The more we know about her,
the more chance we have of working out how she died.
When she was 15, she was abducted by a cult.
I never had any experience of Precious being violent.
The aggression came entirely from Ebele.
We have multiple arrests.
An ABH charge, with a firearm.
- What was the name of your cover, please? - That was Karol Wojski.
- If we want a baby, we'll need a bigger place. - Karol...
Am I not good enough? Is that what it is?
He's the last person to have seen her alive.
And the day after he did, he resigned.
How would you feel about a trip to Paris, where he lives?
- Hello, love. - I think I'm miscarrying.
So, the relative who used to pop round to check up on her,
that's Lord Anthony.
They were very threatening.
- Physically? - Yes.
- What did they say the squatters were like? - Sweet.
You don't know me, but I know you.
My mother was Precious Falade, and I was there that night.
And I saw it all.
*CREDITS*
Hi, babe, it's me. Obviously, erm...
spoke to your mum when you were asleep.
Be good to talk. Er... Call me when you feel up to it.
Er... Back tonight. Lots of love.
Get your shit together.
I'm sure it's nothing serious, just a bad cold,
but these days you never know, do you? So...
But as per our discussion, we've got a million new menu ideas.
So she or I will call you,
and hopefully we can reschedule maybe for early next week?
Thanks a lot.
You said you'd find things. You said you'd research stuff.
I said I'd do some digging, and I have, but the reality is...
- Do you want more money? - It's not about the money.
It's always about the money.
I'm sorry if I've given you false hope,
but perhaps I should've...
So, the firearm detailed in the original log
was actually an air pistol.
- Ebele's? - No, a flatmate's that she'd borrowed,
according to her statement.
Er, apparently, she'd been drinking all afternoon with friends,
and it was a "prank",
"a spur of the moment dare to hold up a bank".
I thought it was a stockbrokers?
Yeah, it was, a company called Morgan Lavelle.
As I say, she was very drunk.
Why did she already have the airgun with her
if it was an off-the-cuff dare?
- Yep. - OK. What did she get?
- 12 months bender. - Right.
- Low. - Yeah, and then at the trial,
the doorman that she'd threatened, a guy called, er...
Christopher Blackwood.
So, he ended up backing up her version of events,
and he said that she told him it was a dare
after just a few seconds of waving the gun around,
and that later, he saw her mates giggling outside.
So, why'd he call the police?
He said he called them before she revealed it was a prank.
- In those few seconds? - Yeah, me neither.
OK, well, let's see if we can speak to him, the doorman.
I should also say that forensics have found
what we hope is our bullet at the scene last night,
so that's headed to ballistics as we speak.
So, we did find a bank account for a woman
with the same name and DOB,
and her last transaction, ever,
was a debit card payment to an off-licence
on the 26th of June at 17:43 that evening.
Was that...
Was that not also the same date the social worker visited her?
I think it was.
Yeah, that morning.
OK. Good. Like that.
Er, what about her bank activity?
Very regular, for many years. She used her card most days.
OK, so it stopping being like that, then, that's significant.
Absolutely.
And anything interesting in her bank statements?
Couple of things.
She survived mostly on benefits, but there were also cash payments,
deposited, I presume, by her at pretty regular intervals.
OK. What sorts of amounts?
Three, four hundred quid, give or take.
- How often? - About half a dozen times a year.
Started in 2010, stopped after the 26th.
- Could it have been money from her sex work? - Hm...
A meth habit doesn't generally go hand-in-hand with fiscal prudence.
No.
Er, and the other thing?
Yeah, a standing order,
which was only set up seven months before she died.
That's for £200, to be paid on the 1st of each month.
- From? - It just says "DSH" on the statements.
I've no idea what that means. I'm investigating.
OK. And her mobile?
Couldn't find any contracts.
If she did have a phone, it must have been a pay-as-you-go.
- Kaz and I are looking into that. - OK, great. Thank you.
Er, Frances.
Yeah, so I put a flag on PNC for Joseph Bell,
and I actually got a ping first thing this morning.
He was arrested, apparently, in Essex, yesterday.
- For? - ABH, among other things.
No bail. Er, he's being held on remand.
OK. Find out where, and see if we can speak to him,
ASAP, please.
- Sure. - OK. Thanks, all.
- Where's DI Khan, Guv? - Paris.
Interviewing the social worker.
Back tonight.
I don't know if you remember me, but we met three years ago
when you managed to get me a work permit.
Er, I was hoping to repay the favour.
I've got some goods I thought you might be interested in.
Some watches, premium watches.
Er, eight, Bretq, worth about 80K if you were to...
Maybe half of that, maybe 40?
Yeah, I can... I can see you tonight.
Erm, are you still in the same...?
Yeah, I'll be there. I'll see you then.
Yes, that's Precious.
- Your client. - Yes.
My God, what a dreadful thing.
- What a tragic waste of a life. - Yeah.
- So, was it drugs? - No.
- What, then? - We think she was murdered.
Jesus. By who?
Well, that's why I'm here,
to get as much information as possible about her last movements.
Right.
And what do you want to know?
Hiya.
If you've come for contrition, you'll wait a long time.
No, I don't need that.
I just thought you might wanna know a lawyer in London called for you.
Wants you to call him back ASAP.
Why does a lawyer wanna speak to you, love?
And how can we even afford a London lawyer?
Her life was chaotic, as it often is with addicts,
so she was hard to help.
Was she using when you were working with her?
- Yes. - Did she ever deal as well?
Not to my knowledge.
Did she ever mention any trouble with her dealers?
Not that she ever told me about.
And where was she living when you first engaged with her?
Temporary hostels, which she kept getting chucked out of.
For...?
She had issues with her universal credit not being paid,
she was stealing from other residents,
ongoing drug issues.
And, er, did she work in the sex trade
at any stage that you knew her?
She said not.
But I know her son wanted her to get back to it.
I mean, he was always short of money himself,
so maybe he persuaded her.
He was down in London when you were working with her?
- On and off. - Did you actually see him?
A couple of times, yeah, when he was kipping on her floor.
And what was her relationship with him like?
Troubled. Erm...
He stole from her because of his own habit.
She also told me that he was violent towards her.
And what's her relationship like with her mother?
Pretty similar. The trauma ran down the generations.
Again, all fairly common in families with addiction issues.
And how did you try to help?
My primary focus was to get her stable accommodation
and a drug rehabilitation programme.
Did you succeed in either?
No.
Because...?
Look, people like Precious, for many complicated reasons,
often sabotage their own help.
So things can go wrong many times before they go right,
which all costs money.
Sadly, "Let's raise taxes and give it to addicts"
doesn't easily fit on the side of a bus,
so, yes, we failed.
Because... money.
Erm, OK. That's the girls' father.
He's come to pick them up.
We're in the middle of a custody dispute.
- _ - _
_
What the fuck...?!
_
- _ - _
_
So, she's in and out of temporary hostels,
and then in late June 2016,
she asks you to come to see her in a big house in Hammersmith?
Yeah.
Did she mention whose house it was, or how come she was there?
She said it was a squat.
Did she mention anyone by the name of Tony Hume?
- No. - And how was she?
- Fine. - Completely normal meeting?
Yeah.
She didn't mention anything about any rows,
or anything to do with her family,
or anyone that made you think that she might be in danger?
No.
Because we have reason to believe
that Precious died very soon after your last meeting.
Almost certainly in that house, in fact.
So, is there anything that you can tell us
that would help us with that?
No. Sorry.
So, this was both the last meeting you had with her, er...
but also, as I understand it, possibly the last with anyone.
You resigned the day after.
I don't recall the exact date.
You resigned on...
the 27th.
Right.
Are the two events connected at all?
No.
It just seems like a bit of a coincidence.
- Does it? - Well...
She's murdered, you resigned.
But I didn't know she was dead. Obviously.
Hm. So, what was the reason, then?
I didn't like the job.
What, that job specifically, or social work generally?
Both.
I was exhausted and demoralised. We all were.
So, just one more time, then. Er...
Nothing happened in that house, no arguments of any kind?
No.
No issues, disputes, problems between the two of you,
that you think that we should know about?
No.
OK, thanks for your time.
What are you talking about?
I was looking after him yesterday. Of course I'm his brief.
Your name's not on the list. Maybe you've been replaced.
Replaced by who?
And so, in conclusion, Your Worships,
we would like to stress again
that our client has literally no history of absconding,
that he has a vulnerable partner with multiple health issues...
who he is deeply committed to looking after...
and lastly, that we would be happy to offer
a surety of £10,000.
Yeah, I want to find out about his departure
from West London Social Services.
To my sense, there's more there than he's admitting to.
- OK. - And also, according to him,
both the mother and the son were violent towards Precious.
Yeah. Although he would say that
- if he was trying to cover up his own tracks. - Yeah.
OK, but let's trawl through his contemporaneous notes
- and see what they say. - Yeah.
It'd be good to, erm... maybe find half an hour...
to sit down together and, er...
_
Sorry. What time are we at Earlmarsh?
- Three thirty. - See you then. Bye.
_
Tony?
Ah! Mehdi. How are you?
Yeah, good. Listen, erm...
I just wanted to let you know,
I had a look at your grant application.
It's gonna have to be a no, I'm afraid.
- Oh? - Yeah, budgets are so squeezed, for obvious reasons.
We just need to prioritise the more unique applications.
"Unique"? What does that mean?
Well, there wasn't a lot of detail in there, Tony.
You know, for a 100K grant, it all felt a little peremptory.
- I thought we had a shorthand. - Right.
It's getting harder for it to keep working like that, though.
Worked like that when I got you into the DOT.
When your son needed an introduction to Warburgs.
It worked like that then, Mehdi, didn't it?
Ah, well. There it is. Sorry again.
D'you know what they call you, Mehdi?
Behind your back, your department?
"Mehdi-ocrity". Never a truer word.
Do you know what they call you, Tony? Hm?
Nothing.
No-one cares.
- I'm so sorry, Joseph. - J.
J.
I ain't seen her in years, man, so I don't give a fuck.
Your mum?
So, when was the last time you saw her?
Ten years.
Got away from her as soon as I could, innit?
Bad influence.
Because her social worker details you living
between London and Wales in 2016,
and seeing your mum occasionally during that period.
Not true.
Well, he also details seeing you
at a hostel she was staying at, in Acton.
And also has her describing a row between you and her,
in which you got violent.
Didn't happen.
Must have mistaken me for someone else.
And as for violence, well, my mum was chattin' shit.
- Why would she have lied? - My mum would have said anything
if she thought it was gonna get her something.
Probably wanted to get into a refuge or something.
- You think? - I do.
So, did you never wonder where she'd been the last six years?
- I assumed she'd gone to Wales. - To the farm?
But, listen...
if you're looking for someone who did used to hurt her,
then speak to David Bell.
That don bust her up fuckin' hundreds of times.
This was the man who ran the cult?
Yeah, proper nasty.
You actually saw him be violent towards her?
Yeah, lots of times, man.
I mean, she always left, but...
then somehow, for some reason, she always went back.
And when you say violent...
Physical...
sexual...
In here, man.
Treated her like a dog.
Worse than a dog, like... like he owned her or something.
How long were you there?
On and off from when I was about seven to when I was about 15.
And what was your relationship with him like,
this man whose surname you shared?
Was he ever violent towards you?
He did everything to me, man.
- Did you ever report anything? - To who?
We were 20 miles from the nearest town.
We weren't allowed mobiles, there was no internet.
Maybe that's why she was the way she was with me, you know,
cos of what he did to her.
But, yeah...
if you're looking for a killer...
speak to that fucking prick.
Hey.
Serge just called me. What the hell is going on, Kaz?
Love, I'm sorting it out, don't worry.
You're sorting what out?
He said you were being interviewed by British police.
It's fine. I'll call you later. I promise you, it'll be fine.
Karol?
- Bonjour. - Bonjour.
So, I'm sorry, but not only is our obsession
with balancing the books economically illiterate,
and not only is it morally wrong
to cut funding for the vulnerable, sick and needy,
- the absolute worst part of austerity - _
- is that it doesn't even work!
It turns out we are making ourselves poorer
as a nation, and that...
- So, what did you think? - His family lie very well.
So I need to know more about him. Anything and everything we can find.
- Guv. - Hi there.
Just coming to pick up my client.
He's being released on bail.
_
Should all be in order.
He had a number of mental health issues,
- the year or so before he left. - What sort of issues?
Er, anxiety, depression,
a degree of agoraphobia, I think.
- Brought on by anything specific? - Yeah.
Two assaults. One 2015, one '16.
Er, racially-motivated assaults.
Because he was Polish?
Because he was Jewish.
His nationality was probably just a bonus.
- OK. Where did these happen? - First one, late 2015,
just walking down the street wearing his kippa.
And the second one was outside a synagogue in February 2016.
Did he report any of these to the police?
The first one, yeah, but nothing happened.
So he didn't bother with the second.
And you think this is what might have precipitated his problems?
Well, his parents moved back to Poland for a time at that point,
and he was living by himself.
I just think he felt a bit isolated.
Bit lonely.
And you think this is what ultimately led him to resign?
Nothing I'm about to tell you is anything other than rumour, OK?
So if you want any kind of detail, you'll have to speak to HR.
OK.
And I qualify all of this with the fact that the Karol I met
when he first came here was a lovely,
kind, respectful, gentle man.
There was a rumour that he left
because of some inappropriate photos he took of a colleague.
On a stairwell.
Up-skirting?
Up-skirting.
We're just looking for more background information on him,
and we have you down as his probation officer, so...
Yeah.
Yeah, ten o'clock tomorrow, that'd be perfect.
I'll send a Zoom link. OK, thanks, bye.
- Hey, Guv. - Yep.
Got the result of the C&C trawl on 64 Waterman Road,
but we can do it tomorrow if it's too late now.
No, no, no. Go for it, go for it.
So, there's one incident in our timeframe.
It was on the 14th of June.
The call to the local nick from a resident of 23 Waterman
about a "violent row" outside 64 between two women.
The neighbour describes hearing one woman tell the other to,
"Fuck off, Mum."
So...
just 12 days before Precious's possible death,
and despite Ebele telling us
she hadn't seen her since her birthday on January 15th,
here is Ebele in contact with her.
Did a car get up there?
It did, but it had quietened down by then,
so no further action was taken.
So...
We have her shoplifting arrest on the 5th,
where she gave the Waterman Road address.
And then this incident on the... 14th?
Yep.
And then the social worker's visit on the 26th.
So that's nearly three weeks where she's living there in some capacity,
despite the house having been made secure at least a month previously.
So, how did she get in and out?
Had she broken in?
Stolen a set of keys?
OK, see if you can track down the attending officers.
- Thanks, Murray. It's great work. - Guv.
We're just trying to get
as much background on Joseph Bell as possible,
so I'll send you the link
and look forward to speaking to you then.
- OK, thanks. - OK. Bye now.
And I'm not remotely... pissed off with you.
How could I be?
You've never been anything other than completely honest about kids.
Sorry.
So there's no blame.
About that, anyway.
But that doesn't stop me from feeling sad.
Very sad, in fact.
Sorry.
Obviously, you've got nothing to apologise for.
When you say, "No blame about that anyway"...
Well, maybe you're not to blame for that either, because...
Y'know, that's grief, isn't it?
And I should say I slightly feel like
I'm not allowed to find it hard, or complain about it,
or anything, really.
But it is hard, Sunny.
To feel so... excluded.
So shut out.
And it's hard to feel jealous of a dead woman.
But I do.
Because, huh, here we are, nine months on,
with no hint of a wedding in sight.
No discussions, even.
And I keep thinking you'll bring it up,
cos I'm sure as hell not going to.
But you don't.
And even as I'm saying this,
I'm slightly hoping that you'll jump in and say,
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's all OK. Let's set a date."
But you don't.
And I'm scared I know why...
- Take it. - No.
Take it, it's fine.
Give me ten seconds.
Fran.
- Hey. How you doing? - Yeah...
Er, hang on. I'm east, boss man. The docks.
We just need to go over some paperwork.
Nah, nah. I need to get back to my girlfriend, bruv.
That's the only fucking reason I called him.
It'll take half an hour, I promise,
and then I'll get you a car home.
For what it's worth, it was just once.
And I know nothing I can say will...
ever allow you to forgive me for that, nor should it,
but I am more sorry than I'll ever be able to say.
My fucking sister.
Literally.
Do you wanna tell me why?
I was lonely.
He said he was, too, and that you and he were finished.
When was this?
Three months ago.
You were on a course.
- I'd babysat the kids. - It was in our house?!
I'm so sorry.
Just...
Go. Just leave. Please.
D'you know what, Debbie?
If you weren't such a weak...
person, if you had...
even an ounce of backbone, you wouldn't have told me.
You'd have kept your shame to yourself.
- Hey. - _
_
- _ - _
_
I'm really sorry, I'm on a pick-up down in Fontainebleau.
Thanks for the heads up, though. Appreciate it, brother. Speak soon.
Veuillez laisser un message apres le bip.
Hey, it's me.
Listen, I'm gonna come back, see if I can get this sorted out.
I'll be about half an hour. Call me to let me know you got this.
Please.
Joseph.
Tony Hume.
Why have you brought me here, man?
That wasn't the deal. Why am I here?
Please. Sit down.
Shit!
So, all I want to know, really, Joseph is...
what you meant.
- What I said. - OK.
And what you said, as I recall,
is that your mother was Precious Falade,
and you were there that night.
- You saw it all. - Yeah.
You were where?
A don like you must be so used to
being able to control things, innit?
Being able to influence
and manipulate everything around you, yeah?
Whereas me...
I've had almost no control in my life.
Almost no power, innit?
I've had to take whatever life threw at me, bruv.
Had to learn how to adapt.
Very fucking fast, often to the next random event.
And it's funny, cos I've been so scared of you
since that very fucking random night.
So scared of what you could do to me if I told people what I knew.
Except now I'm in the room with you...
and I see it's you who's scared.
I don't blame you, as it goes.
Cos you got a lot to lose, man.
Who are you really, Joseph?
- What do you want? - Who am I?
I'm me, man.
And what I want...
is this.
Oh!
Kids, bedtime. Come on. Brush your teeth.
Did you forget I was going out tonight?
Shit, erm...
I'm sorry, yeah. Yeah.
Pyjamas are on the bed. You're all good to go.
OK, thanks. Thanks.
Are you OK?
- She hasn't told you, has she? - Who?
Debbie.
Told me what?
Gran, we're ready!
Grab a glass of wine. I'll be back down in ten.
I'll shift my plans for tonight.
Thanks, Mum.
I'm back for a bit now, so you're all right, Jordan.
Safe.
I missed you.
I missed you too.
I just needed someone to look after me.
I know, but like I said, I'm here now, babe.
Yeah.
I can't forgive her, Mum.
We can't forgive her for this. You do understand that, don't you?
Your sister's not well, Jess. You know that.
Please. You can't always excuse her behaviour
because of anxiety or depression.
I'm anxious.
I'm depressed. I don't go round behaving like that.
I don't think I ever want to speak to her again.
And I don't think you should want to either.
- No DCI James? - Sorry.
We tried to give her all the support we could.
When Joseph was about 18 months old,
it was clear she wasn't caring for him properly,
and he was taken in to care.'
He'd often came in to nursery
hungry, in dirty clothes, often soiled.
She'd have punters coming in her house all day long.
I'd see him through the window,
sitting in front of the TV all day, on his own.
I mean, I did phone social services several times,
but I'm not sure if anyone ever came.
"Oh, Miss, I fell."
"Oh, Miss, a friend accidentally kicked me playing football."
"Oh, Miss, I spilt a cup of tea on it."
When Joseph arrived late at night, gone ten, on his own,
in the back of a taxi
because cuts had meant there was no social worker to accompany him,
he was 13 years old.
I showed him his room, and he couldn't believe it
because it was clean and the bed had a duvet on it.
He stayed with us for nine months, and we applied for adoption...
er, but his mother blocked it
and eventually got him back in the end.
Mainly for the child benefit, I suspect.
It was one of the saddest days of my life, having to let him go.
Young Mr Bell was 17 when he arrived with us,
but old for his years, y'know?
Wily. Devious, even.
Never reluctant to use violence to get what he wanted.
Could he kill?'
I've no doubt.
- DCI James? - DI Khan. Sorry, hello.
- What happened? Where were you? - Where was I?
The Zoom calls about Joseph Bell.
Damn it.
I, erm... had some, erm...
Look, I'm... I'm really... I'm really sorry.
Can we just, erm... duck in here for a moment?
Yeah.
_
I can't work like this.
Next to you but not with you.
I sat in this room earlier
and listened to various people talking about Joseph Bell,
and it was illuminating and heart-breaking,
and it gave me...
all sorts of insights and new ideas,
and you-you missed it all.
Now, I've recorded it, and I'll send you the links,
but it's not the same thing, is it?
Because we need to be in the room together.
We need to talk.
In your office, in the canteen, the pub.
We need to come up with a thousand stupid theories
and laugh at them and come up with better ones.
Because it's only by doing that, surely,
that we'll get to understand the people sitting opposite us.
I can't be her, DI Khan.
I'm not asking you to be.
All I'm saying is, there's a barrier between us,
and I would love it
if we could find a way of getting rid of it,
even if it's just for this case and then we go our separate ways.
And maybe it is my fault.
Apologies if it is.
I'm dealing with some personal issues that, er...
Well, I'm not exactly at the top of my game,
but I would love it if we could reset.
If we could just start again.
- Please. - What issues?
Yesterday... my fiancee...
had a miscarriage of a baby I didn't really want.
I am so sorry.
Thanks. Yeah, it was very early, but still.
It's complicated.
54 minutes before I started the job last week, my...
Excuse me.
my husband, erm...
my husband told me he'd been...
he'd been having an affair.
And, er...
Last night...
Last night, I discovered it was with my sister.
OK, you win.
Oh...
I'm really sorry, too.
I mean, that's... that's awful.
- Is there anything I can do? - Er, thanks.
Er, probably not.
But, erm... thank you.
And, er...
Er, we've...
got a result on the bullet.
What result?
It has the same striation marks as a bullet fired
in a 2015 robbery in Lisson Grove.
The gun was never recovered,
but an arrest was made of an Elton Paul King,
a known associate
and fellow gang member of one Joseph Bell.
Call Earlmarsh,
see if we can organise another interview.
Do we know where this Mr King was at the time of Precious's murder?
Yeah, Winterstoke, six months into a ten stretch for the robbery.
He was released on parole last year.
OK, well, let's see if we can speak to him
- ASAP, please. - Mm-hm.
So, er... So, yeah.
Just... Just so you know, this is not remotely...
who I am or how I work.
You know, this last week or so, it's not, erm...
So, you know, I'm...
I'm sorry.
And, er, of course... of course we need to talk.
So send me the Zooms, please. I really want to see them.
And then, erm...
Yeah, let's...
let's reset.
As per my email,
- if I were to decide to bring things forward... - _
how much notice would you need?
*CREDITS*