Fit Up (13 page)

I
didn’t know what I expected really. I was not naïve enough to think that there would be letters of admission or apology from either party accompanied by a cheque in settlement at this stage but, judging from their responses, it seemed to me we were only just starting our fight.

The solicitors for the estate of Gerard who had accepted service of our initial letter of claim had now stepped back from the case. The Gerards had sought further representation from Fiona Campbell of Finers Stephens Innocent Solicitors and her first letter via our solicitors was one of aggression, stating that Jeremy had brought a vicarious claim and would be vigorously defending her clients. She was insisting that he desist from pursuing it.

This was obviously her opening gambit to see if Jeremy could be intimidated, but it had only made him more determined. I was a little worried, however, as Finers were one of the top companies that specialised in libel and slander and they were very expensive. The Gerards obviously had the money to hire the big guns. Even so, money or not, Mark had said that Jeremy’s case was strong and that a rebuttal would be sent. The gloves were off for this one.

While we let the solicitor and Mark get on with their work, it was
not long before we got a letter from Hertfordshire Constabulary sent directly to Jeremy. It was dated 5 October 2005 and headed ‘Your claim for compensation’. Sitting side by side we started to read the four-and-a-half-page letter from Allison Grundy. She opened by stating that the legal services were acting on behalf of the Chief Constable and George Fouhey and that they had completed their enquiries.

There was a paragraph about the Landslide Productions Website, details of which we already knew, but then stated that persons logging onto certain parts of the website had to give their credit card details and certain passwords to enable them to view and download images of children in various poses and in various states of undress. Duncan was right, they were still banging on about Landslide being just a child porn website.

The next paragraph said that there were between 150 and 200 people listed as having logged onto the website. Priority was given to high-profile offenders and then to suspects who had accessed level one images, level one being the highest level of indecency. On seeing this statement, I immediately said to Jeremy that she had got this part wrong, level one was the lowest level, level five was the highest.

Then she went on about Jeremy’s credit card and that this account was found on the Landslide website. We knew that this was part of a large-scale, worldwide fraud. She went on: ‘This information was laid before the magistrates who were satisfied that this was enough evidence to issue a warrant to search your home.’ Yes, but not good enough to stand up to scrutiny at Jeremy’s first court hearing. This debatable evidence had enabled them to get their boot in our door.

The next page was a blow-by-blow account of the raid from the knock at the door on 30 October 2003, the two interviews, search of the shop and Jeremy’s release in the afternoon, pending further analysis of Gerard’s computer.

Then one paragraph caught my interest:

I read this paragraph again, and then once more, as I knew that I was staring at something significant here but I could not quite grasp what it was at this point. I read on and a couple of paragraphs later Grundy stated: ‘At 10.59 a.m. on Monday 19 July 2004 you answered your bail at Watford Central Police Station in company with your solicitor, Mr Hamilton.’ The niggle was back and, all of a sudden, what I had been trying to formulate in my mind came through in a blinding flash. I was so excited about it I could not get the words out to Jeremy in any sensible form. When I tried to explain what I was seeing it didn’t make sense, but by slowly and systematically going through Grundy’s reply to our letter of claim I realised that she had written it in very detailed chronological order. By doing this she had revealed that Hopkins knew that the images were in a temporary internet folder and could not have been downloaded by Jeremy. Fouhey had told him so, even adding that he thought Jeremy would only be charged with incitement and not possession. Had Hopkins heeded this advice, there would only have been the incitement charge, which was dropped at the first hearing in any event, thus putting an end to the investigation.

Jeremy, picking up on this, said that this meant that when Hopkins interviewed him and showed him those horrible images one by one, asking if he had seen them, he knew full well that he couldn’t
possibly have seen them. ‘What a fucking bastard,’ he said. I had to agree. I was right, then, when I said he was not to be trusted when he visited our shop.

Grundy carried on with how good Hopkins was to have helped Jeremy get computer discs returned quickly so that he could carry on with his business and that he thought that their relationship was quite amicable. That was a ridiculous statement: I am sure that most people dealing with the police would appear to be amicable because you want them gone from your presence.

The letter went on. Grundy agreed that the incitement charge was dropped following the first appearance at court and that this was the CPS’s decision alone. They had made a number of enquiries during their conduct of the proceedings and one such enquiry involved Duncan’s query of the temporary nature of the files containing the images. George Fouhey had made a second statement on 21 December 2004, she continued, clarifying that the images had been found in temporary files, information that was faxed to the CPS on 21 December 2004. This was another interesting point because Jeremy was in court on the day before for a case management hearing, but this document had not been brought to anyone’s attention until April 2005. She even had the audacity to write that ‘it is not known why the criminal proceedings then continued until April 2005’. Quite clearly someone had sat on this statement and that someone would have had to be Hopkins. Grundy went on:

‘Oh, come on, you can’t possibly believe that!’ I thought. Jeremy hadn’t said much while reading but I was incandescent with rage: ‘So what she is saying is that Hopkins made an error but it doesn’t really matter that he was complicit in the ruination of our business, future income, pension, hopes and dreams because the police are immune from claims of negligence. How bloody well convenient.’ I thought I was going to burst a blood vessel as I struggled to regain my composure.

Grundy continued: ‘…the existence of temporary files shows that visits were made to the website in question and the computer picked up the temporary files to accommodate easier access should the site be revisited.’ Another error on her part. She was insinuating that the CPS could have relied upon this as evidence of possession, even though forensics had proven that Jeremy had not physically downloaded the files. She still didn’t get it – that you could not be charged if you didn’t know the files were there. Plus the fact that even though the receipt of this computer had been provided in our disclosure bundle to her as having been purchased on 30 March 2000, how Jeremy was supposed to have downloaded images that he was never aware of from Landslide, which was closed down in August 1999, would have been something of a technical miracle.

We also found out that as a result of our complaint to the Police Standards Authority there was no finding of misconduct and no disciplinary action was taken, but that they had revised their position on temporary internet files in that they would not be the subject of criminal proceedings in future.

So, all in all, they had learned something at our tremendous expense and considered us not worthy for a claim.

All of Jeremy’s other allegations were denied and Grundy finished off by saying that he should obtain independent legal advice from a solicitor or the Citizens Advice Bureau.

We agreed with Grundy that there was no evidence of negligence, but it was blindingly obvious to us that Hopkins had indeed been acting unlawfully by suppressing what he knew at a very early stage. Jeremy sent off a letter that evening thanking Grundy, informing her that she had been very helpful.

Under the Civil Procedure Rules, we were able to represent ourselves, and ask the defendants pertinent questions, so the following week Jeremy sent a letter asking for the working notes of George Fouhey, as these were not disclosed previously together with SAG/1. This was a reference number given to a document in the Operation Ore case. SAG stood for Sharon A. Girling who, at the time, worked for the National Crime Squad. She was the officer who went to the US in 2002 to extract credit card records from the Landslide database and instigated the creation of Operation Ore in the UK – or ‘Operation Flaw’, as it subsequently became known. This exhibit showed the transactions on Landslide made by each person and we indicated to Grundy that if she did not know what this was then she should ask Hopkins. The second question we asked was in relation to her statement that ‘the temporary files show that visits were made to the website in question and that the computer picked up the temporary files to accommodate easier access should the site be revisited’. We asked how she had come to this conclusion.

A few days later her reply came. She did not know what document the SAG/1 was, astonishing given that this was part of the information pack circulated to police forces around the UK. The answer to our second question was short and to the point, ‘because DC Hopkins told me’. ‘Do you believe everything you are told?’ we wanted to ask.

We would have to investigate further about SAG/1 but in the meantime we were gathering other information and we sent a further letter to Grundy to request a copy of the tape of the 21 June interview with WPC Swain as we had to consider whether we should put this incident into
the claim as well. Grundy’s response was obstructive: we would not be receiving a copy and that the claim for harassment would be denied. We were hitting a bit of a brick wall and it was obvious that Hertfordshire Constabulary were somewhat reluctant to be transparent.

W
e had so much paperwork from the criminal case and our civil claim against Hertfordshire Constabulary that we needed to put it all in some sort of order, rather than just dating it. Jeremy had been reading the Green law books which gave examples of how to lay out an ‘Index to Brief’ with various headings and place papers within relevant sections. This would make it easier for us when having to revert to various documents when asked for disclosure and in court. However, we didn’t put in everything, just the papers that we thought were relevant to the structure of our case. What we should have done was to reference everything we had, but we were not to know this at the time. I think we had done quite well to come this far and by the time we had finished it was a thick lever-arch file in fourteen sections:

1. Pleadings
   
2. Claimant’s Evidence
   
3. Police Documents – General
   
4. Police Documents – Property
   
5. Police Documents – Experts
   
6. Credit Cards
   
7. Expert Evidence – Duncan Campbell
   
8. Operation Ore
   
9. Correspondence – Solicitors/Police
   
10. Correspondence with IPCC
    
11. DVDoctor Material
    
12. Terms of Agreement – Gerard/Clifford
    
13. Lloyd Gerard Emails to DVDoctor.net
    
14. Audio material
    

We called it ‘the Bible’ and hoped it would be our very own ‘good book’.

Despite what was going on in my private life, I felt I had been coping rather well. Christmas was fast approaching and one of the tasks under my Office Services hat was to put up decorations in the reception and dining areas and it fell to me to purchase them. I was aiming to get the trees in place by 1 December as in my mind that is really when the Christmas countdown begins.

I had a quick lunch at midday and went back to my desk to pick up my bag and car keys. However, I found myself sitting down, looking at the clock and thinking it would be very busy out there at the moment and to leave
going out until 2 p.m. I don’t know why but my stomach did a little lurch and a shiver went down my spine. Perhaps I was sickening for something.

Two o’clock came and went. I started to fixate on the clock and said to myself I would go out at 3 p.m. but then I had a cup of tea and thought ‘just after this cup’. By this time it was 4 p.m. and I started to map out the short journey to Tesco but what was ridiculous is that, in my head, it was all planned out in minute detail. What lane should I be in when I got to the roundabout, would someone let me in at that tricky junction? I could always go past and come back on myself. Then it was, where should I park? Now that was stupid, the car park was enormous and the image of it came to my mind. It filled me with terror! I looked out of the window. It was now dark outside and I knew that I could not face going there today, I would go in the morning when it was light. I felt reassured by my decision, all the while trying to ignore the pounding of my heart and the uncomfortable pulse in my neck. What was wrong with me?

I started to calm down and finalise my work for the day before leaving. Then I felt fine and laughed at myself for being so stupid. I would go to the store first thing in the morning before going to the office.

However, the next morning I felt I couldn’t be bothered and decided to go out around 10 a.m. after dealing with the first issues of the day. I was still at my desk at 2 p.m. staring out at the car park and going through the journey route to Tesco. Perhaps I should go to ASDA, that was nearby, and started to go through the steps of that journey finishing with the formidable car park. The feeling of terror was back, my chest felt like I had a stone slab across it as I tried to take control of my breathing. Then I thought I should take someone with me but Ray was out of the office and how stupid did it sound asking if someone would come to the shops with me? I was a grown woman, for goodness sake, and I was mindful that the next day was 1 December and people were expecting to see the Christmas trees up.

Finally, I took courage and made my way down to my car in the underground car park. I was shivering but it was not a particularly cold day for this time of year and it wasn’t until I was inserting the key into the ignition I realised that I was trembling quite badly. Taking slow deep breaths I set off and made my way quite easily to Tesco and parked up. ‘Now that was OK, you’ve got here,’ I thought and berated myself for my weakness.

If the car park seemed relatively quiet and calm, the inside of the store was not. The world and his wife were here and there was so much noise from the background Christmas music, children shouting and screaming and the annoying beeps of a thousand products going through the tills. I was not very familiar with this shop and had to look for signage to direct me to the Christmas decorations. There was a whole section displaying just fairy lights and as I scanned the boxed products on offer I felt an overwhelming urge to cry. As I looked at the top shelf I could feel the fat tears build up on my lower lid and blinked rapidly to get rid of them. In my concentrating on this the palpitations were back and this time my chest hurt. I was aware that the beeping from the tills was now so loud it filled my ears to the detriment of anything else and my vision was clouding. It had always been a fear of mine to faint in a public place and in my terror I grabbed two boxes of fairy lights, put them in my basket and headed for the first till nearest the exit doors. Seeing the daylight outside steadied me somewhat and I managed to make my purchases. I walked quickly to the car and got in leaning back against the head rest and gripping the steering wheel. In calming down I realised that I had a problem and was going through experiences that I had never had before which could only be attributed to the stress of the last couple of years. I did not tell Jeremy about the incident as I did not want to worry him plus I was not impressed with myself that I was not as strong as I thought I should be.

The next day I put up the Christmas trees and found that the fairy
lights I had bought were far too short with heavy, ugly baubles covered in rough glitter that flaked onto the floor. The receptionist looked at me and I knew she was thinking, ‘These are not very good.’ She was right. I would have to get some more but I would get Jeremy to go with me at the weekend, which was only a couple of days away.

That following Saturday, the first one of December, we were at Brent Cross Shopping Centre. As I was with Jeremy I had not given a thought as to what happened two days previously. We had set off early and on arrival we went our separate ways. Jeremy said he would like to shop around on his own for a little while and I took the hint that he was looking at a gift for me and that we would meet up in half an hour. It was only about fifteen minutes off my rendezvous with Jeremy when I started to feel palpitations. Feeling a modicum of control because I had my mobile I called him and waited to hear his voice. There was silence at the other end and it appeared that I had not connected so I dialled again this time getting his voicemail message. Suddenly I remembered that Brent Cross had a terrible reception area for mobiles. No worries, I thought, keep calm and find a pay phone. It then occurred to me that I had never seen any phones at Brent Cross and with each increasing obstacle I could feel the fear rise. I struggled again to think where I had seen a map of the shopping centre and realised it was back on the first floor near the escalators. Getting my bearings with the ‘You are here’ sign and proximity to the public phones it seemed quite a trek in my state but I had to get there. If I passed out now how would Jeremy find me? I needed to get a grip. As I made my way I thought I would try my mobile again and see what happens, at least it would give me something to focus on. ‘Hi, darling, what’s up?’ I almost cried with relief when I heard his voice. ‘I don’t feel good, please come for me.’

Jeremy sat down, enveloping me in his arms and looking concerned at my pale face. I told him what had happened, together with my experience
at Tesco and he said it must be the stress of what we were going through but hopefully this would pass. Jokingly he said that he was a lucky man in that his wife couldn’t cope with going to the shops. We left Brent Cross, I’d had enough for that day. It would be many months before I could come to terms with going to large shopping centres again, and I realised that my symptoms were panic attacks.

Over the next couple of weeks, the Gerard case was still going through its letter-exchanging phase between the solicitors, which was becoming tiresome. Jeremy suggested we put our toe in the water and asked our solicitor to put in a ‘Part 36 offer’ to the Gerards of £40,000 plus costs.

A Part 36 offer is a formal offer of settlement typically for a fixed sum of money in compensation claims which stays open for twenty-one days. It is made in accordance with Part 36 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, hence its name.

This was immediately rejected and a letter from Fiona Campbell on 20 December 2005 set out that they needed more time due to the Christmas holidays coming up, the complications of the administration of Gerard’s estate and the need to assess the viability of the claim. She would, she said, come back to us on certain points by 10 January 2006.

The extension of time they requested also related to the issue of whether the court had jurisdiction to hear a claim of defamation and/or malicious falsehood against a deceased person’s estate. She had thrown in a bit of Latin in italics but the basis of it was that no action may be commenced against the estate of a deceased’s defamer and any action that had previously commenced abates upon the defendant’s death. In our case, our claim was not made until after Gerard had died, thus making our claim invalid.

If this was the case, surely Mark would have seen this? we thought. He was, after all, the one who had gone through his law books to tell us that there was indeed a case to answer.

She finished off her letter with a couple of threats, one of which was that she considered that we had wrongly issued proceedings and that the costs incurred by the Gerards would be sought from us. It all appeared to be much more complicated than we had thought, but we put our trust in our counsel’s advice and that Mark Afeeva had not called it wrong.