Episode 4 The Fall

We've seen fragments before, enough to confirm that he kept journals,

but nothing like this. Are they just fantasies that sustain him?

Or are they a record of nine more murders?

The police say they have a confession,

that you made a number of admissions.

I... I don't remember any of that.

-I understand he's conscious.

-Yes,

but there is an issue.

It seems Mr Spector suffered some memory loss.

-Are we supposed to be taking this seriously?

-I think we have to.

-Do you know who that is?

-No.

You will be held

on remand in hospital until arrangements can be made to

transfer you to a secure psychiatric clinic.

If she told the truth in the first place,

about Spector's whereabouts, then perhaps

Rose Stagg would not have been put through the ordeal that she has.

Drink it all up.

Good girl.

Why are you so kind to me?

If I've done the things that the police say I've done

then I'm a monster.

It's my job.

He's just the sort of person who would feign

amnesia if he felt that there was something to be gained from it,

'even for the sheer delight of duping people, particularly experts.'

Someone like me, for example.

I found a murder that looks promising.

Law student, Susan Harper.

The only problem is, there is someone doing time for it.

I'll pray for you.

This programme contains some strong language and scenes which some viewers may find upsetting

SHE GASPS

SHE GASPS

SHE GASPS

Rise and shine.

Time to get up.

Stella, for star.

Five more minutes, Daddy, please.

RAPID BEEPING

There are no scratches or nail marks on

the soft parts of the victim's face, no bruising or lacerations to

the mouth or nose to suggest they were held closed by a hand.

The original case file suggests

that David Alvarez suffocated her using a pillow.

There was no saliva, blood or tissue cells

on any of the pillows, were there?

They could have been washed.

Yes, they could.

Do we have the toxicology report?

Page five, Ma'am.

When was the report done?

Susan Harper's body was found cool to the touch on a Monday morning.

Toxicology was 24 hours later, during autopsy.

Tests 24 hours after that on the Wednesday.

Based on these figures,

I'd say the victim took cocaine

within hours, minutes, even, from death.

Do we have anything at all to put Paul Spector

or Peter Baldwin in London in 2002?

Nothing as yet, Ma'am.

Was there a plastic bag found at the scene?

No mention that I've seen.

Well, Spector is due to be moved today,

which means the next part of his assessment is about to begin.

We have to keep believing that it will go to trial...

..and when it does, we have to put together

as strong an evidential case to the PPS as we possibly can.

We have to be ready.

The truth of a confession is immaterial.

What is of crucial importance is how the confession was obtained,

not whether or not it's true.

The court must exclude the

confession if it finds it was obtained by oppression

or under circumstances likely to render it unreliable.

I've read the transcripts. I didn't see any signs of oppression.

I'm not so sure. The circumstances are certainly unusual.

Why is a Superintendent doing the job of a Constable or Sergeant,

interviewing a suspect?

Surely, when you get to her level, you supervise,

manage and direct the officers, not do their job?

It was at his request, "Just you, Stella, no-one else."

That's my point.

She didn't really use any standard interview techniques.

She didn't offer psychological excuses

or minimise the seriousness of Spector's crimes.

She didn't praise or flatter.

She even used leading questions that elicited one-word answers.

Almost not like a police interview at all -

more like an intimate conversation.

She didn't need to establish a rapport,

because their relationship had

already been established on the phone.

While they were still hunting him,

it's claimed Spector and Gibson had private conversations.

She gave him her personal phone number.

They even suggest he was in her hotel room.

Why would he do something so risky just to leave an entry in her diary?

It speaks of a kind of obsession.

-RECORDING:

-'Stella?

'Yes.

'How nice to hear your voice again.

'Is that you, Peter?

'Yes.

'Why are you calling me?

'Because I'm looking up at the sky.

'Stella. Shining star.

'It's a beautiful night.

'Made me think of you.'

Do we have that diary, that entry?

It hasn't been disclosed so far.

Get it.

So...

..she seduced a confession from him?

Maybe.

If you can support what you're suggesting with case law,

legal principals, I might include it in the brief.

These are all of the books from Spector's lock-up, Ma'am.

Ma'am, there's something you should see.

The wife of the man the police claim is The Belfast Strangler was

involved in a bizarre incident earlier this morning,

captured on video by a passer-by as it unfolded.

Images that some viewers may find disturbing.

-ON REPORT:

-Jeez.

-Oh, my God, that's a car.

-Hey, hey!

-Michael, be careful!

-Hey, hey!

-Oh, my God.

The car being engulfed by the incoming tide

belongs to Sally-Ann Spector, 32.

The windows are raised, the doors are locked.

Inside are her two children.

Oh, my God!

The girl, aged eight, can be heard calling for help.

-CHILD ON REPORT:

-'Help us, please, help!

'The lock. Hey, hey!

'I can't wake up Liam!

'Please, get it open!

-WOMAN ON REPORT:

-'Michael!'

(Jesus Christ.)

'Mummy!'

At last, it seems the doors are unlocked

and the two children are lifted clear and carried to safety.

In the background, Sally-Ann Spector can be seen walking

unsteadily away from the car through the shallows.

-WOMAN ON REPORT:

-Over here.

-Are you all right? She's so cold.

A moment later, the car is almost washed away.

-WOMAN ON REPORT:

-Somebody help that woman!

The family was airlifted by police helicopter to the

Belfast General Hospital, where Paul Spector is being treated for

gunshot wounds he sustained in Police cust...

TV SWITCHES OFF

How were we to know she was that desperate?

It's what women do with their anger, Jim.

They harm themselves or extensions of themselves, their children.

What frame of mind must she have been in to think that they

were all better off dead?

Instead of caring for her, supporting her, all we could do

was drag her through the courts and threaten her with prison.

It wasn't just down to me.

The DPP was of a similar mind.

Yeah.

Well, now you can add attempted murder to her list of charges.

All I ever wanted to do

was keep those children safe, Stella, that's all!

MOBILE RINGS

Healy.

Right, thanks for letting me know.

-Spector's wife and children have been taken to the General.

-Why?

It's been on the news. See if you can find it on your phone.

TOILET FLUSHES

Point of care testing found benzos in the girl's urine.

We haven't managed a sample from the other two.

The son, Liam, is GCS. 12, 13.

With stimulation, he's rousable.

Check the summary care record.

I see she's on the blues.

Severe anxiety and insomnia.

Five milligrams TDS, titrating to a maximum of ten,

review after two weeks.

So the mother fed the kids the anxiolytics

and then drove them to the sea.

Looks like it.

She's unresponsive, not saying anything.

Pupils are mid-sized and reactive. How's his blood glucose?

Normal.

He might need Flumazenil.

Let's put him into paediatric ICU to keep an eye on him.

Right now, she's conscious but not talking.

I don't think she's fit for psych evaluation yet.

We're moving the boy up to the kids ICU.

The girl is awake, she seems OK.

Have you seen the newsreel footage?

No.

It looks like a deliberate attempt to kill herself and her children.

A cry for help?

Maybe.

Can I say hello?

Sure.

Hello, Olivia.

Do you remember me?

How are you feeling?

The bullet fragments in Mr Spector's body contained no iron,

so he had the MRI scan this morning.

There's an absence of evidence for established infarct...

..but a suggestion here of a loss of grey white matter differentiation.

Now that may be in keeping with

ischaemic insult in the frontal temporal lobe region,

but I can't say it explains the memory loss.

I'll pass the results on to Dr Larson

and he can include them in his assessment.

Do we know what happened to his wife and children? How are they?

No serious injury, I think,

but I'm awaiting a call from the ED Consultant.

Has Mr Spector been informed?

Not yet. I'm going to wait for further information.

I think we have to make a holding statement of some sort.

Definitely.

Everyone will have seen it by now.

Let's...confirm that an incident happened,

identify the individuals involved.

Oh, there's nothing else, no speculation about motivation.

The press will do that for us.

Yeah.

Will you handle this, please, Matt?

I'll sit down with DCI Eastwood and work something out.

Sound a warning to the press.

And, Matt...

Show a human face.

'Paul, the police claim your'

fingerprints are on a pair of decorating shears.

They say the shears, the scissors,

tested positive for Joe Brawley's DNA, a blood sample.

They were retrieved from the water...

here.

I know where that is, I go running there sometimes.

Is it possible you came across the scissors while you were running,

considered them dangerous,

picked them up and threw them into the water, out of harm's way?

I don't remember any scissors.

The one real eye witness is his sister, Annie Brawley.

After the attack and before you were arrested

you went to see her in hospital.

I did? Why?

She was grieving the death of her brother.

You were employed by the Alice Monroe Fund

to offer her support, counselling.

What happened?

Nothing. You talked.

She said you were helpful.

Hold on. I'm, er, sorry, I'm very confused here.

This is someone the police say that I attacked?

Yes.

Well, why didn't she recognise me?

I don't know.

Why would I go and visit someone that I'd attacked?

What if she recognised me, what if she started screaming?

It doesn't make sense.

You do have alibis for all of the murders.

They have been provided by an individual called Katie Benedetto.

She claims she had a sexual relationship with you.

I don't know her. What age is she?

She's just turned 16.

She says she was 14 when you first slept together.

That's not possible.

A child? That's not possible.

There are doubts about her credibility as a witness.

The real issue, Mr Spector, is the confession.

I think you should hear a little of the recording that was made.

It might jog your memory.

STELLA ON TAPE: 'Tell me about the first time.

'What was it like?

'It made me sick.

'The smell disgusted me.

'The first was the worst and hardest to get over,

'but a switch had been flicked, a line crossed.

'Something was done that couldn't be undone.

'Something that separates you from the common herd.

'I was ill for four days after.

'You're in a state of existential shock...

'..but then you find yourself unchallenged by divine and

'secular power.

'OK. So why not do it again...

'..but better?

'Tell me, do you speak to them?

'To the women that you torture and kill?

'No.

'Do they die slowly?

'Yes.

'Loosening and tightening your grip around their throat?

'Keeping them suspended between life and death?

'Yes.

'Binding them first?

'Yes.

'How long do you torture them?'

Stop it. Please, stop it.

'Do you inflict sexual acts...'

That can't be me talking. How would I forget something like that?

That can't be me.

There are other recordings, Mr Spector. These are video recordings.

The prosecution suggest that... they were found on your phone.

-That you made them.

-That's Rose.

Yes.

You want to be noticed.

You want to be paid attention to, make your mark?

Fine. Hurt me, do whatever you want to me.

Do your worst.

Nothing you can do will ever take away how much I love my husband,

how much I love my children.

Nothing you can do can make me devalue my life in any way.

I will celebrate life.

I love and I am loved and nothing that you...

'Why the fuck are you watching this?

'You sick shit.

'What the fuck is wrong with you?'

Nurse!

Nurse!

Paul, Paul, stop that. Can you step outside, please?

Paul, that's enough, Paul, focus on your breathing,

focus on your breath.

Come on, that's enough. Just in and out.

Slow breathing, you're OK, Paul. In and out, big, deep breath.

Yeah that's good, that's it, you're OK.

Jesus, what have we got ourselves into?

-You having doubts?

-No.

-You sure?

-Yes.

Because if you are, you can pack up

-your briefcase and sell houses instead.

-I'm not.

Are you Sean Healy?

Yes.

Will you give this to Paul for me?

Katie?

Please, just give this to Paul.

Katie, you're in breach of your bail conditions.

You're in serious trouble. We can't take that letter from you.

Katie, stop!

Katie!

I can confirm that there has been a serious incident involving

the wife and the two children of the defendant, Paul Spector.

All three are currently being treated in the

Belfast General Hospital.

Their injuries are not life-threatening.

In light of the torrent of publicity since Paul Spector was arrested and

charged, the Police Service Northern Ireland feel bound to urge the media

to exercise restraint and caution in reporting the details of this case.

KNOCKING

Yep.

We've had a request to disclose your dream diary.

Sean Healy wants his own handwriting expert

to examine the entry Spector made.

He's in hospital,

he's incapacitated...

..and yet he's still infecting

the lives of every person he comes into contact with.

Everyone who fucking crosses his path.

He's a contagion.

Shall I just let them see that page?

They'll just come back asking for the rest.

No.

Clear it with the PPS.

And if they agree, send all of it.

'I can't believe that she would harm Livvy.'

I just don't think she could do that.

I can picture Sally, nursing her.

Just... Just so blissfully happy.

She'd never hurt her.

Where are you in that picture?

Where I always am.

On the outside, looking in.

When I was unconscious, I was...

I... I could see myself.

In this room. I was able to see myself from above,

lying in the bed, with all the tubes and monitors.

Have you ever experienced anything like that before?

Being outside of your body like that?

When I was young, yes.

When things got really bad, I used to be able to split myself.

If I was lucky, a part of me would just drift away.

To another place, a...better place.

Have you thought any more about what death means to you?

What I think can only disappoint you.

That doesn't matter.

I think that, just as I didn't exist before I was born...

..I simply won't exist after I die.

I can't agree.

Do you believe that you did the things they say you did?

Do you?

If I did, then I wasn't arrested...

..I was rescued.

I need you to go to London.

My boss at the Met, a man called Chris George, Chief Superintendent.

I just spoke to him.

He's agreed to sign the authorisations you will need

to access the Susan Harper files.

He's agreed to reopen the case?

He's agreed to let us look at the files.

There's a flight leaving Belfast City in just over an hour.

Will your arm be all right?

Yeah.

Take Ferrington.

These notes cover wound care and list the medications you're on.

You've had four days of broad intravenous antibiotics,

but I must remind you, because of the loss of your spleen,

you will be on lifelong prophylactic antibiotics.

Is there any chance I could see my son before I go?

Which one is he?

Just there.

Do you remember him?

Do you think he looks like me?

A little bit, maybe.

Paul.

I can walk.

Hospital policy.

Sit in the chair.

Thank you for everything.

Detective Superintendent Gibson. I'm here to see Dr Larson.

He's been expecting you. Please sign in.

Thank you.

Have I seen you somewhere before?

You tell me.

This is Foyle One, where Mr Spector will be housed.

Doors are kept locked, all areas are monitored by CCTV.

Staff have lockers here for personal belongings.

You can leave your mobile phone, any keys here.

What level of supervision have you set for Spector?

We have agreed to level two care for Mr Spector -

continual presence of nursing staff, but privacy granted for bathing.

All patients in Foyle One are allocated a primary nurse.

Male?

Male.

How many beds are on this ward?

12 in all.

All the patients we have on the ward at present have

access to their rooms at all times, except when they're being cleaned.

Some patients have keys to lock their bedroom doors,

but staff carry override keys.

This way, please.

Most of the patients are on pharmacological therapy.

We'll assess the need for a drug strategy for Mr Spector.

Care and treatment is provided by a multidisciplinary team,

but I will do the legal assessments.

Yeah, Mr Spector is here now.

-There's coffee here, please help yourself.

-Thank you.

I'm going to greet him.

Mr Spector, I'm August Larson, the lead clinician here.

Follow me, please.

Nurse Ritchie will orientate you.

I will be along to talk to you in a little while.

Follow me, Paul.

There's some toiletries for you there.

And that's your information on ward routines, policies and procedures.

Are you hungry?

I haven't been eating much.

I'd like some water.

I'll get you some.

Do you have time to talk?

Yes.

Have a seat, please.

Actually I...

-I have some things I want to show you.

-Hmm?

And you're certain these are his work?

Yes.

Is this his poem?

I think so.

"Dark voices tonight...

"..foreign ladies talking to dangerous men.

"Their eyes are lunar divisions.

"They lie on dead sheets.

"A drunken midnight approach.

"Her smile is a crooked lamplight.

"Red lips parting...

"..soft vowels begging...

"feeding the night."

Some clean clothes for you.

Is this his, too?

"I don't believe in love.

"At least, I believe in love, but not in happiness.

"The only love that lasts is unhappy love."

Again, I think it must be him.

I haven't found either on an internet search.

There are some things in there that are new to me.

He writes at one point about the battle,

as he perceives it, between "good Paul" and "bad Paul".

He describes standing back, being a spectator of his own actions,

that there's an observing self and a participating self.

There is a dazzling array of perversions.

I mean, beyond the sadism and the overwhelming fetishism

with female underwear.

He was a voyeur,

a transvestite...

into autoeroticism and necrophilia.

There's also signs of pygmalionism -

his obsession with mannequins and dolls.

I've sometimes wondered if he

breathed air into his dying victims

to prolong their lives...

..so that they could see clearly that he was going to kill them.

When young children are abused, they experience fear and anxiety.

They then attempt to contain those feelings by acting out sadistically.

If a person is able to do to others

what he fears may be done to him, he may no longer be afraid.

You assume he was abused?

He was in Gortnacull, I think?

Doctor, I understand that for you he's a patient, an abused child,

someone who deserves understanding and compassion, even.

But to me, he's a... He's a sexual predator,

and it's my job to protect the potential victims

from the threat that he poses.

Viewed from a psychodynamic perspective,

even the most apparently insane violence

has meaning in the mind of the person who commits it.

I have to try to understand that meaning and learn from it

in the attempt to prevent further violence.

Yeah.

Just don't underestimate the threat...

..the danger that Paul Spector represents.

I won't.

Do you have an idea about Mr Spector's pre-morbid IQ?

He was tested as a child

and scored in the very superior intelligence band.

Thank you.

It's been a pleasure talking to you.

Psychiatry needs feedback from patients.

It's realised in interpersonal contacts, so trust is essential.

It is not my place to judge him

for what he may or may not have done,

but I will try to get to the truth of the matter

for the courts and for you.

He is going to prison.

Let me show you out.

BELL RINGS

MAN: All right, boys. Out you come.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

You should try to eat some fruit at least.

CHATTERING AND LAUGHING

-Rose Stagg is waiting for you, Ma'am.

-Oh, right.

She's in the interview room.

What's... What's happening with the Benedetto girl?

She's in custody, due in court again tomorrow.

Will you sit in with us, Gail?

Yes, Ma'am.

'What's the next thing that you remember?'

Darkness. And movement - being thrown around.

I think he must have drugged me when he gave me water.

It took me a while to work out what was happening...

that I was in the car, in the boot of a car.

It was terrifying.

I was thrown around horribly, particularly towards the end.

I felt like a rag doll. Every bump made me cry out.

Then the car stopped, the engine was turned off.

The driver's door opened...

..and then silence.

I waited and waited... but nothing happened.

I realised I'd been left there alone.

There were some old water bottles in the boot so at first I could drink.

But then there was none left.

I tried to pull the brake lights out

to let in more air, but I couldn't shift them.

I felt so weak.

There was no air.

I became obsessed with the sound of my own breathing.

I'd fall asleep, but I'd have no idea for how long.

At first I thought I could tell whether it was day or night

from the smell of the air,

but then the air got staler and staler.

I lost all track of time.

I tried to think about the kids, but I couldn't focus.

I felt my brain was shutting down.

The last thing I remember was thinking that I should burrow,

that I should dig down into the earth to hide,

to feel safe and warm.

Like an animal, digging...

I don't remember anything after that.

Thank you.

Can I talk to you...

alone?

Without the tape?

This is DC Gail McNally suspending the interview at 10.43pm.

I haven't been...

I haven't been completely honest with you.

I led you to believe that after that one time he strangled me,

that it ended.

But it didn't.

I suspected as much.

It wasn't that simple.

We went to some dark places.

The first time it happened, I was giving him...

I was...using my mouth on him.

He squeezed his legs around my neck.

I couldn't breathe. I was...

Take your time.

Er...

He squeezed really tight.

I thought I was going to pass out but he released me.

He treated it a bit like a game, at first.

I'd already begun to think he didn't have much enthusiasm

for ordinary intercourse...

..but then things got more serious.

He asked me to play dead.

And then there was the time that I told you about.

I think he revived me, mouth to mouth.

There were times when he wanted to use a plastic bag on me,

on himself.

He said that we all try to live in the light,

that we all try to build walls around us to block out the darkness,

the danger that's out there, but it can't be done, it's a lie,

that in reality there are dark gods out there and that men

could become gods on earth through a certain kind of sex.

And women?

I think so. I'm sorry. I can't really explain it.

Why did you walk away?

It felt to me that everything that was happening

was about pleasing him.

That it wasn't about me at all.

I left him and I went back to Tom.

And what about Spector?

He went to London, I think.

Did you and Spector ever do drugs?

I think I told you that we drank a lot.

Hm. Cocaine?

No, not with me, but maybe he did back then.

My life with Tom couldn't be more different.

Things have been difficult since the birth of Cody.

Actually, since my first Caesarean.

And how are they now?

It's strange.

When he talks to me now, I don't really listen to the words

that he's saying, just to the tone of his voice.

From that I can work out whether he likes me or not,

whether he's emotionally close to me.

Right now, he's angry...

..and I don't think he likes me very much.

Rose, there's something I need to tell you.

I think that...I'm the reason that Paul Spector came after you.

How?

I think I...

I think I revealed your identity as my informant

when I used his name - Peter.

The name that you gave me when I spoke to him on the phone.

Using that name, together with the E-Fit that we had created,

I think led him straight to you.

I was trying to convey that...

..well, that we were on to him.

I was trying to scare him to stop the attacks.

And it worked to the extent that he ran,

but...but when we didn't do anything,

when we didn't pounce...

he came after you.

I hadn't realised your relationship was so meaningful to him.

He said I was the only one.

That I was the only girl.

I believe it.

I'm glad I'm not the only one to have made mistakes.

Thank you.

-IN THE DISTANCE:

-Go fuck that! Jesus fucking Christ!

I'm Mark Bailey.

Who are you?

I'm told I'm the Belfast Strangler.

Are you?

Maybe.

Right now, I don't remember.

Wasn't well. Better now.

Wasn't well. Better now.

Wasn't well. Better now.