Blazing Obsession

by Dai Henley

  “Just answer counsel’s questions, Ms Alleyne,” the judge reprimanded.

  Alisha had answered every one of Mr Winn’s questions competently. I hoped she’d be as confident under cross-examination by Mr Jones.

  Rising to his feet, he said, “I suggest, Ms Alleyne, the reason the defendant asked his friend to contact you is because the defendant suspected you were part of a plan to set up him up. That’s true, isn’t it?”

  “He may have suspected me, but I didn’t set anybody up.”

  “You didn’t suggest to Leroy Johnson that it would be a good idea to get more money from the defendant?”

  “No. I didn’t know at that time the identity of the third party.”

  “Nor arrange a meeting?”

  “No. I could hardly arrange a meeting with someone if I didn’t know who it was.”

  Mr Jones checked his notes and continued.

  “Going back to the abduction, there’s no evidence to suggest Mr Hartley wanted to seriously harm you, is there? Maybe just to scare you a little.”

  Alisha, recognising bullshit when she saw it, all but accused the defence of spreading it.

  “Have you ever been attacked from behind, had a bag thrown over your face and been bundled into a car boot where you can hardly breathe? If he wanted to scare me, he did a great job. I wouldn’t recommend it. I feared for my life. As far as I knew, whoever did it could have been a sadistic rapist. Hartley could have called me, couldn’t he? Expressed his opinion.”

  Mr Jones consulted with one of his defence team before turning to face the witness box again and said, “That may not have worked. You’d have simply denied any involvement, wouldn’t you?

  “Now, let me propose something else to you. You were a very close friend of Lynne Hamilton, weren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “So close, you’d do anything to find out the identity of the person behind her murder. Isn’t that so?”

  “Yes.”

  “You might even go so far as to set someone up. The defendant, for example, if you believed him to be responsible. Is that correct?”

  Before Alisha could reply, Mr Winn leapt to his feet again and objected.

  “Your honour, where is this line of questioning going? This witness is not on trial.”

  Judge Winter upheld the objection. I squirmed in my seat.

  We’d thought that framing Hartley for Johnson’s murder greatly increased the chances of ensuring a guilty verdict for the man who’d catastrophically ruined my life. We regarded it as our trump card.

  “Why didn’t you go to the police with your suspicions?”

  “I’ve just told the court. After what happened at Leroy Johnson’s trial, I’d lost faith in the legal system. Everyone in the courtroom that day, including the judge, knew he was guilty.” She glanced up at Judge Winter again. “I didn’t think it worth pursuing.”

  “So let’s be absolutely clear about this. You deny wanting to take matters into your own hands, meeting up with Johnson for the sole purpose of discovering the person behind the arson attack?”

  “I’d never do that.”

  Mr Jones turned once again to the jury. “If the court accepts the mobile message evidence between the defendant and Colin Greenland, highlighting the defendant’s blackmail by Leroy Johnson, then you have to accept the evidence contained in the same message that this witness appears to have become very close to Johnson, close enough to influence his actions.”

  He turned back to her.

  “Now why would you want to have a relationship with, of all people, Leroy Johnson?”

  Alisha cleverly avoided the trap.

  “Pure coincidence. I happened to meet him at a dating agency. That’s all. I met Colin Greenland there too. I’ve met many men at dating agencies. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. It happens.”

  The late Leroy Johnson and the late Colin Greenland couldn’t argue with what she said. I hoped she’d convinced the jury.

  “I think this is an appropriate time to adjourn for today.” Judge Winter rose and headed towards his chambers.

  *

  When we’d returned from Grenada, I’d told Alisha I wanted to hold off making any decisions about our future relationship. I still hadn’t sorted out my true feelings for her. I said that after the trial maybe everything would be clearer.

  She’d shrugged her shoulders and said, “OK. It’s no big deal. If that’s want you want to do.” I’d sensed her disappointment.

  We still kept in touch during the trial and over dinner that night, in a restaurant tucked away behind Borough Market, we discussed the day’s events.

  “You were great in court today. You must have been nervous?”

  “I was, but I kept thinking about what Lynne went through… it’s so fucking unfair.” She slumped back in her chair.

  “I felt anxious when the defence barrister asked you why you didn’t go to the police. Maybe we should have.”

  “You’ve a short memory, James. Look what happened last time.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  September 2000

  The next day, in front of another packed visitors’ gallery, Mr Winn presented the case for Colin Greenland’s murder in simple terms. He’d applied for and received the judge’s agreement that the fact Hartley had spent time in prison could be admitted in court due to its relevance to the case.

  Mr Winn produced written evidence from Her Majesty’s Prison, Belmarsh confirming that Hartley and Greenland had shared a cell for several weeks whilst on remand.

  Prison records also showed that Greenland visited Hartley in jail several times after Greenland’s release.

  Mr Winn continued, “It’s the prosecution’s case that the defendant’s motive for wanting to dispose of Greenland was because he knew far too much about the arson attack. He believed that if Greenland thought he might become involved, he’d inform the police about their chats in Belmarsh; maybe do a deal with them to get a lighter sentence. Therefore, the defendant hired another hit man to deal with Greenland. His name is Desmond LaFayette.”

  This was news to me. Although RP had discovered that Greenland’s killer had been charged and admitted his guilt within weeks of the murder, we had no idea that he’d implicated Hartley. At least this was one crime Flood couldn’t lay at my door. I sensed that he’d be disappointed.

  Mr Winn produced further prison documents supporting the fact that Hartley and Lafayette had also been in Belmarsh at the same time and knew each other.

  “Desmond Lafayette has already been charged with Greenland’s murder and found guilty. He’s now awaiting sentencing.”

  Mr Winn called Lafayette as a witness for the prosecution by video-link from prison. Simon assumed the court made the call to avoid the considerable media scrum surrounding the Old Bailey every day. Or the CPS considered Lafayette may have been intimidated when facing Hartley in the dock.

  A Jamaican, I guessed by his accent, Lafayette looked about thirty, with a set of huge bright, white teeth and a shaven head. He wore a white T-shirt and dark trousers.

  Mr Winn asked Lafayette, “At your trial, you made a serious allegation that the defendant hired you to murder Mr Greenland and to abduct Alisha Alleyne. Do you still allege this?”

  So that’s who did it!

  “Yeah, I do, man. It was business.”

  Mr Winn theatrically put on his glasses and read from his notes. “Also at your trial, the police disclosed that they’d discovered ten thousand pounds wrapped in brown paper and stuffed under a mattress in your flat. Bundles of £20 and £50 notes still had the bank wrappers on them, together with the defendant’s fingerprints. You said that the money had come from the defendant. Do you still stand by that statement?”

  “Yeah. ’Artley gave me the money. I didn’t have no time to put it in a safe place.”

  “Let’s be absolutely clear about this. The defendant paid you this sum to deal with Colin Greenland? Is that correct?”

  “Ye
ah.”

  And he agreed to pay you more when you’d dealt with Alisha Alleyne?”

  “Yeah.”

  Closing one of his files with a flourish, Mr Winn said, “That’s all, your honour.”

  I shuddered at the consequences if Alisha hadn’t escaped.

  It was a paltry sum for a life, even for a lowlife like Greenland. Would Hartley have simply doubled the fee if Alisha had been murdered? I’d never know.

  The irony of Hartley splashing out cash to Johnson and Lafayette from the proceeds of his embezzlement from my company added to my hatred of the man.

  Mr Jones stopped scribbling a note and turned to the TV monitor.

  “Have you ever dealt in drugs, Mr Lafayette?”

  “Yeah. Sometimes.”

  “Have you ever dealt in drugs with the defendant?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And have you ever fallen out with the defendant over a drug deal?”

  “’E’s tricky, man, ’ard to deal with. We fell out a few times.”

  It became clear from his tone there wasn’t much love lost between him and Hartley.

  “That’s not what I asked. Have you ever fallen out with the defendant over a drug deal?” Mr Jones spoke the words slowly.

  “Yeah.”

  “Is that why you implicated the defendant by suggesting his involvement with these serious charges?”

  “No.”

  Under cross-examination, Lafayette’s unswerving answers were categorically clear; he insisted he worked on Hartley’s instructions and Hartley handed over the cash. Whichever way Mr Jones phrased the questions, Lafayette held his view.

  Mr Jones addressed his final point to the jury. “It’s the defence position that the payment made in cash by the defendant covered only the supply of drugs. When another drug deal went wrong, this witness decided to take revenge by making these fictitious claims.”

  Mr Jones thanked Lafayette and sat down. Judge Winter nodded at the court official, who turned off the video conference monitor.

  Mr Winn got to his feet and said, “No more witnesses, your honour. That closes the case for the prosecution.”

  The defence would now present their evidence. They called Hartley to the witness stand.

  He wasn’t required to defend himself and Simon Brotherton told me that sometimes defence lawyers advise against it, on the grounds that the defendant would be vulnerable to cross-examination by the prosecution. This might not put them in a good light.

  However, the defence team also knew the judge would inform the jury that if the defendant didn’t give his side of the story, they could conclude that he had no answers to the charges.

  I didn’t think for one moment that Hartley wouldn’t want to put his point of view, regardless of the legal advice. He always assumed he was smarter than anyone else and he’d relish demonstrating the fact.

  He walked from the dock to the witness stand, maintaining his hangdog expression. He read out the oath in his deep voice, which reverberated across the courtroom.

  Mr Jones waited for the court to settle. Adjusting his wig, he stood and clutched each side of his robe, his prominent thumbs pointing upwards, an open display of confidence.

  “Let’s start with the record of calls the prosecution state you made to Lynne Hamilton. Do you deny making them?”

  “I can hardly deny it, can I? I wanted to have a normal family life, that’s all. For us to be together. I’d missed the first two years of my daughter growing up; it got to me, here.” He tapped his heart with his hand.

  He gazed at the jury like a puppy at a dogs’ home seeking a new owner. I suspect the defence team had coached him to employ this device whenever he made a statement aimed at eliciting sympathy.

  “Why did you call so many times and leave so many messages?”

  “I became desperate. I didn’t know what else I could do. She’d rejected me. I wanted to win her back.”

  “And is that why you threatened her?”

  “I didn’t mean it to come across like that. Listening to the tapes now, I suppose I did come on a bit strong. But I’d never hurt her. And I’d certainly never harm my baby.”

  Again, he gazed at the jury with a doleful expression.

  I wanted to throw up.

  “The court has heard the audio tapes of your conversations with Colin Greenland and Leroy Johnson. Why do you think Johnson blackmailed you?”

  “He’s scum. He’d do anything for money; he’s grasping and greedy. But he wouldn’t have the brains to do it himself. Someone must have put him up to it.”

  Mr Jones looked down, inspecting the transcript of the mobile conversations and said, “So when you said to Colin Greenland, ‘Johnson’s trying to blackmail me over that arson business’, what did you mean?”

  “Of course I knew about the arson attack. It involved my family. I knew the judge had acquitted Johnson. I followed the case in the papers. He thought if he could implicate me, he could make a few bob, I suppose.”

  “And what about the taped conversation between you and Greenland? That’s when you discovered that Alisha Alleyne was seeing Johnson. What did you think of that?”

  “I thought she might have put Johnson up to blackmailing me.”

  This wasn’t looking good; too near to the truth.

  “Did you employ Mr Lafayette to abduct her, put the frighteners on her?”

  “Well, yes… and no. He went too far. I never told him to pack her in the boot. I just wanted him to get her to back off. I didn’t think he’d harm her.”

  “Did you pay him for that?”

  “No. He offered to do it as a friend.”

  “Why did he use your car?”

  “He doesn’t have one. He borrowed mine.”

  I couldn’t believe how breathtakingly arrogant he could be. He believed in his invincibility.

  Mr Jones turned over several sheets in his lever arch file and settling on one, said, “Let me turn now to the forensic evidence presented by the prosecution. This clearly shows that Johnson’s DNA was present on your jacket and trousers. Your trainers too, had mud on them from the Johnson crime scene. Do you have an explanation?”

  “The only thing I can think of is that I’m being set-up. Someone must have borrowed them, done the deed and returned them. All I know is, I spent the evening at home. I remember someone ringing my flat doorbell. I went to the door, opened it, and next thing I remember is feeling a strong-smelling rag covered with chloroform, or something else pungent, being held over my face. After that… nothing… zilch.”

  “So you have no recollection of that night?”

  “No. I remember feeling rough when I woke up. That’s all.”

  “And that wasn’t you driving your car, the one the court saw from clips of the CCTV, from the railway arches to the Thames Embankment?”

  “I was in no fit state to walk, let alone drive a car.”

  “And the key to the railway arches found in your drawer?”

  “I don’t know where the arches are. I’ve never been there. So I don’t need a bloody key.”

  Judge Winter gave Hartley a reproachful glare.

  Mr Jones continued. “Can you explain to the court why you went missing for three days and tried to leave the country?”

  “I felt under pressure. I thought someone had set me up. I thought my life might be in danger. They’d already dealt with Greenland and Johnson. Maybe I was next.”

  “And what about your car? What do you think happened to it?”

  “Joy riders must have stolen it and when they’d had their fun, they set light to it. It happens a lot.”

  Nodding, acknowledging his point, Mr Jones continued, “I see. All right, let’s move on to Mr Greenland’s demise. You’ve heard that the prosecution allege that you paid Desmond Lafayette to deal with Mr Greenland. What do you say to that?”

  “That’s rubbish! As far as Lafayette is concerned, I met him a few times after he got out of jail, to set up drug deals. That’s why I paid h
im. You can do me for that if you want.”

  “It’s a lot of money for drugs. You’re certain the payment wasn’t for something more sinister?”

  “No. That’s the going rate. Prices are going up all the time.”

  Mr Jones looked up at Judge Winter and said, “That concludes the case for the defence, your honour.” He plonked himself down and turned to make a comment to a junior barrister behind him again.

  The judge nodded and called a brief adjournment.

  *

  Suitably refreshed, everyone reassembled in their places an hour later. Judge Winter invited Mr Winn to begin his cross-examination.

  “Thank you, your honour.” He turned to face Hartley in the dock and said, “First, I want to go back to the record of mobile calls you made and messages you left for Lynne Hamilton in the month before the fatal arson attack.”

  Putting on his glasses once again, he flicked over a page of his notes, and reading from them, said, “You’ve already testified that you made the calls and left the messages. You said, ‘I became desperate. I didn’t know what else to do. She’d rejected me. I wanted to win her back.’ Is that correct?”

  “If you say so.”

  “No, this isn’t me saying so. It’s a direct quote by you from the court’s records. I suggest to you that calling her fifteen to twenty times a day for a month is far from normal behaviour. It suggests someone with an obsessive, manipulative personality who simply couldn’t take no for an answer.”

  “That’s your opinion.”

  “It’s not my opinion that counts.” Pointing to the jury he continued, “They’ll decide if what I’ve said makes sense.

  “Now, let’s examine the messages in more detail. There’s no doubt about their threatening tone, is there? Especially the final message. Let’s hear it again.”

  The court official switched on the audio tape. For the second time, the jury heard, ‘If you refuse to come away with me Lynne, believe me, you’ll be sorry. No one else is going to bring up my baby. You’ll all suffer. I’m not kidding.’

  “Do you agree this message represents a clear threat to Lynne Hamilton and her family?”