Adelaide?
Not now, Wilfred. Can't you see I'm on the warpath?
- Lisa! - Not now, Dan.
Morning!
Ma'am, I... Oh, erm...
I should've... knocked.
Don't mind me, I'm, er, just on my way.
So, er, what is it that's so important
that made you feel compelled to barge in here without knocking?
I wanted to let you know I am interested in that promotion, Ma'am.
I figured if I didn't tell you straightaway, then...
I didn't want you to be in any doubt.
Are you sure about that?
I know you've got a lot going on at home.
Now, I want you to go into this with your eyes wide open, Lisa.
It'll mean a lot more hours, a lot more responsibility.
- I know, Ma'am. - And there will be other opportunities.
You know, no-one will think the less of you.
I will.
The proudest day of my life.
I'd never forgive myself if I let go of this opportunity, Ma'am.
Glad to hear it.
You know, I think you have real leadership potential, Lisa.
So, all I need now
is for you to give me your written expression of your interest.
Of course.
- Thank you, Ma'am. - Mm-hm.
Can I mention it to DS Winters?
Let's leave that for now... until we know it's confirmed.
I wish to know the meaning of this.
It is a letter from my therapist
inviting you to take part in a joint session with me.
Don't be so literal, Jasper. I can read as well as you can.
I demand to know why it has been sent.
Dr. Helena believes that you can help me excavate
the root of my hostility towards women.
Your hostility towards me, I think you mean.
Am I to conclude that you are refusing to take part, Mother?
And give you another reason to resent me? Heavens, no.
Ah, yes, a homework assignment.
Dr. Helena has suggested that we come prepared with a list
of one another's personality traits.
- Both positive... - _
- and negative. - _
Dear boy, if you're gonna go mano a mano with me,
you'll need to come better prepared than that.
*CREDITS*
Your full attention, please, ladies and gentlemen,
with immediate effect.
At the risk of exposing your ignorance of current affairs,
can anyone apprise us of the significance of today's date?
It's my birthday.
Then you have the honour of sharing it
with the Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty,
the sadly underrated Italian balladeer Sergio Endrigo
and the eminent criminologist Robert D Keppel,
who helped identify the American serial killer Ted Bundy.
And that is not the observation I was hoping for.
Had you bothered to read the Crown Court listings
as instructed, you would be aware
that the trial of Sean Hallett begins today...
...not half a mile from where I am standing.
On the March 9th last year,
officers were dispatched to the property
when a silent intruder alarm was triggered at 18 minutes past nine.
Arriving at 9.34pm, they encountered a vehicle on the drive,
later confirmed to belong to the defendant.
When the officers entered the building,
they came across the victim's body, Vincent Soames.
He had suffered a single gunshot wound to the chest
and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The defendant, Sean Hallett,
was found standing next to the victim's body.
He was arrested and taken into custody.
A hunting rifle was found in the immediate vicinity.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,
you will hear expert witnesses give evidence
that Vincent Soames was killed with the rifle found at the scene.
You'll be presented with forensics
linking the defendant to the murder weapon.
And you will also hear evidence from a close associate of Sean Hallett's
that the weapon used to kill Vincent Soames belonged to him.
You'll be asked to consider a list of more than 50 items
recovered from Sean Hallett's cottage in the wake of the murder.
It is the prosecution's contention that these were stolen
from the Soames during his nine years of employment
as groundsman and odd-jobs man for their estate.
And lastly, you'll hear from the victim's wife Hester
that her husband meant to confront Sean Hallett
about her missing diamond engagement ring
on the very night he was murdered.
Sounds like it'll be over before lunch.
A facetious observation, but an understandable one nevertheless.
The Crown Prosecution Service would not have opted
to initiate proceedings against Mr. Hallett
had they not been convinced that the investigating officers
had put forward a case backed by compelling evidence of his guilt.
But, as regular attendees of my lectures
will have understood by now,
evidence alone is not always sufficient
to determine the outcome of an investigation.
It can be ambiguous, circumstantial, contradictory.
Undue focus on one piece of evidence
can cause the investigating authorities
to overlook others that might lead to a different view of the case.
I bring this trial to your attention
as a case study in the pitfalls of a criminal investigation
that fails to marry evidence gathering
with psychological insight.
Indeed, the interpretation of evidence
without psychological understanding
is like the appreciation of music without Johann Sebastian Bach.
Yes.
Why are we using this as a case study
if we don't know the outcome of the trial?
Because this murder predates my consultancy with Cambridge Police,
and I wish it to be known that I had nothing to do
with constructing the case against Sean Hallett,
particularly when he is acquitted of the murder of Vincent Soames,
as I believe he invariably will be.
Won't that be embarrassing, Professor?
For the police officers involved?
I cannot say.
That is not an emotional state with which I'm familiar.
And as I was saying,
it is very important that all the facts about the firearm
are laid out in detail for the jury.
What were you so desperate to speak to the boss about this morning?
- Nothing important. - ...but also who used it.
Could've fooled me.
In layman's terms, Detective Inspector Rabbit,
the defendant fingerprints were found all over the murder weapon.
That's correct. Fingerprints were found on the stock and the barrel.
The examination report also indicated
an attempt to wipe the weapon clean before we recovered it.
Thank you. No more questions.
Lock, stock and barrel, Detective Inspector.
Perhaps you could explain the different parts of the weapon
for the benefit of the jury.
The stock sits against the shoulder when firing.
The barrel acts as a...
That's self-explanatory. But the lock?
It's an archaic term that basically means the firing mechanism.
- Including the trigger. - That's correct.
So, fingerprints on the stock and the barrel,
but no mention of the lock, Detective Inspector.
Does that mean that none of the defendant's fingerprints
were found on or around the trigger?
That's correct.
As I said, the forensics found
were consistent with an attempt to wipe the weapon clean.
Or maybe a better explanation is that Sean Hallett never fired it.
One more thing, Detective Inspector.
Was any gunpowder residue found on the defendant's hands or clothes?
The presence of gunpowder residue is no longer considered to be...
A simple yes or no will suffice.
No.
No more questions, Your Honour.
Maybe he washed his hands before the police arrived.
A half-witted suggestion.
If he had time to wash his hands,
he surely also had time to escape the scene.
Will that be Hallett's defence? That they can't prove he fired the gun?
We will have to wait and see, but in his statement to police,
he was adamant that Mr. Soames' fatal injury
was sustained before he arrived.
What was even doing there at ten o'clock at night?
Mr. Hallett claims he was summoned by an urgent call from his employer.
Is there any way of verifying that?
His wife Anya cooks and cleans for the Soames.
She has confirmed that she was watching television with her husband
when the call was placed.
What about telephone records?
They confirm a call was made from a landline owned by the Soames
to a mobile number registered to Sean Hallett at 9.24pm.
That is six minutes after the silent alarm was triggered.
Has Hallett said why Soames called?
He thought he'd heard noises in the cellar,
but the light bulb was gone.
He wanted me to change it and maybe check things out.
Did Mr. Soames often ask you to do
things outside normal working hours?
There was no such thing as normal working hours with the Soames.
They'd call at all hours, especially him.
Expect me and Annie to drop everything.
We didn't think we could say no.
It was made pretty clear what the consequences would be.
How long did it take you to drive to the main house
after receiving the call?
A few minutes.
Our cottage is by the east gate, about half a mile as the crow flies.
- Did you have keys to the main house? - No.
Just the sheds and outhouses, but...
the kitchen door was open, so I went in, and...
...and there he was.
Is there any chance it was a burglary?
There were no signs of a break-in, no tyre tracks,
foot marks or unexpected fingerprints,
and nothing reported missing by
the Soames family in the aftermath.
Except for the aforementioned diamond ring.
Is his IQ below average, Professor?
No more so than many here today.
It just seems pretty dumb to commit a murder
when you know a panic alarm has been triggered.
'He wasn't aware it had been installed.'
So Soames did it without telling him.
After the ring went missing, about ten days before the murder.
I should go back.
Support Rabbit.
Are you all right, Lis?
You seem a bit on edge. Out of sorts.
Have you been reading Cosmopolitan?
"17 signs you're dating an emotionally intelligent person."
Ah, we're dating now, are we?
Nah, I thought you might be worried.
- Worried? - About the professor.
No.
Brand vetoed his involvement in any investigation
that predates his consultancy.
He's only seen a summary.
Still, it's not often we find ourselves on opposing sides.
It's not our investigation, Dan.
We weren't involved in investigating it.
Who says we're on opposing sides?
- Oi. Your bag. - Ooh!
- What's this? - That's a surprise. For tonight.
Tonight? Oh, can we say tomorrow?
- I've got a pile of paperwork. - Yeah.
Yeah, me too. I'll see you later.
_
Hm. Simon?
Shh. Go back to sleep.
Hm.
- What time is it? - Oh, it's still early.
It's just before six. Oh.
- You're in early, Winters. - You too, boss.
- Hoping to catch the worm? - No.
- A word of advice, maybe. - Oh.
Come on in.
How can I help?
Erm... Yeah, I was hoping you might be able to tell me
what I needed to do to be considered for,
erm, a-a promotion?
Well, you need to, er...
need to be talking to DI Rabbit about that in the first place.
I already have done, Ma'am.
Erm... I don't think he took me seriously.
Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. That's not good.
You know, erm, passing your inspectors' exam
is just the start of it.
- You know that, don't you? - I'm aware.
There are a very small amount of vacancies
and a large number of potential candidates.
It's very competitive.
I guess what I'm asking is if you'll support my candidacy,
er, should an appropriate vacancy arise?
I'd be delighted to...
...in due course.
There are a number of... people ahead of you in the queue.
Lisa, you mean?
I'm not at liberty to discuss that with you.
OK. Thank you, Ma'am.
Winters? You're a good cop.
You're a very good cop.
You just need a bit more experience, that's all,
just a few standout cases
to get you noticed further up the food chain.
Thank you, Ma'am.
- Go catch those worms. - Yeah.
Day two, ladies and gentlemen, of Regina versus Sean Arthur Hallett.
And the victim's wife Hester will take the stand.
Mrs. Soames was not present in the house
on the night her husband was murdered.
Her inclusion as a witness for the prosecution
is intended to establish a motive for murder in the minds of the jury.
She will tell the court
that her diamond engagement ring went missing
on a day, no less, when Mr. Hallett was in the main house,
polishing the parquet floors.
She will also testify that she discussed with Mr. Soames,
on the very day he was murdered,
his intention to confront his handyman
about the ring's disappearance.
However, in my not-so-humble opinion,
Mrs. Soames' testimony will raise as many questions as it answers.
Would you call Sean Hallett reliable, Mrs. Soames?
It depends on what you mean by "reliable".
Did he have regular days off sick, for example?
Where's this going, Miss Finch?
Your Honour, I am seeking to establish
that my client was a model employee.
So much so that in nine years of service,
the only time off he took was a single day of compassionate leave.
Very well.
Do you recall why compassionate leave was granted, Mrs. Soames?
His wife, Anya...
...she was hospitalised.
And can you say why?
Your Honour, I have Mrs. Hallett's permission
to tell the court that 18 months ago,
she suffered a stillbirth.
How would you characterise the defendant's relationship
with your husband, Mrs. Soames?
I'm not sure I could.
Well, was it better than your own relationship with him, for example?
Your Honour, I would like to show the court Exhibit 6C.
For the record, the witness has been given a copy of a police report
that details a complaint of common assault
filed by a Mrs. H Soames against
a Mr. V Soames in March last year.
You phoned the police to complain about your husband
on three other occasions, didn't you, Mrs. Soames?
We were happily married for 14 years.
Did your son Anthony know that his stepfather was a violent bully?
Miss Finch.
Where were you on the night
that your husband was murdered, Mrs. Soames?
In Corby with my mother. Her home help had the night off.
Your mother has Alzheimer's, I believe.
That's correct.
Which conveniently renders her unable to support your alibi.
If Vincent was beating his wife,
then maybe she has a motive for murder?
And the son, too.
At this stage, and from this distance,
we have no way of knowing
whether Mrs. Soames and Mr. Hazeldean are lying
or whether, like all of you,
they have simply reached an opinion about Mr. Hallett's guilt,
or otherwise, and have interpreted the facts of the case
with a degree of unconscious partiality
to support their instinctive prejudice.
What I can tell you with absolute certainty
is that opinions are the enemy of justice
and the curse of the modern world.
Professor?
Ah, my spy in the camp.
If Rabbit knew I was talking to you, he'd have a conniption fit.
Can I help you with something, Detective Sergeant?
I don't know, can you?
You could have easily sent this list of stolen goods to me by email.
I surmise therefore that you have something to say to me in person.
You wish to apologise...
...for not supporting more wholeheartedly
my efforts to persuade DI Rabbit that Sean Hallett
is not the personality type to murder over a material object.
I was going to tell you I've been offered a promotion.
Hm. And yet, from your demeanour,
it does not appear to be a source of unalloyed celebration.
Don't get me wrong, I want the job. I just feel bad for Dan.
Hm. I have this idea of how to make it up to him.
I just... I don't know how he's gonna react.
I require a taxi cab, Miss Snares,
with immediate effect, to Swaffham Priory.
Unless you care to give me a lift, DS Donckers?
My treachery has its limits.
But mine certainly doesn't.
I've been known to borrow the Dean's car when he's not looking.
- Erm... - If he leaves the keys in the glove compartment,
what does he expect?
That really won't be necessary, Miss Snares.
You're doing me a favour.
Ten more minutes in this fusty backwater
and I'll die of boredom.
Or commit murder.
Come on!
So, what exactly is so urgent?
You will see.
And where exactly are we going?
You will see.
Are you sure you know what you're doing?
You'll see.
It might be better if you wait here, Miss Snares.
Don't be ridiculous.
The detectives on TV shows, they always work in pairs.
I'll be bad cop.
Good afternoon, Mrs. Hallett. My name is Professor Jasper Tempest.
I am a consultant with Cambridge Police.
I wish to speak to you about your husband
and his potential conviction for a murder he did not commit.
I've given a statement to the police.
May we come in?
The police have been so fixated with the one item of real worth
that has not been recovered, Mrs. Hallett,
that they have failed to interrogate
the 50 or so essentially worthless items that have.
And I quote, a pair of soup spoons,
a blown glass figurine,
a corkscrew with the head of a mallard duck.
This is not the work of a professional thief.
More likely the trivial pickings of a kleptomaniac.
Kleptomania is associated with depression, Mrs. Hallett.
The sort of depression that might be triggered
by the hormonal changes that take place during pregnancy
and which would only be exacerbated
by the tragic loss of a longed-for child.
I can only speculate that your husband failed to tell the police
how these items came to be in his possession
in a misguided attempt to conceal something worse.
Much worse.
I want you to leave now.
Yes, of course.
Well, that wasn't especially illuminating.
On the contrary. The case is solved.
- I hate that. - You hate what, Miss Snares?
That bit in every detective show where the sleuth
says they got everything they need to solve the crime
and you, the viewer, are still utterly clueless.
Smug, I call it.
And I call it purely a matter of gathering the necessary proof.
DS Donckers?
Most productive, thank you.
I wonder if I might inveigle you to provide me
with a copy of the full case file
and the recordings of Sean Hallett's interviews with DI Rabbit?
Oh, yes, and a mobile telephone number for his legal representative.
Drive on.
Lisa?
_
Lisa?
_
Lisa?
Lisa, are you in here?
What's... What's going on?
Macaroons first and then the jelly beans.
- I'm not hungry. - Oh, come on.
No, Lisa. I told you. I'm... I'm not hungry.
When were you gonna tell me?
Tell you what?
About this.
Ah...
I wanted to, Dan. I was going to.
DCI Brand, she told me not to.
I feel like such a mug.
God, all that bollocks about giving us the best chance
and putting in for a transfer, you meant me, didn't you? Not you?
You said it yourself. You were looking for a different job.
No, I said a second job. Not a different one.
My old man's lost a bundle on some property investment,
and he's lost his savings,
- so I've been working my days off to support him.- Working days off?
Yeah. Like driving, baby-sitting business people,
you know, that sort of thing.
Private security work.
Dan, we are not allowed to do private security work.
- Says who? - Says the regulations.
You know them so better than me?
It's basic. Everybody knows that.
- Oh, Lisa, stop lecturing me. - You should know that!
- You do this all the time. - Oh, that is so unfair.
Oh, I got it. I'm too stupid for a promotion, aren't I?
- And I'm too stupid for you. - Dan, I never said that.
Dan!
Your Honour, I asked the court's permission
to make a last-minute addition to the witness list.
Why should I allow this, Miss Finch?
I believe this witness can offer important insight for the jury
into my client's state of mind, Your Honour...
now that he's decided not to take the stand in his own defence.
Professor, if I c...
Professor, if I could ask you
to tell the court a little about yourself.
I hold a chair at the Institute of Criminology
and also act as a consultant for Cambridge Police.
Although you have had no involvement in investigating this case,
is that correct?
That is correct.
I have, however, more than 25 years' experience
of applying Eysenck's PEN model to diagnose criminal personality
using three broad behavioural traits:
psychosis, extroversion, neurosis.
Hence the acronym... PEN.
Having studied the case file,
and having played back a number of interviews
the defendant was subjected to following his arrest,
I am convinced Mr. Hallett is a stable introvert.
In layman's terms, not the sort to anger
or resort to violence, however badly provoked.
What's your point, Professor?
Professor?
My point is that Mr. Hallett would never kill his employer.
Unlike his wife.
Your Honour, I demand to speak.
Sit down, Mr. Hallett. You have waived the right to give evidence.
I'm changing my plea... to guilty.
- I killed Vincent Soames. - Mr. Hallett, be quiet.
I regret to say that Mr. Hallett is lying.
What is more, I can prove it.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,
I know this may seem a little out of the ordinary,
but I am persuaded that this will help our understanding of the case.
Mr. Hallett, I want you to re-enact the events of the night in question
as faithfully as you can remember.
Your Honour, it was dark when I arrived and got out of the car.
Please. A faithful re-enactment.
Leave the seat.
Mrs. Hallett.
I could throw the book at you, you know?
You're not supposed to speak to witnesses without our say-so.
He prevented a miscarriage of justice.
Whose side are you on?
We are on the same side.
Then why doesn't it feel like it?
You are enthralled with the process of evidence gathering,
Detective Inspector, but evidence without criminological insight
is as much use as criminological insight without evidence.
We need each other...
...Paul.
It was Mrs. Hallett, not her husband, who drove the car to the main house.
It was Mrs. Hallett who, in the grip of postpartum depression,
shot Vincent Soames using her husband's rifle.
And it was Mrs. Hallett who phoned her husband
to tell him what she had done and why.
He was trying to cover her tracks when the police arrived.
'Mr. Soames...'
He caught me... stealing salt and pepper pots.
He said we'd lose our jobs, the cottage...
...everything.
After everything we'd done for them.
The late nights, the weekends...
...being at their beck and call 24/7.
They gave me one day.
One day to bury my child.
Are you out of your mind? Put that gun down! No! No!
I wanted to confess straight away.
Anya... Anya.
It's not your fault. It is not your fault.
I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.
'But Sean persuaded me not to.'
Run, run. Run!
'He was convinced there wouldn't be enough evidence to convict him.
'I'm glad the truth has come out.'
I never should have let him face trial for my moment of madness.
She is never late without reason.
I'm so sorry I'm late. Please forgive me.
Take your time, Mrs. Tempest. Please.
Erm...
Time to start digging, then?
For where the bodies are buried.
- There he is. - Oh, hello, mate.
- Good to see you. - You're looking very well.
Thank you. You, too, sir. You, too.
- Can I get you a drink? - Yeah.
It's all right, I'll get these.
Simon? You well? You all right?
- Yeah, Dan. How are you? - Yeah, good.
I didn't know you two knew each other.
Me and Simon go way back, don't we, mate?
Oh, yeah, we go way back.
- Go on, what are you getting us? - I think Champagne, don't you?
What else? What else?
Well, thanks for having me out, lads.
_
Well, shall I make a start?
What you've shared with me over our sessions to date, Jasper,
is that your father was a violent alcoholic.
And you've disclosed that he took his own life...
...rather than face up to his responsibilities as a father.
And, indeed, as a husband.
And you've also revealed, and possibly for the first time,
that you suffered a trauma in the wake of his suicide...
...which cast a dark shadow over
your subsequent lived experience...
...and which you now believe is of vital importance
to share... with your mother.
That day...
...Miss Lowden was unwell,
I came home from my piano lesson early.
I-I-I saw him, Mother... hanging there.
I hid in the coal cellar... reappeared at the appropriate time.
Pretended... that I had seen nothing.
Oh... Oh, my poor boy.
You never said a word?
You didn't tell a soul about it?
It's surely no surprise that
you feel angry and resentful, Jasper.
But you persist in directing it
not against the father who abused and abandoned you,
but against your poor, traumatised self.
And against the mother who did her best to protect you.
And who brought you up single-handedly.
To win a Double First at Cambridge.
So, perhaps it's time to ask yourself the question,
why is that, Jasper?
Yes. Why is that, Jasper?
Because you betrayed him, Mother. You betrayed us.
Wha...
"Betrayal" is such a terrible word.
But one I use advisedly.
Would you like to expand on that a little, Jasper?
I saw you, Mother.
'With another man.'
And I have long believed it accounts for his misery
and his search for salvation in the bottom of a bottle.
I was never unfaithful to your father.
And I would feel no blame if I had been.
After he died, I sought comfort from a kind and gentle man.
The sort of comfort no son could give a mother.
*CREDITS*