No Middle Ground

by Jack Slater

‘Objection, My Lord,’ intoned the defence solicitor. ‘Calling for an answer the witness could only guess at.’

  ‘I know the average height of boys my age,’ Tommy argued. ‘I should do: I get told it often enough at school.’

  ‘Overruled,’ the judge proclaimed. ‘The witness may answer the question.’

  The prosecutor nodded to Tommy.

  ‘Yes, you’re correct, sir.’

  ‘And yet the jury is being asked by the defence to consider the supposition that a boy of your size and weight overpowered girls, at least some of whom where larger than you, and abducted them. Did you, Tommy?’

  Pete noticed the switch from ‘Thomas’ to the diminutive, ‘Tommy,’ and was sure the jury would have, too.

  ‘No, sir. I couldn’t.’

  ‘You couldn’t. Do you mean physically or emotionally, Tommy?’

  ‘Both. I know you’re planning to call Rosie Whitlock. She’s six inches taller than me and a regional tennis player and swimmer. There’s no way I’m stronger than she is.’

  ‘Objection, My Lord. Are we going to start conducting arm-wrestling in court to substantiate these claims?’ demanded the defence.

  ‘Sustained,’ the judge intoned. ‘The prosecution will confine themselves to questions which are factually sustainable.’

  The prosecutor nodded deferentially to the bench. ‘My apologies, My Lord. But, with the court’s indulgence, it is documented that girls of eleven to fourteen years are, on average, stronger than their male counterparts. And we have established both that Tommy, here, is small for his age and that, by his testimony, Rosie Whitlock is a champion tennis player and swimmer in her age group and therefore strong for her age, making it highly unlikely that Tommy could have abducted her. And, as the witness suggested, we will be calling on Miss Whitlock herself in due course.’

  ‘Very well, Mr Abercrombie. Continue.’

  ‘My Lord.’ He turned back to the screen showing Tommy, who had sat quietly observing the exchange. ‘Tommy, were you or were you not involved in the abduction of Rosie Whitlock?’

  ‘Yes, sir, but not willingly. I only participated under threat from Mr Burton.’

  ‘Threat of what, Tommy?’

  ‘The defendant. Look at him. He’s twice my size and he’s a teacher. He knows how to intimidate kids. He’s trained for it. He said he’d hurt me. Did it more than once, too. And he said…’ Tommy took a shuddering breath and dropped his gaze, looking young and vulnerable.

  ‘He said what, Tommy?’ the prosecutor encouraged.

  ‘He said he’d…’ Tommy swallowed audibly. ‘He said he’d take my little sister and do stuff to her. Rape her and stuff.’

  Pete had heard this before, but still he gasped at the horror of it, dimly aware that he was far from the only one in the court room to do so.

  The prosecutor allowed a few seconds for Tommy’s words to sink in with the jury. ‘I’m sorry, Tommy, but you need to be specific here. “And stuff,” is not sufficient, I’m afraid.’

  Tommy looked fiercely into the camera. ‘He said he’d rape her, torture her, make me watch, then kill her.’

  Pete swallowed the bile that had risen suddenly in his throat, a strangled sound emerging from him. He felt a hand on his shoulder and glanced at Colin Underhill, beside him.

  ‘Sorry, Pete,’ Colin muttered. ‘But…’ He shrugged.

  ‘And this is your sister we’re talking about?’ the prosecutor clarified. ‘Who was ten years old at the time, am I correct?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Now, Tommy, my learned colleague on the defence team brought something else up during previous testimony. He pointed out that there was forensic evidence from you found on two of the victims – specifically, the body of Lauren Carter which was found in the river not far from here and on the surviving victim, Rosie Whitlock. Can you explain those discoveries for us, please?’

  ‘My handprints were on Lauren Carter’s neck,’ Tommy said quietly.

  ‘I’m sorry, Tommy, I’m going to have to ask you to speak up for the jury.’

  ‘My handprints were on Lauren’s neck,’ Tommy repeated. ‘As if I’d strangled her. The reason for that was that Mr… The defendant made me put them there, then put his over them to strangle her.’

  ‘Objection, My Lord,’ the defence barrister said, standing quickly. ‘There is no evidence of this.’

  ‘Overruled. Sit down, please, Mr Montague. The witness is here to provide testimony that is, in itself, evidence, as you well know.’

  Montague sat down heavily, shaking his head.

  ‘Continue, please, Tommy,’ the prosecutor encouraged.

  Tommy clenched his jaw, drawing a deep breath through his nose. ‘There was evidence found on Lauren of… Intimate contact between us.’ His eyes widened abruptly. ‘You’ve got to understand, that’s what I was there for. That’s why he wanted me – to film us together, me and the girls. Some sick fantasy that he sold on-line.’

  ‘He sold on-line? In what form, Tommy?’

  ‘Films,’ Tommy repeated as if the man was stupid. ‘Videos. I said – he filmed us.’

  ‘And how did he sell these films?’

  ‘On-line. Through some dark-web site. I don’t know. I just know he made me take them and post them. He’d know if I didn’t because the customers would contact him to ask where they’d got to. I tried it once. Dumped a bundle of them in a skip. He found out and beat the sh… Hell out of me. We couldn’t work for ten days after because of the bruises.’

  ‘When you say work, Tommy, what exactly do you mean by that?’

  ‘Film. He couldn’t film me because the bruises would show up and it would look like I was being forced into it. Like I wasn’t willing.’

  Pete knew that several stills from these movies – the less graphic scenes – had been provided for evidence. He hoped to God the prosecutor wouldn’t bring them to attention now.

  ‘They would demonstrate that you were acting under duress.’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Objection,’ the defence barrister announced. ‘No man or boy can achieve erection without being willing to do so, My Lord.’

  The prosecutor turned quickly towards the defence table. ‘The defence council should stick to facts he knows about, My Lord. We will demonstrate in due course that it is indeed possible for a male to achieve erection unwillingly. Have you never had an impromptu erection, Mr Montague?’

  Sniggers sounded around the big room.

  ‘Mr Abercrombie,’ the judge warned. ‘You will refrain from such childish and personal comments to the opposition bench or be held in contempt.’

  The prosecutor dipped his head deferentially. ‘My Lord. I merely intended to remind my learned colleague that few men have not experienced feelings of arousal at inappropriate or inopportune moments, on occasion. Especially in their youth.’

  The judge stared at him for what seemed like a long moment. ‘Objection overruled,’ he said at last. ‘Continue, Mr Abercrombie, but without the personal remarks, please.’

  ‘My Lord.’ He turned back to the witness stand and the screen behind it. ‘Moving on to other matters for now, we have established that there were at least two victims, one of whom did not survive her ordeal. How many others were there, Tommy?’

  Tommy blinked. ‘As far as I’m aware, three.’

  ‘Three others, apart from the two we’ve discussed?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Tell us about them. Who were they, what happened to them and when?’

  Tommy drew a deep breath. ‘There was a gypsy girl. She was the first I knew of. Not long after I… After I was… With Mr Burton. She was bathing in a stream. We saw her, Mr Burton saw a chance and took it. Took her. She was… He kept her in the barn for about a month. I don’t know what happened to her after that. She just suddenly wasn’t there anymore. Her name was Abby. I don’t know her surname. Then there was another one. I think she was from Bristol. Another man brought her.’

 
; ‘Another man?’ the prosecutor interrupted. ‘So Mr Burton wasn’t working alone? He was part of an organisation, is that what you’re telling us, Tommy?’

  Tommy nodded. ‘Yeah. Yes sir.’

  ‘And do you know who this other man was?’

  ‘I… I can’t say, sir.’

  ‘Can’t or won’t, Tommy?’ The prosecutor’s expression was abruptly stern.

  ‘He made threats when he…’ Tommy stopped.

  ‘When he what, Tommy?’

  ‘He came to see me in the children’s home when I was in there. Conned his way in, pretending to be part of my legal team.’

  ‘At this point, My Lord, the prosecution would like to admit into evidence video footage of that visit to Archways Secure Children’s Home, here in Exeter, along with photographs taken from it.’ He held up a DVD which the court usher took from him along with a file of photographs and placed them before the judge. The red-robed and wigged judge glanced at the photographs and nodded.

  ‘So admitted.’

  ‘Pages twenty-four and twenty-five in the evidence files,’ the judge informed the jury.

  The prosecutor turned back to Tommy’s image on the screen to the right of the judge. ‘And why were you in a secure children’s home, Tommy?’

  Good, Pete thought. The prosecutor was bringing this out in a benign way rather than letting the defence attack him with it.

  ‘I was… I was afraid after I got away from Mr Burton, sir. Afraid that I’d be in trouble, arrested for attacking the girls. So I ran away, sir. Went into hiding. Then, in the spring, I got a job on a fairground and got arrested for carrying the knife I used on the fair.’

  ‘You ran away after you escaped from the defendant and got a job in the spring,’ the prosecutor repeated. ‘That’s a period of six months that you were – what? Living rough?’

  ‘Effectively, yes, sir. I spent some time in a holiday cottage. They tend to be closed up over winter. But I had to move on a few times to avoid getting caught.’

  ‘And all this time you were fearful of being arrested and charged with the crimes that the defendant had forced you into committing?’

  Tommy nodded. ‘And of…’

  ‘Of what, Tommy? Or whom?’

  Tommy pressed his lips together as if refusing to let the words out.

  ‘The witness will answer the question,’ the judge intoned.

  Tommy blinked. ‘Mr… Burton said his name was Adrian Southam,’ he said rapidly.

  ‘This was the man you were afraid of? The man who came to the children’s home? Why did he come to see you, Tommy?’

  ‘To warn me.’

  ‘Of what?’

  ‘To keep quiet. Say nothing or he’d…’

  ‘He’d what, Tommy?’

  ‘He’d harm my family. All of them.’

  ‘Thank you, Tommy. I think we all appreciate how brave it was of you to admit that to the court.’

  ‘Objection, My Lord. Where’s the question?’ the defence piped up.

  ‘Apologies, My Lord,’ the prosecutor acknowledged quickly. ‘But we are all human here, are we not? We have families we’d do anything to protect.’

  Pete saw the defence barrister twitch as if he was going to react to that, but he refrained – as he was required to do by court etiquette.

  ‘Nevertheless, Mr Abercrombie, this court has rules that must be obeyed. Objection sustained.’

  The prosecutor nodded. ‘My Lord.’ He turned back to Tommy on the screen in front of them. ‘Now, where were we?’ He consulted his notes. ‘Ah, yes. A girl from Bristol. What can you tell us about her?’

  CHAPTER NINE

  Abercrombie paced up and down the area between the council’s tables and the judge’s bench for several seconds, thumbs hooked in the copious arm-holes of his black robe, head bowed, grimacing and sucking his teeth as if cross-examining a young boy was the last thing in the world he wanted to do. Then he stopped and faced the screen behind the witness box.

  ‘Thomas, I am the council for the defence. You know what that means, don’t you?’

  ‘You’re there to make sure he gets away with what he did.’

  He shook his head slowly. ‘On the contrary, Thomas, I’m here to ensure that my client doesn’t get convicted of what he didn’t do.’

  ‘Which ain’t much,’ Tommy shot back.

  ‘So you claim. But I put it to you, Thomas, that my client didn’t do most of what he’s charged with in this court today. That, in fact, you did.’

  ‘You can put what you like but you weren’t there, so you don’t know what he put those girls and me through.’

  ‘And that why I’m here, Thomas. To determine exactly what my client’s role was in what happened.’

  ‘What, you want me to believe that?’ Tommy demanded.

  Abercrombie’s cheek twitched. Pete saw it as he felt a swell of pride in his son’s composure and dexterity in answering the defence barrister’s claim.

  ‘It was your finger prints on the neck of the girl who was found dead in the river here in Exeter last November, wasn’t it? Not Mr Burton’s.’

  ‘Objection,’ the prosecutor declared. ‘The witness has already answered and explained that point, My Lord.’

  ‘Sustained. Get to the point, Mr Abercrombie, if you have one.’

  ‘My Lord,’ Abercrombie nodded. ‘Thomas, did you or did you not participate in the abduction of the last and surviving victim, Rosie Whitlock, whose testimony we will hear later?’

  Pete tensed and felt Colin’s meaty hand clamp heavily on his shoulder.

  ‘Unwillingly, yes, I did.’

  Abercrombie nodded. ‘You did. And what part, exactly, did you play in that abduction?’

  Tommy pressed his lips together as his chin began to wobble. A single tear escaped his left eye as he choked, ‘I… I distracted her so Mr Burton could drag her into the back of his van.’

  ‘You stepped out of the van and spoke to her, correct?’

  ‘Yes,’ he whispered.

  ‘Knowing that my client was about to grab her off the street and take her away.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘So, you are as guilty as my client of this crime.’

  Pete growled deep in his throat, straining to get out of his chair as Colin’s hand clamped even tighter on his shoulder, holding him down.

  ‘No,’ Tommy argued. ‘I did it because he made me. I didn’t want to - at all, but especially when I saw who he intended to snatch.’

  ‘A girl who you knew.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Who you’d chatted with, become friendly with over several months.’

  ‘Yes,’ Tommy whispered

  ‘Who, in fact, you’d swum with.’

  ‘Yes.’ More loudly this time.

  ‘Who, in other words, you’d spent considerable time with, semi-clad.’

  ‘Objection, My Lord. The defence is badgering this witness.’

  ‘Sustained. Mr Abercrombie, you are fully aware of the protocols regarding interviewing minors in court and you will comply with them.’

  Abercrombie bowed. ‘Of course, My Lord.’ He turned back to the witness box and the large screen behind it. ‘Thomas, I suggest that over the months that you’d got to know Rosie Whitlock, you’d in fact fantasised about her in the lewd way that teenage boys will and that you fully intended to act out those fantasies. That, in fact, it was your plan, not my client’s, deliberately to target that particular victim.’

  ‘Objection!’ the prosecutor shouted, drowning out Pete’s muttered, ‘Son of a bitch.’

  ‘The defence is blatantly ignoring your previous intervention, My Lord,’ the prosecutor continued, ‘and abusing the witness in a manner clearly in breach of the rules regarding under-age witnesses.’

  ‘Sustained. Mr Abercrombie, you have already been warned. It will not happen again.’

  ‘My humblest apologies, My Lord. I’m merely attempting to pursue the truth of this matter.’

  ‘Then you will do
so in a manner befitting the circumstances of this court, Mr Abercrombie.’

  He bowed once more. ‘Indeed, My Lord. I apologise deeply for the tone I used but, was I not correct in my assertions. Thomas?’

  Tommy stared him down. ‘I thought you were here to ask questions, not make up stories.’

  ‘Thomas,’ the judge warned. ‘This is a court, not a playground. You will answer the questions asked of you and not argue with council.’

  Pete saw the flash of contempt on Tommy’s face that came and went in an instant before he said stiffly, ‘Sir.’ He couldn’t help recalling himself in the station chief’s office on more than one occasion.

  ‘Like father, like son,’ Colin rumbled softly beside him.

  Pete grunted as the defence barrister focussed once more on the judge’s bench.

  ‘I’m sorry, My Lord, but I really need an answer to this question.’

  ‘Then ask it in a manner befitting this court, Mr Abercrombie’

  He nodded. ‘Thomas, did you fully and deliberately intend to abduct and abuse the victim, Rosie Whitlock, as you waited outside Risingbrook School that morning?’

  ‘No,’ Tommy said loudly. ‘It was pure chance that she turned up when she did - at least as far as I knew.’

  ‘Very well. Moving on, then. Although, as you’ve testified, my client was a teacher by profession, he was never your teacher, was he?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘So, how did you become involved with him?’

  ‘Met him in the park one day. He was perving out of his van with a long camera lens at some girls on the play stuff. The slide and merry-go-round and that. I saw him. Challenged him.’

  ‘When you say, “some girls,” can you expand on that?’

  ‘Young girls. Eight, nine, ten years old.’

  ‘How the hell did he get to be a teacher?’ Colin muttered.

  ‘And he was pointing a camera lens at them from a distance?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘CRB checks don’t come with house searches,’ Pete pointed out quietly.

  ‘Taking pictures or just looking? Did you hear the shutter going off?’

  ‘The windows were up. I couldn’t hear. But I saw the shots after. He showed me.’

  ‘But you couldn’t be sure at the time that he was actually taking pictures? Or even that he was looking at the girls rather than, for example, looking for his dog?’