Kingston Bridge

by Ian Todd

  “Why wis it too late? Because Ah wis dumped by Duggie Dougan shortly before Ah wis due tae be married tae him at St George’s Tron Church…”

  “Naw, Ah wisnae aware that Dougan wis married…”

  “Wider consequences fur me and ma family? Ma poor mother, who wis a devout Christian, committed suicide oan the day Ah wis due tae walk doon the aisle wae Dougan…”

  “Ma name’s Samantha Spence and Ah’m aged thirty….”

  “That’s correct. Ah joined the force in March 1966 as a twenty wan year auld…”

  “Ma first ever sexual experience? That wis wae Sergeant Mickey Sherlock, who Ah believe is the current chief inspector ae the serious crime and intelligence section ae Glesga Polis…”

  “Aye, it wis WPC Sally Burke who introduced us...”

  “That’s right. Two months efter starting a relationship wae Sherlock, Ah wis first passed oan tae Sergeant Jing’s Johnston, before he passed me oan tae Sergeant William O’Donnell…”

  “Aye, Ah knew Sergeant O’Donnell wis called Billy Liar within the force…”

  “Efter O’Donnell, Ah ended up falling head over heels in love wae Daddy Jackson…”

  “When wis Ah jilted at the altar? Well, it wisnae really an altar. The wedding wis tae take place at Martha Street Registry Office, doon in John Street. That wid’ve been oan the evening ae Friday the 14th ae July 1967…”

  “How kin Ah remember the exact date? Because efter being gied a dizzy, Ah found oot later that the 14th ae July wis the 10th wedding anniversary ae Daddy Jackson and his wife, who he wis still married tae…”

  “Alice Broon…that’s correct. Ah’m twenty nine years auld. Ah joined the polis force when Ah wis twenty wan in August 1967…”

  “Aye, that’s correct…Ah hid a sexual relationship wae Inspector Bobby Mack fae the murder squad, efter being introduced tae him by WPC Sally Burke…”

  “Only three months. Aye, Ah wis passed oan tae Inspector William O’Donnell, before being shunted in the direction ae Mickey Sherlock….”

  “Efter that? Duggie Dougan…”

  That’s correct. Ah wis raped jist before Christmas in 1968, by Willie Burke efter rejecting his advances…”

  “Ah wis too traumatized tae report it…”

  “Aye, Ah resigned fae the force in January 1969, before spending the next four months in and oot ae psychiatric clinics efter numerous suicide attempts....”

  “Ma name’s Jacqueline Diamond and Ah’m twenty seven years auld. Ah joined the force as a twenty wan year auld in February 1969. Ah’d been a polis cadet since Ah wis eighteen…”

  “Aye, Ah wis introduced by Sergeant Sally Burke tae Inspector Daddy Jackson six weeks efter signing oan the dotted line...”

  “How long? He finished wae me due tae being promoted tae chief inspector, efter the previous chief inspector, Sean Smith, committed suicide…”

  “Ah wis passed aboot o’er an eighteen-month period…”

  “Efter Jackson dumped me, Ah ended up seeing Inspector Colin McGregor, Inspector Bobby Mack, Inspector Jings Johnston, Inspector Mickey Sherlock and then Sally Burke’s brother…Sergeant Willie Burke…”

  “Did Ah believe Ah wis naive? No at the time, bit that’s probably an understatement noo. Ah wis young and Ah’d never hid a boyfriend before Ah joined up…”

  “The rape took place in Sally Burke’s flat, efter everywan at the party disappeared…”

  “Billy Liar…er, Inspector O’Donnell. Ah tried tae stoap him, bit he wis too strong fur me…”

  “It wisnae that long…maybe a week tae ten days, before Ah hid tae go aff oan the sick…”

  “No. Ah resigned fae the force before being discharged fae Dykebar Psychiatric Hospital…”

  “That wid’ve been in July 1972.”

  “Ma name’s Beth Angel and Ah wis thirty years auld oan ma last birthday. Ah joined the City ae Glesga Polis in August 1969 as a twenty four year auld…”

  “Ah hid ma first sexual relationship wae Inspector Duggie Dougan efter being introduced by Sergeant Sally Burke…”

  “It lasted aboot two months…”

  “How many other married inspectors did Ah hiv affairs wae? Efter Dougan, Ah started seeing Mickey Sherlock fur a few weeks before Jings Johnston appeared oan the scene…”

  “Jings Johnston wis part ae the social crowd and wis always pleasant tae me, particularly when Sherlock started tae become verbally and violently abusive towards me…”

  “Efter Johnston dumped me, Ah started gaun oot wae Bobby Mack…”

  “That’s right. It wis at this stage that Ah realised whit wis happening…”

  “Bobby Mack wis trying tae persuade me tae go oot wae Chief Inspector Daddy Jackson…aye, he claimed his wife wis becoming suspicious…”

  “Aye, Jackson hid jist been newly promoted…”

  “Naw, Ah jist resigned withoot telling anywan...”

  “Why? Ah found oot that Ah wis pregnant…”

  “Bobby Mack’s baby…”

  “Ah miscarried the baby.”

  “Aye, Ah tried tae re-join the force. Efter Ah sent in ma application, Ah wis called tae whit Ah believed at the time tae be a selection interview by Inspector Teddy Bare fae personnel…”

  “How did Ah feel? It wis total humiliation, so it wis.”

  “No, it wisnae whit Ah’d expected. Bare informed me that somewan like me widnae be allowed back intae the force. Ah knew by his tone that there wis something gaun oan. He said that the force took a dim view ae wummin like me who hid weans oot ae wedlock tae married men…”

  “Aye, Ah did mention the miscarriage…”

  “No, there wis worse tae come. He actually blamed me fur bringing the force intae disrepute by claiming that it wis people like me that wur causing Mary Whitehoose, the TV campaigner, tae put pressure oan public sector employers like the polis in ensuring people wae low morals didnae get a job…”

  “Ah swear that wis his exact words…

  “How did Ah feel? Ah wis devastated.”

  “Ma name’s Vicky Baker and Ah’m twenty nine…”

  “It wis Sally Burke that introduced me tae…”

  “Duggie Dougan…”

  “Jings Johnston…”

  “Bobby Mack…”

  “Ah resigned fae the force exactly twelve months tae the day fae when Ah’d signed oan the dotted line and taken the pledge ae loyalty tae the Queen…”

  Chapter Forty Five

  “Edward Bare, you have been found guilty, by a majority verdict, of the premeditated murder of your spouse, Lesley Bare, by assaulting her to her severe injury to such an extent that she died from the said assault on route to hospital from the family home at number 35 Annette Street, Govanhill, on Friday the 24th of October 1975. After a trial lasting five days, the jury has found you guilty of murder, despite a cynical attempt to hide behind a sea of lies regarding your true murderous intention that fateful morning. The Crown has successfully argued and the jury has accepted the true reason behind the murder of your wife before a jury of your peers.

  Throughout the course of this trial, I have been deeply disturbed by the revelations of the incompetence, on the one hand, and of the perjury under oath on the other, of certain police officers within Strathclyde police force, particularly amongst the senior police officers who gave evidence for the defence during this trial. The fact that allegations of sexual harassment and assault, made by a significant number of past and present police officers, remained uninvestigated for so long also gives me cause for concern. I find it difficult to believe that the dreadful allegations that have surfaced throughout these proceedings, were not known by some in positions of authority, who could and should have intervened, rather than allow the abuse against young policewomen to continue unchecked for so long. Whether this was due to a lack of oversight, incompetence or collusion, is not for me to make judgment on here today. The scope of this trial was to consider whether Lesley Bare, a dedicated and promising young serving policewomen,
died as a result of a domestic altercation between her and her husband, or as has been proven conclusively, because of a wider conspiracy to silence her after discovering that her husband was a leading participant in a notorious ring of sexually depraved, corrupt police officers. As has been disclosed by her neighbors and colleagues during this trial, Lesley Bare had been the subject of domestic abuse throughout her short marriage, at the hands of a violent, bullying husband. Lesley Bare did not die as a result of a domestic abuse incident in the family home as has been argued by the accused’s legal representative. Lesley Bare died because she discovered, from a colleague and a close friend, that her husband had raped another ex-colleague and was about to be exposed for his involvement in a series of other sexual assaults. At great sacrifice to herself, Mrs Pricilla Presley was prepared to give up her opportunity to confront her abuser in court by withdrawing her earlier allegation of being raped by Edward Bare, in exchange for Lesley Bare agreeing to remove a highly secret and sensitive file from Strathclyde Police’s Crime and Intelligence Section. In exchange for delivering this file, the contents of which we cannot disclose, a trade-off was agreed between the so-called Showgirls and Sergeant Collette James. The reason behind Lesley Bare’s involvement was that it would prove that Collette James was not an undercover police officer. We now know for certain that Lesley agreed to remove the file. Lesley Bare did not destroy Pricilla Presley’s typed statement that formed a significant part of the evidence during this trial, which unfortunately led to her subsequent murder, after her husband discovered it. For those who may point the finger and claim that Lesley Bare, by agreeing to remove the file, was complicit in what eventually happened to her at the hands of her husband, I can only say that desperate measures in desperate times, cause people to do things that in other circumstances, they wouldn’t. I don’t think this court should judge Lesley Bare or Sergeant Collette James’s motives, nor several of the other witnesses who gave evidence in this trial. I am old enough to remember a similar group of women, including my own mother, who took the law into their own hands earlier in this century because they believed, rightly, that those responsible for ensuring justice for all citizens ignored half the population. What Collette James, Lesley Bare, Geraldine Baker and others did was illegal, but who in a similar position wouldn’t also try desperately, using unconventional means, to find justice for a grave wrong, such as has been painfully heard in this courtroom over the past five days. Who wouldn’t try to save what was held dear to them, in this case, Lesley Bare’s marriage? Whilst it is incumbent upon the proper authorities to investigate the involvement of those responsible for planning the removal of the file in question from Pitt Street police office, I would caution those investigators not to rush to judge these women too harshly. What I have concluded is that a thorough investigation into alleged sexual assaults against serving policewomen within Strathclyde Police should be implemented as a matter of urgency by an independent body. Anyone, irrespective of rank, who is found to have engaged in subjecting past and present female officers to intimidation, sexual assault and other forms of violence, should be thoroughly investigated, and if appropriate, feel the full force of the law.

  I would also like to thank the men and women of the jury for their service. I will today recommend that they are not asked to be jurors within their lifetime. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the victims, the ex-policewomen who bravely came forward, despite the hurdles placed in front of them by those within the police force who should have been there to protect them. Without their bravery, the murder of Lesley Bare may have become but a footnote in the history of violence against women in this city. Each and every one of them should be proud of what they have overcome and achieved this week,” Lord Campbell said, o’er the sound ae quiet sobbing, coming fae the ex-poliswummin and their families in the public gallery.

  “I would also like to praise the tenacity of Miss Pearl Campbell, a young journalist embarking on what I hope will be a long and distinguished career in journalism. Without her dogged skills as an investigative journalist, none of the revelations exposed in this trial would have seen the light of day. I believe an investigation into the violent assault against Miss Campbell, by two current serving police sergeants, has already been instigated. I have asked the chief constable for Strathclyde to be kept fully informed on the progress of that investigation. I also understand that Sergeant Collette James is under professional care in a psychiatric hospital due to the pressure she was under whilst carrying out her duties. Sergeant James, despite colluding with the women mentioned earlier, was doing what she believed to be right and in the interests of justice. It seems to me that she was the only one within the police force who refused to accept what had become the norm and because of that, she took decisions into her own hands. I wish Sergeant James a speedy recovery. Have you, Edward Bare, anything to say before you are sentenced?” Lord Campbell asked the prisoner, who wis being held up under each oxter by the two turnkeys in charge ae the dungeons underneath everywan.

  “Bit…bit, this wisnae supposed tae happen, so it wisnae,” Teddy Bare, ex-Elvis impersonator and failed bizzy inspector sobbed, looking aboot fur his QC, John Howdy, who wis last clocked by some auld jakey, hailing a taxi oot oan the wet pavement in the Saltmarket, a few minutes earlier.

  “Edward Bare, after being found guilty of the most serious crime of premeditated murder, this court sentences you to a life term in a maximum security prison. In another period, in another court, I would have had no hesitation in sentencing you to the ultimate sentence. Please take the prisoner down.”

  Chapter Forty Six

  Glenda Metcalfe stood silently under the low wattage bare bulb in the semi-darkness ae the flaked painted room doon in Central, as Superintendent Murdina Munro nodded tae her sergeant skulk tae start bringing the prisoners through. First tae appear, blinking incessantly, the only visible sign that he wis nervous, wis Superintendent Daddy Jackson himsel. She’d never liked him. Too aggressive, she telt hersel, as he wis led across tae the white painted line that ran doon the middle ae the faded, red painted flair. Efter that, the broken spirited bodies started tae appear, wan by wan, in quick succession. The frightened faces, who wur probably viewed at wan time as being the crème de la crème in the toon in some quarters and the maist corrupt gang ae weasels in the history ae the Glesga polis force by others, looked smashed and broken. She watched them, wondering whit wis gaun through their minds, while she waited fur Sally Burke, the pick ae the crop, as far as she wis concerned, tae make her grand entrance. When the time arrived, she didnae disappoint. The sergeant’s screams wur bouncing aff the walls ae the corridor somewhere in the building, while Jackson, Mack, O’Donnell, Johnston, Bare, Sally Burke’s brother, Willie, and Sherlock stood silently, trembling. Bare looked far worse than he hid the day before, being held up, before the hole in the flair ae the dock swallowed him and they turnkey escorts ae his up. Wae the dull thud ae the trapdoor leading doon tae the dungeons ringing in everywan’s ears, she’d sighed wae relief, knowing fine well that the bad auld days ae The Irish Brigade wur o’er. A new dawn wis fast approaching. The trial ae the remaining two polismen, in the shape ae Paddy McPhee, aka The Stalker, and Sergeant Dave McGovern, alang wae Wan-bob Broon and Charlie Hastie, in two days time, wid herald in a new chapter ae law enforcement in The Dirty City. The evidence against them wis overwhelming, despite the initial concern that John The Haun wis threatening tae retract his agreement tae testify against Broon and Hastie under Queen’s Evidence. Cleopatra hid informed her earlier that he’d change his mind and wis noo willing tae testify. He’d been warned that if he didnae, then he’d be hit wae a string ae charges as long as his erm. She glanced up fae the charge sheets she wis clutching in her haun. Sally Burke’s current journey wis aboot tae be concluded before a new wan started. It wis a shocking sight. She looked deranged. She wis being carried, a Highland polisman oan each ae her two legs and erms, still struggling, facing doon towards the flair. While she couldnae
quite see her full face fur the tangled hair hinging doon, maist ae the occupants in the building upstairs in their offices, wid be able tae hear her screaming and wailing, pleading her innocence. Efter being placed at the end ae the line, she wis the only wan ae them tae be cuffed by the wrists, held up by two ae Cleopatra’s burly skulks. She looked doon at the typed sheets in her haun again. She’d been working oan the charges days before the start ae Teddy Bare’s trial, in anticipation ae them being arrested at its conclusion. Graham hid been right. Pearl Campbell hid been the key that hid unlocked the floodgates. Withoot her determination, the row ae people staunin in front ae her, looking miserable, widnae hiv been there. Fur supposedly being at the tap ae their game, they wur actually a stupid bunch, foolishly believing they could enter the witness stand, in front ae a jury and somehow talk Teddy Bare oot ae a murder conviction, based oan their past service tae the ungrateful citizens ae the city. There wur fifty eight separate charges, ranging fae sexual harassment, sexual assault, aggravated rape, serious assault and perverting the course ae justice, amongst others.

  “I think that’s us, Glenda,” Cleopatra purred, a wee smile breaking oot fae between they wine coloured lips ae hers, as she stubbed her wee slim Panatela cigar oot intae the ashtray on the desk behind her.

  “Here you go, Superintendent,” she replied, haunin o’er the charge sheets, refusing tae reciprocate the informality, no surprised or bothered at seeing the slits ae they snake’s eyes slice through her.

  Chapter Forty Seven

  6.00 AM

  “Goooood morning tae aw you sleepy heids oot there, still recovering fae Valentine’s Day oan Saturday, on this driech Monday morning, the 16th ae February. That wis ‘Roadrunner’ by The Modern Lovers, a song originally written by Jonathan Richman back in the day, when Ah used tae send masel hauf a dozen valentine’s cards, tae impress aw ma mates and when a joint wisnae something yer wee maw slung intae the back ae the oven oan a Sunday efternoon. Ha! Ha! Ma name’s Jumping Jake Flasher, and ye’re listening tae Radio Clydeside oan medium wave, two-five-wan and ninety-five-point-two FM. Right then, if, like me, ye received sackfuls ae Valentines cards oan Saturday morning, this next bit isnae fur you. If you or any ae yer pals goat slung a deafy oan Saturday morning and didnae receive a card, flowers or a box ae chocolates, then Ah want tae hear fae youse. Gie’s a wee bell oan 041 331 4278, and Ah’ll call oot you or their name, live oan air, tae cheer them up, by playing them a wee tune and maybe send them a wee box ae oot ae date Cadbury’s Milk Tray chocolates that’s been hinging aboot the studios fur a while noo. And oan that last wee twang ae the guitar, Ah’ll jist haun ye across tae Mr Traffic Jam himsel and find oot who’s upsetting everywan by trying tae be the first ae the hunner and twenty thousand cars that’ll be racing across the Kingston Bridge before everywan else this morning,”