Left Field New Tricks


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-You bring me to the nicest places.

-If this case is as open and shut

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as Strickland thinks it is, hopefully we won't be here too long.

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So this bloke Davies wants to make a confession 25 years after the event.

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Have we spoken to his mental health officer?

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He does have a link to the missing boy. He was a friend of the family.

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So what? His conscience got the better of him?

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Maybe he found religion when he was inside.

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-Yeah there's got to be another reason for all this.

-What?

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-Oi, oi, paedo! Come out your house, man.

-Oi, paedo!

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-What you hiding behind your door for? You nonce, man.

-For a start,

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-the local wildlife seems...

-Take this, man.

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Let's get out of here, man!

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Wait here.

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TYRES SCREECH

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-Are you Detective Superintendent Pullman?

-She'll be here in a moment.

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She's just doing a bit of community policing.

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Shit, man.

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I've just had this jacket cleaned.

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I'm arresting you for assaulting a police officer.

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# It's all right It's OK

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# Doesn't really matter if you're old and grey

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# It's all right I say it's OK

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# Listen to what I say

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# It's all right, doing fine

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# Doesn't really matter if the sun don't shine

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# It's all right I say it's OK

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# We're gettin' to the end of the day. #

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Sandra?

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Take them to the interview room. I'll be down in a minute.

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Anything I should be aware of?

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We think they may be part of the reason why Davies

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-decided to confess.

-How so?

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He's had to move four times since he was released from prison.

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So?

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That's four times in the last six months.

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Every time he settles in someone tips off the locals

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and the next thing he knows there's pitchforks and torches

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-as far as the eye can see.

-Again. So?

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So maybe he feels safer in prison than he does back on the streets.

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I'm afraid my concern is for the safety of the streets, not of a convicted paedophile.

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Especially one who's confessing to the kidnap and murder of a five-year-old child.

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Yeah, and I feel the same way too, but I would like to get to the truth before I hand things over to the CPS.

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And that's what I want you to do, of course.

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For the tape, Mr Davies, can we remind you that you are entitled to legal representation,

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but you've decided to waive that right.

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-I just want to get on with this. OK?

-Fine.

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I want to confess to the kidnap of Yasser Gorton-Blackledge in 1985.

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It was me, I took him.

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OK, but why are you confessing now, 25 years later?

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Because it's the right thing to do.

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I realised that when I was in prison.

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I realised I had to pay for what I'd done.

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-Then why didn't you confess when you were still inside?

-I wish I had.

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Really? Because according to your file you applied for parole at the earliest opportunity.

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You were released because you'd shown willing in all the psychiatric treatment

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and rehabilitation opportunities you were offered.

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Mr Davies, you wrote a ten-page statement in support of your parole application.

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Listen, I don't belong on the streets.

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You need to put me away. Just put me back in prison.

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Surprisingly, it's not as simple as that.

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-We need to know whether you're telling us the truth.

-I am.

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All right, let's start with what happened to Yasser.

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He was taken from his parents at a protest march and never seen again. Where is he?

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All right, where's his body?

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-It's gone.

-Gone where?

-You don't have to give us a map reference, just a general idea.

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-We'll find it.

-No, you won't.

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-I dumped the body at sea.

-Really?

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-Yeah.

-And how did you do that? Did you hire a boat?

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How did you get him from London to the coast? Did you have a car?

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Provide us with some details. How long did you have him?

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-Could anybody have seen the two of you together?

-Look, I've confessed.

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Isn't that enough for you?

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-Well, isn't it?

-No! Because he didn't bloody do it, Gerry.

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-Yeah, but he did plenty of other stuff. You've seen his file.

-I have, and this crime doesn't fit.

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She's right.

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Davies used his position as a teacher to groom adolescent lads, not little children,

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and he never kidnapped anyone.

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-He was cleverer than that.

-Cleverer?

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OK, sly, mendacious.

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He was a different kind of predator, and he never used physical violence on his victims.

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That doesn't make me feel any more comfortable about him being back on the streets.

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He'd agree with you. He doesn't want to be out. That's why he confessed.

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He'd rather see out his days in a safe cell on D-Wing than live in fear in a council flat.

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-So what do we do?

-Well, he's not going anywhere.

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Let's just read the files and take it from there.

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April 20th, 1985.

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There was a demo against Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.

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In attendance was the Islington branch of the Free Palestine Coalition,

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leading lights of which were husband and wife team Anne Gorton and Fred Blackledge.

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Accompanying them was their young son, Yasser.

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Named after...

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That's obvious, isn't it?

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Now, the last reported sighting of him was on the north side of Westminster Bridge.

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The marchers were crossing from south towards the Houses Of Parliament. This was at 2.00pm.

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Hold on, hold on, the kid wasn't reported missing till 8.00pm.

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That's how long apparently it took before the parents realised he was missing.

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What? God, some parents don't deserve to have kids.

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Which is exactly what the press said.

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Yeah, well, they were very sympathetic at first, you know, playing up the victim angle.

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-Until this came to light.

-Look at them.

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And then journalists started asking very awkward questions.

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And answering them. They said that Anne and Fred were dangerous left-wing activists,

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too obsessed with politics to care for their kid.

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They were particularly hard on Anne, saying she'd failed as a mother.

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Maybe she did?

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Yes, I had a call from DAC Strickland.

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He said that Davies had finally done the right thing.

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Finally?

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It was fairly obvious once we found out about his history.

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He lived locally, he'd been to meetings in our home.

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Yasser knew him and must have trusted him enough to go with him.

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-It all makes sense, doesn't it?

-We'll still have to do a proper investigation.

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Wouldn't be a problem for you, would it?

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"Miscarriages of British Justice," "Rough Justice In Modern Britain."

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"Are We Living In A Police State?"

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I work for a civil liberties campaign group. That's where the real battle lies now.

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The day is coming where we won't be able to go anywhere, meet anyone,

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say anything without it being recorded and noted down by those in power.

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CCTV, internet monitoring, illegal phone taps.

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If you don't do anything wrong, there's nothing to worry about.

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Well, it depends who's deciding what's right or wrong, doesn't it?

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Still, if there had been CCTV on Westminster Bridge...

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Oh, I'm aware of the double-edged sword.

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If my son's disappearance had been properly investigated...

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-You don't think it was?

-I think you let the press do your job for you the first time round.

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Well, there'll be no press involvement this time.

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But we will need you and your husband to cooperate.

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Ex-husband.

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Fred and I separated after...

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After Yasser.

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I'm sorry to hear that.

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We'd been on different paths for a long time.

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Emotionally and politically.

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In short, feminism is a fascist movement,

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hell bent on reducing men to the rank of second-class citizens.

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Just as the Jews were demonised by the Nazis,

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so the feminazis have waged a propaganda war against a whole gender.

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We are violent in the home according to the social workers.

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We are obsolete according to the scientists.

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How long before this fascism is pursued to its inevitable conclusion?

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Gender cleansing?

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We'll expand on this theme next week.

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Please do the reading. Thank you.

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That's quite a theory you've got there.

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Not theory, fact.

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-Can I help you?

-My name's Halford, I called your office, I'm from UCOS.

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You're here about Yasser?

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I'd like to talk to you about the day he went missing.

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-And about John Davies?

-Anything you can tell me.

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I can tell you the poor bastard was as much a victim as Yasser was.

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Oh, really? You don't think he did it?

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You heard what I had to say about the feminist propaganda machine.

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For the last century we've been told over and over that men are predators,

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just interested in violence and sex, and some men have chosen to believe this,

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to allow themselves to be debased by it. Davies was one of them.

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OK. Professor Blackledge, you were the last person to see Yasser alive.

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Yes, I didn't know that at the time.

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Yasser had been with us all day. He was riding on people's shoulders, banging his drum,

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shouting all the slogans.

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When we got to Westminster tube, Anne decided she wanted to go home. She had a headache.

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I thought she'd taken Yasser with her.

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Yasser was having such a good time,

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I didn't want to take him home and spoil it.

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-Did you say that to Fred?

-I said, "Yasser will be OK?"

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And he nodded.

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But he thought I meant Yasser would be OK with me.

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I suppose it was an easy mistake to make.

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And then you just went home?

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I took a couple of aspirin,

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made some food for when they got back,

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and sat in the garden with a cup of tea.

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Then Fred came home.

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I thought she was joking at first.

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I thought he was upstairs in his bed, I even went up to check.

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But then...

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It felt like the bottom had fallen out of my world.

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So you called the police?

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That's when it got real.

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First few days we thought of him as just lost, that he'd turn up,

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one way or another, but then the police started talking about him as a missing child.

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Not lost, taken.

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The river police trawled up and down that part of the Thames.

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They handed out photos in the area.

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Nothing.

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Then they advised us to involve the press,

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get the word out.

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But of course, that backfired.

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The coverage was pretty damning.

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Not until Jamie Peters sold them that picture.

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Hold on, who was Jamie Peters?

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A comrade, or so we thought.

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He'd been part of the campaign for years.

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Totally dedicated to the cause.

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I'd like to know how much the press paid for that picture.

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And why didn't he sell them one of Yasser on Fred's shoulders, or holding my hand?

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I think you know the answer to that.

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The journalists spoke to our friends, our family, trying to find some dirt on us.

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And when they couldn't, they made it up.

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They crucified us day after day.

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How long after that were you and Fred divorced?

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About 18 months.

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We were so careful with each other at first,

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walking on eggshells.

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And then one night the dam broke and it all came out.

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I blamed him, he blamed me, we threw in a few other issues just to make it hurt that little bit more.

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And then it was over,

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-and he left.

-'I learnt a valuable lesson.'

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Men are always to blame. Just pick up a paper.

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We cause war, famine, economic meltdown, while women are blameless.

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Well, that's all we've been told, over and over again.

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-Well, there's probably a reason...

-Take the global warming myth.

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They call it man-made climate change.

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Man-made. As if a woman never drove a car or took a flight.

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You see, this is what we're fighting against.

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It's a woman's world, and we just live in it.

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You do realise that, don't you?

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What a load of bollocks.

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I can't believe they let him teach.

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And write books.

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Loads of them about Soviet Russia, China, Fidel Castro.

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Then he goes all Middle Eastern and publishes a couple about Gaza and the Zionist conspiracy.

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Oooh, then it's all about those pesky feminists.

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How's this for a title?

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The Secret War On Modern Men.

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Sounds good.

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-Stick to your cook books, Gerry.

-Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you?

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Me tied to a kitchen sink, seen and not heard.

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I'm not sure I buy all this misunderstanding on Westminster Bridge.

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Nah, one of them would have said goodbye, told him who was looking after him.

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I think one of them's lying.

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Or both of them. It's a very convenient way to provide each other with an alibi.

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You think they killed their son?

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Maybe not on purpose, but I don't think we should rule it out.

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Has anyone considered that little unsupervised Yasser might just have wandered away?

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I know they trawled the river, but that was six hours later.

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I've been thinking about that. I've been on a few demos in me time.

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-Have you?

-Oh, yes, when Esther and I were courting.

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She was quite the ragged-trousered philanthropist in her day.

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Those demos were always heavily policed. Especially around Westminster.

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Tell me about it.

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You went on a demo? I can believe it of him.

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No, in uniform!

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Yeah, keeping the peace.

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Actually I spent the whole day being called a pig or a capitalist running dog. "Kill the police!"

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Yeah, they're all the same, that lot.

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Who do they run to when their bikes get nicked?

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Well, just to be sure, I looked up the Met's policing guidelines for demos at the time.

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There's a memo from the Chief Constable a week before suggesting that cover was doubled

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on Westminster Bridge and around Parliament.

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Not the best place to snatch a child.

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Maybe he did just wander off?

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In which case, I think we need to track down all the other people on that march with Fred and Anne

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and ask them what they remember seeing.

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There we are.

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-Well, what's the matter with it?

-No, nothing, it looks lovely.

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It's just...

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-I remember a time when this was the last thing you'd want to be doing.

-What?

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Getting the tea on the table in time for your husband coming home.

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What was it you and your gang used to call it?

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Domestic slavery.

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Well, that was a long time ago.

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You were going to defeat the forces of oppression, that was it.

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So what happened?

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What happens to most people. We got married, we had Mark, real life!

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Esther, you were going to lead a revolution!

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-No, I wasn't!

-Well, you went to all the meetings.

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Yeah, along with some student teachers, an ageing social worker,

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and that woman who used to sell woolly hats at Camden Market.

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-That's who I was going to manning the barricades with.

-Yeah, still...

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We'd all have been dead by teatime.

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-Morning, Ma'am.

-Morning.

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-Mr Davies? Are you waiting for me?

-Yes.

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-I was wondering if you were going to be arresting me today?

-Probably not.

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Why not?

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What do I need to do to get you to believe me?

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Provide some evidence.

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Tell us where to find the body. Give us some details.

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Well, it's me own fault.

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I've domesticated her.

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Stolen her fire.

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Oh, I don't know. I think your Esther's still got plenty of that.

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-Hello, you, um, wanted to see me?

-Gillian Withall?

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-That's right.

-I'm Jack Halford, this is Brian Lane.

-How do you do?

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-Hello.

-Were you ever a member of the Islington branch of the Free Palestine campaign?

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Oh, God, in another life. Erm, 20-odd years ago.

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We'd like to talk to you about the disappearance of Yasser Gorton-Blackledge.

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-Right. You better come through.

-Thank you.

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I met Fred at North London University.

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-You were a student?

-No, no, no, I was a nurse at the university health centre dishing out pills -

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pregnancy tests and penicillin.

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It was the summer of '84 and the students had occupied the building as a protest.

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Protest about what?

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They were going to occupy the building until Israel stopped occupying Palestine.

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Well, that worked(!)

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I was there as a first aider. I had no interest in politics at all.

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And then I got talking to Fred.

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Next thing I know I'm going to meetings and demos and...

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-Looking back on it, I think it was all a bit of a distraction.

-From what?

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I'd just been through a divorce.

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-It was nice to have some new friends.

-You remember Yasser, do you?

-Of course.

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-Poor little thing.

-How so?

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Well...

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It didn't surprise me that he wandered off.

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He never had any boundaries.

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The house was always full of strangers for meetings and demos.

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He went to all the rallies and protests.

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I mean, maybe it was just a matter of time before something happened.

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So, you would agree with what the press said about Anne and Fred?

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-They were negligent parents?

-I wouldn't go as far as that.

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-How far would you go?

-I just think

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they didn't realise how lucky they were to have Yasser until it was too late.

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What about John Davies?

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Do you think he showed any inappropriate attention to Yasser?

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No, no, not as far as I remember.

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To be honest, he was only ever at a couple of the meetings,

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-and then I think he came out of politeness.

-What do you mean?

0:18:140:18:17

Well, he was a teacher at the local school.

0:18:170:18:20

-Was he?

-It doesn't bear thinking about.

0:18:200:18:22

Anne was on the board of governors, I think she nagged him into coming to a couple of the meetings.

0:18:220:18:27

The thing about Fred and Anne is they always assumed

0:18:270:18:30

that everyone was as committed to the cause as they were.

0:18:300:18:33

They didn't realise that some people would just

0:18:330:18:35

pick up a leaflet or sign a petition just to get them off their backs.

0:18:350:18:39

-And on this the demo, was Davies there?

-Not as far as I remember, no.

0:18:390:18:43

After Yasser went missing, how did Anne and Fred seem?

0:18:430:18:47

I have no idea. The demo was the last time I saw any of the group.

0:18:470:18:50

It was sort of like my leaving party.

0:18:500:18:53

-Big party. Where were you going?

-Sudan.

0:18:530:18:57

I'd volunteered to work as a nurse in the refugee camps.

0:18:570:19:00

-Wow, that was brave.

-Very admirable.

0:19:000:19:02

I would never have dreamt of doing it if it hadn't been for Fred and Anne.

0:19:020:19:06

They certainly broadened my horizons.

0:19:060:19:09

How long were you there?

0:19:090:19:11

Two hard, dirty, traumatic, amazing years.

0:19:110:19:17

It was the best and worst thing I've ever done. I still miss it.

0:19:170:19:20

Why did you come back?

0:19:200:19:22

I wanted my son to have a British education.

0:19:220:19:25

Oh, you have a son?

0:19:250:19:27

Was he a friend of Yasser's?

0:19:270:19:29

-Did Davies ever talk to him?

-No, no, no, I didn't have him then.

0:19:290:19:33

So you were pregnant while you were working in the refugee camps?

0:19:330:19:37

That must have been hard. I'm surprised you weren't just sent home.

0:19:370:19:40

No, you don't understand. I adopted Will while I was out there.

0:19:400:19:44

-Quite a souvenir to bring back, eh?

-Better than a stick of rock.

0:19:460:19:50

I'm hoping he might have other pictures from that day. Crowd shots maybe.

0:19:500:19:55

Featuring your local neighbourhood nonce, John Davies!

0:19:550:19:58

Well, that would be extremely helpful, but I won't hold my breath.

0:19:580:20:01

No, I'm more interested in seeing whether that shot was taken out of context

0:20:010:20:05

or whether they really were being negligent.

0:20:050:20:08

Yeah, that's the one there. At least I hope it is.

0:20:080:20:10

He was living here in '85 and I've got no record of him moving.

0:20:100:20:14

You know how I love a long shot.

0:20:140:20:16

Hello, Detective Superintendent Pullman. Does Jamie Peters live here?

0:20:250:20:29

Er, he does, but he's away with work at the moment. Can I get him to call you?

0:20:290:20:32

-Yeah, thanks, I'll give you my card.

-Will he know what it's about?

0:20:320:20:36

Yeah, it's about Yasser Gorton-Blackledge,

0:20:360:20:39

who went missing in 1985.

0:20:390:20:41

Oh, OK. He'll be in touch.

0:20:410:20:43

Cheers. Bye-bye.

0:20:430:20:45

-Thank you.

-Bye.

0:20:450:20:46

Long shot paid off.

0:20:460:20:50

We spoke to several members of the group and they all said pretty much the same thing.

0:20:500:20:55

-Thank you.

-They weren't bad parents.

0:20:550:20:56

Just a bit distracted?

0:20:560:20:58

Yeah, we got the same story.

0:20:580:21:00

And as for Yasser,

0:21:000:21:02

he was just happy to go along for the ride.

0:21:020:21:05

-Very self-reliant.

-Maybe he had to be.

0:21:050:21:07

Gillian Withall described him as lonely.

0:21:070:21:09

-And?

-Well, lonely boys are easy prey for predators.

0:21:090:21:12

A few kind words, a bag of sweets...

0:21:120:21:14

But hardly any of them even remembered Davies.

0:21:140:21:18

And those that did don't remember him being interested in Yasser.

0:21:180:21:22

Of course they wouldn't notice. I mean, what did you call him? Mendacious?

0:21:220:21:25

These blokes are smart. They know how to keep under the radar.

0:21:250:21:29

-I mean, how long was he a teacher before anyone knew what was going on?

-Best part of ten years.

0:21:290:21:33

Yeah, and that's why we've got this surveillance culture that Anne Gorton campaigns against.

0:21:330:21:39

Some people need to be under surveillance.

0:21:390:21:42

-What now?

-He says he's got some new information for us.

0:21:520:21:56

Go on.

0:21:560:21:57

Yasser had a toy car with him when I took him. A little red one.

0:21:570:22:01

And where is it now?

0:22:010:22:03

I don't know.

0:22:030:22:04

You don't have it?

0:22:040:22:05

No. It must be with the body.

0:22:050:22:07

-Which is at sea!

-Ask Anne Gorton about it.

0:22:070:22:10

Ask her. She'll tell you.

0:22:100:22:12

I'll be at home when you're ready to arrest me.

0:22:120:22:14

Sandra?

0:22:200:22:22

Are you here to talk about John Davies?

0:22:220:22:24

Actually, I'm here to ask why you were knocking on the door of an MI5 safe house this morning.

0:22:240:22:30

I wasn't aware I was.

0:22:300:22:31

You asked for a Jamie Peters?

0:22:310:22:34

That's an active alias for one of their agents.

0:22:340:22:36

Oh, is it now?

0:22:360:22:38

MI5. Who would have thought?

0:22:420:22:46

Mind you, I've always fancied a look inside.

0:22:460:22:48

Yeah, it would make a nice change to interfere in one of their cases instead of the other way round.

0:22:480:22:53

I expect there'll be some serious security though.

0:22:530:22:56

Retina scans, full-body metal detectors.

0:22:560:23:00

Come on, let's get on with it.

0:23:000:23:02

There you go.

0:23:060:23:09

-Thank you.

-Is that it?

0:23:130:23:16

Yes. Richard will take you down.

0:23:160:23:19

-This way, gentlemen.

-After you, Miss Moneypenny.

0:23:190:23:22

You see, that's a mistake a lot of people make.

0:23:220:23:26

-What?

-James Bond was actually MI6.

0:23:260:23:28

MI6 are the spies.

0:23:280:23:30

MI5 are the spy catchers.

0:23:300:23:33

We've given you temporary low-level clearance.

0:23:330:23:36

So, I am able to tell you that Jamie Peters was an operative in the '80s

0:23:360:23:40

tasked with intelligence gathering within fringe political organisations.

0:23:400:23:45

Anne Gorton, Fred Blackledge and the Free Palestinian group were placed under surveillance

0:23:450:23:50

-because we believed at the time that they had links to other less benign groups in the Middle East.

-Did they?

0:23:500:23:56

Probably not. They did have an unusual amount

0:23:560:23:59

of contact with foreign nationals, but they were usually just overseas students they'd taken in as lodgers.

0:23:590:24:05

Fred Blackledge did visit a few hot spots.

0:24:050:24:08

China, Cuba, East Germany, the Soviet Union.

0:24:080:24:11

Yeah, well, he was writing books about those places.

0:24:110:24:13

And what happened to our man in Islington?

0:24:130:24:16

Jamie was reassigned after the boy disappeared

0:24:160:24:20

to avoid his becoming embroiled in the Metropolitan Police's investigation.

0:24:200:24:24

To explain the sudden withdrawal from the Gorton-Blackledge social circle

0:24:240:24:28

we released some photos to the press in Jamie's name.

0:24:280:24:30

And made it look like he'd sold them down the river and couldn't face them.

0:24:300:24:34

Dirty trick.

0:24:360:24:38

Unfortunate operational necessity.

0:24:380:24:40

So, these are the surveillance files and Jamie's notes. Take as long you like.

0:24:430:24:47

-Nice piles, neat piles.

-Anything else?

0:24:470:24:50

Yeah, you couldn't point us in the direction of the nearest tea machine could you?

0:24:500:24:54

Afraid not. Classified.

0:24:540:24:58

Thank you. Did Yasser have a favourite toy?

0:25:030:25:06

Yes, a little red car.

0:25:060:25:09

His grandad gave it to him. He loved it.

0:25:090:25:12

-Who else know about it?

-No-one.

0:25:120:25:15

Do you still have it?

0:25:150:25:18

No.

0:25:180:25:20

No, he must have sneaked it into his pocket before we left for the march.

0:25:200:25:24

It was a couple of weeks before I realised.

0:25:240:25:27

I wasn't able to go into his room at first.

0:25:270:25:31

I didn't want anyone to disturb it, in case...

0:25:310:25:35

-I just wanted everything to be as he'd left it when he came home.

-Of course you did.

0:25:360:25:42

When I did finally go in,

0:25:420:25:45

I realised that it wasn't there.

0:25:450:25:47

Did anyone else know it was missing?

0:25:470:25:50

No. Just me and Fred.

0:25:500:25:54

-Aren't Laurel and Hardy back yet?

-No.

0:25:550:25:58

-Tell them to stop wasting their time. I'm bringing Davies in.

-Sandra!

0:25:580:26:02

No-one else knew about the car.

0:26:020:26:04

He didn't do it. I pulled his education department record.

0:26:040:26:08

On the day of the march he was in a school disciplinary meeting

0:26:080:26:12

accused of inappropriate behaviour towards a pupil.

0:26:120:26:15

A boy of 15.

0:26:150:26:16

And he talked his way out of it?

0:26:160:26:18

He claimed the boy made the accusation because he'd put him in detention.

0:26:180:26:22

The headmaster gave him the benefit of the doubt, but I don't think he was too comfortable about it,

0:26:220:26:27

cos Davies was persuaded to move on.

0:26:270:26:28

To another school? Great(!)

0:26:280:26:30

That's why Anne and Fred didn't see him again.

0:26:300:26:33

No, our first instincts were right. He had nothing to do with it.

0:26:330:26:36

But why make a false confession?

0:26:360:26:38

And how the hell did he know about this little red car?

0:26:380:26:41

Well, he knew about it today, but his memory wasn't so sharp yesterday.

0:26:410:26:45

Yes, so where's he getting his information from?

0:26:450:26:49

Come on.

0:26:490:26:50

You should have arrested me.

0:27:090:27:11

No, I shouldn't. We know you didn't do it.

0:27:110:27:14

We know you were at a school meeting on the day of the demo.

0:27:140:27:16

However, I am thinking of charging you with wasting police time.

0:27:160:27:20

Anything to say?

0:27:200:27:22

Look, if you just wanted to be relocated...

0:27:220:27:24

What would be the bloody point of that? He'd just find me.

0:27:240:27:28

-Who would?

-Anthony Vernon.

0:27:280:27:31

And who's he?

0:27:310:27:33

I don't know! Just some nutter.

0:27:330:27:36

I don't know how he knows who I am, but he does.

0:27:360:27:39

And wherever they put me, he's there.

0:27:390:27:41

He talks to the neighbours, tells them who... What I am.

0:27:410:27:46

So, you thought you'd confess to Yasser's murder and get put out of harm's way?

0:27:460:27:51

No, that was his idea.

0:27:510:27:53

Anthony Vernon told you to confess?

0:27:530:27:55

I confronted him,

0:27:550:27:58

I asked him why he was doing this to me.

0:27:580:28:02

He said he knew that I'd taken Yasser.

0:28:020:28:06

I told him it was nothing to do with me, he was having none of it,

0:28:060:28:10

threatened to make the rest of my life a misery if I didn't hand myself in.

0:28:100:28:14

After six months of him I just wanted to be somewhere safe.

0:28:160:28:20

I thought you'd jump at the chance to put away a pervert.

0:28:220:28:26

He went mad when I told him you weren't interested in me.

0:28:270:28:32

That's when he told me to come back and tell you about the toy car.

0:28:320:28:36

He fed you that information?

0:28:360:28:38

Yeah. And when that didn't work...

0:28:380:28:41

I assume this young lady is here to take your statement.

0:28:430:28:46

-Yes I am, Sir.

-We'll be in touch.

0:28:460:28:48

Cor, blimey, I thought being a spy would be exciting.

0:28:520:28:55

Can you imagine, five years of going to boring meetings pretending to be interested?

0:28:550:28:59

Making a note of everyone who turns up.

0:28:590:29:01

He even goes about who brought the biscuits in this one.

0:29:010:29:04

Yeah, I don't remember that bit about custard creams in Goldfinger, do you?

0:29:040:29:09

I mean, most of this is just gossip.

0:29:090:29:12

There's quite a bit about Fred and Anne's marriage.

0:29:120:29:15

-Well, she was knocking off the lodgers, weren't she?

-What?

0:29:150:29:18

Yeah, here, in this one, there.

0:29:180:29:23

Mind you, it is 1981. So it's hardly relevant.

0:29:230:29:26

It's got to be more interesting than another discussion about Zionism.

0:29:260:29:30

Oh, I see!

0:29:300:29:33

So while poor old Fred was freezing his Baltics off in Moscow, she found another way of keeping warm.

0:29:330:29:40

-Gives a whole new meaning to bed and breakfast.

-Doesn't it, though?

-What?

0:29:400:29:44

Well, I was just thinking, it wasn't just Davies who had the chance to get to know Yasser, gain his trust.

0:29:440:29:51

-What, the lodgers, you mean?

-Well, it's the most interesting thing in these files,

0:29:510:29:56

unless you consider the very nice Garibaldis they had on the 13th of November.

0:29:560:30:01

I don't know.

0:30:010:30:02

-I found a familiar name here.

-Who's?

0:30:020:30:05

-No, I don't think I should show you.

-Why ever not?

0:30:050:30:09

-According to what I've just read, you're a potential security risk.

-What, there's stuff about me there?

0:30:090:30:14

Brian, how well do you know Esther?

0:30:140:30:16

I'm married to her, Gerry.

0:30:180:30:19

It's called deep cover.

0:30:190:30:22

Where? It's just more stuff about these meetings, innit?

0:30:240:30:28

-GERRY LAUGHS

-That's not amusing.

0:30:280:30:30

Oh, I don't know.

0:30:300:30:32

I wonder how Esther would feel about you being so quick to believe she's a double agent.

0:30:320:30:38

Right, come on. Let's go and see this lusty landlady, eh?

0:30:380:30:42

-Mr Vernon, I'm sure you're aware that perverting the course of justice is a serious offence.

-Of course.

0:30:420:30:48

Then perhaps you'd care to explain why you forced John Davies

0:30:480:30:51

-into confessing to a crime he didn't commit.

-I didn't.

0:30:510:30:54

We have a statement of that effect from Mr Davies.

0:30:540:30:56

Oh, right. That's Davies the convicted paedophile?

0:30:560:31:00

His previous convictions have no bearing on this case.

0:31:000:31:02

Yeah, and I'm a sure a jury of my peers will agree.

0:31:020:31:05

Everyone knows you can always trust a kiddie fiddler.

0:31:050:31:08

What about doctors? How do you think they go down with a jury?

0:31:080:31:11

Because the facial injuries that Davies is recovering from tell their own story.

0:31:110:31:16

I don't know what you're talking about.

0:31:160:31:18

You see, what I don't understand is why this particular case?

0:31:180:31:21

Why did you want him to confess to the killing of Yasser Gorton-Blackledge?

0:31:210:31:25

As I've told you, I didn't. I've never even heard of...

0:31:250:31:28

Do you have any links to the family, Mr Vernon?

0:31:280:31:30

Cos you passed on some details that only somebody close to them would know. Care to explain why?

0:31:300:31:35

-No.

-Sure about that?

-Yeah, positive.

0:31:350:31:38

Chief Superintendent?

0:31:380:31:40

-Davies has dropped the assault charge.

-Why?

0:31:420:31:46

It was an accident, he fell over his cat.

0:31:460:31:48

Shit.

0:31:480:31:50

You're free to go.

0:31:540:31:56

Am I supposed to be surprised?

0:31:580:31:59

Of course MI5 were watching us.

0:31:590:32:01

It must have been a very dull assignment for Jamie. All we did was talk.

0:32:010:32:05

They were very interested in your lodgers.

0:32:050:32:07

You know, the foreign students you had staying with you.

0:32:070:32:10

We were on a digs list at the university.

0:32:100:32:12

For the most part they were nice boys who needed a bed and a friendly face.

0:32:120:32:16

You were a little bit more than friendly.

0:32:160:32:19

It was a complicated time in our marriage.

0:32:190:32:22

-Fred was overseas a lot. I got lonely.

-Yeah, I think we can understand that.

0:32:220:32:26

I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what this has to do with my son.

0:32:260:32:29

We didn't take in students after Yasser was born. We didn't have the room.

0:32:290:32:33

-Did you keep in touch with any of them?

-The odd postcard.

0:32:330:32:35

One or two stayed in the UK after they'd finished their courses. They'd pop in.

0:32:350:32:40

Thinking back, would you say that any of them may have posed a danger to your son?

0:32:400:32:45

No. Why would you?

0:32:450:32:47

Because they were foreign?

0:32:480:32:51

-Dear God! Some things never change.

-No, because they had access to your home.

0:32:510:32:56

-They were almost part of the family.

-You're barking up the wrong tree.

0:32:560:32:59

There's absolutely no need for you to start disrupting their lives.

0:32:590:33:02

It's just a line of enquiry.

0:33:020:33:04

Well, it's offensive.

0:33:040:33:06

And I'd like you to leave.

0:33:060:33:08

Typical bloody lefty to play the race card.

0:33:080:33:10

I don't care if her lodgers are foreigners. I don't care if they're extraterrestrials.

0:33:100:33:14

-And I don't think that's what it was all about.

-She was covering?

0:33:140:33:18

Well, she seemed very uncomfortable about us contacting any of them.

0:33:180:33:22

-Why? Because of the affairs?

-No! once she and Fred got divorced that's water under the bridge.

0:33:220:33:28

Yeah, but at the time, maybe it all boiled over?

0:33:280:33:32

-So you think things got violent?

-I don't know.

0:33:320:33:35

Fred does have strong opinions about domestic violence.

0:33:350:33:37

I just think it's another thing to add to their list of distractions.

0:33:370:33:42

-Politics, a broken marriage...

-It's like Jack said from the off.

0:33:420:33:46

I mean, this story gives a very convenient alibi for the both of them.

0:33:460:33:50

Go back to Gillian Withall, she seems to have known them the longest and the best.

0:33:500:33:54

Would anyone be surprised to hear that Anthony Vernon has got a history of violence?

0:33:540:33:59

-Not really. Go on.

-His ex-wife has a restraining order against him.

0:33:590:34:02

He's not allowed within 20 feet of her, or the children.

0:34:020:34:05

The kids as well? That's unusual.

0:34:050:34:07

-Do you think she'll speak to us?

-We can but try. But why should we?

0:34:070:34:11

Well, I've got nowhere with the man himself.

0:34:110:34:13

I want to know why he wanted Davies to confess to this case specifically.

0:34:130:34:16

Karen Vernon? Detective Superintendent Pullman, this is Jack Halford.

0:34:200:34:24

-Come in.

-Thank you.

0:34:240:34:26

Thank you.

0:34:280:34:29

-It's not the first time I've spoken to the police about Tony.

-I'm sorry.

0:34:290:34:33

It's OK. He can't touch me now.

0:34:330:34:35

Not physically, or in any other way.

0:34:350:34:38

-I'm glad to hear it.

-It's when he threatened the boys.

0:34:380:34:42

It was like he switched something off in me.

0:34:420:34:45

He said if I ever left him, he'd kill me and make the kids watch.

0:34:450:34:49

It took me three months to save up enough money and then find a place to run to.

0:34:490:34:54

We haven't seen him since.

0:34:540:34:56

He's tried. He dragged me through the law courts, but it's his temper.

0:34:560:35:00

-Punched his solicitor the last time.

-Not a smart move.

0:35:000:35:04

The thing is, he's not stupid.

0:35:040:35:06

He used to be a journalist. But he kept losing it with the editors, so he never made it to the nationals.

0:35:060:35:11

So he worked for a local paper. Which one?

0:35:110:35:14

-Oh, different ones.

-In 1985?

0:35:140:35:17

Islington Gazette I think.

0:35:180:35:21

He only lasted about a year on that one.

0:35:210:35:24

Did he ever work on a story about a little boy who was abducted?

0:35:240:35:28

-Yasser Gorton-Blackledge?

-Yeah.

0:35:290:35:33

Is that what this is about?

0:35:330:35:35

He was obsessed with that story.

0:35:350:35:38

He was the first on the scene. He had a contact at the police station that tipped him off.

0:35:380:35:43

He door-stepped the parents and sold the story to the nationals.

0:35:430:35:46

-He thought it was his big chance.

-But it wasn't?

0:35:460:35:49

No, they just paid him for the first report and then sent in their own hacks.

0:35:490:35:53

He tried to follow up the story, though.

0:35:530:35:55

He did an interview with the dad.

0:35:550:35:57

Er, Fred?

0:35:570:35:59

Yeah, when was this?

0:35:590:36:00

-'95, it's the year we left.

-Ten years later.

-It was a sort of anniversary piece.

0:36:000:36:05

He couldn't sell it, though. No-one was interested.

0:36:050:36:08

-He must have been bitter about that.

-Yeah.

0:36:080:36:12

I had two black eyes and a broken rib to prove it.

0:36:120:36:15

Oh, what have you got?

0:36:210:36:22

Look at me there! Oh, this brings back some memories.

0:36:270:36:31

Oh, there's Jane Longthorn.

0:36:330:36:36

I wonder what happened to her.

0:36:360:36:39

Who knows?

0:36:390:36:40

Might be married, couple of children.

0:36:400:36:43

-Probably.

-Or she could be under deep cover in a former Soviet state.

0:36:430:36:48

Depends what her next mission was and if she chose to accept it.

0:36:480:36:52

What on earth are you talking about?

0:36:520:36:54

Infiltration!

0:36:540:36:56

You do realise that any of your so-called sisters could have been working for the security services?

0:36:560:37:02

Reporting your every move back to the powers that be?

0:37:020:37:05

Don't be so ridiculous. They wouldn't have been interested in me.

0:37:050:37:09

That might be, but you remember, you dragged me along to a couple of those meetings, and some marches.

0:37:090:37:15

-Me! A serving officer of the law.

-Yeah.

0:37:150:37:18

Well, they probably thought you were trying to turn me into a sleeper.

0:37:180:37:22

A Manchurian candidate.

0:37:220:37:24

Brian, have you taken your tablets today?

0:37:240:37:27

They might still be listening!

0:37:270:37:29

You're still an activist, aren't you?

0:37:290:37:31

You went to a political meeting only last week.

0:37:310:37:33

Yes, about the closing of the post office.

0:37:330:37:36

-Even so.

-I do remember!

0:37:360:37:38

There was some talk of bringing down the government and stringing up a few Royals from the lampposts!

0:37:380:37:43

This isn't a joke.

0:37:430:37:45

No, I know. That's what worries me.

0:37:460:37:50

I'm going to bed.

0:37:500:37:51

Don't be long.

0:37:510:37:54

-MONOTONE:

-Yes, and I'm going to bed now myself and all.

0:37:540:37:59

It's not just the potential invasion of my civil liberties, or my rights as a private citizen.

0:38:030:38:09

I can't stop thinking about how being an enemy of the state might have held me back.

0:38:090:38:14

What lists does my name appear on, and what opportunities have I missed as a result?

0:38:140:38:20

I'm telling you, I could have been held back all this time.

0:38:200:38:23

-Held back from what?

-Promotion!

0:38:230:38:25

I might have been Commissioner by now for all we know.

0:38:250:38:28

I don't think it was the secret service that held you back.

0:38:280:38:31

No, that was the misandry of the global gynarchy oppressing the male

0:38:310:38:36

and allowing him to deny his natural position of authority.

0:38:360:38:39

What the hell are you reading?

0:38:390:38:41

One of Fred Blackledge's books.

0:38:410:38:43

I mean it's well over the top in places, but there's a lot he says rings a bell with me.

0:38:430:38:47

I mean, I've spent my whole life being told what to do by women.

0:38:470:38:52

Yeah, wives, daughters, Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman. Hold on, I'm reading that.

0:38:520:38:58

Yeah, I know. That's the problem.

0:38:580:39:00

Gerry, with me.

0:39:000:39:03

I rest my case.

0:39:030:39:06

Yes, I was aware of my wife's behaviour while I was away.

0:39:110:39:14

I found out when I returned home a day early from a trip to Havana.

0:39:140:39:18

She was in bed with her latest. It was quite the cliche.

0:39:180:39:21

-Still upsetting.

-At the time, yes, but now I understand.

0:39:210:39:25

-Understand what?

-The myth of the biological imperative.

0:39:250:39:28

-Are you familiar?

-Refresh my memory.

0:39:280:39:30

We are told over and over that men are the promiscuous gender, that we are driven by sex.

0:39:300:39:35

The fact is that both genders are driven by sex.

0:39:350:39:38

The difference is that women cut off that drive when they

0:39:380:39:42

have secured what it was they were looking for all along.

0:39:420:39:45

-Which is?

-A child. The truth is that women do not have sex for pleasure.

0:39:450:39:50

-The truth?

-Now I understand if you find that distressing

0:39:500:39:53

but that's only because you are conditioned to believe that you enjoy sex.

0:39:530:39:56

-Conditioned by who?

-Capitalist forces. The market.

0:39:560:39:59

The pharmaceutical companies that make you reliant on the pill.

0:39:590:40:03

The cosmetic companies that say you have to be desirable.

0:40:030:40:06

The Feminazi magazines who peddle the lies of Dr Grafenburg and his ilk.

0:40:060:40:10

Doctor?

0:40:100:40:12

Grafenburg. The inventor of the G-spot? And I do mean inventor.

0:40:120:40:15

OK, let me see if I've got this right.

0:40:150:40:17

When women don't enjoy themselves in bed,

0:40:170:40:19

it's not the fault of the man. It's social conditioning?

0:40:190:40:22

-Exactly! Well done.

-So when your wife looked elsewhere

0:40:220:40:25

because you weren't satisfying her, that wasn't your fault?

0:40:250:40:28

-Maybe you haven't completely understood.

-Maybe not.

0:40:280:40:32

All I know is that once my wife had her child, she lost all interest in anything sexual.

0:40:320:40:37

-She had no desire...

-For you?

0:40:370:40:39

For sexual pleasure.

0:40:390:40:42

It simply wasn't on her list of priorities any more.

0:40:420:40:45

-Guv'nor!

-I see.

-Guv'nor!

-What?

0:40:450:40:47

Oh, everyone knew about the affairs.

0:40:530:40:56

Anne didn't do anything to hide them.

0:40:560:40:58

It was her way of getting back at Fred for leaving her alone for weeks on end.

0:40:580:41:02

So, they were just casual affairs?

0:41:020:41:05

It was sort of like a holiday romance only Fred was the one having the holiday.

0:41:050:41:10

She could get quite intense about her young men but then as soon as Fred came home...

0:41:100:41:16

Were the young men as intense as she was?

0:41:160:41:18

What do you think?

0:41:180:41:20

There was one that went a bit puppy dog.

0:41:200:41:23

Harry actually was pretty smitten and I did think she might do something stupid with him.

0:41:230:41:29

Like leave Fred?

0:41:290:41:30

Maybe. But then Fred came home and caught them at it.

0:41:300:41:34

He went mad and threw Harry out.

0:41:340:41:35

Which was obviously exactly what Anne wanted all along.

0:41:350:41:39

-Really?

-She might have been a feminist but she still wanted a caveman.

0:41:390:41:43

She just wanted him to show her that he cared.

0:41:430:41:46

After that it was all happy families.

0:41:460:41:48

Especially when Yasser came along.

0:41:480:41:51

She didn't know how lucky she was to have all that.

0:41:510:41:53

Still, she didn't deserve to lose it.

0:41:530:41:55

No, no, of course not.

0:41:550:41:58

Mum, can you come and take some blood?

0:41:580:42:00

-Sorry, I didn't realise you had visitors.

-Oh, that's OK.

0:42:000:42:03

We're just about to leave.

0:42:030:42:05

-You must be Gillian's son?

-That's right. Dr William Withall.

0:42:050:42:08

But most people just call me Will.

0:42:080:42:11

Quite a medical family, aren't you?

0:42:130:42:16

Is your brother a doctor as well?

0:42:160:42:18

I don't have a brother.

0:42:180:42:21

My mistake, sorry. Shall we...

0:42:210:42:24

Why not.

0:42:240:42:25

Far be it from me to not be politically correct...

0:42:300:42:33

I think I know what you're going to say, but go on.

0:42:330:42:36

When you adopt from Africa don't they usually give you a black baby?

0:42:360:42:41

So, what is it about Fred Blackledge that you find so damn fascinating?

0:42:410:42:45

-You wouldn't understand.

-Why, because I'm a woman?

0:42:450:42:48

Yeah. Yeah that is exactly it. You've not been oppressed.

0:42:480:42:51

You don't know what it's like to live in a world

0:42:510:42:54

-of emasculation created by feminism!

-No, I suppose not.

-Fred has.

0:42:540:42:57

He understands, you see, how the system is weighted against us now.

0:42:570:43:01

How the pendulum has swung too far.

0:43:010:43:03

He understands because he's experienced it.

0:43:030:43:05

He has experienced the loss of a child...

0:43:050:43:08

Yes, but the way you lost your children is very different.

0:43:080:43:12

I told you. You don't understand.

0:43:120:43:14

Apparently not. So, wasn't Davies part of the brotherhood?

0:43:140:43:17

-You tried to pin a murder on him.

-Because he did it.

-No, Mr Vernon.

0:43:180:43:22

-Yeah, Fred told me about his suspicions in '95.

-The anniversary interview?

0:43:220:43:25

The interview that changed my life.

0:43:250:43:27

You see, he was just developing his theories, his philosophy back then.

0:43:270:43:31

But what little he told me

0:43:310:43:33

set me free from my guilt, from my torment.

0:43:330:43:37

And ever since I've been... well, finding a way to repay the favour.

0:43:370:43:42

Then I heard that Davies was out.

0:43:420:43:44

-How did you hear?

-I was a journalist. I have my contacts.

0:43:440:43:46

You know that he only served half of his sentence?

0:43:460:43:49

-He was a model prisoner.

-He's a sick bastard.

0:43:490:43:51

Maybe, but he's not a murderer.

0:43:510:43:54

Looks like you'll have to find some other sacrifice for the master.

0:43:540:43:58

This is...

0:43:580:44:00

Oh, for God's sake!

0:44:010:44:03

Have you read any of this crap?

0:44:030:44:05

Well, you know me, Guv'nor, not a big reader.

0:44:050:44:08

It's one thing to hear him spouting the rubbish,

0:44:080:44:10

but to see it in black and white.

0:44:100:44:12

Listen to this. "In divorces, the father should get automatic

0:44:120:44:15

"custody of their sons so that they are not exposed to the gender war propaganda of their mothers."

0:44:150:44:21

No wonder he was able to recruit Anthony Vernon.

0:44:210:44:24

I still don't think he put Vernon up to framing John Davies though.

0:44:240:44:27

No, neither do I.

0:44:270:44:30

Vernon's just an extremist who wanted to show devotion

0:44:300:44:33

to his hero and I also don't think he had anything to do with Yasser's death.

0:44:330:44:37

You're right about that. Because we don't think that Yasser is dead.

0:44:370:44:40

OK, there is no record of an official adoption.

0:44:400:44:43

That doesn't mean anything, Jack.

0:44:430:44:45

But there is a record of another child.

0:44:450:44:48

Born to Gillian in December 1980.

0:44:480:44:51

Died February 1981.

0:44:510:44:53

Three months? Gawd, poor cow.

0:44:530:44:56

She did say she'd been going through a bad time before hooking up with Anne and Fred.

0:44:560:45:01

A marriage break-up - sounds like we've found the cause.

0:45:010:45:04

And the name of the child that died was William.

0:45:040:45:07

So, a couple of days after Yasser goes missing, Gillian goes to Africa

0:45:070:45:11

and comes back two years later with a white son.

0:45:110:45:13

She kept saying that Anne didn't realise how lucky she was to have Yasser.

0:45:130:45:18

Maybe she decided to prove her point and take him away.

0:45:180:45:22

We'll pursue this line of enquiry but I want to handle it with kid gloves.

0:45:220:45:25

I don't want to confront a bereaved mother until we've done a bit of digging.

0:45:250:45:29

We should talk to he ex-husband. See if they kept in touch.

0:45:290:45:32

Yeah, bring him in tomorrow morning.

0:45:320:45:34

Brian! What are you doing now?

0:46:050:46:07

-I'm looking for listening devices.

-What?

0:46:070:46:09

Do you remember when we had that squariel fitted years ago?

0:46:090:46:13

-I think that's when they might have done it!

-What?!

0:46:130:46:16

Oh, don't look at me like that, Esther!

0:46:160:46:18

I wouldn't need to do this if it wasn't for you and your radical politics.

0:46:180:46:22

Hang on. You went to those meetings as well!

0:46:220:46:27

I was... I was trying to impress you.

0:46:270:46:31

I had no interest in politics!

0:46:310:46:33

Oh, for God's sake, give me that.

0:46:330:46:36

If I'd have known it was going to ruin me career...

0:46:360:46:39

I beg your pardon?

0:46:450:46:46

-Nothing.

-Are you trying to say that I've been holding you back?

0:46:460:46:51

Not on purpose.

0:46:510:46:53

Would you like to talk about what ruined your career?

0:46:550:47:00

Would you like to talk about the drinking?

0:47:000:47:03

The obsessive behaviour?

0:47:030:47:05

No. I didn't think you would.

0:47:070:47:08

Mr Withall, I'm Detective Superintendent Pullman.

0:47:130:47:15

Thank you for coming in, take a seat.

0:47:150:47:18

Can I get you a tea or coffee?

0:47:180:47:21

No, thank you. You said this was about Gillian.

0:47:210:47:24

When was the last time you saw your ex-wife?

0:47:240:47:27

-Why? Has something happened to her? Is she OK?

-She's fine.

0:47:270:47:29

Because I haven't seen her since the divorce became final.

0:47:290:47:32

Would you mind if we asked you about your divorce?

0:47:320:47:35

Erm, well, it wasn't my idea.

0:47:360:47:39

It was after...

0:47:390:47:41

-We lost our son. Cot death.

-Yes, we know and we're very sorry.

0:47:410:47:44

One of them things.

0:47:440:47:46

That's what they say.

0:47:460:47:48

But it felt like the end of the world and it never really goes away.

0:47:480:47:51

There's always a hole.

0:47:510:47:52

And for us that hole became divorce.

0:47:520:47:56

You say that you've not seen Gillian, but you have heard from her?

0:47:570:48:01

-Do you still have any mutual friends?

-No, she cut everyone off, pretty much.

0:48:010:48:05

What about her family? Do you keep in touch with them?

0:48:050:48:07

She didn't have much family.

0:48:070:48:09

Her mum and dad had gone.

0:48:090:48:11

Erm, she had a brother but he lived in Canada and they weren't close.

0:48:110:48:15

That's why we wanted to start a family. We wanted a houseful.

0:48:150:48:18

So, no contact?

0:48:180:48:19

I tried to get in touch in 2001.

0:48:190:48:22

It would have been Will's 21st.

0:48:220:48:24

I wondered if she wanted to go to the graveyard, leave some flowers.

0:48:240:48:29

I got in touch with her through the nurses' union.

0:48:290:48:32

She wouldn't talk to me.

0:48:320:48:33

She wanted a new start.

0:48:330:48:34

-Did she say that?

-Yeah. I just hope she got what she wanted.

0:48:340:48:39

Mr Withall, I'm assuming that you don't know that Gillian has adopted a son?

0:48:410:48:46

No, I didn't.

0:48:500:48:53

She never...

0:48:530:48:55

-A boy? What did she call him?

-William.

0:48:560:48:59

Really? William?

0:48:590:49:02

I would never have...

0:49:040:49:05

-Is that everything?

-Yes, I think that's it.

0:49:100:49:13

Thank you very much and, um... I'm sorry.

0:49:130:49:15

-Well, that wasn't fun.

-Illuminating though.

0:49:280:49:31

Gillian Withall was isolated enough to bring the child home

0:49:310:49:35

and not to have anybody ask any awkward questions.

0:49:350:49:38

Well, she's going to answer some questions now.

0:49:380:49:40

Let's get it over with.

0:49:400:49:42

I suppose we just stay here and twiddle our thumbs?

0:49:440:49:47

Fancy going rogue?

0:49:490:49:51

Hello. Back again? What can I do for you this time?

0:49:580:50:01

-This is Superintendent Pullman, we'd like to talk to you.

-And your son.

0:50:010:50:05

Yes, erm, this way.

0:50:070:50:09

I think I always knew there was something not quite right.

0:50:120:50:17

She wouldn't let me see my dad.

0:50:170:50:18

Why not?

0:50:180:50:20

Mum said he was violent and that we didn't need him.

0:50:200:50:23

And every time I needed anything official, any paperwork...

0:50:240:50:28

it was always lost or there was some complication.

0:50:280:50:30

Would be?

0:50:300:50:33

So... Who am I?

0:50:330:50:38

I don't want to give a definitive answer to that until we've done a DNA test and made some more enquiries.

0:50:400:50:46

Yeah, I get that. But before we get into the soap opera part of all this...

0:50:460:50:51

Just tell me who I might be?

0:50:510:50:53

Nicos Megas. That's your real name, OK?

0:50:550:50:58

It's not Yasser.

0:50:580:50:59

His mother gave him to me when she died.

0:50:590:51:02

I've got all the paperwork at home to prove it. He's mine.

0:51:020:51:05

-You're mine, Will.

-It's OK.

0:51:050:51:07

Calm down. I'm 30-years-old, mum.

0:51:070:51:08

They can't take me away.

0:51:080:51:10

You're not who they're saying you are.

0:51:100:51:13

-They haven't said anything, Mum.

-I wouldn't just...

0:51:130:51:16

I can't believe you think I'd do that to another family!

0:51:160:51:19

I know what it feels like to lose a child.

0:51:190:51:21

SHE SOBS

0:51:240:51:26

-Do you think we've got the right clearance for using the loos this time?

-Stop moaning.

0:51:300:51:36

I just think we're wasting our time here, Gerry.

0:51:360:51:40

This lodger thing's going nowhere.

0:51:400:51:42

They weren't even taking in students when Yasser went missing.

0:51:420:51:46

Yeah, but they were there when he was conceived.

0:51:460:51:49

-Oh, here we are!

-What?

0:51:490:51:51

Harry, or Abu Hamas as his mum called him.

0:51:510:51:56

-Half of it's blacked out.

-Yeah. Redacted.

0:51:560:51:59

-Eh?

-That means this material's still highly classified.

0:51:590:52:03

I wonder if that Richard bloke's still about.

0:52:030:52:06

-We need to be fully briefed.

-Go and ask him.

0:52:060:52:09

HE CHUCKLES

0:52:100:52:12

Pack it all up. We're putting this one down to experience.

0:52:140:52:17

Oh, no, no, you can't!

0:52:170:52:18

Gillian Withall was a dead end. I can't progress with this any further.

0:52:180:52:22

Yeah, but we can.

0:52:220:52:23

We think that Yasser was taken by his dad.

0:52:230:52:26

-Fred?

-Abu Hamas, from Gaza.

0:52:260:52:29

He was a leading light in the PLO.

0:52:290:52:31

-Is he now?

-Was. He's dead, which is why the spooks could tell us about him.

-Spooks?

0:52:310:52:35

He died in a border skirmish in 1989, during the First Intifada.

0:52:350:52:39

Why do we think he's Yasser's dad?

0:52:390:52:41

Timing.

0:52:410:52:43

Abu Hamas and Anne Gorton were at it nine months before Yasser was born.

0:52:430:52:47

Whereas Fred and Anne definitely weren't.

0:52:470:52:50

Initially because Fred was away, and then according to surveillance reports,

0:52:500:52:55

because they were occupying separate bedrooms.

0:52:550:52:58

MI5 gave us this, look.

0:52:580:53:00

Bloody hell.

0:53:020:53:03

Wait for it.

0:53:030:53:05

Who'd you think was guest speaker at the rally before the Free Palestine march?

0:53:050:53:09

-Abu...thing?

-Hamas, yeah.

0:53:090:53:11

And who do you think flew him in and sponsored his visitor's visa?

0:53:110:53:14

-I'm teaching at the moment, so I don't have time for this.

-What's the lecture about?

0:53:170:53:21

Second-wave feminism and the threat of the fallow holocaust.

0:53:210:53:25

-Death to the penis.

-Not fathers' rights, then.

0:53:250:53:28

-I speak on that frequently, just not today.

-I want to check I've got something right.

0:53:280:53:32

You think that boys should always live with their fathers,

0:53:320:53:35

irrespective of any issues around child welfare, domestic violence...

0:53:350:53:39

Another tool in the belt of the feminazis.

0:53:390:53:41

-Most accusations are false.

-You'd know better than me, a serving police officer.

0:53:410:53:45

To answer your question, yes, boys should be brought up by their fathers,

0:53:450:53:49

to keep them away from the feminist indoctrination of their mothers.

0:53:490:53:53

That's why you handed Yasser over to Abu Hamas, is it? For political reasons?

0:53:530:53:57

I knew the moment the doctor gave Anne her due date.

0:54:000:54:02

Even I can count to nine.

0:54:020:54:03

So you just waited until the right moment and handed him over?

0:54:030:54:07

I traced Abu Hamas and told him the truth.

0:54:070:54:10

I sent him photos until it was time to put things right.

0:54:100:54:13

It was the right thing to do.

0:54:130:54:15

Bringing up another man's child is wrong.

0:54:150:54:18

I just didn't love him.

0:54:180:54:21

I felt guilty about that at the time, but not any more.

0:54:210:54:24

It was the purest political act of my life.

0:54:240:54:26

-Bollocks.

-I'm sorry?

0:54:260:54:29

So you should be.

0:54:290:54:30

What you did wasn't the act of a man.

0:54:300:54:33

A real man wouldn't have cared. He'd have just been proud to have the privilege of being a father.

0:54:330:54:38

Oh, I see. You work under a woman long enough

0:54:380:54:41

and you start to think like them. Do you know what you are?

0:54:410:54:44

What you did wasn't politics, it was having a pop at your wife.

0:54:440:54:46

A mangina.

0:54:460:54:48

It was about putting her through 25 years of grief

0:54:480:54:51

so that you could feel better about her shagging another bloke.

0:54:510:54:55

And if that makes you a man and me a mangina,

0:54:550:54:58

book me in for a Brazilian.

0:54:580:54:59

-Sorry, boss.

-No apology necessary.

0:55:010:55:05

And where is he now?

0:55:050:55:07

Still in Gaza as far as we know. I'm sorry we don't have more.

0:55:070:55:11

He's alive, that's all I need.

0:55:110:55:14

A chance.

0:55:160:55:18

A chance to find him.

0:55:180:55:20

-You're going to look for him?

-Of course.

0:55:200:55:24

Well, be careful, Gaza's not the safest place in the world.

0:55:240:55:28

You don't have children, do you?

0:55:280:55:30

-No.

-Sorry, it wasn't supposed to be an accusation, it's just...

0:55:300:55:35

You couldn't possibly understand.

0:55:350:55:37

Maybe that's how Fred could do what he did.

0:55:370:55:41

-Because he couldn't understand what he was doing to me.

-Oh, I think he understood.

0:55:410:55:45

-And I think he's spent the last 20 years justifying it to himself and everyone else.

-Maybe.

0:55:450:55:50

Thank you.

0:55:540:55:55

Urgh, not much of a result.

0:55:590:56:01

Well, harassment and perverting the course of justice charges against Vernon and Fred.

0:56:010:56:07

Yeah, big deal. Are you sure we can't do Blackledge on something else?

0:56:070:56:11

He gave a child to his to his father. It was Abu Hamas who took him out of the country.

0:56:110:56:15

And it caused a bit of damage on the way, William Withall.

0:56:150:56:18

Aye, and me. Now I know I've been living in a police state.

0:56:180:56:21

Oh, for God's sake! I've read your file when we were setting up this team.

0:56:210:56:25

-I knew there was a file on me!

-Of course there was!

0:56:250:56:28

I was right, wasn't I? Esther's radicalism's ruined my career!

0:56:280:56:32

I should never have gone to those meetings.

0:56:320:56:34

Signing my name on bloody petitions!

0:56:340:56:36

It said you were too insignificant for surveillance,

0:56:360:56:39

and that Esther was essentially harmless.

0:56:390:56:41

Happy now?

0:56:410:56:43

Right. Thanks.

0:56:460:56:49

Harmless? Are you sure they were watching the right woman?

0:56:530:56:57

Oh, come on!

0:56:570:56:59

-Goodnight, Sandra.

-Goodnight.

0:57:000:57:02

See you there.

0:57:020:57:04

I've read your report.

0:57:040:57:06

Sorry it wasn't the result you wanted, sir.

0:57:060:57:08

What do you mean?

0:57:080:57:09

Well, Davies is still at large. I hope you don't think it was a complete waste of resources.

0:57:090:57:14

Of course not. Is that what you thought?

0:57:140:57:16

-That's not why I counselled you against this case.

-Sir?

0:57:160:57:18

UCOS does extraordinary work. It breaks cases that are unbreakable.

0:57:180:57:23

But child abductions? They eat resources and burn out officers.

0:57:230:57:26

But you don't feel you can let it go.

0:57:260:57:28

It's a missing child, after all.

0:57:280:57:30

So you work your overtime and ignore the people at home.

0:57:300:57:33

And when you do finally get a result, it's not usually a good one.

0:57:330:57:37

Maybe I wanted to protect four of my most valuable assets from that?

0:57:370:57:42

Goodnight.

0:57:420:57:43

Goodnight, sir.

0:57:430:57:45

Esther!

0:57:470:57:50

I've got something for you.

0:57:500:57:52

I thought I'd help you save that post office, or anything else for that matter.

0:58:020:58:06

If it needs saving, banning or its consciousness raising, I'm your man.

0:58:060:58:10

Just like the old days. What do you think?

0:58:100:58:13

Oh, Betty!

0:58:160:58:17

# It's all right It's OK

0:58:250:58:28

# Doesn't really matter if you're old and grey

0:58:280:58:31

# It's all right I say it's OK

0:58:310:58:33

# Listen to what I say

0:58:330:58:37

# It's all right, doing fine

0:58:370:58:39

# Doesn't really matter if the sun don't shine

0:58:390:58:42

# It's all right I say it's OK

0:58:420:58:45

# We're gettin' to the end of the day. #

0:58:450:58:47

E-mail [email protected]

0:58:480:58:51

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