head of a charity - the Global Crisis Committee.
Her son, Ezra, along for the ride.
11 years old.
And Jonathan Kraft.
The Jonathan Kraft? As in ex-US Ambassador Jonathan Kraft? He was onboard? Hi, this is Matt.
I can't get to the phone.
Please leave a message.
Matt, can you give me a call? As soon as you get this.
Love you.
The coroner's on her way.
Our priority is body recovery.
Which is for us at The Lyell and the police to co-ordinate.
Yeah, absolutely.
Have all the bodies been accounted for? Not all.
The captain is still in the left seat, and there was a second non-flying pilot hitching a lift back from Amsterdam, the originating airport.
The passengers are harder to identify.
There was a child on board, 11-year-old Ezra Heller.
We haven't yet identified his body.
Both the adult passengers were public figures.
Miriam Heller was the public face of an NGO, which is why they were in Amsterdam for a conference, and Jonathan Kraft, obviously, so we need to rule out foul play.
So body recovery.
Minimum recoverable tissue is what? In the past, we've worked on five millimetre cubed and up.
New guidelines are to recover everything we can.
Of course.
We done? Can I ask that we restrict the site to UK personnel only? I don't want a tug-of-war over bodies.
Thank you.
Hey.
Hey.
The Embassy called.
What's happening? Matt Jonathan didn't make it.
No.
I'm so sorry.
He was on a target list.
He's been getting terrorist threats from fascist groups in America.
Do the police know? They'll be following that up.
Not if they don't know, and they won't know unless somebody tells them.
I'll come down.
Maybe wait.
They're restricting access at the moment.
What about his family? I told the Embassy I'd call Louise.
She's in Washington.
Their son .
.
Charlie's at Caltech.
I love you.
I better go .
.
make that call.
Yeah, so we need to make sure all the markers are in the right places.
Significant damage to his head and neck from the collapsing roof.
I'll say.
His hands are still on the control yoke, too.
Body's relatively intact.
Miraculously.
I think it's because of the angle of impact.
Plane came down, I think, nose pointing up.
The tail hit the ground first.
Looks like a straight fuel fire.
First impressions.
Aw, can you take a look, Jack - see what you think? Sure.
Finnish.
Finished? No, as in he was a Finn.
It's on the manifest.
Oh.
The boy's phone.
Mr Heller.
Mr Heller.
Look, I know.
I understand, but it's a restricted area.
I know it's hard, but now you're here, let's go and talk over here.
OK? Thanks.
Was he thrown clear or did he move himself? Open comminuted fractures with a traumatic amputation of the right leg below the knee.
No blood trail, so that would suggest he was thrown clear.
Hey, Jess? Do you know if any of your AAIB people approached the site from this direction? Not to my knowledge, no.
We all came in from over there.
What about emergency services personnel? They came from the west, same as us.
You sure no-one came in this way? Why are you asking? Hey.
Where are you? Hi.
Edge of the woods by the nose.
Listen.
Someone's accessed the site from the east, the woodland there.
Can you look in to it, please? Yeah, I'll check with the first responders, yeah.
Thank you.
We've got the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder.
They're still in the tail section.
It was a work thing for Miriam.
I wasn't invited.
But Ezra was? We've got friends in Amsterdam.
His best friend, Noor.
He sent a cheeky e-mail to Jonathan Kraft to ask if he could hitch a ride over.
He was really nice about it.
Ezra called me from the plane when it was in trouble.
OK.
Wanted me to help them.
Michael, we need to know if it was a deliberate act.
Did Ezra say anything about the plane - about what was happening? that Miriam was hurt, and they couldn't get through a door.
A door to the flight deck? There was another pilot on the plane.
A non-flying pilot.
Did Ezra mention him? Was he on the flight deck? I don't know.
I wasn't there.
Is that the black box? It's orange.
Jess? I think it's the boy.
We need a HEMS teams over here right away, please! Ezra.
Ezra, it's going to be all right.
Get some Fire Service down here! We need cutters.
Nikki, it's the boy.
Talk to him.
Ezra.
Jess, how we doing? On their way, Jack.
It's going to be OK We're going to get you out of here.
Fire, down here! Jess, I want to get in here.
No, Jack, wait! They're almost here.
No.
I'm not waiting.
Get me something! Are you sure? No, I'm not waiting.
Can we get Fire in?! Let them do their job.
11 years of age.
Pulse tachycardic at 140.
Ezra? He's not responding.
Blood pressure 80 over 50.
Ezra! Ezra, can you hear me? What software are you using for the drone mapping? KiteTech.
Clarissa's recommendation.
Better not slag it off, then.
How did you get into this AAIB business? I was a pilot on commercial airlines then studied aeronautical engineering.
Clarissa came and gave a lecture on aviation forensics.
Did she now? Any joy with the bootprints, by the way? Nothing.
I'll check our crew again for you.
It may have been one of them.
Stepping on the wreckage? Why would they do that? Well, I've asked.
Nobody's owning up to it, even when I put the screws on them.
Hi.
Hi.
Miriam Heller.
Jonathan Kraft.
We've ID'd body parts as well as we can at this stage.
Dental records? Got Miriam's, and we're waiting for Washington to send over Kraft's.
There's a vertical laceration over the frontal bone, distal radius fractured on both arms, obviously displaced.
That's why I think high-impact trauma rather than heat damage.
What, some sort of reflex action? She puts her hands out when the plane goes into a dive? Clarissa.
Hi.
I wanted to let you know that counter terrorism are gathering prints and DNA from ground crew for elimination.
Jack's on it.
Dutch police are doing the same thing their end.
I'm working on Ezra's phone.
OK, great.
Anything else, let me know, yeah? OK.
Thanks.
Bye.
I thought maybe .
.
I should identify Jonathan's body.
I could come tomorrow.
Surely the Embassy can take care of that? It's Louise.
We're receiving reports of a business jet coming down in woodland a couple of miles east of Ashwood Airport.
Emergency services have been on the scene since first light, and we're still waiting for more news on the crew and the three passengers on board, one of whom, we've been informed, is a child.
More on that when we have it.
So the plane comes down nose-high, hits the tops of the trees there, and as it hits the ground, the rear fuselage breaks away with Ezra inside.
The impact causes these deep furrows.
Then what? This section breaks away.
There's aviation fuel everywhere.
The ATC radar shows it in a steep dive before it disappeared, but there must've been an attempt to pull the nose up because the tail of the aircraft hit the ground first.
The rest of the aircraft slams into the ground.
It slides another 50 metres further west.
The front of the aircraft separates and rolls further forward.
The plane comes to rest in three distinct sections - we've got the cockpit, passenger cabin and the rear fuselage, the rest of it in woodland on the east side of the debris field.
And the flames? Fuel tanks, ignited by sparks from the fuselage and the wings, most probably.
Or explosives or incendiaries.
The flight data recorder should help with that.
Absolutely.
We're still trying to download that.
We've seen no evidence of blast damage.
It all seems consistent with ground impact and fire.
So possibly not a deliberate act.
Is that what we're saying? Some instrument, mechanical malfunction? An accident? All to be investigated further, but that's the initial picture.
The pilot, Alex Vitarnen, Caucasian male, aged 32.
Soft tissue loss over both shoulders and clavicles.
Query seat belt abrasions.
Considerable trauma to the left side of the head and neck.
Blunt force trauma to the torso.
Patterned abrasion on the chest.
Might represent the steering yoke.
From the position of the bodies, we think Ezra would've been at the back left-hand side of the plane or in the toilet when the plane went down.
Dad! Dad! Mum's hurt.
Jonathan Kraft would have been somewhere here.
MUM! Miriam Heller I don't think she's OK! .
.
and obviously Alex Vitarnen.
So where was the non-flying guy? Rowan Cole.
Rowan Cole.
The child's seat belt.
Unfastened, is that right? Yes.
Well, did he leave his seat for some reason? Possibly.
Dad! Help us! Maybe.
When the nose came sharply up before impact, he would have been thrown against the floor and backwards to the tail of the aircraft.
Air traffic control says that, after the initial dive, it levelled out for 60 seconds.
Really? Went into a dive again.
An attempt was made to pull up at 1,000 feet, but, by then, it was too late to rescue the aircraft.
Was autopilot ever engaged? We'll see.
The flight data recorder should tell us.
Hiya.
Anything? No obvious signs of a natural cause of death that would have led to the crash.
Looks like something got spilt on his hands and clothing.
Maybe coffee or tea? You find any cups on the flight deck? I'll check the AAIB records, see what they've catalogued.
Hi.
I've got another body, not directly related to this but Does it have to be now? We've kind of got our work cut out here.
Of course.
I'm just flagging it up.
Because? Commander Reed is asking for you specifically.
OK.
Text me the address.
I'm on my way.
You OK to hold the fort for an hour or so? I'm needed elsewhere.
Sure.
Peter Sachs.
First impressions, he's tilted his head back and shot himself through the roof of the mouth.
Wife didn't see it coming at all.
Wow.
Was she here when he did this? No, she was up in town for the whole day.
Came back and found him.
Oh.
You do realise, right, any pathologist could have handled this? Thomas, will you come with me for a sec? So there are a couple of possible connections to the air crash.
We found this in Peter Sach's browser history.
Hm.
This group have endorsed far-right terrorism.
Miriam Heller and Jonathan Kraft both received death threats.
From this organisation? We're not sure.
It could be a coincidence, except for this.
Peter Sachs was tracking the flight Jun0537, and .
.
he was tracking it in real time.
Wow.
Obviously, we need to check it out, but we want to keep it under wraps until we know more.
OK, I'm with you now.
Just the one shot, I think.
I'll confirm that or otherwise in postmortem.
Mm-hm.
Well, we found a single bullet.
Passed through his head and into the wall.
And the weapon? 1980s handgun, don't know where he got it from.
The serial number's been scratched off.
Check for gunshot residue.
Right or left-handed, do we know? I'll check with the wife.
His wedding ring.
Where's that? Right-handed, yeah.
Is that relevant? I think, at this stage Yes, anything might be relevant.
Um, I was at work, and I got back and he'd locked the garage door and the door from the kitchen through to there, and he'd put a note on it saying not to come in but to call the police.
Siobhan, had he been low in the past? Um he got better.
But then when it came back this time, the melancholy We called it melancholy to try and take the sting out of it.
It was like it was like he needed to get me to love him for it.
Does that make sense? Yeah.
And what caused this melancholy? Was there a reason for it? His mother, she I mean, it's all on file, but I suppose, put simply, you'd say she was abusive, so he struggled to make relationships with women, and when he did, he said he felt trapped.
By you? By your marriage? I'm sorry to ask.
I'm not like his mother, and I think he He had an affair.
A couple of years ago.
He wanted to hurt himself back then, and I think that was his way of doing it.
But you worked it out? Yeah, yeah.
We did.
Yeah, we got to the heart of it .
.
I thought.
Do you mind me asking, did he always wear a wedding ring? Had he taken it off? He'd taken it off?! Peter Sachs, presumed suicide.
Face and head.
Exit wound to the upper occipital region.
Ragged edging.
Bruising to the lips.
Radial tears around the mouth.
We have multiple parallel linear scarring to both inner thighs.
More pronounced on the left.
Appearances of differing ages.
Some scars deep enough to have been sutured.
Top of the left arm also.
Deliberate.
Consistent with self-harm.
Minimal back spatter to the dominant hand.
Yeah, and to the left hand, too.
Not unusual.
Hm.
Fresh scarring on the inside of the left wrist.
Like a smiley shape.
Two eyes and an upturned mouth branded into the skin.
The non-flying pilot - Rowan Cole.
Aged 52.
Multiple injuries.
Lacerations and extensive bruising to the torso and the head.
No marks of external damage to the neck or shoulders.
No seat belt abrasions, unlike the pilot Alex Vitarnen.
Right leg, traumatic amputation below the knee.
No signs of explosive damage to the body.
Right hand, fractured thumb and wrist.
Tears to the palms.
Same on the left hand.
We have marks here.
Burns.
Two eyes and a smiley face.
I think made by a cigarette lighter held to the skin.
Really? I found the same marks on the suicide victim - Peter Sachs.
DI Rosen.
Hi.
It's Thomas Chamberlain.
Look, I thought you should know, both Peter Sachs and the non-flying pilot Rowan Cole have identical cigarette lighter burns to the inside of their left wrists.
So not a coincidence, then? It'd be extraordinary if it was.
I don't know what it means, but it's another connection between them.
Do you think they knew each other? Not that we're aware of.
There's nothing concrete to confirm that.
Maybe there is now.
Hi.
What's going on? Louise can't face coming over here on her own.
Charlie's flying to Washington to be with her so she's asked me to identify Jonathan's body.
Matt It's what I'd like to do.
No.
I promised I would.
And I said no.
This isn't going to be a straightforward ID.
We're going to have to rely on dental records and DNA.
It's not for anybody who loved him.
Come on.
Let's get out of here.
I'll get my stuff.
If it wasn't for Jonathan bringing me over here to run the Embassy, you and I never would have met.
Thank you, Jonathan.
Thank you, my friend.
God, this .
.
this sort of thing kind of brings up some stuff, huh? Like what? You know, the conference in Amsterdam .
.
Jonathan was talking about Syria, and we were there for a couple of years, 2016, on a diplomatic assignment cos I know a lot about Syria .
.
and .
.
that's why I was Why you were? Let's go somewhere else, no? I want to go somewhere else.
Let's go.
What else have you got? London air traffic control tried to communicate with the aircraft, but there was no response.
Is this after the aircraft's initial dive or before? Before.
There was no response from Alex Vitarnen, so my question is, is there anything from his postmortem that could explain that? We're still waiting on toxicology, but, so far, no.
What about the Peter Sachs case? Clarissa, anything on that gun? The exhibits officer is processing it.
Paperwork, eh? The UN's talking about getting refugees back, but there's no water, no electricity, no work.
There's nothing to go home to.
So we should focus on basic infrastructure before we talk about moving people back in numbers or If we can get other countries to do that, then This is before the first loss of altitude? Yeah.
I've time-coded it.
So you want to come see the flight deck? Can I, Mum? There are other files, but they're corrupted, except Ezra! Ezra, are you OK?! So .
.
where was the non-flying pilot during that? Flight deck? Alex Vitarnen had seat harness burns, shoulder and collar bones, but Rowan Cole didn't.
So Cole was, what, on the flight deck but not buckled in, or back in the passenger cabin? Is his voice on the cockpit voice recorder? No, nor Alex Vitarnen's, not for the last 22 minutes of the flight.
Here.
This is what it picked up.
Hey, everything all right? Hey! Open that door! What's going on?! 100, 500, 1,000, 2,500.
Jun0537, London centre.
Climb immediately.
Repeat, immediately.
- Pull up! Pull up! I've been running toxicology on the coffee.
The results, there's caffeine, and this is what's really important - benzodiazepine.
Wow.
OK.
I don't understand.
It's a class of drug used to treat a variety of conditions including seizures.
And anxiety.
I'll see if his bloods are in yet.
Yes, it was present in his blood sample.
0.
3 milligrammes per litre.
That's enough to sedate him, maybe even knock him out.
OK.
OK.
Thank you.
Alex Vitarnen's not registered with a GP in the UK, and his doctor in Finland has no record of him being prescribed anything regularly.
Never a benzodiazepine.
You can buy them on the street easily enough.
He was anxious so he bought meds on the street to treat it? They wouldn't show up on his medical records that way.
And, what, he took them on the flight, got the dosage wrong? Maybe.
All we can say for sure is that he took enough medication to knock himself out - whether by accident or design.
Sorry.
Hey.
How you feeling? I have to go back Washington.
When? Today.
My flight's in four hours.
Really? Yeah.
I don't want to, but I have to.
Are you OK? Yeah.
Oh, my taxi's here, though.
I better go.
I'll call you when I land.
These came from the galley.
Right.
Are these the same kind of mugs that the pilot Alex drank from on the flight deck? Yes.
OK.
He didn't leave the flight deck.
Are we 100% sure of that? There's nothing on the CVR to suggest it, and autopilot wasn't engaged at any time, and Rowan Cole wasn't cleared to fly this trip, so, yeah, Alex would have had to stay on deck.
Now, then.
The coffee.
That was stored somewhere in the passenger cabin, wasn't it? No, the cups and mugs and coffee were all stored in the galley at the rear of the aircraft.
I see.
Before we talk about moving people back in numbers or If we can get other countries to do that, and that's a big if, there's this massive tussle between what's politically expedient and And what's morally right.
Absolutely.
So you want to come see the flight deck? Can I, Mum? Right.
What if Rowan Cole laced the drink, closed and locked the door of the flight deck, just him and Alex in there .
.
and one drugged coffee.
Now, why would a man do that? You all right? Hiya, Mum.
Where've you been? You know where we've been.
I've been worried out my mind.
Don't do this again.
Every time.
Go to your room, darling.
Everything I do.
You know I was just taking her climbing.
Not till this time.
Just pick up the phone, that's all you've got to do.
I can't even walk in my own home without all this.
Just pick up the phone, Kyle.
Communicate! Go to your room.
It's all right, darling.
Listen to your mum.
Go to your room.
Say it.
Say it's my fault.
Say it.
Tommy's not here any more and he's never coming back.
His dad's responsible, yeah? That's what you think? You don't even trust me with Ella any more.
10 minutes late and you're already pulling out your hair.
What do you think I'm going to do - hurt her? Cos I'm a killer? Is that what you think? Go on, say it.
Is that what you think?!Yes.
That's what I think.
It's exactly what I think.
You don't know how right you are.
You don't know the half of what I've done.
What are you talking about? You don't want me here, do you? Just be honest, Kate.
You might as well carry on.
All right.
Do I want you here? Not like this.
No.
Right.
Then I'll go.
I'll find somewhere else.
What are you looking at, darling? Nothing.
Just outside.
Why don't you come downstairs for dinner now? I'm here.
All right? Dad'll be OK.
Hi, this is Matt.
I can't get to the phone.
Please leave a message.
Matt, please, will you give me a call when you get this? Let me know you're OK.
So none of this can be proved.
All we know is that Rowan Cole made coffee.
We don't actually know where he was when the plane came down.
He may have been on the flight deck or he might not.
Toxicology's confirmed that neither Alex Vitarnen or Rowan Cole were affected by an excess of carbon monoxide or any other toxic gas, and no other victim had benzodiazepine in their systems.
So Alex Vitarnen could've been in and out of consciousness, lost control of the aircraft, then wrestled to get it back.
I don't think Alex left the flight deck.
But we know the non-flying pilot Rowan Cole did, and he brought the coffee with him.
So say for a minute he spiked the coffee in the kitchen.
He goes through with the kid to the flight deck, gives Alex the coffee, and he returns the kid to his seat.
On his way back .
.
he closes and locks the door.
Excuse me.
Why would he do that? Because Jonathan Kraft was a far-right target.
Sorry, that was my team.
Rowan Cole was seeing a psychotherapist.
I saw reports of the crash online, but they didn't mention Rowan's name.
He was a private client.
What was he depressed about? This is an ongoing investigation.
No need to worry about patient confidentiality.
Did something trigger his depression? No single incident, no.
Mm, what can I tell you? He lived alone.
Was never married, never had a partner, no children.
He'd spent most of his working life flying around the world.
Living out of hotels so he had no roots.
Nowhere he felt he belonged, and the thing that he did have, his job, was under threat because of his mental health.
He didn't report that.
Did you report the state of his mental health to the authorities? No.
Huh.
I'm not medically trained, so, unfortunately, they wouldn't take my word for it if I did.
So you don't prescribe medication? No.
That's a psychiatrist.
Did he express suicidal thoughts to you? Not to me.
Rowan was driven more by anger than despair.
Mostly at live news updates on his phone that he'd get just to have something to rail at, something other than what he perceived to be his own inadequacies.
Friends? No.
He was entirely disconnected.
Isolated.
Like I said, news and politics.
That was the limit of his regular conversation.
And where would you place him on the political spectrum? Oh, right-wing.
Quite definitely.
Right-wing how? Attila the Hun right-wing? Mussolini right-wing? It's nothing to be flippant about.
I am not being flippant.
No.
I mean Some men don't have clear societal roles any more.
They feel that they're no longer listened to .
.
which leads them sometimes into extreme associations or extreme behaviour.
That anger has to go somewhere.
Sometimes it's directed inwards, an impulse to self-destruct, and other times they look for others like them.
They look outwards.
Online, maybe? Yes.
Did Rowan Cole do that? Did he look for others online? I believe so.
From the things that he said, groups he associated with, yes.
Men like Rowan can be easy prey for extremists.
They're the rallying point for that anger.
They stoke it and give it direction.
And that anger, specifically in terms of Rowan Cole and your sessions with him, that anger was aimed at .
.
politicians? Yes.
You OK? You're not knackered? We were out late.
That's not like you.
Matt's struggling a bit.
Jonathan.
Yeah.
I can't seem to help him.
Alprazolam.
Hm? The type of benzodiazepine in the coffee Alex Vitarnen drank.
It's Alprazolam.
Rowan Cole.
Let's see.
Browser history deleted.
Shall we check out the slack space? We've managed to recover some of Rowan Cole's browsing history.
Sorry.
Hey.
Where are you? I haven't been completely honest with you.
About what? Not honest how? I don't know.
I just feel like I'm in the way.
What are you talking about? You know, our thing is supposed to be fun and easy.
I don't know.
Maybe I just need some time to myself.
I need some time to think Look, I understand you're upset, but please, don't take this out on me.
On us.
That's not fair.
I'll call you when I get home.
What do you mean? Are you? They're boarding the plane.
I have to go.
I'll I'll call you when I get home.
Matt? Hi, this is Matt.
I can't get to the phone.
Please leave a message.
So we have a drugged pilot and a second pilot suspected of spiking his coffee, hm? After which he takes control of the aircraft in order to murder a former US Ambassador.
I don't know.
Plus, we have online activity linking the two events and matching burns, deliberately administered, to both Sachs' and Cole's bodies.
OK, but there's this, too.
I think this is massively significant.
It's also from Rowan Cole's search history.
Somewhere he spent a lot of time.
It's a chatroom for people who struggle with suicidal thoughts.
How many people are on here? Looks like about a dozen regulars who come and go.
They talk about wanting to end their lives.
Not using their real names.
Cole's posting as Ridley33.
So these are all handles? Mm-hm.
Manfred068? Yeah.
Manfred is a frequent poster.
"It is not seen as insane when a fighter, under an attack "that will inevitably lead to his death, chooses to take his own life.
"How is it any different when you are under attack by your own mind?" So he's not just supporting them.
He's actually encouraging them to take their own lives.
Desperate men looking for someone to trust, and he's preying on them.
Can we scroll back to the conversations before the plane came down? Sure.
Yeah, around here.
It's Rowan Cole.
"I want to knock myself out and let my aircraft take me.
" "Do it.
Stop hurting.
" "With you.
" This is incitement to suicide.
Can't the police stop it? Just shut it down! We shut one site down and another one pops up, and the online filters just can't catch everything.
And if you close this chatroom, that's it.
We'll never be able to trace them, and we need to track this guy down.
So who is Manfred? More details have emerged of the passengers onboard the Juno Airlines flight which crashed near Ashwood Airport.
One of them, Jonathan Kraft, was the US ambassador to the UK during the time of President Obama.
He and his fellow passenger, Miriam Heller, were both killed.
The third passenger, Mrs Heller's 11-year-old son, is in hospital.
His condition is said to be critical.
You think it's a good thing he killed himself? Police, please! Manfred's on the move.
People struggle and people recover.
Hi, this is Matt.
I can't get to the phone.
Please leave a message.
Matt, please let me know you're OK.
# Testator silens # Costestes e spiritu Silentium.