Unconvicted

by Olly Jarvis

  ‘Mr James,’ Jack began, ‘You run a youth training programme for young offenders, teaching car mechanics?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Gary Dixon was one of your apprentices, was he not?’

  ‘He was,’ Jammer replied with a wistful sigh.

  ‘What was your assessment of him?’

  ‘He was – is – a good kid. He’s had a tough childhood. Neglect, abuse – but the apprenticeship changed him, gave him focus.’ Jammer gazed over at the defendant in the dock. ‘He wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that.’

  Hornby smirked at the witness’s naïvety.

  ‘So he was a good student?’

  ‘The best. He had a job lined up, and he was determined to make a life for himself.’

  ‘Then he got arrested?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Were you disappointed with Gary?’

  ‘I couldn’t understand it. He wouldn’t rob that bloke, not with so much to lose.’

  ‘You’re fully aware of the allegations, Mr James?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You helped Gary get a lawyer, and even let him stay with you while he awaited trial.’

  ‘That’s right. Takes a lot to make me give up on one of my lads, ’ he replied, directing his answer to the jury.

  Her Honour smiled approvingly at the witness.

  ‘Were you surprised to learn that it was Arthur Ross’s house that had allegedly been burgled?’

  Jarred, Jammer turned to look at Jack. His face tightened. ‘Was I surprised?’

  Lara pulled Jack’s gown and moved her laptop forward so Jack could see the screen.

  Things were starting to make sense.

  ‘Yes,’ said Jack matter-of-factly. ‘Because you knew that address, didn’t you?’

  ‘Knew it?’

  ‘I’m confused, Mr Kowalski,’ interrupted the judge. ‘I thought Mr James was a character witness?’

  ‘He is, Your Honour, but there are one or two other matters I would like to ask him about.’

  ‘Mr Hornby, any objection?’

  None the wiser, Jack’s opponent decided to see where this was going. ‘No, Your Honour.’

  ‘You knew the address, didn’t you?’ Jack repeated.

  Jammer’s eyes flitted about the courtroom, searching for a way to answer the question. ‘Why do you say that?’

  ‘Well, you lived there, didn’t you?’

  Frozen, at first Jammer didn’t reply. ‘Did I?’

  ‘It would appear so,’ said Jack, handing the usher the piece of paper they’d found the night before. ‘This is a receipt for payment of rent twenty years ago. You lodged at Arthur Ross’s house.’ The usher crossed the courtroom and handed the document to the judge, then took it over to the witness. ‘Can you see your name, Donovan James, on the receipt?’

  Holding it in his hand, Jammer appeared to scrutinize the contents. ‘Where did you get this?’

  ‘Mr Ross’s house.’ Jack replied. ‘Now, are you going to answer my question?’

  Jammer glanced at Dixon in the dock. Gary was becoming agitated. ‘I must’ve done. It was a long time ago, I moved around a lot, stayed in loads o’ places.’

  Jack continued: ‘And do you remember staying at this one?’

  Jammer didn’t answer.

  ‘You’re under oath, Mr James.’

  ‘It does ring a bell – now you mention it.’

  Jack picked up Lara’s laptop and read from the screen: ‘There was a Post Office robbery in Burnage at about the time you were living at Mr Ross’s address. Do you—’

  Dixon jumped out of his seat and shouted: ‘I want to speak to my barrister.’

  ‘Mr Kowalski?’ asked the judge.

  Jack knew his duty to the client meant he had to ask for time to take instructions, but if he didn’t finish the cross-examination he might never get another chance. ‘Just a few more questions, Your Honour.’ Ignoring the judge’s surprise, he quickly refocused. ‘Do you know anything about that robbery, Mr James?’

  ‘What robbery?’

  ‘Surely you remember, you and several others were arrested for it? The case was eventually dropped, primarily because the police couldn’t find the money.’

  ‘I was brought in for a lot of things back then.’

  Jack leaned over the lectern and said in a slow, deliberate voice: ‘You will remember this one – because you buried the money under Arthur Ross’s patio. Didn’t you?’

  Jammer’s shoulders slumped. He looked at Dixon, then at the judge. ‘Do I have to answer that, Your Honour?’

  The judge sighed. ‘Not if the reply might incriminate you, Mr James.’

  Hornby’s face was a picture of confusion, flitting from Jack to the witness and back again.

  Dixon stood up again, leaned over the dock rail and announced: ‘I want to plead guilty.’

  ‘Hold on, Mr Dixon,’ ordered the judge. ‘Mr Kowalski, I’m adjourning for a few minutes so you can take instructions.’

  Reluctantly, Jack had to agree.

  ‘I’ve had enough of this,’ Jammer announced to the court. ‘I was supposed to be a character witness,’ he said, walking down the steps and out of the box.

  ‘Just a minute, Mr James,’ Her Honour said. ‘You’re in the middle of giving evidence, you’ll have to remain there for the time being. You cannot speak to anyone until your evidence is complete.’

  Jammer hovered for a moment before stepping back into the box.

  ‘Members of the jury, please go with the usher, I’ll rise.’

  Chapter 66

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me you were gonna do that?’ demanded Dixon once they were in the conference room.

  ‘Calm down, Gary,’ said Lara. ‘He’s got to do what’s in your best interest.’

  ‘You should’ve told me.’

  ‘Jammer sent you round there to get his money,’ said Jack. ‘Was it buried there all those years?’

  ‘I’m changing my plea and you can’t stop me, the trial’s over,’ Dixon replied, jutting out his chin, only inches from Jack’s face.’

  Jack wouldn’t be intimidated. They were in his arena now. ‘Why are you protecting him?’ he asked as the door burst open.

  Jermaine Dixon stood in the doorway. ‘Tell him, Gary.’

  Gary tried to silence his brother with a look.

  ‘Tell me what?’ Jack asked.

  ‘He loves him,’ Jermaine replied with a sneer. ‘Don’t you, bro?’

  Stillness as Jermaine’s words sank in.

  Jack sat down and took off his wig. ‘So that’s what this is all about?’

  Gary slumped, resigned to his secret being out.

  Lara gently pushed him down onto a chair. ‘Why didn’t you tell us any of this?’

  ‘I ain’t no grass.’

  ‘I been tellin’ ya,’ said Jermaine, this time sympathetically. ‘Jammer let you take dis solo, keep ’im mouth shut. That ain’t love. All dat born again crap.’

  ‘Piss off Jermaine, you know nothin’ about it. I’m pleadin’ guilty – so you can’t ask ’im no more questions.’

  ‘Wake up, boy,’ Jeramine barked. ‘Did you see Jammer tryin’ to help you just then? He was only thinking ’bout ’imself.’

  ‘Are you really going to throw your life away for Jammer?’ said Lara, sitting down next to her client. ‘Just answer me this – did you hit Arthur Ross?’

  Gary fiddled with the drawstrings on his tracksuit bottoms.

  ‘Answer her,’ ordered his brother.

  ‘Gary?’ Lara persisted.

  Eventually, a slow shake of his head. ‘No. I never touched ’im.’

  ‘One more question,’ said Jack. ‘Why did you go to the house?’

  They waited for a response.

  ‘To get the money.’

  That was the reply Jack had hoped for. ‘Here’s the deal,’ said Jack. ‘I’ll stand Jammer down if you go in the box?’

  ‘But then I’ll be dobbin’ him in?’

/>   ‘No,’ Jack replied. ‘If they arrest him for the Post Office job, or for this, they’ve got no case without you as a witness. What you say today isn’t evidence against Jammer – he’s not on trial.’

  Gary turned to Lara for confirmation.

  ‘He’s right. It’s up to you whether you make a statement if they nick him.’

  ‘This trial is just about you,’ said Jack. ‘Forget Jammer.’

  Still unconvinced: ‘You can’t stop Hornby asking him stuff, though?’

  ‘Why would he?’ Jack replied. ‘He doesn’t know where it’s going, why take the risk? His case is this: was a straightforward burglary and you tried to bury Arthur Ross after you hit him.’ Jack understood how Hornby’s mind worked. ‘Look, he just wants to win. He thinks you’re not going in the box. He’d happily go straight to speeches.’

  ‘I need to speak to Jammer.’

  ‘You can’t,’ Jack replied firmly. ‘He’s still in the box.’

  They waited for Gary to think it over.

  Jermaine joined them around the table. ‘Won’t he still have to plead to the burglary?’

  ‘Not yet,’ Jack replied. ‘Let’s see what Gary says in the box.’

  Lara glanced over at Jack with a quizzical expression.

  They just had to trust him.

  Jermaine put an arm around his younger brother’s shoulder. ‘What d’ya say, bro?’

  He got up. ‘All right, I’ll do it.’

  Chapter 67

  ‘All rise!’

  Donovan James was still in the witness box, twitching in anticipation.

  Her Honour Judge Beddingfield bowed and took her seat. ‘Are you ready to continue, Mr Kowalski?’

  ‘I am, Your Honour. I have no further questions for Mr James.’

  ‘Really?’ Her surprise was shared by the jury and Hornby. Jammer blinked skywards, as if a prayer had been answered.

  ‘Any cross-examination, Mr Hornby?’

  For once, the dapper advocate was lost for words. ‘Err.’ He turned instinctively to the CPS lawyer sitting behind him. No reaction. Hornby would have to decide.

  Jack held his breath.

  ‘No questions, Your Honour.’

  Relief – Jack had kept his part of the bargain.

  Jammer left the box to sit in the public gallery, avoiding eye contact with his old friend, PC Khan, whose expression was a mixture of shock and disappointment.

  ‘Your Honour, I wish to call the defendant.’

  Hornby was back on his feet. ‘He’s had his chance, Your Honour.’

  ‘He’s only eighteen, Your Honour,’ Jack submitted. ‘He’s had time to think, and perhaps he had been taking advice from the wrong people.’

  Judge Beddingfield studied the young man in the dock. ‘I’ll allow it. I think we’d all like to hear what he’s got to say.’

  Murmurs from the jury signaled their approval of the ruling.

  Gary Dixon made his way from the dock to the witness box with the lumbering gait of an adolescent. The usher attempted to hand him the Bible.

  ‘I don’t believe in all that,’ he muttered, stealing a sideways glance at Jammer.

  ‘Let him affirm,’ Her Honour directed.

  ‘Repeat after me,’ instructed the usher. ‘I do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm…’

  Stumbling over the words, Dixon repeated the affirmation.

  ‘That the evidence I shall give shall be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’

  Dixon got through it, then looked anxiously over at his counsel.

  Jack took the defendant slowly through the preliminaries, settling him in before reaching the part everyone in the courtroom had been waiting for. ‘Did you go to Arthur Ross’s house on the date alleged by the prosecution?’

  A pause. Then: ‘Yes.’

  ‘Please direct your answers at the jury, not at me, Mr Dixon,’ Jack asked his client.

  He swiveled his body forty-five degrees. ‘Yes, I went there.’

  ‘Were you invited?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘How did you get in?’

  ‘Picked the lock on the front door – an old Yale.’

  ‘Was anyone in the house?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Why that house?’

  Dixon took a deep breath. ‘I was told there was a load of cash buried under the patio.’

  ‘How much?’

  ‘Twenty grand.’

  ‘Who told you it was there?’

  No reply.

  ‘Who told you it was there?’ Jack repeated more forcefully.

  Just louder than a whisper: ‘Jammer.’

  ‘You mean Donovan James?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Did he say how he knew it was there?’

  Dixon looked over at Jammer. ‘Said he used to live there. He hid it after a Post Office blag twenty years ago, to wait for the heat to die down.’

  ‘He never went back to get it?’

  ‘No, he said he’d turned to God. Didn’t want it no more.’

  ‘Until a few months ago?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘What made him change his mind?’

  ‘We were gonna leave Manchester. Fresh start.’

  The courtroom was captivated by the defendant’s account.

  ‘Why leave?’

  ‘Jammer said people would never accept us in Longsight – as a couple – and they were beginning to suspect.’

  ‘People?’

  ‘His people. His church.’

  ‘So you were in a relationship?’

  ‘I thought we were.’

  Jack could sense that Jammer’s manipulation was beginning to dawn on the naïve teenager. He paused to take a sip of water. ‘Did you find the money?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Where did you look?’

  ‘In the garden. Took a shovel out the shed and I dug up the patio where he said. When I couldn’t find it, I searched the house, then went back outside and took up some more slabs.’

  ‘Then what happened?’

  ‘Mr Ross came back. I didn’t hear him. He was just stood there, watching. He knew what I was looking for, said it was gone.’

  ‘Gone?’

  ‘Yeah, we argued. I didn’t believe him at first. He said he was sorry.’ A tear rolled down Gary’s cheek. ‘He was a nice old fella.’

  ‘What had happened?’

  ‘He said the patio began to sink under the slab, so he took it up to put more earth in and found the money.’

  ‘When was this?’

  ‘About ten years ago.’

  ‘What did he do with it?”

  ‘He was gonna ring the police at first, but he said his son’s business was going under so he gave it to him. He never told him where it was from. Said he’d saved it.’

  Dean Ross stood up and left the courtroom.

  Lara followed him out. ‘Mr Ross?’

  He set off along the concourse.

  Lara jogged to catch him up and blocked his path. ‘Did your father give you that money?’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ he replied, changing direction to get past her.

  ‘He did, didn’t he?’ She walked alongside him. ‘Please, you could give evidence for the defence, it could make all the difference. Please?’

  Ross stopped. ‘Why do you care about that scroat?’

  ‘He’s my client. Don’t you want to do what’s right? For Arthur?’

  Dean wasn’t interested. ‘I’d have to give it back, wouldn’t I – stolen money?’

  ‘It’s possible,’ Lara admitted.

  ‘Good luck, Miss Panassai,’ he said, setting off. ‘Don’t bother me again.’

  Lara watched him disappear down the stairs.

  Back in court, Jack was still on his feet. ‘Do you know how Arthur Ross sustained his injuries?’

  ‘He just fell, tripped over one the paving stones that I’d pulled up. I never meant for it to happen.’ Emotion poured into the testimony. ‘He
went down hard, banged his head. I know I should’ve stayed with him, but I panicked, didn’t I.’ Then, full of shame: ‘I just pissed off over the fence.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell the police this?’

  ‘We decided it was best not to.’

  ‘We?’

  ‘Me and Jammer,’ the defendant replied, flicking his head towards his mentor in the gallery.

  ‘Wait there, Mr Dixon, there will be some more questions.’ Jack’s legs almost gave way as he flopped back into his seat.

  ‘You OK?’ whispered Lara.

  ‘Tired,’ Jack replied, turning his head. ‘Let’s see if Hornby sticks to his original case.’

  Hornby concentrated on the alleged assault, his questions met with repeated denials by Dixon.

  ‘He’s staying with it,’ said Lara, leaning towards Jack. ‘He doesn’t know whether to accept the twenty grand as true.’

  ‘There might be an opportunity here,’ said Jack.

  Once the cross-examination was over, Jack closed his case. There would be no more evidence.

  ‘Members of the jury,’ said the judge. ‘Before we move to speeches and my summing up this afternoon, there are one or two matters of law I need to discuss with counsel. Please go with the usher.’

  ‘Here we go,’ Jack whispered to Lara.

  ‘Mr Kowalski, it seems to me that although the assault is denied, the defendant has admitted to burglary in his evidence. Will he be pleading guilty?’

  ‘I was also going to raise that, Your Honour,’ said Hornby.

  Jack cut across his opponent: ‘It’s not accepted that the ingredients are made out, Your Honour.’

  ‘How so?’

  ‘Although he entered as a trespasser, he had no intention to steal.’

  ‘What about the money he says was buried?’

  ‘You can’t steal what had already been stolen.’

  The judge considered the point. ‘I’m sure there is an offence that covers these facts, whether it be an attempt to handle or possess criminal property?’

  ‘No doubt, Your Honour,’ Jack replied, carefully thinking through what he would say next. He had to gamble on Hornby’s unwillingness to back down on anything. ‘There would be no objection to my learned friend adding such a count to the indictment, and the defendant would have to plead guilty, but the prosecution would then be accepting, at least in part, the defendant’s account of events.’