Beyond Innocence

by Barrie Turner

  Events proved it was not the body of Diane Wilson but the body of a Liverpool prostitute named Angela Clarkson. Later, there was a further announcement saying that the woman had been strangled with a pair of her own tights and it appeared that she was the victim of a sexual assault. He shuddered as the announcement continued with an appeal for help from the police, asking local people from the surrounding parishes of Eastham, Hooton, and Childer Thornton, to donate voluntary samples of DNA for checking against samples taken from the body of the dead woman. The public were assured that, once checked, all the samples donated would be destroyed. He picked up the telephone immediately and rang the number given, in order to enquire about the voluntary sample testing. His call was put through to a person on the desk who assured him that it would be quite in order to attend any time the following day.

  There was a knock on the door just as he was replacing the receiver and his adoptive mother, Sally, went to answer it. When she returned to the room her face was ashen as she solemnly announced “Harry it’s the police again. You know the two who were here recently….” She didn’t finish the sentence Sergeant West did it for her. In a very firm and in his authoritative voice he said,

  “Harry Thompson, we are police officers investigating the death of a woman found recently. My name is Detective Sergeant West and this is Detective Inspector Taylor and we want you to accompany us to Bromborough police station in order to assist us in our investigation into the death of Angela Clarkson.”

  Sally couldn’t not understand, let alone believe, what was happening, “Are you arresting him?” she asked the Inspector who replied “No, Mrs. Thompson, not at the moment. As my sergeant just said, we are asking him to come down to the station to assist us with our enquiries. Dependent upon what happens, we will probably ask him to make a statement. With that he was ushered into the car and driven hurriedly to Bromborough police station. Once inside, he asked why this couldn’t wait until morning as he would have been visiting the station anyway to give a voluntary sample as requested on the TV appeal. In answer he was ushered into the drab interview room where the only furniture was a desk and three chairs.

  Then the questions began.

  “On or about October 2nd Angela Clarkson was murdered and her body was thrown in a ditch. We want to know when you last saw this woman and were you in the habit of seeing this woman on a regular basis for paid sex?”

  Harry Thompson’s replies were quite specific. He said quite emphatically that he didn’t know any woman of that name and that he had never seen her in his life. He vehemently denied that he had ever had sex with her at any time whatsoever. The questions continued.

  “Where is Diane Wilson? What have you done to her? Where have you hidden the body? Did you strangle her with her own tights?”

  Adopting the good guy pose, when Sergeant West left the room, Detective Inspector Taylor said quietly, “Why don’t you get it all off your chest and tell us all you know. You’ll feel so much better and we can help you. Let’s face it, we all know you didn’t intend to kill either of these women and, if the truth be known, they had it coming. This happens all the time with women they do, or say, something absolutely stupid and they’re too thick to realise the consequences of what they’ve said or done. So, come on now, be a lad, tell us all about it, help us, and we’ll do all that we can to help you...”

  The reality of the situation began to dawn on him, especially now Diane’s name had been mentioned. It was all becoming painfully obvious they were putting him in the frame for two murders. This was becoming a deadly serious business indeed.

  Sergeant West had now returned and the Inspector left him to it.

  “Look son,” he said in a very aggressive and, almost threatening manner. “We know you did this one. We can arrest you right now for this job. At this very moment we’re just wrapping up our own local enquiries then, it’ll all be over. Rest assured, eventually we’ll find the body of Diane Wilson and you’ll have to go through all this again. Doing it like this, the hard way, you’re not doing yourself any favours and, you’re only making it worse for yourself. When the time comes you won’t be able to say ‘oh yes I did it. It was me, but I didn’t know what I was doing at the time.’ Also, remember this, when we take a DNA sample and compare it with yours, you won’t have a leg to stand on. So, do yourself a favour and, whilst you are at it, think of the relief your girlfriend’s parents will feel when they know what happened to their daughter. At least put them out of their misery.”

  Harry looked straight at the detective and said firmly, “I’ve told you everything I know. I repeat I have never seen the dead woman in my life. I did not know her and I cannot help you any further in connection with the disappearance of Diane Wilson. Furthermore, I am not going to answer any more of your damned stupid questions without a solicitor being present.”

  His request was noted, and he was given access to a telephone. He contacted the office of Michael Mulrooney, and from the answer-phone message, he obtained the number of a duty solicitor. Michael Mulrooney had a formidable reputation and, if you needed the best, they didn’t come any better. Although he knew that Michael Mulrooney would not be coming himself, he felt comforted by the fact that it was somebody from his office, and that when the time came, Michael Mulrooney would take charge. One hour later he was relating his story to Brian Donnelly, the duty solicitor. He also included the fact that he had telephoned earlier to offer his own sample in an effort to help the police with their enquiries...

  Both of the detectives were back in the room as his solicitor took them to task. He told them in no uncertain manner that they didn’t have a shred of evidence upon which they could detain Harry and that they now had two choices. They could either charge him with something or they could release him. He also pointed out that Harry had already volunteered to donate a DNA sample in order to assist the police in their enquiries and, when it had been tested, the police would find it would bear no resemblance to that obtained from the unfortunate young woman. Before allowing the police to take a sample from Harry, Brian Donnelly insisted the police accepted the fact that this sample was being freely given, on a purely voluntary basis and on the strict understanding that Harry’s sample would be treated in the same manner as all of the others... Although the watch had been mentioned by the police during this interview, it had not been established as belonging to Angela Clarkson. Brian Donnelly reluctantly conceded that, if such a link was ever established, it would be in order for Harry to take the officers to the spot where he had found it.

  At last Harry was standing on the police station steps and he was free to go. Before leaving, his solicitor confirmed he would arrange for an appointment with Michael Mulroony as he felt sure the police would not be content to let matters rest.

  All the volunteered samples, including Harry’s, proved negative but, they were not destroyed as promised. Instead, Detective Inspector Taylor ordered them to be put on hold at the laboratory. His reasoning was that he could hardly authorize the destruction of all the samples, except the one from Harry Thompson because, if Thompson was ever charged and the defence got hold of that information, they would have a field day. No, it was far better to hold on to them all and say nothing to Thompson’s legal team.

  Chapter 5

  * * *

  The next day, Detective Inspector Taylor was discussing the case with his colleague, Detective Sergeant Jim West. Both men agreed they were getting close. “Look Jim,” said the inspector, “the crux to both cases is the Wilson girl. If we can find her body then we’re in with more than a good chance. Thompson has admitted to having sex with the girl and with any luck when we find her, we may get a good DNA profile result that will be enough to convict him. We now know that we have no DNA in the Clarkson case so we have to discover if the watch belonged to her and if possible, who gave it to her assuming that she didn’t buy it herself. At this stage I can’t see that we’ll trace her last client and, even if we did, that doesn’t necessarily prove he
paid her for sex and then killed her. My guess is that, if we can trace the watch to Clarkson, then we can have a go at arresting Thompson and making it stick. Once that happens, who knows, he might decide to cough on the Wilson case which would give us all a break so let’s just see what we’ve got so far.”

  1. Thompson argued with his girlfriend who then disappears

  2. Thompson lives four to five-hundred yards from the spot where Clarkson’s body is found.

  3. Thompson admits he walks his dog daily by the very same spot.

  4. Thompson admits he used to take his girlfriend in the woods in very close proximity to that self same spot.

  5. Thompson finds a watch some twenty yards or less from the ditch where Clarkson’s body is lying.

  6. Thompson hands in this very expensive watch at his local nick.

  7. Enquiries have revealed that Thompson drinks in the Roundhead pub on occasions and he is known to be quite a loner.

  8. Thompson keeps visiting Bromborough nick and asking about the Wilson girl.

  “Quite honestly, Jim,” he continued, “although it’s all supposition and circumstantial, I think it’s almost too much.”

  “I agree, Peter,” said Sergeant West, “and I really do believe we have the right man in the frame. I also think we should get Thompson and the Wilson girl’s parents on TV to do a national appeal for her to come home or at least get in touch. Then, because we are only talking about the watch at the moment, why don’t we see if we can get the BBC to squeeze it in on the next Crime Watch programme to see whether or not anybody can identify it as belonging to Clarkson. Regarding DNA on Clarkson or, in this case, the lack of Thompson’s, maybe Thompson knew she was on the game and he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, have sex with her. Perhaps he let her give him a hand or a blow job, after which, he kills her. So for us the answer is simple. We don’t talk about DNA. In other words we don’t introduce it and we just go for the circumstantial evidence. Again look at it like this, this guy Thompson’s an out-and-out nutter, a frigging psychopath, who’s been trying to make fools of us. He takes the Mickey out of us by pretending to be so concerned about his girlfriend’s disappearance and all the time he’s laughing bags at us because, without a body, there is no charge. Now we’re supposed to be chasing him but, all of a sudden, he realises that we aren’t and why? I’ll tell you why boss, because we haven’t got a bloody body. So he decides – balls to this, I’m not getting any kicks out of this so I had better give them one and then they’ll have something to get their teeth into. Result, two weeks later he kills again. Dumps the poor girl’s nearly naked body in a ditch, lifts up the top of her blouse, to show off her tits and then, after this in another show of bravado, he brings in a watch to us that he claims to have found about twenty or thirty yards away from the body. Really, Peter, I can honestly imagine him, in fact, I can almost see him now walking all over the scene, gawping at the body every day and in all probability, he’s playing with himself each time he passes by.

  Whilst listening to his colleague, the inspector pulled out a brown manila envelope from his brief case and immediately his colleague had finished he passed it to him saying,” just have a look at that report from Professor Love. It’s a murder suspect profile report I think you will find it quite interesting. Jim West opened the envelope and began to read;

  From the details given it is my opinion that the person who committed this crime is a local man or, if not, he is certainly very familiar with the area. I say this after noting your remarks concerning the location of the deceased woman. If this is his first victim, then I would not be at all surprised if he kills again. I say this because of the fact that it has all the hallmarks of a killing of hate or lust and, in both instances, his desire has to be satisfied hence his choice of victim a prostitute or a stranger to him. I expect this person to be a loner, a person who does not make friends very easily or finds it difficult to enter into relationships with persons of either sex. Similarly, he will have had a difficult childhood although, to those persons closest to him, this might not be so apparent e.g.; difficulties perhaps with a step-parent of either sex or, quite possibly, a drunken parent. I think you will find that he is probably in regular employment and that he works in an office environment rather than holding a manual occupation.

  Finally just to recap, if this is not his first killing then he will have killed by strangulation using tights before and, whether this is his first murder or not, he will kill again. His positioning of the corpse in an open place with no attempt to hide it leads me to this belief. During your investigation you should search thoroughly for trophies collected from his victims but, because he is playing some form of game with you, this could well be something very simple such as a clipping of pubic hair or something equally innocuous to the human eye. In any event it is possible that his killing is sparked by something in his past life such as his mother doing something that his father took exception to and, as a result, the mother, or the pair of them, end up with a beating. Maybe the mother wore the wrong colour dress one day and this type of behaviour was the result.

  Should this be the case, I expect our murderer to carry on playing his game until you succeed in apprehending him because, to him, this is a game and he wants you to catch him. When you do apprehend him you will find that he will make subtle movements to tell himself that he is in control of the interview. This may take the form of him wrapping his arms around his body in order to comfort himself. Alternatively, he may place his hands behind his head and look at the ceiling. Whilst doing this, or indeed something similar, he will be more than aware of exactly what is going on even to the extent of following your examination and answering your questions. Therefore it is essential that, if anything such as this occurs, then you should bring the meeting to a close even if it is just for a minute or two as this will break his thoughts and his attempt at controlling matters. It is essential that you remember that your murderer will at some time want to confess but this will only be at a time and place of his own choosing.

  Yours faithfully,

  (Signed) Professor B. G. Love.

  Jim West put down the report after reading it and looked across the desk at his boss before saying, “Well Peter it looks very much to me that Professor Love has got it spot on and that his report confirms that Harry Thompson is our number one prime suspect.”

  Peter Taylor agreed with his man adding, “That’s exactly what I thought but we still have to nail the bastard first so, in the meantime, we will have to stick very closely indeed to Mr. Harry Thompson.”

  The following week Harry Thompson, together with Diane’s parents appeared in an emotional T V appeal for her to return home or to at least get in touch. Opinion on Harry Thompson’s performance was at best divided, as most people on the police team thought that he had killed the girl. Mrs. Wilson broke down completely long before the end and, somehow, the whole thing seemed quite unreal.

  Sadly no new leads came from the appeal and it came to the evening of the Crime Watch Programme.

  The clip began with the announcer, Glenda Johnson, holding up a watch and saying to the audience viewing at home, “Does this watch look familiar? Did you buy it for someone special? Or, was it was purchased for a special occasion? Did you lose it recently and, if so, where and when did you last wear it? Could it have been on a visit to Eastham Country Park on the Wirral?” At this point a photograph of Angela Clarkson appeared on the screen together with the voice of the announcer saying, “This is a picture of Angela Clarkson. Her near naked body was found in a ditch in Eastham Country Park a few days ago. Did you see her in the vicinity with anybody? And, if you did see her, was she wearing a watch like this? As usual, all enquiries will be treated in strictest confidence and you can contact the police by telephoning any of the following numbers.”

  At the end of the evening when the update was featured, the police admitted that apart from a railway guard who reported that he thought he had seen a similar person to Angela Clarkson board his tra
in at Bromborough Rake Station some time after ten thirty one evening, there had been a poor response to the appeal. Inspector Taylor made arrangements to interview the guard and, although the guard was quite sure that it was Angela Clarkson, he couldn’t offer any further information. Later, the murder team thought that they might get a breakthrough when they contacted the English agents of the watchmaker who quickly established that fifty two of the same watches had been sold nationwide. In all instances, except six, completed guarantee cards had been received and, as each card gave details of the purchasers, they were all quickly traced and eliminated from the investigation. The six outstanding had been exported abroad and these persons were traced through the VAT refund scheme.

  Chapter 6

  * * *

  Timothy and Paula Harris were relaxing at home. These days, they didn’t spend too many nights together because Timothy Harris MP was a government minister as well as a powerful figure in the city. As a consequence, he was often away from his home in Cheshire either on government business or looking after his own interests as he was on the board of a number of companies. Tonight he had been quite content to pour himself a large brandy and catch up with reading ‘The Times.’ In the spacious lounge, with a log fire blazing away, he felt at peace with himself. In a far corner of the room the TV set flickered away and the Crime Watch programme was about halfway through. Sleep was beginning to fill his eyes and ‘The Times’ newspaper was about to slip slowly from his fingers. His wife watched with some amusement whilst thinking to herself, ‘he’ll be asleep any second now.’

  At that moment the screen was filled with the picture of Angela Clarkson. Timothy was awake instantly as he recognized the face on the screen. There was absolutely no doubt about it at all. It was definitely Angela Clarkson. Then the watch was featured again. “Jesus Christ”, he muttered under his breath as he reached for and began to spill his brandy. “Angela Clarkson killed when? Oh my god,” he muttered again “that was the time I was in Bromborough and Birkenhead.” Although he was in an acute state of panic and sweating profusely, he knew he had one saving grace as he had spent the latter part of the evening watching the football highlights on the TV in the residents’ lounge in the company of the assistant manager so he wouldn’t be in desperate need of an alibi. ‘Good lord,’ his train of thought continued, ‘if any of this got out it would be the end. It would probably mean a messy divorce and he would be made to resign from the government. After which there would be all the usual snide gossip in the Tory press, together with the consequent disgrace that would ultimately follow.’