The Talk Show: the gripping thriller everyone is talking about

by Harry Verity

  ‘Michael rarely read the case files on each guest in detail until the morning of the show.’

  ‘But he was aware of whom was on his own show in advance? He made the final decision?’

  Dearnley continued: ‘Yes, he would have the final say and the cases would be discussed with him in advance. He did not show any particular interest in any of the cases where the girls were abducted.’

  Jurors also heard from an ex-employee of the show who survived just one week under the heavy pressure of the show before he dramatically attempted to kill himself.

  Johnathan Langton, twenty-six, took to the stand to retell the events of two years ago. Readers might remember our exclusive coverage. Two guests ransacked the O’Shea Show and destroyed half the set. A subsequent court case resulted in the show’s producers being told to clean up their act. Langton, however, had warned O’Shea and his producer about winding guests up before they appeared. ‘I was concerned that this wasn’t right but they simply told me to “f*** off”,’ and he was even spat at. O’Shea and his producer got so annoyed at him that they locked him out of the gallery where the show is controlled. Whilst recording took place, he attempted suicide and was forced to resign. O’Shea was a ‘monster’ he said, ‘who was obsessed with power and status’. The trial continues.

  The Lion, p.5

  O’SHEA EXCLUSIVE – POLICE ‘GIVE UP’ ON SEARCH FOR BODIES

  It’s been well over six months since the disappearance of Minnie Jenkins and Jessica Butler and with their bodies still no closer to being found, The Lion understands the police and the CPS have now accepted they will not find their remains before the conclusion of Michael O’Shea’s trial. Police have already poured vast amounts of resources into searching the area surrounding O’Shea’s garage on the outskirts of Manchester, where a car belonging to him and a single thumb belonging to Millicent Jenkins were discovered.

  Hundreds, if not thousands of hours of CCTV have been scoured for clues and a daily patrol of sniffer dogs have continued to comb through the woodland. Divers have even searched local reservoirs, lakes, and rivers in a twenty-mile radius. But still nothing. Police say they are confident they can still secure a conviction.

  ‘We would obviously like closure for the victims’ families,’ one officer told us.

  The Lion, p.1

  O’SHEA’S BROTHER ACCUSED

  -How Michael taught younger brother sick paedo fantasies

  The courtroom in the O’Shea trial today became the venue for a dramatic family drama as Phillip O’Shea, younger brother to the embattled presenter, accused him of teaching him how to abuse children.

  Phillip O’Shea, who himself has a conviction for offences against children, said his brother used to hang around the school gates looking for innocent victims to bring back to the apartment the sick siblings used to share together.

  Asked if anybody witnessed this, he said there could be potentially hundreds of parents and children who spotted them at local schools.

  Despite being quizzed for several hours, Phillip O’Shea could not recall the names or appearances of any of the alleged victims and none have come forward despite numerous appeals but asked if he believed his brother was capable of rape and murder, he said yes.

  The Lion, p.1

  O’SHEA’S DNA COURT SHOCK

  The prosecution ended their case against Michael O’Shea by turning the tables on the former presenter and laying out damning DNA evidence against him that he would usually hand out to guests on his own show.

  In a truly shocking twenty-four hours in court, prosecutors first successfully got Mr O’Shea to admit he would have known in advance exactly where Jessica Butler was going on the night she was abducted and that he also had access to the home address of Millicent ‘Minnie’ Jenkins.

  Next came the extracts of Michael’s first police interview. The officers can be seen asking him how many properties he owned. He tells them about his family home and his villa abroad but not about his garages and denies he has a lockup, even when asked directly. The interview, the prosecution alleges, proves O’Shea is a liar.

  But the final twist of the knife came when prosecutors presented evidence that O’Shea’s DNA had been found on the severed thumb believed to belong to Minnie Jenkins, which had been discovered in his garage. A cardigan, also found in the lockup, had traces of both O’Shea and Minnie’s DNA.

  The Lion, p.4.

  O’SHEA ON THE DEFENSIVE

  From our reporter in the courtroom

  It took just a day for O’Shea’s team to lay out their own evidence because there was so little of it. The ex-presenter did not deny being at the garage, no doubt because the evidence that he owned both the garage and the KA was overwhelming. There was an answer for even the most incriminating evidence. His brother’s testimony was not credible: Phillip allegedly had a vendetta against Michael because he had not funded his own trial for abuse crimes. The garage was not a murder scene but a secret rendezvous point: for Michael told the court that he had been having an affair with Liv. So desperate was he for these details of his private life to remain a secret that he lied to the police, worried that if he had to appear as a witness, his affair would be made public and his marriage would be over. This is why he had no alibi for the nights in question.

  Michael had one public social media account and the few private text messages he and Liv had sent each other had been on secret pay-as-you-go phones which they had both taken great care to dispose of every week. And why had Liv not testified that all this was true? Why had she not corroborated his claims? It was simple, Michael argued: who on earth would implicate themselves in a murder inquiry by voluntarily placing themselves at a crime scene?

  An unlikely scenario but readers of The Lion will make up their own mind as the trial continues.

  Tomorrow: the defence cross-examines the witnesses.

  The Lion, p.1

  O’SHEA COURT SHOCKER: RESEARCHER’S COKE AND SEX SHAME

  -Top researcher denies she was high during filming

  Michael O’Shea’s defence team today poured scorn over a researcher who had testified against him, claiming she was addicted to cocaine and moonlighted as a high-class escort. Under oath, Violet Dearnley denied she used the Class-A drug and regularly saw men who had paid to have sex with her via a mobile phone app.

  O’Shea’s defence team argued the absence of mobile phone records was suspicious, as too was Dearnley’s refusal to submit to a drugs test. They presented damning photographs of her taken by a private detective showing her meeting with men in a bar.

  But prosecutors claimed the researcher disposed of her phone in haste after her colleague Edward Lewis admitted his suspicions to her that O’Shea was behind the disappearance of the two girls. Dearnley feared that O’Shea might try to track her down and kill her so threw her phone into the River Thames. Furthermore, prosecutors argued, there was no evidence that money changed hands or that Dearnley slept with the men she met up with. Prosecutors also told the jury that the private detective was not an impartial witness since he had previously been retained by the O’Shea Show.

  The defence for O’Shea argued Dearnley’s judgement could not be trusted since she may have been high on drugs during the times she was working on the show. Prosecutors also argued her work as an escort impinged her reputation and diminished her credibility as a witness in the case.

  34

  He was not an idiot. He knew it had been over for a long time. No amount of mudslinging was going to change that. As he was led into the gallery which had, in recent weeks, subsided in numbers and was now packed to the brim, Michael knew there was no point getting his hopes up.

  There was complete silence; not even the faintest flicker of a juror’s hand could go unnoticed by the pack of reporters in this room. In walked the judge and finally, the infamous words rang around the courthouse as he addressed the jury:

  ‘Have you reached a verdict upon which you are all agreed? Please answer “yes” or
“no”.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘On the first count against Mr O’Shea, the murder of Millicent Jenkins, does the jury find the defendant guilty or not guilty?’

  ‘Guilty.’

  ‘On count two, the murder of Thomas Mallaky.’

  ‘Guilty.’

  ‘On count three, the murder of Jessica Butler?’

  ‘Guilty.’

  ‘On count four, the rape of Millicent Jenkins.’

  ‘Guilty.’

  ‘On count five the rape of Jessica Butler.’

  ‘Guilty.’

  The court gasped but Michael did not. Even if, in those few short seconds, before the jury foreman had delivered his verdict, he thought he was about to get off, every facet of Michael’s life had already collapsed in upon itself; his marriage, his reputation, his career, his chances of ever seeing daylight again.

  He looked around, vaguely amused at the absurdity of the situation: he could almost smell the print as journalists around him raced for the most shocking adjectives, the word allegedly now so markedly absent from their reports.

  ‘Take him down…’ said the judge.

  Michael O’Shea had wasted away in prison, his face, gaunt and pale, the beard he had grown wild and out of control. But at least the baying media outside would be denied this final portrait of him, his face hidden behind the blacked-out glass of the prison van.

  35

  More than thirty minutes had passed since Michael had been led away. Edward was stood in the cloisters at the back of the building, staring out at the cobbled courtyard, incredibly aware of the helicopter circling around above, no doubt streaming the scene live into people’s living rooms. He had lost Violet in the crowd but she had figured out where he had gone.

  He had bought a packet of cigarettes earlier in the day.

  Violet eyed him from a distance, tentatively opening up the box, trying to work out how to use the lighter.

  ‘I never really understood people’s proclivity for these things,’ he said, ‘until this morning.’

  She snatched the packet from his hand and took one herself. He could no longer be bothered; he knew he would hate his first puff and that he would be left painfully short of breath as the smoke filled up his lungs…

  ‘The verdict… I don’t feel any better,’ he muttered.

  ‘It is what it is.’

  ‘I still feel guilty,’ Edward said, softly.

  ‘Then you’ve thought about this too long.’

  They stood in silence for several moments as Violet finished her cigarette. Violet started to move back into the building but Edward didn’t follow her. She raised her hand in farewell and he wondered if he’d ever see her again…

  36

  ‘…he rose to fame during the trial of disgraced talk show host Michael O’Shea where he worked as the director of guest rehabilitation. Some have speculated that he is tipped for a show of his own but for now, he’s on tonight to promote his new book: Under The Spotlight: A life Behind the Cameras. Please welcome Dr Bernard Braithwaite, everyone.’

  There was a warm round of applause as a much more comfortable Braithwaite, dressed in blue jeans and an unbuttoned cardigan, stepped out onto the studio floor. He bowed gracefully and raised his hands to quell the noise as Jim Cartwright began his interview.

  ‘How’ve you been, my friend?’

  ‘I’m well, thank you.’

  ‘Good, that’s what we like to hear! Now tell us all about this book you’ve written. You actually started it whilst the trial of Michael O’Shea was going on, didn’t you?’

  ‘Yes, I think really the book was…’ Braithwaite paused, ostensibly to collect his thoughts, though Edward could tell he was simply trying to stop himself stuttering. ‘It was a way of reflecting on everything I’d seen happen over the last few months. I do feel that when tragic and unexpected events happen in our lives we’ve got to find some way, first of coping and coming to terms with them and then of understanding, of shaping a narrative out of what has happened to us and this, I suppose, is my attempt at doing that.’

  ‘Absolutely, and these events were just so shocking, weren’t they? I mean for us, as viewers, to hear about what Michael O’Shea had done… it left you with such a sense of despair, he’s even been on this show, on this very sofa, but for you, it must have been so much worse.’

  ‘Yes, I suppose that is what everyone is interested in and what I have tried to devote a fairly substantial chunk of the book to, a memoir of my time working on the show and how that juxtaposes with, well… the truth.’

  ‘If you ever saw anything which might have been suspicious…’

  ‘Exactly, yes, and I honestly could not think of anything. He seemed like the perfect husband and he did a good job at convincing us all that he was only interested in improving the lives of his guests.’

  ‘So, what was your view on the trial as it unfolded?’

  ‘Like everyone else, I had no idea what to think. You can’t really speculate about the outcome, you have to let justice take its course. I offered to help both sides with all that I could remember so we could get to the truth. But the verdict has been out for over two months, you have to accept it and I do I accept it entirely of course. He was found guilty by a jury.’

  ‘But he has appealed against his conviction and his legal team have released statements in which he is adamant that he is innocent. Even now, is there not a flicker of doubt in your mind?’

  ‘No, the DNA evidence, I think, does prove it and, as I said, he was found guilty by a jury so that is as close to any kind of closure we’re going to get. I can’t imagine anyone considering quashing his conviction based on the evidence we heard.’

  ‘And what about the show itself, do you miss it?’

  ‘Oh of course. Though the trial features in the book, most of it is about the good experiences I had on the show. It was so rewarding and, I will be quite honest with you, Jimmy, I did really enjoy my time…’

  ‘And rumour has it that we might be seeing you back on our screens pretty soon actually. What can you…’

  Edward turned off the television. He was lying in bed, alone. A complimentary copy of Braithwaite’s book was still lying face down on his coffee table. The rumours were true. Braithwaite was to get his own show. Same studio, same time, and, if he had his way, the same backstage crew as well. Edward had gotten a phone call the same day that the book had arrived, asking him to consider returning as a researcher. He’d asked for time to think about it, feeling at that moment, frankly, overwhelmed and still quite sick of hearing about Michael O’Shea.

  Financially, returning was definitely the best choice. But Edward had already turned down an opportunity to write about his experiences on the O’Shea Show for The Lion, though Violet had accepted. Edward hadn’t spoken to her since that day at court but he had happened upon her article, plastered over the front page. It wasn’t as if Edward blamed her – or Braithwaite – for cashing in. It was a tough world and they’d all suffered at the hands of Michael O’Shea. They deserved a shot at fame and riches but Edward didn’t know if he was ready to do the same. He imagined Violet already had another job, somewhere in the City. But he was wrong…

  It took only three days to coax Edward back into the studio; the price was right. So there he was sitting beside Violet, signing the paperwork. Violet acknowledged Edward but said little. She seemed awkward and he could not help wondering how she had spent her days during their long absence without work, how many people had she slept with or how she was funding her cocaine addiction?

  Braithwaite had promised to ‘do things properly’, to ’right the wrongs of the past’. Edward didn’t know how far he believed that. But the experience on the Michael O’Shea Show had made him re-evaluate everything. Edward was determined to take more responsibility for the decisions he took in his working life and he had reasoned that there was nothing wrong with taking an opportunity so long as he was true to himself, so long as he was happy to throw in the to
wel if he saw something he felt uncomfortable with.

  So here he was, about to make the preparations for the new series. One of the things that had most persuaded him to return was safety in the knowledge that Braithwaite’s show would be a world away from O’Shea’s. In fact, the channel seemed to have done a complete U-turn in order that the new format should fit Braithwaite’s personality.

  There would be no shouting or confrontation, guests would be brought out separately to each other, offered tea and coffee and, most unusually of all, there would be no studio audience. No more pantomimic chanting, no patronising clapping: just Braithwaite sat quietly on a stage trying to counsel people as best he could. It was everything the Michael O’Shea Show was not.

  What was more – and Edward suspected, the main reason the channel had agreed to the show – Michael’s notoriety was almost guaranteed to double the viewing figures. Anyone interested in the trial would be watching, eagle-eyed for more scandal. There were even rumours that Braithwaite would present a special from Michael’s prison cell, where he would convince him into finally confessing all and giving up his appeal, revealing the location of the bodies…