Chapter 53
It was quiet on the legal visits wing at Bullingdon prison and Sarah could feel the stillness in the air as she sat at the table, opposite Joe.
‘So, what do you think?’ she pressed him.
‘Why do you need my permission?’ he asked.
‘Because you’re my client and it’s up to you how I run your case.’
He heaved a sigh. ‘You want me to decide whether we should blow up the life of a nineteen-year-old kid?’
‘I know. It’s a tough one. And what we have already may be enough to cast doubt on your conviction – which is all we have to do, of course.
We have Bella’s evidence that Mitchell attacked her in order to shut her up, and Eve and Iwan’s evidence that they arrived just in the nick of time to stop him from raping her, which may be enough to convince the Court of Appeal that this was connected to her mother’s rape and murder …
but it still won’t be enough to get you into that “for sure” territory that’s needed. ’
‘For what?’
‘To clear your name. To fully clear your name. And to get you compensation for everything you’ve been through.
’ She hesitated and Joe’s eyes flickered to meet hers.
‘The burden of proof in a criminal case is on the prosecution to prove you’re guilty,’ she explained, ‘and if there’s any doubt, that has to be exercised in your favour.
But, in 2014, the Lord Chancellor of the day decided to switch that burden around for anyone trying to claim compensation for a wrongful conviction, and so it will be for us to show that it definitely wasn’t you who killed Christy – and we won’t be able to do that without the forensic link.
But it’s not just about getting compensation, Joe.
What we have amounts to speculation, and unless Mitchell pitches up in custody and they take his DNA and we get a match, we won’t legitimately be able to point the finger at him or anyone else.
We will only be able to tell the judges – and the rest of the world – that they can’t be sure it was you. ’
Joe nodded, then sat back in his chair and raised his arms, linking his fingers and putting them behind his head. Sarah could see him thinking hard.
‘And it’s a legitimate method, this …?’
‘Familial DNA searching.’
‘It will stand up in court?’
‘If Robyn takes the sample, yes. It will have to be done by the police. Robyn’s contact at the police lab says they can do it, and if we do get a match, I think the CCRC would have to listen.’
Joe thought about this. ‘Could he have contaminated the evidence somehow? Left his DNA on Christy’s body when he got to the crime scene?’
Sarah shook her head. ‘The forensics people say not. He would have had to leave blood or saliva.’
‘What if he says he tried to resuscitate her?’
‘It doesn’t provide the same kind of cellular material. And besides, they ran some tests. The first set of results confirmed the finding that there was this unknown male profile on her top, but they also found a hair root under her right-hand middle fingernail.’
‘Christy grabbed him by the back of the head?’
‘That’s what we’re thinking.’
‘And that explains the three broken fingers.’
Sarah nodded. ‘It all fits.’
‘So what does he know?’ he asked. ‘This kid?’
‘Harley. His name’s Harley.’
‘Harley,’ he repeated, nodding.
‘He knows his mum was a drug user and that she couldn’t look after him. He knows he was taken into care when he was two months old and adopted four months later.’
‘And he has no idea who his dad is?’
‘No. When she signed the adoption papers, Phillipa claimed not to know. With good reason, of course.’
‘Has he ever tried to find out?’
‘I don’t know. But Robyn has located the adoptive parents and she will ask all of these questions. They will be carefully prepped, as will Harley.’
‘They’ll have to tell him his dad is a rapist,’ he murmured.
‘I know.’
Joe looked up, his face flushed. ‘Is this right? For us to do this to him? He’s going to be traumatised.’
Sarah swallowed. ‘OK. Let’s take you out of the equation for a minute. What about Bella? Doesn’t she deserve to know the truth about who killed her mother?’
He nodded. ‘Of course she does.’
‘And doesn’t Christy deserve justice?’
He nodded again.
‘Harley may even want to know his father.’
Joe’s head shot up. ‘Are you serious?’
Sarah shrugged. ‘He will have a very big decision to make, and it will have to be his decision. And if he chooses not to help and not to know the answer, we will respect that. I’m not saying this isn’t going to hurt other people, but at the very least, Harley will have a clearer picture of who he is and where he came from, and he will still have two adoptive parents who love him.
But if we can get that forensic link to Christy, then not only will it be enough to take to the CCRC, but Robyn can jump above heads and take it to the chief of police, get extra resources into the manhunt for Mitch and, if he’s still alive, get him safely behind bars. ’
Joe thought about this. ‘What’s Harley doing? Is he at uni?’
‘No. He’s taken a gap year. He’s just come back from travelling with friends and he’s trying to decide what to do next. It’s a good time.’
‘A good time,’ Joe repeated, then let out a heavy sigh.
‘I understand,’ Sarah said. ‘I understand how you feel.’
Joe looked at her. ‘Sarah, I had my life destroyed by the police, and I know how that’s made me feel. I’m not going to tread on someone else to get what I need, especially not a young lad. I can’t make this decision.’
Sarah nodded. ‘OK.’
‘But,’ he said, ‘I don’t want to be responsible either for all the other people Mitchell has hurt, including Bella and Christy, and for the people he could go on to hurt. So you have my authority to run my case in whichever way you think is right.’