Episode 4 Hinterland

PHONE RINGS

-Body was found this morning.

-Time?

-Just after six.

METAL CLANGS IN DISTANCE

SOC are on their way, sir.

METAL CLANGS

The body was burnt in an attempt to conceal evidence.

Early results from pathology suggest likely cause of death

a blow to the side of the head.

Time of death?

Sometime last night, but we're still waiting.

-Possessions?

-Set of keys, some coins.

-Mobile phone?

-No.

DNA, we've got a match. Aron Bowen.

39 years old,

released from prison six months ago after serving 13 years for murder.

He was convicted in 2001 for the murder of Abi Watkins.

-Girlfriend?

-Yep.

-Have they got any kids?

-A little girl, sir. Ffion.

She was four years old when her mother was murdered.

-Domestic dispute?

-Abi was stabbed, but they never found the weapon.

Bowen said he was innocent. Never changed his story.

According to Bowen, they fought, she hit him, he hit her back,

then Bowen left the house.

He came back the next morning to find Abi dead.

It says here the defendant fled the scene of the crime.

Why run if you're innocent?

Maybe he was guilty.

Get onto probation.

Find out the terms of his release and when he was last in contact.

-Yes, sir.

-What about his family?

-Do we know where they live?

-Ynyshir Boatyard in Borth.

Place is run by the Bowens,

Aron's brother Cal and his wife Delyth.

-Delyth Bowen?

-Yes. Can I...

help you?

We're here about your bother-in-law, Aron Bowen.

I'm afraid he was found dead this morning.

-What happened?

-We found his body on the beach.

We have reason to think that he was murdered.

Did you or your husband have any contact with Aron

-since his release from prison?

-No.

No, my husband...

..he and his brother haven't spoken for years.

Why's that?

Cos of what he did.

Is that your daughter?

Aron's daughter.

-Ffion?

-Yes.

We brought her up as our own.

After what happened,

there was nowhere else for her to go.

Is your husband around, Mrs Bowen? I'd like to talk to him.

He's in the yard.

WELDING SPARKS

LADDER CLAMOURS

Mr Bowen?

You don't seem very upset.

I always knew it'd end like this.

-Where were you last night, Mr Bowen?

-Porthmadog.

I was picking up supplies and got home around eight.

Tell me about your brother.

-What about him?

-Well, were you and he ever close?

Oh, once. That was before...

-Before he murdered Abi Watkins?

-Before he wrecked everything.

They should never have released him.

What about Ffion, Aron's daughter?

Do you think she feels the same way?

He was never a father to her.

We're the only family she's ever known.

Ffion has spent the last 13 years rebuilding her life.

If that means anything to you, stay away from her.

And what about Aron's parents, your mother and father?

Can I speak to them?

-My father died nine years ago. A stroke.

-What about your mother?

You're welcome to try.

Annes Bowen?

I know why you're here.

Delyth called me from the yard.

We're sorry for your loss.

Did you have any contact with your son after his release?

No.

I wanted to see him, but...

it was too hard.

-I didn't know what to say to him.

-You were still angry with him?

He should've stayed away.

There was nothing for him here, not any more.

He was your son.

He brought shame on us all, killing that girl...

..and now he's dead.

Ffion!

Wait!

You're wasting your time here.

It's not me you should be talking to, it's them -

the family of the Watkins girl.

They always wanted to see my son dead,

and now they've got what they wanted.

Come on, come on. It's all right. It's all right.

It's going to be all right, OK? It's all right. It's all right.

-Mark Watkins.

-Round the corner there, mate.

Mark Watkins?

-Did you know he'd been released?

-Yep.

-You seen him about?

-No.

Haven't seen him since the day they put him away.

How do you feel, knowing the man who murdered your sister is dead?

I don't feel anything.

Should I?

Well, you tell me.

They should've done us all a favour and drowned him at birth.

Those two should never have got together.

We told her and we warned her.

It's just our bad luck she chose him.

Her bad luck, too.

Where were you last night, Mr Watkins?

I was with my father at his house.

All night.

Thank you, Mr Watkins.

I've spoken to probation services.

Aron Bowen missed two scheduled appointments.

His file was flagged on the national database last week.

Have we got an address for him?

'Yep, home and work. Sending them over to you now.'

Thanks.

Hope I've got the right key, now.

Have we met before?

Mr Latimer helped us with our enquiries

-on the Devil's Bridge case.

-So you did.

There's a switch here somewhere.

Aron Bowen - what was he like?

Couldn't say. He kept a very low profile.

-You didn't ask any questions?

-It wasn't my place to.

I could see by the way he carried himself there was...

there was something going on with him.

What do you mean?

I got the impression he was trying to make a go of it,

trying to start again.

Good luck to him, I thought.

Did he have any friends?

A man came over to see him a couple of times.

Can't say I got much of a chance to look at him.

-Did you get a name?

-No, I'm sorry.

Dark hair. About the same age.

Aron Bowen worked for a drainage firm out on the marshes.

He got the job from a friend - a man called Craig Jones.

They went to school together, apparently.

I've been trying to get in touch with the company,

but the office is closed for the day.

-The calls keep going straight to voicemail.

-Sir!

I've dug up everything I can on the Abi Watkins case.

Repeated applications for retrial, defendant claiming he was innocent.

But he also said that his girlfriend

was seeing someone else behind his back - another man.

Reckoned it was this other man that killed Abi.

Can you look into this, please?

Yes, sir.

-ON TV:

-'I just knew.

'The way she looked at me.

'The way she was around me.

'You can tell when a woman's cheating on you.

'I loved Abi. I would never hurt her.

'She was the mother of my child.

'Is that right?

'So, what about the marks on her face?

'We argued.

'It got out of hand. It was an accident.

'And the fact she ended up dead?'

-Tom...

-'Was that an accident, too?

'I think you killed Abi Watkins because you were jealous.

'No.

'Jealous that she was seeing another man.

'No! That's not what happened!

'Oh, I think it is. I think that's exactly what happened.

'Why won't you listen to me? Why won't anyone listen to me?

'I didn't kill Abi Watkins! It was the other man!'

All the evidence was against him -

blood on his clothes, fleeing the scene of the crime.

-He had motive and opportunity.

-An open-and-shut case.

What about the man he claimed Abi was seeing?

-Fabrication.

-13 years of trying to overturn his conviction -

you don't think that counts for something?

Bowen was guilty. He just refused to admit it.

Some men do that.

The pathologist on the investigation, Dr Haydn Blake...

-I want to talk to him.

-No.

All the evidence you need is on record.

Iwan Thomas.

What about him?

Have you had any further contact with him?

No.

Good.

-KNOCK ON DOOR

-Yeah?

Sir, there's someone in reception to see you -

Ffion Bowen, the victim's daughter.

My mother used to read to me.

Every night.

I used to lie next to her.

Her hair, it was so soft.

But then she was gone.

Have you had any contact with your father since his release?

We met up...

-..a couple of times.

-Does your uncle know?

-He wouldn't approve?

-That's one way of putting it.

I wrote to my father a few years back.

There were things that I wanted to know.

Where they first met.

Where they used to go with each other.

Your uncle Cal, he thinks...

He thinks your father killed your mother.

How about you?

No.

I think my father was telling the truth.

Why do you say that?

When I was little...

..there was a man.

He used to come to the house...

..when Dad wasn't there.

-Are you sure?

-Yes.

I think that's who murdered Mum.

And I think Dad found out who he was.

Mr Watkins?

My son Mark was with me all night, if that's why you're here.

Is this you?

My father's boat.

You still got it?

No, she sank.

10th of September, 1973.

My father and his friends went down with her.

I was the only one to survive.

Boat had just come out of the yard.

The Bowens' place?

Yeah.

We'd been out in worse weather...

..but she was letting in water.

And you blamed the Bowens?

The pumps didn't work and the repairs didn't hold.

If they had,

my father and his men would not have been lost.

I don't understand why my daughter got involved with that family,

after what they did to us.

She broke my wife Gwyneth's heart.

Aron Bowen said that your daughter Abi was seeing somebody else.

That's what he wanted you to believe, that he was innocent.

Aron Bowen was a murderer, just like his father -

a coward who wouldn't accept responsibility for what he had done.

What about your granddaughter, Ffion?

That woman wouldn't let us anywhere near her.

-Annes?

-Yeah. Annes.

Whatever Annes wants, Annes gets.

Mr Jones?

WARNING SIREN BLARES

TRAIN HORN BLARES

When bad things happen...

..do you think it leaves a stain on the place?

I went to school with a girl that used to live here.

She was older than me.

Her father was a policeman.

Iwan Thomas?

Her and her mother were murdered.

I know.

But we caught the man who did it.

I told them I'd been to see you.

I told them I'd been seeing my dad.

What did they say?

Not a lot.

Nothing ever gets said.

What do you mean, "Nothing ever gets said"?

They never talk about my mother. Never about my father.

It's like they never existed.

-And if they don't exist...

-Neither do you.

I'd better get back.

Ffion...

..we will catch whoever killed your father, OK?

Ffion was in contact with her father.

They met up.

She didn't tell you?

Ffion has this idea of what her father was like -

the man he once was or the man he could've been.

But he was never there for her.

What sort of father is that?

PHONE RINGS Lloyd?

-ON PHONE:

-'The till receipt we found in the victim's bedsit,

'there was an incident involving Aron Bowen three days ago.'

I spoke to the owner.

He said that Bowen didn't want to call the police,

didn't want them involved.

-Cos he was on probation.

-Mm-hm.

When we spoke yesterday,

you said that you hadn't seen Aron Bowen since his release.

That is you in that photograph, isn't it?

So, I gave him a kicking.

What difference does it make?

He killed my sister.

Doesn't mean I had anything to do with his death.

No?

I wish I had it in me to do it, but I don't.

All my life, I've wanted him dead, and now that he is...

..it doesn't change anything.

He should never have come back here.

If he had any sense, he'd have stayed away.

Why?

Do you think, that way, he'd still be alive?

You had unfinished business with him.

No.

The other night at the garage, that was just the start of it.

-A taste of what was to come.

-No!

Once you had a taste for it, there was no stopping you.

He killed my sister!

Stabbed her to death!

Now, everyone round here knows that he did it,

everyone except you.

Why are you raking all this up?

Because he served his time, paid for his crime.

And now he's dead, murdered, just like your sister.

It's got nothing to do with me.

I was at my father's house all night.

You think I'm the only one who wanted him dead?

His own family couldn't stand the sight of him.

His father never got over the shame, he drank himself to death,

and his mother, she hated her own son for what he'd done.

So, Aron's dead.

Good.

The world's a better place without him.

But you don't have to take my word for it.

You go talk to his mother or his brother,

they'll tell you the same things as me.

Tell us about the night Abi was killed.

Mrs Bowen?

I heard Aron's car pull up outside.

I wasn't expecting him.

He came into the kitchen.

I could see he'd been involved in some sort of fight.

He was upset.

He said that he and Abi had argued...

..that he'd made a mess of his life, he'd...

He'd made a mess of everything...

and he knew it.

And then?

I told him to sleep it off, sober up,

sort it out in the morning.

-He slept here?

-I sent him home.

And then...

what did you do?

Well, I went back to bed.

It was the last I ever saw of him.

Next morning, the police came to the house...

..told me what he'd done.

We warned him not to get involved with that girl,

but he wouldn't listen.

"I'm so sorry for all the years of sorrow you have endured.

"Perhaps I should've said something at the time,

"but the fact that my daughter was seeing someone else

"doesn't change what happened that night."

It's from Abi Watkins's mother, Gwyneth.

Thanking Aron Bowen for all the letters he sent to her.

It was written three weeks before she died.

"I hope you can forgive me for staying silent,

"in the same way that I must forgive you.

"Yours faithfully, Gwyneth."

She knew who her daughter was seeing.

Then Aron Bowen was right about the affair.

Maybe he was right about who killed Abi Watkins, too.

The first letter we received from Aron,

we thought he was going to say he was sorry...

..ask for forgiveness.

We thought maybe he would admit to what he'd done...

..but he still kept protesting his innocence.

What did the letter say?

Nothing that he hadn't said in court.

But he still kept on writing.

One letter after the other.

We didn't bother reading them in the end.

We just threw them in the fire.

I thought the letters had stopped, but when Gwyneth died...

..I found out that she'd been hiding them.

Your wife, Gwyneth,

wrote this letter three weeks before she died.

She thought that Abi was seeing someone else.

Another man.

We think that Aron Bowen recently found out who Abi was seeing...

and that man might be responsible for his death.

Who is he, Mr Watkins?

'I had nothing to do with it.

'And what about Abi Watkins?'

What about her?

Aron Bowen knew that Abi was seeing someone behind his back,

and that someone was you.

What happened? Did Aron find out? Did he come after you?

-No.

-Is that why you killed him?

I didn't kill Aron. That's not what happened.

Then tell us what did happen!

Aron knew.

-How?

-I told him, everything. The truth.

-When?

-Last week.

-Why?

-Because I wanted him to admit to what he'd done!

He kept saying it wasn't him that killed Abi,

kept saying it was this man she was shagging behind his back.

But I knew that was a lie!

Because that man was you.

'Where were you the night Aron was killed?

'I was home.

'Were you with anyone?

'No. I was on my own.

'All night?

'All night.'

Tell us about the night that Abi was killed.

Aron had been drinking.

I met up with him after work. He was in a bad way - he was angry.

I tried to talk to him to calm him down.

He was having none of it.

We argued...

-..and off he went.

-You didn't go after him?

So, what did you do?

I went home.

-But I was worried about Abi, so I went over there.

-To see her?

When I got there, the place was a hell of a mess.

They'd been fighting.

Aron was gone, but Abi had these marks on her face.

And then what?

I got angry.

I went over to Aron's flat to have it out with him.

What time was this?

One.

His truck was outside. I knew he was in there.

I just couldn't do it.

Couldn't face him.

I just sat there outside his flat...

..doing nothing.

Till when?

Three.

On the night Abi was killed,

Craig said that he was outside Aron's flat

between one and three in the morning.

This supports Aron's story that he went home that night.

If Craig Jones is telling the truth.

The coroner's report puts time of death for Abi Watkins

between one and four in the morning.

That still leaves Aron Bowen an hour to account for.

But Craig Jones's testimony suggests that Aron was telling the truth.

I agree.

DC Ellis.

DS Owens.

A convicted murderer is found dead

and you're charged with finding the killer.

We think it's more complicated than that, sir.

"We"?

Yes, sir.

Craig's testimony casts doubt on the original conviction.

The Abi Watkins case is closed.

Aron Bowen was found guilty of her murder.

Now, our priority is to find out who killed Aron Bowen,

and not to undermine the original conviction.

But what if both cases go hand-in-hand, sir?

Aron Bowen served 13 years for a crime he did or did not commit,

and now he's lying in a mortuary.

I supported you, DCI Mathias...

over Marie Davis.

And Gwen Thomas.

I hope you're not suggesting I didn't do my work properly.

-That went well(!)

-HE CHUCKLES

What do we do about Craig Jones?

We do what we're told.

We hold him...

on the suspicion of killing Aron Bowen.

Where are you going?

To talk to Haydn Blake.

TAPPING ON WINDOW

Sorry to startle you, Dr Blake.

That's all right.

I don't see that Craig Jones's testimony changes anything.

Aron Bowen had an hour in which to commit this crime -

an hour that can't be accounted for.

Do you think Aron Bowen was guilty?

I don't deal in guilt and innocence, I deal in facts.

And the facts of this case are there in black and white.

Well, if that's true, why was I told not to talk to you?

But we are talking.

Thank you for your time, Dr Blake.

ENGINE STARTS

PHONE BUZZES

CHILDREN LAUGH AND SHOUT ON VIDEO

It's a pity they can't stay children forever.

I've buried a husband, lost a son,

given my life to the yard...

..and for what?

SHE SIGHS

Aron should've stayed away.

He should never have come back.

There was nothing left for him here.

Maybe he wanted to be close to Ffion.

To be a father to his daughter.

Cal is the only father that Ffion has ever known.

If Aron really cared for that girl, he would have left her alone.

Did you know that Abi was having an affair with Craig Jones?

Do you think Craig could've killed your son?

What difference does it make?

It makes a difference if your son was innocent.

GRAVEL CRUNCHES

Ffion!

I didn't know where else to go.

Let me get you a towel.

There you go.

Sit down, sit down.

I should take you home. They'll be worried about you.

No, they won't.

They never gave Dad a chance.

None of them did.

It's my fault he's dead.

The night he was killed, he phoned me.

He said he wanted to see me, but I said no.

I couldn't keep lying like that.

As soon as I hung up, I regretted it.

I tried to phone him back...

..but the line was busy.

If I'd have seen him that night, maybe he'd still be alive.

Are those your little girls?

Mm-hm, yeah.

Do you miss them?

Every day.

Hey.

No.

-Sorry.

-No, don't be silly. It's OK.

I'm going to take you home. All right?

OK, stay there.

Ffion!

Ffion!

DOOR CLOSES

FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

-ON VIDEO:

-'I wish I'd never set eyes on her.

'Never got involved.

'I know how this looks.

'I'm no saint. I'm no angel.

'I may not be the best dad in the world.

'I may not be the best human being in the world,

'but that doesn't make me a killer.

'Do you love your daughter? What's going to happen to her now?

'Do you even care?

'Of course I care.'

MOBILE PHONE RINGS

'All that shit about the trawler and her father,

'Will Watkins.

'You know what he said...

'..when he heard Abi was having my kid?

'"If my daughter has any sense, she'll get rid of it,

'"kill the bastard before it has a chance to be born."

'What kind of man says that about their own grandchild?'

I think Aron Bowen called his daughter

the night he died from a kiosk.

This is the number. I want to know who else he called from there.

Yes, sir.

PHONE RINGS

Mathias.

'It's all my fault.'

-Ffion?

-'I should never have been born.

'Everyone's lives would be so much simpler.

'Mum, Dad...

'..they'd still be alive.'

Ffion...where are you?

-'I want to be with him.'

-Ffion?

'With Dad.'

Ffion. Ffion!

Get an ambulance over to where Aron Bowen's body was found, now!

METAL CLANGS IN DISTANCE

METAL CLANGS

Ffion turned up at the caravan last night.

She wanted to talk.

She took these without me seeing.

I know, I know.

You saved her life, Tom.

-Are you happy now?!

-Cal!

I told you not to go near her!

I told you not to put ideas in her head!

Ffion's going to be OK, Mr Bowen.

-Look what you've done to her!

-Please!

-I understand why you're upset.

-Do you? Do you?!

Calm down, Cal.

Sir.

Sir!

We know Aron called Ffion from the kiosk the night he was killed,

here at 18.53.

Ffion said she tried to call the number back a few minutes later.

-But the number was engaged.

-Because...

Aron made a second call at 18.56...

..to the boatyard.

After Aron was released,

you said that you had no contact with him at all, is that right?

-That's right.

-No meetings, no letters? No phone calls?

That's what I said.

On the night your brother died,

we know that he spoke to Ffion on the phone,

and after he spoke to her, he made a second call, didn't he?

To the boatyard.

Like I said, I wasn't there.

Last night, when Ffion didn't come home,

why didn't you call the police?

Aron had just been murdered.

You didn't think that whoever killed him

might go after Ffion, too? That her life could be in danger?

The truth, Cal!

'It was me who answered the phone.

'What did you and Aron talk about?

'He wanted to talk to Cal. I told him he was out.

'What else?'

He said he wanted to come to the house,

have it out with him.

He said if Cal didn't come to him, he'd come to Cal.

I said he wasn't welcome.

I didn't want that man anywhere near us.

Because he wanted to talk about Ffion, didn't he?

Answer me, Delyth.

He said he'd been meeting Ffion behind our backs.

Did that make you angry?

I knew there was something going on.

Late-night phone calls, coming in late.

I thought she had a boyfriend.

But...

I couldn't stop her from seeing her father.

She's 17 years old.

She's not a little girl any more.

But you never told Cal?

I knew how he'd react.

I knew he'd be angry.

Delyth...

..Aron wouldn't take no for an answer...

..and you told your husband about Aron's phone call.

I had no choice.

Aron said he'd be on the beach,

nine o'clock that night,

and if Cal didn't come and meet him...

..he'd come to the house.

DOOR OPENS

You had no choice. You had to go and meet him.

You couldn't have him come to the house and make a scene.

Not in front of Ffion.

Aron wanted Ffion back, didn't he?

But you loved her...

..and you were afraid of losing her.

There was no way you were going to give her back.

She's my daughter. I was trying to protect her.

I'm the only father she's ever known.

We gave her a life...

..loved her like our own. She's ours.

I was the one who picked her up when she was crying,

who was always there for her.

He had no right to think he could walk back in to her life

after what he'd done.

You had to kill him.

I did it for Ffion.

She belongs to us.

FAINT CONVERSATION

INAUDIBLE CONVERSATION

You can rake over the past as much as you like.

Sometimes you find something, sometimes you don't.

Hmm.

That doesn't mean you have to stop looking.

Goodnight, Tom.

Goodnight, Mared.

'We had a fight.

'I was drunk. I was upset.

'I left.

'I went over to my dad's, but he was in bed sleeping.

'My mother was there.

'She got angry, started shouting at me about the mess I'd made,

'said I was going to ruin everything.

'Then she kicked me out.

'And you didn't see anyone or speak to anyone after that?

'No. I went home, back to my flat.

'So, after your own mother threw you out of the house,

'no-one can account for your whereabouts?

'My mother was there.

'She got angry, started shouting at me about the mess I'd made.

'My mother was there. She got angry, started shouting...

-'She got angry, started shouting...'

-RECORDING DISTORTS

'I was going to ruin everything.

'My mother was there...'

Aron didn't kill Abi, did he?

But I think you know who did.

Somebody had to stop Abi

from getting her hands on everything you'd worked for.

Everything that family tried to destroy.

You pleaded with him...

..but it was no use.

They had a child together. The die had been cast.

Aron had forgotten what was most important.

That family comes first...

..no matter what the circumstances.

Aron got what he deserved.

So did Abi Watkins.

You killed her?

-If I did, you'll never prove it.

-I don't have to.

I did what was right for my family.

Your family is gone.

RUSTLING

RUSTLING

GLASS SHATTERS

EXPLOSION BLASTS

FIRE CRACKLES

GLASS SHATTERS