Silent Witness (1996) s23e05 Episode Script

1 PA SYSTEM: Trains into Central London have been suspended due to an incident on the track.
We apologise for any delay.
Hi.
Yeah, it's Thomas.
There's a problem on the line.
Will I get the boot? Thanks.
Thank you.
You know what I hate the most? Oh, come on, Jack, you know these are impossible questions.
It's the smell.
/fo That acrid smell that just hangs in the air, gets in your clothes and your skin.
I thought you were going to say war or famine you know, discrimination, stuff you can't wash away.
Maybe "most" was a step too far.
Here.
Thanks.
Lot of traffic through here.
CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS No handbag or mobile phone? No.
Bugger! Whoa, whoa, whoa! This is a crime scene, fella! Thank God for that! I'm in the right place.
Cassandra, I am stuck! Who are you? I'm in charge.
This is my support worker.
God bless Access To Work! Yes, I know.
She's gorgeous.
Let's try and be professional.
Detective Inspector Sid Clarke.
Nikki Alexander, hi.
Hello.
/ Does anyone know who the dead woman is? Hello.
Cat! Come in, come in.
Robbie, coming in? Is Jenny here? No.
She didn't turn up to collect Cat after school and she's not answering her phone.
I don't know where she is.
You'll let me know, won't you, if she turns up here? Testator silens Costestes e spiritu Silentium Testator silens PUNCHING AND GRUNTING She's drunk.
She falls.
Her body lands on the conductor rail.
BAM! And you think she was drunk because you found the gin bottle? I don't know.
I think she smelled like alcohol.
Alcohol doesn't smell, Jack.
You know that.
Alcohol breath - that sickly, sweet, horrible smell, I think you're referring to.
That's the one.
Exactly.
Alcohol breath requires that she be breathing - which she was not.
OK.
You may be right.
May be? Nikki checking blood alcohol? Yes.
On the list.
Do we know who she is yet? No.
No ID on the body.
Ran her fingerprints.
Didn't have a criminal record.
The gin bottle was a prop, Jack.
And you know that because? Of my crystal ball.
That's what I thought.
There's no DNA on the mouth of the bottle.
She didn't swig from the bottle.
And there's no thumbprint.
Sorry? Four good clean fingerprints on one side of the bottle No thumbprint on the other side.
No thumbprint? She falls five metres onto the tracks.
Electrocutes herself.
Partly consumed bottle of gin next to the body.
Not broken.
Just lying there screaming at us, "She fell cos she was drunk.
" Why do you do that? What? Hit things.
I've been hitting things for awhile.
You only asking that now?! It's only started to piss me off now.
Oh, really? It's satisfying.
Is the big bag The heavy bag.
Is the big, heavy bag meant to be a body? I guess, yeah.
So, it's satisfying to hit a body? Yeah.
Why? You're damaged.
Electric burns on the lateral aspect of the upper chest and right breast.
No evidence of vital reaction.
Electrical burns of the lateral aspect of the right upper arm .
.
and the lateral aspect of the right lower leg.
No evidence of vital reaction.
CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS Forensics.
Thanks.
WOMAN, FAINTLY: .
.
18, 19, 20.
Coming, Nikki, ready or not!/f Safe! Mummy, I'm safe.
Thermal pattern injury consistent with a cigarette burn in three distinct places on the right side of the deceased's body.
Hello, Dee, I'm home.
Hello, love.
Have you heard anything? No.
She'll be OK, girl.
She will, she'll turn up.
You know what she's like.
She's always been headstrong, ain't she? You never could control her.
Remember that time she went missing before? Yeah? She came back, didn't she? Eh? Come here.
Just try not to worry.
Did he do something to her? Robbie.
What? Did he? I was going to call the police but then I thought, maybe she was here with you.
Maybe she didn't want to be found.
I'm sorry, but I really can't help you.
But I think you should call the police.
And if I hear from her I'll ask her to let you know she's OK.
Thank you.
Excuse me? You're Jenny's mum? Yeah.
Have you heard from he Do you know where she is? We were meant to meet for a drink, but she didn't show up and she hasn't called.
I'm Tina.
She told me to come to you if anything ever happened.
Not to her husband, not to her dad.
To you.
HAS something happened? I don't know.
Come on through.
Thanks, Cassandra.
Missing person, they circulated a description and a photo and it ended up with me.
And because I'm so exceptionally brilliant at maths I put two and two together and We come in all shapes and sizes.
And the "we" in that remark referred to? It's OK, Clarissa.
He's with me.
Why would that make it OK, Thomas? The "we" refers to us.
You and me.
The two obviously disabled people in chairs.
Detective Inspector Sid Clarke.
Injured in the line of duty.
Clarissa Mullery.
Injured in the line of gestation.
Clarissa is one of our forensic specialists.
Yeah? You must be like one of those boffins that make everybody else look stupid, right? That's my goal in life.
And you're the kind of guy that makes everyone else look smart? I am totally into you.
How's your shoulder? My shoulder's fine.
You sure? You must get tired carrying that chip around all day.
I'd love to stay and chat more but I've got to go look at a dead person.
The taxpayer actually pays you? Yeah, but not much.
Cos I'm a crip.
Same? Ah, we ought to Yeah.
Of course.
Um the dead await.
Totally into you, Clarissa! Met Clarke, then.
Interesting guy.
For a cop.
We think her name's Jenny Shaw.
Do we know cause of death? Dr Alexander's yet to complete.
Rupture of the right tympanic membrane.
Ruptured eardrum.
/fo Zygomatic bruising.
Are you playing hide and seek with Daddy? Yes, my darling.
/f We have to be very, very quiet.
Nikki? Customer's coming to pick it up, five o'clock, for the MOT.
Good man.
PHONE RINGS Hello, Collyer's.
Yeah.
Ah I'm so sorry, Mr Shaw, but we've found a body.
We believe it may be your wife.
No! No, no! Please! What happened? We're not certain.
Do you know where she was going on the night she died? She said that she was meeting friends.
Who were the friends? She said girlfriends.
I don't I don't I don't really know.
I'm sorry.
Could your wife have been drinking before she joined up with her friends? Yeah.
Yes.
Yeah.
It's pregaming.
You know? It's cheaper.
Did your wife have a problem with drinking? She drank a bit, yeah.
Maybe a little too much sometimes.
Why? We think she might have fallen.
We're just trying to understand why that might have happened.
You got any idea who would have done this to her? We don't k if anybody else was involved, it could have been an accident.
font color="#00ff00" I've let him know.
Did he tell you? Did he say anything?/fo He didn't say nothing to you, did he? He didn't tell you, did he? She went to a women's refuge .
.
a few months ago.
To get away from him.
Cat? Cat, darling.
I didn't hear you arrive.
Come in.
Come here.
This is my granddaughter, Cat.
Is it bad? We were having a kind of reunion, sort of thing.
She'd gone back to her husband.
We hadn't seen her for a while.
We like to try and support each other, make sure we're OK.
Why wouldn't she be OK? Sorry, you know what this place is, yeah? A women's REFUGE.
The women who come here are not OK.
We are broken.
We need somewhere safe to try and mend.
Jenny was broken? Jenny is dead.
Was there actually gin in the gin bottle found at the scene? You've tested it? Yeah.
Of course we've tested it.
Why?/fo Blood tests.
She hadn't been drinking.
Really? Yeah.
So, why would there have been a gin bottle at the scene next to the body? Coincidence? It had fingerprints on one side of the bottle but no thumbprint.
I don't know.
To make it look like she'd been drinking? A prop? A prop?! Prop, Jack.
Both girls were ill, Your Honour.
I had to keep them home from school.
Had to take a day off work.
I called him.
That's just not true.
It is true, Pete.
You never even bothered to call me back.
You never once called to see how they were.
You wouldn't take my calls.
I've got a note from the GP and a note from their school.
She prevents me from seeing my girls.
Yes, I want to stay focused on the issue at hand.
Were your daughters ill on the weekend of the 16th when they should have been with their father? The court gave you an instruction.
And the court expects you to follow it.
Can you tell me why you didn't? I'm afraid of what he might do to them.
I mean, this isn't This just isn't right.
My girls are afraid.
We've spoken about this.
There is no evidence of violence towards the children.
They saw what he did to me.
I didn't do anything to you! Or indeed any evidence of anything that they could reasonably be frightened of.
You know what gaslighting is, sir? There don't have to be any marks, any bruises you can see, not on the outside.
You are? Cheryl Wilkes.
I'm her McKenzie Friend.
Miss Wilkes.
Mrs Harcourt, I'm inclined to favour evidence over accusation.
I'm concerned this is an example of Parental Alienation.
Mr Harcourt is their father and he is under intense scrutiny from both Social Services and this court.
The fear you say they feel, I believe, is of your construction.
Rather than making your daughters fearful, you need to explain to them that there is nothing to be afraid of.
And I want you to have that conversation with them, under supervision, so that I can be confident it has been done.
If you prevent contact between your daughters and their father again, you will go to jail.
How am I meant to do what that judge ordered? Am I meant to put them in danger? What if he does something? How can I live with that? Do they supervise it? When the girls visit him, like, it's supervised, yeah? When I was a kid, that's what they used to do.
He wants everyone to think I'm crazy, that's what this is.
It's my job to protect them.
Yeah, course.
That's what a good mother does.
Hey! What are you doing here? Checking on you.
And Tina's girls were missing me.
Everything good? Yeah, cou Brilliant! Owen? Good as gold.
font color="#ffffff" I'm off.
Love you.
Love you.
Girls? Yeah? Cheryl's leaving.
Come say goodbye.
Bye! Bye-bye! Thanks for today.
See you later.
See ya.
KIDS: Bye! Right, girls, come on, let's go to the park.
They don't believe you.
You know that, yeah? Not a word.
You leave us alone.
They know you're making it up, telling stories.
They know what you're doing.
Stay away from us! You're not going to take my girls, Tina.
You're not fit to look after them, are you? You're not well.
You need to get some help.
Poppy! Daisy! Come on, girls.
Going to go home, OK? All right? You OK? Yeah.
font c OK.
Ah, Detective Superintendent.
Donald.
Sorry I'm late.
Good to see you again, Thomas! Good grief.
Lansing! Chris Lansing! How are you? Chambers! Chambers! Haven't been called that since I was at We were in the same house together.
Partum futuri principes.
You were a prefect, as I recall.
He still is! Ha-ha! Very good HE MUTTERS I understand the Home Office thinks extremely highly of you.
Really? They never tell me.
More important that they tell oth Thank you.
Have a good evening, gentlemen.
I believe we need to find a way to get you on the candidates list.
Preferably a safe seat! That's the Holy Grail, isn't it? Always good to help a friend.
This is lovely.
You've not been before? There's a group of us, we have a regular lunch here at the club and solve all the problems of the world.
Perhaps you'd like to join us for tomorrow's lunch? Sounds great.
Excellent, excellent.
Well, look, I must rush.
Cheerio, Chambers.
Come on.
I'll give you the tour.
RAP MUSIC PLAYS Yeah, man Ah! Whoo! You carry it.
Put it in your bag.
Here's the address.
I'll meet you there.
I'm not doing this.
Babe, babe, babe.
Yeah, you are, OK? OK? Hey! You feel me? Do you feel me? Come on, babe, you know they won't stop ya.
Babe, we've just got to get this done, yeah? Then we can spend some you-and-me time together.
But we just gotta get this done.
You know I love ya.
Kiss me.
I love ya.
I love ya, babe.
Come on, kiss me.
Kiss me We'll do a search.
Stay still.
Stay still.
Stay still.
No! No! Come on.
Why you making me do this?! Please, no! There are signs of trauma to the tissue around the anus and vagina consistent with forced penetration.
Can I see her chest X-rays, please? Recent and historic rib fractures.
What happened? You surprised me, Niks.
Sorry.
I fell down.
How? Tripped over a step.
You need to be more careful, Mummy.
Yes.
Yes, I do.
We'll look at the histology.
SHE EXHALES Lucie's gone? Yeah, she left this morning.
She seemed positive.
In good spirits.
It's today Jade's released from prison.
DOORBELL BUZZES Visitor? Mm.
I know I'm meant to call, but I've got nowhere else to go.
Can I stay here? Please? Of course you can.
Cheryl! Oh, my God! Come on.
CHERYL SOBS GATE BUZZES AND UNLOCKS Come here! Oh, I love you, baby! Oh! I love you so much! Let's go.
Yeah? So, where are we staying? Thomas? Petechial haemorrhages in both eyes.
Yeah, they can become more evident over time after death.
The histology shows no evidence of inflammatory reaction on the skin at the site of electric shock.
I think that the injury was postmortem.
She didn't die of electrocution? We think she was dead before she arrived on the tracks.
There's no evidence of cardiac arrhythmia.
There's petechial haemorrhaging in her eyes.
The injuries on her face and head were antemortem.
Zygomatic fractures on the right side of her face suggest that the blow came from the attacker's left side moving to the right.
The attacker is likely to be left-handed.
How did she die? I think that she was beaten and then suffocated.
Pieces of thin plastic Low-density polyethylene, ten micrometres thick.
.
.
were found in the deceased's mouth between the lower incisors and canines.
Clingfilm? fo It's likely that clingfilm was used to wrap her face and head to suffocate her.
Someone kills her and throws her on the tracks.
Presumably hoping the next train would destroy any evidence.
Body hits the rails, the electric rail arcs, and the power is turned off before the next train arrives.
Have we collected DNA from the women she was going to meet? The things he says, I never know what he's going to do.
He changes into somebody I don't know.
Why do I do this to myself? Why? I thought he was going to kill me, Tina.
Jenny's dead.
Of course.
What else was going to happen? KNOCK ON DOOR How are you feeling? Could you come downstairs when you're ready? Thank you.
Stops us chasing our tail.
You should see the other guy.
INDISTINCT CHATTER AND LAUGHTER No jokes.
Awful jokes! Oh! You should let it grow.
You think? Long.
Like a cowgirl.
You'll fancy me more, yeah? That would be impossible.
You been with anyone else while I've been away? Course not.
You lying to me? No.
Course not.
I'd kill myself if I found out you were cheating on me.
Don't talk like that.
I'm sorry I hurt you.
Before.
I'm so I know.
It's because I love you.
Course.
That's all it is.
It's love.
Sometimes love makes you do things.
Nikki? The Detective Inspector wants to do a formal ID with the deceased's husband.
Her husband? Yeah.
Is that a problem? I'll see the body's prepared.
Here she is now.
Dr Alexander.
This is Robbie Shaw.
Follow me.
That's her.
That's Jenny.
Take your time.
How guilty is he? I don't decide guilt or innocence.
You're not hiding your warm feelings towards him.
You're never crying for the dead, are you? You're crying for yourself.
Remorse? Loss? The inability to make things better or different? The realisation of finality.
All right? Thank you.
Come on.
I need to speak to Cat.
I mean, there's always that hope, isn't there, that maybe there's a mistake or something.
Sure.
fon Do I get a funeral director to come and get her? I need to ask Jenny's parents whether or not they, um You know, whether or not they want a church service.
So when can I bury her? The coroner will decide when the body can be released.
I'll get the coroner's officer to get in touch with you and they can talk through the details.
I'm sorry for your loss.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Who's Cat? That's his daughter.
He has a daughter? Yeah.
font c I don't know, 13, 14.
Is she OK? Appears to be.
Social Services are aware.
Does she have anyone else? I believe she's close to her grandparents.
You'd like to see him locked up forever, wouldn't you? Forever might not be long enough.
You've seen what we've got from the postmortem on Jenny.
Forensically speaking, that's all we have.
Is there anything that ties him to his wife's murder? Statistics? There's no CCTV coverage.
We don't know where she was murdered.
No.
If she was murdered elsewhere, her body would have to be transported to where it was found.
Robbie Shaw doesn't have a car.
Co-conspirator? Is there any evidence that points to one? Negative.
How many minutes are there between trains? Eight minutes.
/fo We have an eight-minute window when Jenny Shaw's body arrived on the tracks.
Do we know Robbie Shaw's movements? Yeah, he was at work, then he went home, went to his wife's parents with his daughter.
Then he returned home to wait for her.
And his mobile? Verifies his movements.
Doesn't place him near the scene? No.
Do we have any evidence that gives us a reasonable prospect of a conviction? She'd gone to a women's refuge.
Then she went home.
She went back to him.
On average, a woman leaves an abusive relationship seven times before she leaves for good.
We have evidence of historic abuse.
Thermal pattern injury consistent with a cigarette burn.
Rupture of the right tympanic membrane.
Zygomatic complex fractures and bruising, historic broken ribs, soft-tissue trauma around the anus and vagina consistent with forced penetration.
These are injuries commonly associated with domestic abuse.
If you are capable of hurting your wife like this, you are capable of killing her.
Is that it? That's all you got? If we put everybody who was CAPABLE of murder inside, we'd never be able to build enough prisons.
Uxoricide.
/font That's what it's called when a man kills his wife.
Eight women a month in England and Wales are victims of uxoricide.
55% of murdered women are killed by their husband or partner - current or ex.
But she always goes back.
I mean, six years ago, the police were involved, but she refused to pursue a prosecution.
You can pursue one this time.
She's not here to stop you.
Mr Shaw, we're sorry to disturb you, but we think foul play may have been involved with your wife's death.
What do you mean "foul play"? Well, we think she may have b We need to search your house and collect some DNA.
It's just not a very convenient time right now.
I mean, can you come back later? No.
This is a search warrant.
This is your copy.
Shall we do the DNA swabs first? Very simple to do.
We'll be able to eliminate you from our investigation.
Stops us chasing our tails.
Open wide.
What are you expecting to find? We try not to have any expectations.
PHONE RINGS Clarissa? Clothing and shoes.
Make sure you check them.
/font OK, good call.
I'll do that.
Look for blood spatter.
And grass stains from the area by the railway track.
The grass there was so long it's bound to have transferred material - grass seeds and pollen grains.
OK.
Is that everything? For now.
See you later.
Bye.
Clarke? QUIETLY: Beats his wife up, cuts her face, breaks her cheekbone, bloodies her nose.
Blood sprays.
Body falls.
He cleans up but you can never get all the blood.
QUIETLY: It's a good story.
Better story if you can prove it You pass it on like a disease.
Made Jenny think it was normal.
What did you say? Nothing.
I didn't say anything.
What do you mean? Nothing.
Tell me.
I don't mean anything.
PHONE RINGS RINGING STOPS PHONE BEEPS PHONE RINGS Got us a present.
Come on.
You love me.
You love me, though, don't you? You love me.
Wait, wait, ah! Oh, my God.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Oh, no.
You So, have you got any money? I don't know.
Some.
Enough to get us some gear? Well, come on.
A little welcome home party? Come on.
Bovine.
Hm? It's not human blood.
It's cow blood.
Bugger.
It's a kitchen.
Food gets dropped.
Blood gets spattered.
Not LDPE.
It's PVDC.
It's not the same clingfilm that you found in Jenny Shaw's mouth.
Was there anything on his clothing? His shoes? Nothing found.
Have we been able to independently verify/fon what he was actually wearing on the night? No.
Not yet.
/font Have you checked his workplace for anything? INDISTINCT CONVERSATION DOORBELL BUZZES Hello? We're from Social Services to see Mrs Harcourt.
/font OK.
Girls.
Come sit by Mummy for a sec.
You OK? Come in.
Through there.
You know Mummy loves you.
More than anything.
Anything.
But Mummy's not perfect.
Sometimes she makes mistakes.
Sometimes she does things that aren't right.
Things that she wishes she hadn't had to.
I hope you can forgive Mummy for the things she's done wrong.
It's OK, sweetheart, it's OK.
It's OK.
I want you to know that I will always believe you.
No matter what.
Do you understand? So when you go and see your dad I don't want to see Dad.
.
.
there's no need to be afraid of him.
OK? Nothing to be afraid of.
Be good.
OK, girls.
Shall we go and see your father? No, no! Mummy! You have to go, darling, you have to go.
/font Go, go! Come on.
No.
That's it.
We're just going away for a little while, OK? Decide which of your teddies you want to bring.
I want to bring them all.
You can't bring them all.
But I want to.
You can't.
MAN: Carol? I'm home.
You can't! SHE SOBS SOBBING AMPLIFIES AND ECHOES Working? Yeah, yeah.
What are you doing here? Nothing.
Reflecting on things that were right in front of me but I didn't see.
Maybe you don't need to see everything.
Maybe that's how you protect yourself.
Aren't the things you don't see more terrifying? I don't know.
Night.
Night, Nikki.
CAR ALARM CHIRPS Is it you? Are you the one who's been telling them that I killed my wife? I didn't kill her.
There must be something wrong with you.
You must be out of your mind.
Oi! I didn't kill her.
Night, sweetheart.
Night, Mum.
Love you.
Goodnight.
Goodnight.
Auntie Cheryl, and me! Goodnight.
Sweet dreams.
Who's going to protect Cat? We can't do everything, can we? Cat! Come on, we've got to get going.
Cat! Cat! Come on, you're going to be late.
Get your bag.
You got everything, yeah? KNOCK ON DOOR It's Tina.
I just wanted to I just wanted to say, it's not my place but you need to look after Cat.
Just get her away from him.
Get her to your house.
I'm not saying anything, I'm not accusing.
It's just .
.
you gotta look after her.
Donna? Donna.
Did you fall down the stairs? Tripped on a step.
Did your husband do this? The daughter always marries the father, doesn't she? OK, let's assume it was Robbie Shaw, yeah? Do we think he killed her in the spot the body was found? It's possible but there's nothing that would make me think so.
Blood at the scene? Her facial wounds would have produced significant blood spatter.
We looked.
Found nothing.
Sniffer dogs found nothing.
I don't think the attack happened where we found the body.
But she could have been asphyxiated there? Yes.
The manner in which I believe she was asphyxiated would have caused little to no spatter.
So, assaults her elsewhere.
Transports Pushes her onto the tracks.
He doesn't have a car.
He could have borrowed, hired or stolen a car.
Do we have anything that directly connects Robbie Shaw and her death? Other than he's abused his wife? Look, if we can't find any evidence, maybe that tells us something.
It certainly tell us something, I'm just not sure if it tells us something about him or us.
The historic wounds, her NHS records, the women's refuge, they create a narrative that's entirely consistent with domestic abuse.
There's reasonable suspicion.
Arrest him.
I can arrest him but we won't convict him.
/font Arrest him.
If he's innocent, we'll let him go and I'll blame you.
That sounds like a plan.
SCHOOL BELL RINGS KIDS CHATTER Thanks, Gran.
Nice of you.
You stay with me tonight.
Jack, the plastic you collected from Robbie Shaw's workplace, Kano Storage Solutions, it matches.
Low-density polyethylene, ten micrometres thick.
Same type of plastic that Nikki found in Jenny Shaw's mouth.
Yeah.
Robbie Shaw murders her in the storage unit and transports her in one of the vans to the place where her body was found.
Police! Cassandra, let's do our duty.
Clear! Have your officers search the house for an assailant and then leave.
Tell them not to touch anything.
We're in a crime scene.
Testator silens Costestes e spiritu Silentium.