The Trials of Sally Dunning and a Clerical Murder

by Miller Caldwell

  The jurors nodded accepting the Judge’s statement but none of them moved. They were almost impatient to hear the sentence.

  ‘As I have said, this has been a distressing case in which the victim, because of her ailments, had been identified as vulnerable, set upon, groomed, deceived, robbed and treated cruelly and with distain. Her evidence was given bravely and she spoke with honesty, as best she could. Any sentence must reflect the cruel nature of the offenders’ actions. They must be given time to reflect on the suffering and trials that Sally Dunning and her family have had to endure.’

  A round peppermint sweet fell from the hands of a juror and rolled down two steps gathering speed and rolled past Mr. Brown. There was a pause as the object was identified but no response was forthcoming, nor was there anyone in pursuit of the errant sweet. Such was the concentration and desire to hear every word the Judge uttered. Helen put her fist over her smile. She would keep the moment of mirth for her colleagues back at the office when the laughter would be set free.

  ‘Stand up both Ms. Donna Riley and Mr. Barry Ritchie.’ Donkey got up, her head bowed but probably not out of respect for her surroundings. Bones nudged Donkey as he rose, looking through the eyes of the guilty.

  His Lordship donned a serious expression. ‘You have been found guilty of Supplying category A and B drugs, Assault to cause bodily injury, Burglary, Obtaining services by deception and Administering poison with intent to harm Ms. Riley it is by the grace of God that this was not a murder case. Mr. Ritchie you have not the brains to be an accountant. But you have the venom, to be an adder.’

  Helen Regan and Mr. Brown chose to smile silently at the wit of the Judge as he continued his sentencing.

  ‘I will now have a period of avizandum. In other words, I will take time to reflect and arrive at a suitable sentence for each of the guilty before me. The court will resume on July 2nd when I will have had access to psychiatric and social work reports. You will be detained as convicted criminals in the meantime.’ The Judge then gathered his papers. He then stood up.

  The court officer exercised his lungs once more.

  ‘Court rise,’ he screamed.

  All did so, except Bones and Donkey who slouched to a vertical stance moments after everyone else.

  It surprised Helen that both, like humble church mice, evaporated from the court to the cells beneath, without a murmur.

  Sally arrived home at the end of Helen Regan’s case for the prosecution and immediately Molly greeted her with enthusiasm. She decided to take her out for a walk on the lead and the fresh air cleared the pressures of the day which burned in her head. She looked at her small dog with its comical moustache. ‘Now Molly if Bones and Donkey are set free and come back here, you must bark and let me know. Won’t you?’

  Molly looked up and gave a knowledgeable grunt. It satisfied its owner. It was not a long walk and Sally’s pace quickened as she saw a police car in her drive. The policeman must be in the house already speaking to mum she realised, so she stepped up her pace with Molly who stopped every few feet for a sniff and the occasional widdle.

  When she arrived back, she opened the door and Police Inspector Mark Rawlings was in the hall speaking to her mother.

  ‘Good to see you Sally. Well, you did very well in court.’

  ‘I don’t know the result yet,’ Sally said with sadness in her eyes.

  ‘No, nobody does yet. But you are safe from Bones and Donkey. They are detained. We’ll know their sentence on 2nd July. And because you are a vulnerable witness, we must make plans whether they get sentenced to jail for a long time or not. There even might be others trying to groom you. We have a duty to protect you. I was just showing your mother how this works,’ he said dangling a circular bit of white plastic on a cord.

  ‘What’s that?’ asked Sally.

  ‘It’s a personal alarm given to all our vulnerable adults.’

  ‘Oh. Do I need one?’

  ‘We think it’s best. If you ever get frightened or if someone comes to the door at night or even day and you don’t know them, then hit the centre of the button and we hear the alarm back at the Police station. Then we send out the nearest police officer to where you are. Understand?’

  ‘And you wear it all the time, Sally,’ said her mother.

  Sally wondered about what all the time meant. Her eyes screwed up. ‘All the time, even when I am sleeping?’

  ‘No, Sally, you can place it by your bedside but know where it is in case you need it. Then wear it the next day and every day. You wear it out of sight, so nobody knows you have one. It’s for your protection.’

  ‘For my protection, yes, my protection,’ confirmed Sally.

  ‘Do I take it off in the shower?’

  ‘It’s waterproof. You don’t need to,’ he said.

  Molly trotted in and sniffed the Inspector’s leg. Sally picked her up in her arms. ‘He’s a good man Molly. No need to sniff him.’

  The inspector smiled. ‘Perhaps she’d make a good police sniffer,’ he laughed.

  Sally’s expression was one of doubt.

  15

  Payback Time

  On the afternoon of 2nd July, the telephone rang in the Dunning home. It was Helen.

  When Elsie answered the telephone it was the call she had been waiting for.

  ‘Fourteen years each you said? That’s a good result for us. And a clear message to all criminals exploiting vulnerable adults.’

  ‘It is exactly Mrs Dunning but the case is not quite finished yet. Three matters remain.’

  Elsie tilted her head in surprise. ‘Three? Surely not three?’ she said raising the voice a pitch or two higher than comfortable.

  ‘Yes, of course they can appeal the decision but I am confident that will not arise. The second matter is that I will apply to the court for a seizure of goods. In other words to seize any money made from the illegal activities of the now convicted two, and for the stolen items to be returned to you. That way we should be able to refund the money Sally gave them and finally, I will also advocate for the Criminal Injuries Board to look at Sally’s case.’

  ‘Really? What does.... that....’

  ‘What does that mean, you ask? It may mean a gratuity for what Sally has suffered physically and mentally. It is given to such cases.’

  ‘I see,’ said Elsie. ‘Things are looking up for Sally.’

  ‘Yes with them locked up they won’t be troubling her anymore,’ said Helen with a smile in her voice. ‘And I hear Sally has her emergency button. That should be reassuring.’

  ‘Yes, that’s true. And there’s the royalties she is receiving too.’

  ‘Royalties? No, I mean gratuities, much the same I suppose,’ clarified Helen.

  ‘No, royalties from her record. Another cheque arrived today. It’s for £4,500.’

  Elsie placed the phone back down like an unexploded bomb. Gosh, she thought, Sally has found her feet at last. The number of times she had felt she had heard enough of her harmonica. She chided herself realising Sally had found her own golden goose. But more importantly she knew Sally’s trials were over.

  She left the lounge and entered the hall. She stopped. She listened. Sally was playing her harmonica in her bedroom once more. But whether it was Schuman or Schubert she was not sure. Sally would tell her which composer it was in a couple of hours when her evening meal would be on the table and her last note of her music had been played.

  The End ♫

  Sally’s Music

  Readers may wish to hear the music Sally played on harmonica on YouTube, record players, CDs or i-phones.

  Are You Going To Scarborough Fair

  Simon and Garfunkel

  Chasing Pavements

  Adele

  Rhapsody in Blue

  Gershwin

  The Elizabethan Serenade

  Ronal
d Binge

  Violin Concerto (Korngold)

  Erich Wolfgang Korngold

  The Lark Ascending

  Vaughan Williams

  Sailing By

  Heard as Radio 4 closes for the night. Also by Ronald Binge

  Shostakovich’s Romance

  from the Gadfly

  Mozart’s Clarinet (Harmonica) Concerto

  (Second Movement)

  Bist du Bei Mir

  J. S. Bach

  Spring from The Four Seasons

  Vivaldi

  Postscript

  In talking about this book the most common question I have been asked is: what is the difference between Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism. The answer is much more complicated.

  Leo K. Tomer was the first person to describe the nature of Autism and its symptoms almost sixty years ago. Later, Hans Asperger wrote about a condition, which was first termed autistic psychopathology and is now known as Asperger’s Syndrome. Though there were similarities in the two discoveries, Asperger claimed that his disorder was not a variation of the initial Autism discovery.

  Both disorders are classified as Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Since 1994 Autistic Spectrum Disorder has been added as a separate disorder.

  Communication Differences

  Individuals with more severe forms of autism are more likely to show symptoms of limited communication skills, both verbal and non-verbal.

  Diagnostic Differences

  Autism can be detected early, usually at the age of five, while those with AS often remain undiagnosed until eleven years old. The late onset of complex social skills explains how and why people with AS are diagnosed later than their counterparts with autism.

  Studies conducted at Monash University conclude that children with Autism portray a particular style of walking. This will be fundamental in the diagnosis of Autism as children learn to walk before they develop social skills.

  Social, Motor & Cognitive Differences

  Children with autism have limited interest in events, items and the people in their environment. They tend to favour repeated actions. Children with AS are less likely to show delays in age appropriate skills, such as self-help, curiosity and the ability to adapt.

  Autistic children, in many instances, are characterized by having motor difficulties and tend to be preoccupied with parts of objects such as the wheels of a toy car; their limited and circumscribed interest consumes a great deal of their time. Individuals with AS are less likely to display these symptoms.

  Children with autism usually have cognitive delays from early infancy. Children with AS do not tend to show this kind of delay; they might be quite talented in numeric abilities, learning to read, and being constructive in memory games.

  Both individuals with autism and Autistic Spectrum Disorder have a similar behavioural profile; hence the same treatment methods can be effective for both groups. This is why some clinicians and researches suggest that it is inappropriate to talk about two separate conditions or different disorders. A dimensional rather than a categorical view of autism and Autistic Spectrum Disorder seems to be more reasonable.

  Important factors in Their Differences

  The main worry in defining Asperger’s as a lesser form of Autism is that it could imply that children with AS do not face as many difficulties as those with Autism, when in fact, they can suffer far more severe anxiety disorders and depression than those with Autism.

  Parent’s guidelines to assist their children to develop fulfilling social activities and a chance to lead successful career options can be provided.

  Clinical psychologists describe the Autism – Asperger’s continuum, as being the condition of Autistic Syndrome Disorder (ASD)

  The National Autistic Society is recommended for further information. They have an informative website.

  Head Injuries

  There are many causes for head injuries which may be congenital, tumour or disease-related or due to trauma. There are local head injury charities in most large communities.

  HEADWAY is the Brain Injury Association Charity. See its website for case histories and information.

  Interview with the Author

  This is an interesting subject. What prompted you to write it?

  My neighbour informed me he had been robbed and assaulted. I knew he was on the autistic scale. I could see how those with this educational barrier could be manipulated and groomed and so I asked both him and his mother if I could write a story about autism. I got the green light from them both and so it is a novella. My proviso was that neither his name nor our town as the setting would be used. The Lancashire town of Wigan, which I know particularly well, was therefore chosen. The protagonist is also now a woman.

  How much of the story is true?

  Of course much of my neighbour’s sad circumstances appear in the book but each scene prompts another and so the book takes off in many different directions. This is not a biography in any way, especially as I have made the protagonist, Sally, more ill than my neighbour. My 63-year-old cousin was born with too much oxygen and has been blind since birth. He also has the functionary brain of a 10-year-old child. Yet he is fascinated by cars and machinery. These two personalities with their ailments created Sally.

  Why is it only a novella?

  A book is not enhanced by writing more than is necessary. Did I know when I started if it would have been a novella? Yes, I knew the limitations of the subject and storyline and so it is a novella. But another novella now follows. So why not have two books for the price of one?

  Do you think this book could offend any autistic sufferer?

  I hope not. Rather this is an edifying story in which the protagonist finds her feet in music, is awarded damages and receives an award from the criminal injuries board. But it is also a warning that the courts must take offences against vulnerable victims very seriously.

  The longest chapter in the book is the trial. Was that the most difficult to write?

  It is crucial to gather all the evidence in sequence in this chapter to make it a plausible court case. I used to prosecute in Kilmarnock, Ayr and Dumfries Sheriff courts so I felt comfortable in that respect. Sheriffs do not often seek avizandum but as I had a complicated case once which went that way, I decided it would have been necessary for the Judge to reflect on the case before administering punishment. English law may not use the Scottish legal term avizandum but in practice in both legal jurisdictions it is undertaken when time is required before sentencing. Psychiatric and social work report requests, post-conviction, are frequently sought by the bench before pronouncing the sentence.

  What will be your next book be?

  I can never tell but I know when I am inspired to write it.

  My second novella, A Clerical Murder, follows this novella.

  A Clerical Murder

  For Procurator Fiscal Fiona Caldwell

  and Clinical Psychologist Dr Laura Caldwell

  Acknowledgements

  This novella would not exist had I not been one of those notorious sons of the manse. There, I’ve said it. Yet that gave me an enquiring mind into denominational thinking. Religion has the power of good and the capacity for evil. That inspired me to write this unusual book. To Robin Wood, Venus Carew, Leslie Hecht, Farooq Ahmed, Kamran, Jehangeer and Sonia Malik, Malcolm Forest Charles Watt and Bill O’Carroll and Laura McKenna. To publisher Jeremy Thompson who never fails to impress me at Troubador and to Matador for publishing this unusual double novella. I cannot deny that on both the criminal side and the clinical side I can rely on my two daughters for advice and so this book is dedicated to them.

  Author’s Disclaimer

  This is a contemporary and controversial novel. If the novel offends you, please realise that offence may not be a universal perception and I do not write to offend. Dismiss the text as you wish but ac
cept my right to write.

  This disclaimer has two purposes. Firstly it keeps me one step ahead of a censure from angry clerics. Secondly, if after reading the book, it leads to further discussion of the issues raised, then the book has achieved even more than I expected. Do not forget, however, that this is a novella which my mind has actively urged me to write.

  Send criticism, abuse, cheek or the occasional appreciative comments to me at:

  netherholm6@yahoo.com

  Introduction

  It is known beyond doubt that beavers do not have engineering degrees yet they build dams with expertise. Nor does the crime writer have to be a convicted criminal to write a crime novel. It should then follow that in this novella, I need not have knowledge of things supernatural or divine. This, however, is not the case. I have much baggage in this department. I should come clean from the start.

  The UK is largely a post-Christian country if we gauge worship attendance figures. However I have been in the past, a son of the manse, a Jewish sympathiser, a West African Presbyterian missionary, a worker in a Roman Catholic school, a Humanist observer and a Baha’i supporter. I have lived with Sunni Muslims in the NWFP of Pakistan and I married an Anglican.