I was just calling to see if maybe we could meet up,
just the two of us, to talk?
Mr Cooper was also the victim of an assault
three weeks before he disappeared.
I told them I thought his death had probably been violent
- because of the money. - Why would we have him killed?
Dead man don't pay debts.
Reckon it was committed by a lad
that Cooper employed the previous year but who'd not got furlough.
Hello, Marty, how are we today?
I'm not sure Mum's being looked after as well as she needs, Marty.
I'd like to speak to social services.
I can't leave him on his own.
I'd ask how happy she was, knowing that he was with another woman.
What other woman?
If you say anything to anyone that brings people to my door,
you will regret it.
*CREDITS*
He didn't have the name of the employee, but...
Fran found one of the old bar staff,
so that might throw something up.
OK, well, I'm at the widow's now, so I'll ask her as well.
Yeah, cool, speak later.
- Leanne, what's up? - Massive breakthrough.
- What? - I've found a pub in King's Cross
where you can actually hear yourself talk.
Game-changing.
I'm a great team player who enjoys meeting new challenges
on a daily basis.
And I'm a great team player who enjoys meeting new challenges
on a daily basis.
And so basically, there's pretty good evidence
to suggest the money was paid back.
What evidence?
A cash deposit in Markaj's account
eight days before your husband went missing.
- Right. - Now, obviously we will check that,
but for now, we're pretty satisfied
that Mr Markaj isn't a person of interest.
Getting a strong sense of deja vu here.
One thing Sidhu did consider was the possibility
the attack outside the pub was committed by a disgruntled employee.
Which employee?
Some lad who hadn't been given furlough.
- I don't know anything about that. - No?
Sorry.
OK, erm...
and then lastly, can I just ask you
if you ever thought your husband might have been having an affair?
What the fuck sort of question's that?
Sorry, it came out of the Markaj interview.
He said he saw him in his car with another woman.
I'm sure he did.
- No, I didn't. - No suspicions at all?
- No. Never. - OK.
Thanks very much for your time, Juliet.
Er, I-I think I might postpone tonight.
- Was he? - Sorry?
- Having an affair. - No.
Absolutely not. Jesus, you weren't meant to hear that.
No... he wasn't.
Did you hear what I said about the therapy session?
- Yeah. - Yeah, I'm just not in the right headspace today.
What about me?
You've resisted this for three years,
and now you can't wait a few days?
It's different now, though, isn't it?
Stuff's coming out.
I'll pick you up at seven.
- Paul. - Jules.
Just wondering whether you'd reconsidered what we discussed.
Fine, I'll meet them.
Police have today identified the remains found
in Whitney Marsh last week
as belonging to Bow Publican Gerard Cooper.
Mr Cooper, who was 54 years old at the time of his disappearance,
was reported missing in February 2021.
Following the gruesome discovery on Sunday morning,
police have now launched a murder investigation
and have appealed for anyone
with any information to come forward.
_
You know, the first time I saw the sea was in Calais with my brother.
We'd originally planned to cross in September, but...
it ended up taking us seven months to get to France.
Rather than wait for spring,
we decided to take a cheaper place in January.
33 of us...
in a boat designed for 12.
26 men, four women, three kids.
The water started coming in after about an hour.
We rang the coastguard,
but they said we were still in French waters.
I told them there were children on board, but...
And then a wave tipped us over.
No-one tells you about the cold, Hassan.
Sucks the air right out of your lungs.
Can't even scream.
We got picked up by the UK coastguard
maybe 40 minutes later.
26 of us by that point.
The others they found the next day.
My brother and one of the kids didn't wash up for a week.
- Fab, thank you. - Good luck.
Thanks.
So, how long did you work for him?
Nearly four years, total,
although one year of that was the first year of the pandemic, so...
And you got furloughed?
- I did. - Generally speaking, was he a good employer?
He was, yeah.
- Little pause there. - No, just, er...
He was a... an old white guy, you know.
A little... unreconstructed.
But I'm nit-picking. He was a nice guy.
OK. And did you know his wife?
A bit, they lived above the pub,
so, yeah, I got to know her and Taylor a bit.
And you got on with Juliet OK?
I'm not sure she was in love with the idea of him running a pub,
but... yeah, we got on fine.
So did they get on all right?
I'd say not brilliantly, from what I saw.
- In what way? - She could be quite
dismissive of him, like she thought he was a bit...
- stupid. - Right.
So did they row, or...?
I mean, not at the pub, no, but a few times, when it was quiet,
or before we were open,
I heard them going at each other through the ceiling.
Oh, OK.
So, your other colleagues there, the other staff,
did any of them ever fall out with him?
No, not really, until lockdown.
Yes, right, so this is the guy who didn't get furloughed?
Yes.
- What was his name? - Martin.
Or we called him Marty. Marty Baines.
Most men with the same injury as Patrick's can't ejaculate, no.
But as I'm sure you've heard said many times,
- every case is unique. - Yes.
And if you were...
thinking of starting a family, there is of course sperm harvesting, and...
That's fine, that's... that's all I needed to know.
Thank you so much for your time. Thank you.
_
Sorry.
_
Sorry, "Baines" you said?
Yeah, Martin or Marty.
Do we have an address?
She reckoned he moved back to his parents in Kent somewhere
shortly after Cooper disappeared.
- How shortly? - A week or so later.
Well, the wife's dropping over a load of PAYE records later.
- There might be an address in there. - I'll get Kaz on it.
So, your witness was basically saying the same as Ram Sidhu?
Yeah, that Cooper and this Marty had fallen out,
she reckoned about furlough.
Now, did she actually witness a row?
She said she didn't, but one of her co-workers, a lady called...
Brianna West, who's now travelling,
did see him get physical with Cooper.
She saw him slam Cooper up against a wall.
- And when was this? - February, 2021.
- Wow. - I've messaged Brianna,
but no idea whether she'll get it, though.
- OK. - It's also worth mentioning
she thought this lad had some kind of disability,
her guess was ASD.
Has Murray got the original assault files back yet?
- Coming later this afternoon apparently. - OK.
I also mentioned a possible girlfriend to the wife this morning.
- And? - Yeah, she didn't like it,
which makes me think your man Markaj was on the money.
Any of the people that your team spoke to this morning
hint at another woman?
I haven't gone through it all. I'll check.
Because a row that got out of hand about infidelity...
is just about the oldest motive for murder there is.
You see, men like you and me...
we don't do well in detention centres.
I got assaulted so many times, Hass...
without any intervention from the authorities.
So, yes, as long as I pass my citizenship test,
I'll have a passport and a legal right to settle and work here.
_
Hiya! Oh.
Wow... Hassan...
Hello, Sam.
- You're a week early. - Yeah, no, the...
the exercise got snowed off.
Sorry, does somebody wanna tell me what the fuck is going on?
You know,
what's more upsetting than what you've actually done
is the fact that you've obviously been planning this
for months behind my back.
Yes.
He says unapologetically.
Well, if you'd come back when you said you were coming back,
you would never have known,
so what was the point in telling you something
that I knew you'd stop me doing?
All right, so you think the only problem here
is that you got found out.
Don't... speak to me like I'm one of your fucking squaddies.
Don't you dare...
speak to me like you think you have some natural authority over me.
Please, don't speak to me like I've done something wrong.
All I have done is walk into my house,
and I've found an illegal immigrant living here.
- Our friend Hassan, you mean? - Yeah, our friend Hassan, sorry.
How many times?
It's not illegal for someone seeking asylum
to cross the Channel however they want to.
Yes, I know, I know.
I know!
Obviously...
it's terrible...
that he had to do that,
and I'm sorry if I sound unsympathetic right now, Asif.
But whether you like it or not,
until he does formally seek asylum, he is here illegally.
How did he get here... specifically?
In a lorry.
- Which you paid for? - Yes.
And I owe him much more than that.
As do you, actually, Sam,
considering he saved both our lives,
or... or have you forgotten that?
No, of course I've not forgotten that.
Well, what's his plan now?
He's going to stay with Omar from Friday
whilst we get him documents,
and then he will live his life in the UK.
- Illegal documents, you mean. - Yeah.
I-I can't be here, Sif, with him.
If anyone found us, I...
Er...
I... Yeah, I'll kip at my sister's tonight, but, erm...
he needs to be gone by tomorrow.
Mum's looked after you all of her life, Marty,
so it's a massive change for you to suddenly have to look after her.
And this is absolutely not your fault.
It's been a massive change, Doreen.
As I said, none of this will have to be permanent,
if we can get you up and walking, Dot,
then hopefully, we can get you back home asap.
And what about me?
Well, I'll also be recommending some help for you,
either here at home,
or in some form of supported accommodation, how does that sound?
I live here with Mum.
- It's a lot to grasp, isn't it? - It is a lot to grasp.
Listen, none of this will have to be immediate.
These things do take a while, so we'll keep talking,
and if you have any worries, just call, yeah?
And often, I find it helpful to ask clients
what it is they hope to get out of this?
Maybe I could ask you first, Juliet,
what it is that you'd like to achieve?
Er... I...
I guess I'd like Taylor to be happier.
I mean, I know I'm not really meant to say that.
Say what?
That I just want her to be happy...
cos actually that's, erm...
that's a pretty big ask.
So, I guess...
I want her to be able to cope...
with school, with me...
with the future.
Well, yeah, coping's a good aspiration.
And what do you want for yourself?
The same.
But... you know...
if... if she's OK...
then I kind of would be.
OK. Thank you.
And, Taylor... what would you like out of all this?
Honesty.
I just want some real honesty between us.
- Hey. - Hi!
This is the plan to take us over, man,
this is the Protocol of the Elders of Zion.
What about Blair? What about Zelenskyy?
What about Stoltenberg?
When will they arrest THOSE sons of bitches?
He knew they'd try to shut him down.
They did the same with Fox. They won't let him speak the truth.
So now finally they admit it was a bio leak...
Marty?
how soon before they admit this was
- population control? - Marty?
Marty, are you all right?
Marty, what you doing? Marty?
I mean, you know it's got everyone there, innit?
He's royalty as well.
Well, obviously, they'd have been happier
if I'd been a doctor or a lawyer or a...
or a Prime Minister.
Thanks, Rishi, for that.
But, yeah, I think they'd've been proud of me, yeah.
What about your mum and dad?
Would you rather fight one wolf-sized chicken
or four chicken-sized wolves?
Sorry, I haven't had anyone round for...
well, forever, actually.
Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?
Although I don't have any milk.
Why don't you... Why don't you nip out and...
and get some, and...
I'll make a start on the dishes.
Sorry.
And I get so fed up of people feeling sorry for me.
It's great, being single. I have a lovely life.
I have freedom, money,
great friends, fabulous nieces and nephews...
- so, yeah. - Yeah.
- To singletons! - To singletons!
And are things improving, or...
Well... I've started some new meds,
and they do... seem to work better than the last ones, so...
And do you need anything?
Money? A cleaner? Anything?
I'm good, but thank you.
So...
the reason, erm...
the reason I wanted to meet up was to see if we could...
move forward.
- Yes. - You know, cos...
you are my sister...
and I do love you.
And I love you too... so much.
Except I'm not sure that I can move forward
until I know for sure that you're been completely truthful with me.
- And I wanna be. - OK, so...
did Mum tell you what Steve said...
about you and him when I confronted him with what you told me?
Yes.
That you'd lied to me about sleeping with him for...
I mean, for reasons I still don't fully understand,
but that it was just kiss.
And it was just some kind of weird... emotional thing?
- Yes. - And was that true?
I don't know what to say, Jessie.
I don't know what to say that will best allow you to forgive me.
Just... the truth, Debs.
That's all.
The truth is it was some weird kind of emotional thing.
I was pretty lost, and...
he seemed to be also, and he...
seemed vulnerable.
And like he wanted to help me too, and we just...
connected for a few months.
But it wasn't just a kiss.
We did sleep together...
like I said in the pub.
And actually, it was more than just once.
Thank you.
- I'm gonna walk. - I'm tubing it.
Well, sorry to have... got you twatted, but, erm...
..so thank you.
Well, thank you.
I'd sort of forgotten what it was like to have such a good laugh.
We aim to please.
- Sorry. - Oh, no, no, no, it's just, I...
- Night, dollface. - Leanne?
Hi, Mum, it's me.
Look, I was just wondering if you could come over this evening?
Sure, gimme a call. OK, thanks, bye.
Hey, Leanne, it's Sunny. That was a great night last night.
If you fancy grabbing a bite on Friday, then gimme a call.
Bye. Jess?
Hey, Sunny.
- Hey. - How are you?
- Yeah, good, how are you? - Oh, you know.
So, there was a bloke from yesterday
who'd known Gerry since they were kids,
and he'd said in passing
that Gerry was always "a bit of a rascal".
I mean, what does that mean?
Well, yeah, I rang him back to ask,
and basically, he told me that a few months before he disappeared,
he'd seen him with another woman.
Wow, OK, where?
In a pub they used to drink in as kids in Aldgate.
He said he'd introduced her to him as Melinda.
- No surname? - No.
And he thought she was more than just a friend why?
Because they were on their own in the corner, all over each other.
And any more specific idea when this might have happened?
Yes, actually very specific,
because it was the day after the second lockdown had ended,
and the pubs had just reopened,
so everyone was a bit demob happy.
- Yeah, when was that? - Third of December, 2020.
Any description of her?
40-ish, pretty, beautiful red hair.
OK, erm... can we put in a request for Cooper's mobile data?
Calls, texts, and triangulation.
We should try open source socials as well, and emails while we're at it.
Yeah. See if we can't find out this woman's full name.
- Boss. - Kaz?
Yeah, so, PAYE records, year ended '21,
we do have an M Baines.
Two addresses, though, one in Ilford and then the other in Deal, Kent.
Oh, it'll be the Kent one now
cos we know he moved back there in March, 2021.
OK, can you ping that over to me, please?
Mm-hm. Oh, and I have found three USB sticks for the car park,
just gotta go through the footage.
Good stuff. Murray?
So, Mrs Cooper dropped off the tenancy documents yesterday.
Good.
But concentrating on Cooper's assault for now,
he said he was hit from behind
and that the assailant was wearing a hoodie.
Now, two brief bits of CCTV were found
showing a man matching that description
walking away from the direction of the Three Crowns car park
and in the direction of Bow tube.
- And followed up? - No.
The footage was timed at 10:33,
which was thought to be half hour after the attack happened.
- So? - The thing is...
he was knocked unconscious, and when his wife found him,
she assumed the attack had just happened,
when actually he could have been sparko for half an hour.
Ah, so, in which case, the timing might fit?
- Yeah, exactly. - Hm.
- OK, let's see it. - This is the first one.
- What's he doing with his hand? - Don't know.
- I thought waving at someone. - Can we see the next bit?
Sorry, can you play it again?
Is he hailing a cab?
Or is he stimming?
- "Stimming"? - Yeah.
It's something that some autistic people do.
I have a cousin who's on the sphere.
It's a sort of repetitive movement to alleviate stress.
OK, you wanna ping that address over to me now?
We need to get down to Deal ASAP.
_
So he put all his properties through you?
- Yeah. - And over what time scale was this?
We started letting the first one in 2014,
and we stopped working with him in late 2020.
- So six years, give or take. - Mm.
And within those three properties, there were 19 rooms,
all needing separate contracts, quite often, short term,
so it was a very full-on job.
We often spoke several times a week.
- What was he like to work with? - Oh, he was a nightmare.
Oh. Wasn't expecting that. In what respect?
He just never wanted to spend any money on anything.
Amenities, maintenance, safety regs, anything.
Never mind the legal issues that caused,
we obviously have moral and ethical responsibilities.
And so in 2019, we stopped managing the properties,
just found him tenants.
And after that, he managed the tenants himself.
Which was also a nightmare because he was so combative.
- In which way? - In how he resolved disputes.
Physically intimidating, verbally aggressive.
Look, meaning in the end, we terminated our agreement with him
in September, 2020.
OK. Now, where there any particular disputes you can recall,
say in 2020, that might have properly boiled over?
I'd have to go back over emails and records for specifics,
but... generally speaking, yeah, yeah, several.
If you could, that'd be really useful.
No worries.
Erm...
what kind of people were his tenants?
They were almost exclusively asylum seekers,
I think he had a deal with the council.
No doubt they presented some challenges, but...
everyone deserves to live safely, right?
DS Boulting...
there was one case that you should follow up.
There was an Afghan family who had a long-running dispute with him,
really boiled over.
I'll look for the files now,
but you should start with the guy that interpreted for them.
Lovely fella, Asif.
I am in no-one's debt.
And I am sick of being made to feel like I should be grateful.
No-one is saying that.
It's right there in your reaction to what I did, Sam.
That I had the... temerity to bring Hassan over here,
to try and get him settled illegally.
But that... that... that isn't why I was angry.
Look, I was angry because...
I mean... I mean, did it never occur to you
what the implications of what you were doing were for me?
As far as I can tell, you're fine,
on account of your government not wanting to execute you
for being gay.
OK, that...
that is my house... Asif...
which makes me party to a criminal act.
I could lose my whole career if Hassan was found there.
Interesting take.
Yeah, you know what? They'd also probably charge you.
Which would mean the end of your citizenship test,
the end of you being able to stay here, and the end of us.
Look, no-one is more ashamed of the government than I am
for what they did to you.
I just... I don't see how this makes things any better.
It makes it better for him, Sam.
Yeah, but at great risk to us.
If Hass hadn't have got out, the Taliban would have killed him...
just like they would have killed me.
So, I'm sorry, but I feel no guilt in spitting in your system's face.
They did it to me first.
- Dead? - I'm so sorry to be the bearer of...
- Well, it wasn't Martin. - Mum...
- It wasn't Martin, cos he was... - I said shut up, noisy bitch.
I don't wanna talk here.
Hey, Fran, it's me,
we're gonna need an appropriate adult for this afternoon.
Yeah. Can you do a PCN check for me?
Watch your head. There you go.
Do you drive a car, Marty?
Dad used to let me drive his, but then we sold it.
"Needed the moolah, me old mucker."
So, my job, Marty,
is to make sure that you're fully aware of all your rights
and to make sure that you don't accidentally say something
that gets you into trouble.
- I don't want to get into trouble. - I don't want you too either.
So should I lie, then?
Well, it's generally better to tell the truth... don't you think?
So, if I have this right from my reading of the court transcripts,
Gerry Cooper's actually an old friend of yours?
- Yeah. Yeah, he was, yeah. - Can you talk me through that?
Well, we'd known each other most of our lives.
We went to the same school,
we lived round the corner from each other.
I drank in his pub.
And the assault occurred at a rally in Westminster square?
- Yeah. - Had you gone there together?
No, no, we ran into each other by chance.
What was the rally?
It was the day of one of the big Brexit votes,
it was March 29th, 2019.
- And you were there... - I was a remainer.
And Mr Cooper?
- Brexiteer. - OK.
So you just bumped into each other?
Yeah. Yeah.
- And it was all very friendly at first. - Mm-hm.
And then we started talking about the vote,
and, yeah, well, it all got...
really unpleasant really quickly.
We'd both had a few drinks, so that didn't help, but, erm...
He just made me so angry.
He made you angry, or you got angry?
Yeah, well, yeah, there you go, look,
look, I'm sure a lot of it was my fault.
In what way?
Well, he had a right to his opinions.
I-I was just too interested in...
in trying to wind him up and mock him.
- So it got heated. - Yeah. Yeah.
He got angrier and angrier, as did I.
And then he was making some point,
and he sort of prodded me in the chest,
which really wound me up.
So I sort of swiped his hand away...
which is when... he punched me...
in the face...
very fucking hard.
Hi, you've reached Leanne,
please leave a message after the tone.
It's me again. Gimme a call.
So, one arrest.
- For? - Burglary, dwelling, seven years ago.
- OK. - And obviously, we go gently.
Of course, yeah.
Well, I mean, I knew him less well in the last ten years or so,
but, erm...
I'd say he increasingly came across as a bitter man.
Bitter. About what?
How he perceived life had treated him, I guess.
- Had he not done OK? - Well, I would have said so, but...
I think he felt he was owed more
and that people like him had been abandoned, politically.
Right, who do you think the anger was aimed at?
Anyone and everyone.
Big Pharma, phone mast companies,
the Jews, the Arabs, Davos.
Look, it was all pretty rabbit holey.
And then, erm...
then in 2016, he, erm...
he created an online forum called UK United.
- Oh, right, what was that? - Well, exactly what it sounds like.
Anti immigration, low-level racist wank
about how we needed to get back to good old days.
UK United?
- Yeah, yeah, that's it. - Yeah.
We need a curriculum that allows space
for a properly critical understanding
of racism, capitalism, and colonialism
as paradigmatic systems of oppression.
And you giving me that book suggests you have no desire
to go on that journey.
My giving you that book was entirely part of that journey.
It was an attempt to allow you
to understand the life of a woman who, first hand,
had experienced many of the oppressions you've just described.
The book, maybe, I haven't read it. You giving it to me, no.
And how's that?
Our reading list remains achingly white,
so your offer was at best, tokenistic,
and at worst, a deliberate insult.
- An insult to who? - To all people of colour.
- But you're white. - It was a blatant "fuck you".
Oh, it just wasn't.
You were literally smirking when you handed it over.
That is just my face.
It angers you that I have a strong opinion,
so you used the title as a weapon to anger me.
No, I just wanted you to read it, you sanctimonious little...
- Juliet... - No, excuse me, my turn now!
I mean, you are proper smart,
Liz, you are super passionate,
but, please, there are so many more important things
in this world to get angry about.
Are you seriously telling us what we can be angry about now?
You know what? I actually am. I know more shit than you.
- You certainly know more shit. - I've lived 37 years more life.
But much more importantly...
the idea that two white people,
sitting in the lecture hall of an elite university
discussing the semantic niceties of the racial lexicon
could in turn meaningfully change the world somehow
is as absurd as it is ever-so-slightly repulsive.
Get a fucking life, Liz.
- BoJo retweeted me! - No!
No way.
Boris Johnson retweeted me!
Whoo! Oh, my God. Boris!
Come on, give me my drink. Boris! Boris!
Retweeted me!
_
Marty, can I ask you,
how come you ended up working in a job that was so far from home?
Dad got me a supported living flat in Ilford,
then the council put me on a work scheme,
and because I'm strong,
I got the job at the Three Crowns lifting and carrying.
- And who gave you that job? - Mr Cooper.
- Gerry Cooper? - Yes.
- And when was this? - 14th of May, 2019, at 17:30.
And how did you get on with Mr Cooper?
Very nicely, thank you.
He was a chatterbox like me,
could talk the hind legs off a donkey.
OK, well, what did you guys like to talk about?
Er, mainly the world economic forum,
the great replacement theory, and George Soros.
- And work went well? - Work went well, yes.
But then the pandemic happened.
- Yes, then the pandemic happened. - And you were laid off.
- And I was laid off. - That must have been difficult.
Yes.
Can I ask you, Marty, were you ever given furlough?
- Yes, I was. - OK.
Except, we have a note from a fellow employee
who thinks you weren't.
Gerry applied for it for me and got the money,
but he never paid me.
- OK, how do you know this? - My dad found out.
Right, and did you ask Gerry about this?
Yes, and he said he would pay me, but he's "temporarily in a pickle,
"short of the readies, mate."
- But he paid you eventually? - No. No, he never.
Well...
that doesn't sound fair.
- No, it wasn't fair. - So did that make you a bit angry?
Can you be careful, please, about putting words into Marty's mouth?
Of course. My apologies, Marty.
How did it make you feel?
- A bit angry. - OK, can I just...
Do you want to take five minutes, Marty?
No, thank you, thank you for asking.
- Are you sure? - Yes, I'm sure.
Just go gently, please.
Of course. Thank you.
So, did you ever argue with Gerry about the money?
Yes, I did argue with him.
And these were friendly arguments, or...?
Cross arguments.
OK. Er...
Did it ever get physical?
Are you sure you wouldn't like to take a break?
Yes, it got physical.
- When did it get physical? - One time in the pub.
Inside or outside in the pub car park?
- No, inside. - OK.
- Do you wanna tell us what happened? - He pushed me...
and I pushed him back...
up against the wall...
and then I walked away, and that's all that happened.
- And that's all? - Yes, that's all that happened.
You didn't punch him?
Violence is never the answer, DI Sunil Khan.
No, you're absolutely right there, Marty,
but can I tell you why I'm asking?
Yes, please.
Because we have CCTV footage of someone
who looks very much like you,
around the time that we know that Mr Cooper was badly assaulted
walking away from the pub.
Oh, fuck.
Erm, I-I would like to take my break now, please,
so that I can get my story straight.
_
This is Marty, I can't take your call right now.
Please leave a message.
I don't know if they're listening to this, but...
don't say anything about Daddy...
pickle.
Don't say a single word.
*CREDITS*