by Abi Silver
‘And that’s what these cars do, when they’re driving. And just like you can’t tell me which bit of your brain got all fired up and which bit powered down, to make those words come out the way they did, I can’t do that with Mr Salisbury’s car either. But that’s OK, isn’t it? I mean, why do we want something better from a car than from a human being?’
Constance congratulated herself. This was good and confirmed everything Greg had told her. And Juan was a compelling witness, so the jury should be following it. She looked up at Judge Wilson and saw he was making detailed notes; probably a good sign.
‘In your view, then, using your knowledge and, given that you viewed the EDR from Mr Salisbury’s car, are you able to say why the car did not slow down, of its own accord?’
Juan shrugged and opened his hands wide.
‘Like I’ve just explained, I can’t tell you for sure. I’ve read Mr Abrams’ report. There’s lots of things we can exclude, things we know didn’t happen. My best guess, based on my knowledge of these vehicles, is that it couldn’t read the sign properly. I don’t know why. It’s a standard sign. Sometimes light has an impact. There’s been a lot of work on what happens when these cars go in and out of tunnels.
‘Just like humans, it takes the sensors time to readjust to different light settings. Maybe the height of the sensors was important. But the car performed sensibly, cautiously, as it has been set up to do. It knew there was a problem and it invited the driver to take control. So the backup worked correctly. It was then down to the driver to take over in time, if he could.’
‘Thank you, Mr Herrera. That’s all I wanted to ask. Your honour, I will withdraw my application for the trial to be adjourned, based on Mr Herrera’s testimony, but I do wish it to be recorded that there is a question mark over the authenticity of the data, to which I will make reference in closing.’
‘Very well. Thank you, Mr Herrera. You are free to go. Tomorrow 9.30 please.’
***
Constance caught up with Toby at the end of the day and led him along one of the quieter corridors. As they walked side by side, Martine appeared, hurrying in the opposite direction, her eyes lingering on Toby’s angst-ridden face, before she rushed off. Toby stopped and watched her, until she had disappeared from sight. Constance sat down on the nearest bench and waited for him to follow.
‘What can I do to help?’ Toby asked, finally sitting next to her, crossing and uncrossing his legs, his face unnaturally flushed.
‘You didn’t want to speak to Martine?’ Constance asked him.
‘She was in a hurry, probably wants to see James.’
‘Hm. Probably. There are a couple of things I think you can help us with.’
‘Juan was good, wasn’t he? Explaining about the cars and the EDR?’
‘Yes. He was a very convincing witness. I wanted to ask you about Cinderella?’
Toby crossed his legs again.
‘It’s one of our projects, the main one I suppose. Trying to get on the government list. I’m not sure what it has to do with any of this.’
‘And you have meetings?’
‘James has had meetings for as long as I can remember, but the project goes back about five years, since the government was serious about autonomous vehicles. The government organised for car manufacturers to have access to lots of specialists: engineers, energy companies, design, communication. But James set up a project group: just him, someone from insurance, a cyclist organisation and a government man.’
‘And the government man is called Peter Mears?’
‘Yes.’
‘Are he and James friends?’
‘You’d have to ask James. I know James meets him for coffee sometimes, or they go out. I went to the last Cinderella meeting, on the day James was arrested.’
‘Why do you think Peter is in court?’
‘Probably to hear what James has to say. At that meeting, James wanted to know if SEDA would be on the list, and Peter wanted him to say the accident was definitely his fault, before he would agree.’
‘And what did James say?’
‘That he couldn’t say that yet.’
‘Do you have notes of that meeting?’
‘Yes.’
‘Can you send them to me?’
‘If James agrees, yes.’
‘And why do you call it Cinderella?’
Toby stood up to go.
‘It’s just a name,’ he said. ‘Can I go? Juan’s probably waiting. I said I’d share a taxi home with him.’
‘One more question,’ Constance said, ‘then you can go.’
65
‘WHERE WERE you last night? I tried calling you lots.’ Judith and Constance were cosseted in the smallest room, just behind the stairs leading to one of the courts, the following morning.
‘I had a drink at a wine bar near Bow. You should try it some time. They have a happy hour that lasts all night on Tuesdays.’
‘Don’t you usually wait till the end of the trial to have a drink?’
‘But this was for a good cause.’
‘And which cause was that?’
‘The “get your own back on Celia Mansome” cause.’
‘What?’ Judith stopped tidying her papers.
‘I had a drink with Sarah, my counterpart, the prosecution solicitor. She told me a few interesting things about Celia.’
‘Connie, I’m not sure…’
‘We were just old friends, sharing a few experiences. She told me that they were asked to advise on whether to go for corporate manslaughter too, you know, join SEDA into the trial – belt and braces and all that.’
‘I thought they must have some killer point against James, although they haven’t disclosed anything that seems remotely fatal.’
‘They never did. Just the expert report. Sarah said that she and Celia talked it over and they were agreed that it would be sensible to add SEDA and the companies which had manufactured all the major parts too. That way, at least, someone would be found guilty. It was the best way for the Laytons to get resolution.’
‘What happened?’
‘She said Celia called her late that evening and said she’d changed her mind. She thought it better to focus on James, that it looked like they were more confident of a conviction.’
‘It’s a valid point and the same one Judge Wilson made in court. I can see that if a jury was given the choice, they might prefer to blame the company in a case like this. And even I’ve been known to change my mind.’
‘I know that. But Sarah also said that, immediately after their meeting, Celia had been going to the Department of Transport. She knew because she asked Sarah to get her a cab, and Celia forwarded her diary entry to show the address. And guess who her meeting was with?’
‘I have no idea? Should I know?’
‘Peter Mears. The man you told me to investigate. The man who’s been in court this week.’
‘So you are assuming something Peter said made her change her mind and decide to just focus on James. She won’t have liked that, not one bit! Why do you think your friend told you this?’
‘I think she’s seriously pissed off. This is a huge case for her, her first really big one. And everyone thinks she advised them not to prosecute SEDA. If James walks, she’ll take the blame.’
‘You think she wanted you to do something about it?’
‘What can we do? I think it was more she wanted me to know she wasn’t an idiot. She shouldn’t have told me, of course. But the bucks fizz slipped down really easily.’
‘I did think I got away with a lot of questions yesterday without Celia objecting. Maybe she wanted to give me the floor to reveal information to enable her to build a new case against SEDA once this is all over. Well, that’s not our business, although James won’t thank us for it.’
‘What a
bout building a case against the Department of Transport, diverting things from SEDA?’
‘And how might we do that?’
‘When we first met, James told us that SEDA had been working on making their cars stronger. Do you remember?’
‘Vaguely. Clearly you do.’
‘I found a useful article online last night about super-reinforced cars. It might give James another line of defence, and it clearly shifts the focus onto whoever authorised it. I asked Toby about it yesterday too, and he gave me some more background.’
Judith leaned back against the wall.
‘I’ll take a look,’ she said. ‘And, naturally, I have to tread very carefully with Celia and not mislead her in any way, however attractive a proposition that may be. I don’t know who’s been teaching you, but clearly you’ve listened hard.’
‘Thanks.’ Constance beamed. ‘Can you spare me for a couple of hours this morning again, do you think?’
‘If I must. You know it’s better if you’re behind me, keeping me on the straight and narrow.’
‘It’s important. I’ve just got the CCTV through from Dawson and I think there might be something there we can use.’
66
THE DEFENCE began with two medical doctors. Dr Pamela Edwards, consultant neurologist, testified that James had sustained a mild traumatic brain injury, which appeared to have been caused by impact with the headrest and the steering wheel. She explained that, even at 36mph, the effect of coming to a sudden stop was equivalent to being hit on the head by a 10kg weight.
James had also broken two ribs; a consequence, she believed, of not wearing the seat belt properly. Her view was that James had leaned over to the passenger seat or the back of the car and, in doing so, had pushed the belt down, so that it did not restrict his upper body. She had seen this a few times before and it would account for the broken ribs and the relatively severe head injury for a low speed crash, with the airbag having been deployed. Other than that, James’ physical injuries were minor – just cuts and bruises.
She also confirmed that concussion could lead to memory loss, if certain areas of the brain were affected. Alternatively, and if James began to remember parts of what happened, that tended to support a traumatic loss of memory. With trauma, James’ brain still retained knowledge of past events, she opined, but he was being prevented from accessing that knowledge. It was not possible to be certain which of these diagnoses was correct or, if the latter, whether he would ever access those memories.
Dr Ian Branston, consultant psychiatrist, confirmed that traumatic events could certainly lead to problems recalling past events lasting for weeks, months or sometimes years, even without serious brain injury. When cross-examined by Celia, he accepted it was possible to feign amnesia but, in his expert opinion, concluded James was not shamming.
***
Judith prepared herself for James to be sworn in. Her eyes scoured the public gallery. Toby was not in court this morning, but Peter shuffled in after the doctors had finished, this time seating himself in the penultimate row. Martine was there as usual, and Neil and Therese Layton. She was about to switch off her phone, when she received a message from Constance.
You need to get James to talk about the trolley problem, it said. I’ve found something!
Judith looked around her for inspiration. She understood the message, but getting a textbook ethical and theoretical dilemma into James’ testimony could be difficult with a stickler like Celia on the other side. If only she could persuade Celia to allow her to do it, she was certain Judge Wilson would be interested. And it was an example the jury would understand too. But Celia was never going to do anything to jeopardise the prosecution case or help James.
She took a deep breath, switched off her phone and thrust it deep into her pocket, closing her eyes to try to shut out the background shuffling and coughing and murmuring, and really focus.
‘Some people might say it was a mistake to have kept the parameters of the trial so narrow.’ She leaned over and spoke quietly to Celia, when Celia returned to her seat.
‘What?’ Celia said.
‘Not me, of course. But they might question whether it was prudent to have let SEDA off the hook so easily.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘And the others, the manufacturers. When James walks, those same people will be asking who could have possibly given such ill-considered legal advice. You know how people are with hindsight.’
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Celia glanced around her, but her solicitor had also disappeared at the end of the doctors’ testimony and not yet returned.
‘I understand you have to say that. Don’t worry,’ Judith said. ‘But I can see now why you’ve let me go on so much about SEDA and its product, when you said you wouldn’t.’
‘Perhaps you persuaded me with your fabulous rhetoric.’
‘I doubt that. Here’s the olive branch. It’s up to you whether you take it or not.’
‘Olive branch?’
‘James isn’t going down for this. There are more and more uncertainties. You won’t get a conviction.’
‘I don’t agree but do go on.’
‘He’s up next. I’m going to get him to address a few, incidental things about his cars. It will help you with the fallout, afterwards, when he’s acquitted.’
‘And what “incidental things” are these?’
‘He’ll mention advanced safety features when he answers my questions. You’ll be able to use it, at the appropriate time, to divert attention from your own shortcomings. It will allow you to pass the buck along to one of your favourite people, should you wish to do so.’ As she spoke Judith turned and stared at Peter, in the public gallery, and Celia followed her gaze.
‘You have nothing to lose,’ Judith continued. ‘James’s not going to prison anyway.’
‘And what do you want in return?’
‘Nothing. I’m just giving you a heads-up of where I will be going with James.’
‘Why would you want to help me out?’
Judith looked at Peter again. This time he was scratching enthusiastically underneath his armpit.
‘Old times’ sake?’ she said.
67
JAMES CUT an imposing figure in the witness box; tall and immaculately turned out. He resembled the head of a major financial institution, rather than a car manufacturer. Celia certainly appeared impressed, as she fussed with her collar while he was sworn in.
‘Mr Salisbury. I think it would assist all of us, please, if you would take a couple of minutes to explain a little about your company, SEDA. Can you do that please?’ Judith began.
‘Certainly. SEDA is the company I built from scratch. It’s an acronym for Self Drive Autonomy. I began the company seventeen years ago, working from home and now we have manufacturing centres in six countries and we employ a hundred and fifty staff.’
‘And your product, what is it?’
‘An autonomous vehicle. We only build autonomous vehicles. We have focused on cars so far, although we have the intention to diversify in the future into taxis, vans, buses and lorries.’
‘And you are not the only autonomous vehicle manufacturer in the UK?’
‘No. We have many competitors who want to sell their products here, although we are the only British-owned company manufacturing here.’
‘And what’s your USP?’
‘Our safety record. Before this accident, we had never had any incident, not even a minor bump, in more than 600,000 miles of road-testing.’
‘I see.’
‘We have added a number of safety features to our cabin. And we are very good value for money, too.’
‘You’re mass-market rather than high-end?’
‘Yes.’
‘Is it correct that the government is
, almost as we speak, working on new legislation which will regulate a number of issues regarding autonomous vehicles?’
‘Yes, that’s correct.’
‘Covering a range of things, from charging stations to power these cars, to insurance, to hacking controls, to whether certain road signs will need changing?’
‘Yes.’
‘But that, attached to that legislation, there will be a list of car manufacturers whose cars are authorised on our roads?’
‘Yes.’
‘And when will that list be published?’
‘It was supposed to be coming out in October, but I heard recently it will not be before March.’
‘So, it should have been October last year, around the time of the awful, tragic accident which forms the basis for today’s proceedings, but now it’s been postponed some six months. Do you know why?’
‘Why it’s been delayed? You’d have to ask someone in the Department of Transport.’ James’ eyes ranged over Judith’s head to take in the area in which Peter was sitting.
Judith turned the page of her notebook and paused for a moment before moving on to the issue she had canvassed with Celia.
‘Mr Salisbury, the injuries sustained by Mrs Layton and her children were severe relative to the speed at which your car was travelling. Why do you think that was the case?’
‘Your honour. Mr Salisbury is a witness of fact; his opinion is not valuable here.’ Celia, lying in wait for this line of questioning, had leaped to her feet.
‘I’ll rephrase the question to ensure Mr Salisbury sticks to the facts. Are there any particular features of your cars in general, or this car in particular, which might have compounded the severity of the injuries suffered by the children and Mrs Layton?’
James’ eyes flitted towards Celia before returning to Judith.
‘We have some advanced safety elements,’ he said.
‘Can you elaborate?’
‘SEDA was asked by the Department for Transport to develop a number of advanced safety elements, focusing on passenger safety. This project was known as Hercules. The flipside is that there is a correspondingly greater impact on external factors.’
