Queen of Green (Queen of Green Trilogy Book 1)
Page 56
Upon arrival at the prison infirmary, the resident physician, Dr Richard Holbrook, conducted a perfunctory health check on Reynolds, including blood tests to determine the cause of her illness. Dr Holbrook’s notes from this preliminary examination stated that Reynolds’ symptoms were consistent with abdominal pain. Initial results of the blood tests indicated a low level of oestrogen and a deficiency in iron levels.
Given the death of Reynolds’ mother from cervical cancer at the age of 39, and the high genetic likelihood of this disease being inherited by female offspring, Dr Holbrook made the decision to send Reynolds to the nearby Addlestone Hospital in Archway, North London, so that further tests could be conducted to ascertain Reynolds’ illness.
Reynolds was then taken to a waiting prison ambulance. She was accompanied by two female prison guards and was handcuffed to one of them. She was placed onto the ambulance gurney where the guard then attached Reynolds’ handcuffs to the side of the gurney. The guards accompanied Reynolds in the ambulance, which was escorted by two prison vehicles, one in front of the ambulance and one following. The convoy left HMP Holloway at approximately 1.46pm, travelling northwards on Parkhurst Road and then turning onto the A1 road, heading towards Addlestone Hospital, a 15-minute road journey from the prison.
At approximately 1.52pm, the vehicle convoy stopped at a set of traffic lights at the junction of the A1 road and St John’s Way, on the Archway roundabout. Eyewitness accounts taken from the prison guards and pedestrians in the vicinity reported that three vehicles – a Transit van, a BMW 3 and an Audi 4 – suddenly emerged from Giesbach Road and sped towards the ambulance convoy.
The BMW 3 was driven at high speed into the lead escort vehicle, crashing into it with great force and ramming it off the road. The prison guards in the ambulance driver’s cab, and eyewitnesses nearby, reported that four men then exited the BMW 3, all wearing crash helmets, balaclavas, bulletproof vests and carrying firearms. The four men forced the prison guards in the lead escort vehicle to surrender their weapons and lie facedown in the road.
At the same time, the Audi 4 rammed the trailing escort vehicle, shunting it onto the pavement. Five men, again wearing helmets, balaclavas, body armour and carrying firearms, then exited the Audi 4 and forced the prison guards in the rear vehicle to lie facedown in the road. Several of the prison guards involved in the crashes had suffered injuries, including concussion and lacerations to the head, caused by the shattering of vehicle windscreens and windows upon crash impact.
At 1.53pm, the prison guards inside the ambulance – the two with Reynolds and the two in the driver’s cab of the ambulance – radioed for help, contacting both Police and prison authorities to alert them of the situation. At the same time, witnesses reported that six men bearing firearms exited the Transit van and circled the ambulance, with two of the men pointing firearms at the prison guards in the driver’s cabin. Warnings were shouted by the men to the prison guards inside the ambulance that they were to cease radio communication immediately or risk death.
Witness statements taken from the prison guards and nearby pedestrians reported that several of the men spoke with what sounded like Liverpool accents, while others spoke with Irish accents. One pedestrian eyewitness stated that at least two of the men spoke to each other in what sounded like Spanish.
Inside the ambulance, the two prison guards accompanying Reynolds reported that she ordered them to unlock her handcuffs. Her exact words were: “Take these off now. Do it or they will kill all of you. Trust me, love, I’m not worth dying for.”
A prison guard then unlocked the handcuffs, fearful that her life and those of her colleagues would be in danger. At this point, the rear doors of the ambulance were opened by the men outside. Three men brandishing shotguns then entered the ambulance and forced the prison guards into the rear corner of the ambulance.
At 1.54pm, the prison guards inside the ambulance reported that one of the masked men turned to Reynolds and addressed her. The guards reported that the man spoke with what sounded like a Liverpool accent. His exact words to Reynolds were: “Come on, short arse. Let’s do a dusty, eh?”
The man then helped Reynolds off the ambulance gurney and carried her out of the ambulance, immediately followed by the other two assailants who closed the doors of the ambulance behind them.
Eyewitnesses accounts reported that Reynolds and seven men then entered the Transit van, which proceeded to leave the scene at high speed. The remaining eight men then ran into Giesbach Street, where they are believed to have entered into two vehicles, thought to be a Mitsubishi Subaru and a Lexus, and also left the scene at high speed.
Although Police and prison authorities were on the scene themselves less than a minute later, the assailants were not located, despite Police patrols being immediately dispatched in the surrounding areas. It is believed that the assailants swapped their vehicles for others to avoid being detected by Police or stopped by ad-hoc Police roadblocks which were set up on the main arterial roads out of North London in the minutes following the incident.
Despite all Police forces in the UK being alerted to Reynolds’ escape, neither Reynolds, the assailants nor the vehicles involved in the escape were located. Although all UK airports, sea ports, main rail stations (including the Eurostar terminals at Waterloo, Ashford and Ebbsfleet) and border control personnel were put on high alert in the event of Reynolds attempting to leave the country, she was not located. Law enforcement authorities are unsure as to whether she left the UK, although privately they concede that she could have slipped out of the country by other means, such as a private sea vessel or plane.
All hospitals in the UK were also put on alert in case Reynolds attempted to seek treatment for her illness, but again, she was not located. Neither law enforcement officials nor the prison officials who attended to Reynolds can confirm if she was indeed suffering some form of illness, or whether it was a ruse to assist her escape.
In the aftermath, amid intense media outrage at the audacity of Reynolds’ escape, both the governor of HMP Holloway and Dr Richard Holbrook were subjected to investigations by the Home Office and the General Medical Council respectively, although both were subsequently cleared and did not face any sanctions. However, both the governor and Dr Holbrook voluntarily left their positions not long afterwards. The prison guards who accompanied Reynolds in the ambulance were also subjected to disciplinary procedures by the Prison Service for dereliction of duty, although both were also subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing.
The current whereabouts of Alison Reynolds are unknown.
Given the nature of Reynolds’ escape and my previous meetings with her, I was questioned by Police and prison authorities to ascertain whether any of her disclosures during our meetings had hinted at a possible escape. At no point was I considered a suspect or an accomplice to her escape, rather as someone who had an insight into Reynolds’ state of mind in the run-up to the escape.
I gave the Police and prison authorities my full cooperation, although I was at pains to point out that Reynolds’ disclosures, my subsequent transcripts and the tape recordings from our meetings were held under the guardianship of her legal representatives and that I could not compel them to release any of the information she had given me. Upon completion of my questioning by Police and prison authorities, I was released without charge and no further action was taken against me.
On the morning of Thursday, 3rd of February 2000, my doorbell rang. Upon opening my door, I discovered an A3-sized brown envelope lying on my doormat. There was no sign of who had left it there. The package did not have any markings that might have indicated its origin.
Upon opening the envelope, I found the contents to include several handwritten diary entries from Reynolds herself. There were also several photographs, two VHS videocassettes and confidential documents pertaining to Reynolds’ case, her conviction and subsequent appeals, along with other documents. These documents came from a range of official and unofficial sources. I am not at liberty to disclos
e the nature or the specific contents of these documents, nor can I disclose which individuals were in the videos or photographs.
Also within the envelope was a handwritten letter. The contents of this letter read:
Hiya,
By the time you get this, it should be a new century. A belated happy new year to you. Hope you had a good one. I reckon most people are only just getting over their hangovers by now.
Anyway…needless to say, I don’t live in London any more. Obviously I can’t reveal exactly where I am. Let’s just say I’m in a place that may or may not have an extradition treaty with the UK.
I’m sorry if you got a hard time over it. You know what the busies are like. I know and you know that you had nothing to do with it.
So there’s a load of bumpf in the envelope that you should have a look at. Everything I told you can be backed up with what I’ve sent you. You know me, I like to do my research. Some of the photographs are proper nasty and I’m sorry that you have to see them, but they are necessary for you to see. I told you the truth and they are the proof.
Do not show any of the stuff in the envelope to anyone just yet. Trust me, you need to sit on this and not tell anyone about it right now. I mean it – wedge it up your metaphorical arse and keep it there. You’ll know when to do the big reveal. All in good time. Until then, guard this stuff with your life. Keep it safe and hidden. I don’t think I need to tell you just how explosive it all is. I’d also advise you to make copies and stash them in various safe places just in case someone wants to have a mooch round your flat. Bloody burglars, eh? Can’t be too careful.
Anyway…I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for coming to see me. It couldn’t have been easy for you, knowing what you told me. I appreciate it.
Thank you for listening to me. Thank you for hearing my side of the story. I never wanted anyone’s pity or sympathy. I never wanted everyone to hear me. I just wanted someone to understand me. You did, and I can’t thank you enough for that.
Hope you don’t mind, but I’ve also included some stuff that I wrote down after our meetings which I thought might be helpful. It was weird – after our first meeting, I went back to my cell and everything just started replaying in my mind. And I just got this mad urge to write everything down. I guess because I’ve bottled everything up for so long, I got talking to you, and I just wanted to let it all out. I know we covered fuckloads in our meetings, but I began recalling all these tiny details and events. Feelings too. Wasn’t expecting that.
And I wasn’t expecting our meetings to be so interesting. I actually enjoyed them. Began to look forward to them, you know. You’ve got a bit of a gob on you yourself, haven’t you? It was fun to have someone to take the piss with. I’ll miss that, and I’ll miss you.
Anyway…it’s time for us to go our separate ways. I wish you all of the success in the world in your career and in whatever you choose to do in life. You’re proper sound, you are. You’re a good egg and I know you’ll go on to bigger and better things.
Take it easy, love
A x
P.S. I still reckon you and I would have been good mates on the outside. Maybe we’ll meet up in a parallel universe sometime. I’ll keep an eye out for you. x
Also included in the package was an unmarked CD. On top of the CD case was a yellow Post-It note. The handwritten message on the note simply said:
CHOON!
A x
I placed the CD in my hi-fi system and pressed ‘play’.
The CD contained a song by the Liverpool band ‘The La’s’.
The song is called Way Out.
THE END.
AUTHOR’S NOTES
If you’ve made it this far, that means that you have bought and read my book in its entirety. By doing that, you have helped to fulfil my childhood ambition to write a book one day and have someone read it, even if it’s just one person who does so. Thank you, whoever you are.
A massive thank you to my lot – my family and friends. You know who you are. I love you all to bits. Thank you for always standing with me.
Nice one. Cheers x
Email: verooneyuk@gmail.com
Twitter: @VERooney
Table of Contents
PART ONE
1. PLANTING THE SEEDLING
2. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
3. POLLINATION
4. THE FLOWERING STAGE
5. THE BUDDING STAGE
6. HARVESTING
PART TWO
7. MISSION STATEMENT
8. COMPANY BACKGROUND
9. RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
10. HUMAN RESOURCES
11. PRE-LAUNCH PREPARATION
12. SEED FUNDING
13. OPERATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE
14. PRODUCT TESTING
15. MARKETING
16. MANUFACTURING CAPACITY
17. ACCOUNTS & BOOK-KEEPING
18. COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
19. HOSTILE TAKEOVER
20. INDUCTION
21. PROBATIONARY PERIOD
22. COMPANY MEETING
23. PROJECT MANAGEMENT
24. NETWORKING
25. TEST RUN
26. RISK ASSESSMENT
27. CAPITAL EXPANSION
28. BRANDING
29. INSIDER TRADING
30. DIVERSIFICATION
31. LOGISTICS
32. SILENT PARTNERS
PART THREE
33. COMMUNION
34. PENITENCE
35. FLAGELLATION
36. REDEMPTION
37. CONFESSION
THE AFTERMATH
AUTHOR’S NOTES