The Heirs of Owain Glyndwr (17 page)

PART 3

RHAN 3

32

Monday 4 May 1970

‘Derek Parker, Detective Sergeant,
currently attached to the Metropolitan Police Special Branch, my Lord.' The officer nodded briefly in the direction of Mr Justice Overton, and folded his hands behind his back.

Evan Roberts' opening statement had occupied almost the whole morning of the first day of trial. It had been far too long and extremely repetitive; the entire court – including the jury – had found it a challenge just to stay awake, much less take in everything he was saying. It was, Ben thought, just another indication of his lack of experience of criminal practice. Anyone who practised in the criminal courts learned early on that you couldn't afford to lose the attention of the jury – twelve members of the public with no legal training and no training in the art of listening attentively to a speaker for hours on end. When it finally ended, to audible sighs of relief from the defence side of the courtroom, a frustrated Mr Justice Overton adjourned court until after lunch. It was now time to see how well Roberts would do with a witness.

‘Detective Sergeant,' Roberts began, ‘did you make any notes about the matters you are going to deal with?'

‘I did, sir.'

Roberts looked across counsel's row towards the defence.

‘I don't know whether my learned friends have any objection to the officer refreshing his memory from his notes?'

Gareth whispered to Ben. ‘I'm not sure I have the patience today. Why don't you explain it to him?'

Ben stood.

‘My Lord, that rather depends on what reply the Sergeant gives to the usual questions,' he replied. ‘I suggest that my learned friend should follow the usual practice and put them to him.'

‘I am surprised that that should be necessary, my Lord.'

The judge closed his eyes and shook his head slightly as his anxiety over Roberts began to increase. Why in God's name they couldn't have given this to criminal Treasury Counsel, or at least a Silk with a decent amount of experience of crime, he would never understand.

‘I can't see any reason for surprise, Mr Roberts,' he replied as patiently as he could. ‘It is for the prosecution to demonstrate that the officer is entitled to refer to his notes to refresh his memory.'

‘As your Lordship pleases,' Roberts replied ungraciously. ‘If your Lordship would allow me a moment.' He turned to consult hurriedly with Jamie Broderick.

Ben sat down with a shake of his head, glancing over at Gareth.

‘Surely to God he is not asking Broderick what the usual questions
are
?' Gareth asked.

‘It looks like it,' Ben replied.

‘I wish he would just let Broderick get on with it. It would save us all a lot of time, wouldn't it?'

‘Officer, when were your notes made?' Evan was asking.

‘About eight hours after the event, at Caernarfon Police Station, sir.'

‘Eight hours? Was that the first practicable opportunity you had to make your notes?'

‘It was, sir, yes. It had been a very busy day up to that point.'

‘In what way?'

‘Well, in addition to arresting three suspects, we – my colleagues and I – had to convey them to the police station, and make arrangements to take care of Mrs Hughes' young son. We were then assigned to assist uniformed officers in evacuating a large area around the scene of the arrests so that the Army bomb disposal officers could work on the bomb we found. It was quite a while before I had time to sit down and make notes. I did it as soon as possible, of course.'

‘When you made your notes, were the facts fresh in your memory?'

‘Yes sir, they were.'

Jamie Broderick was still whispering to Roberts urgently from the row behind him.

‘Did you make your notes alone, or with other officers?'

‘I wrote my notes alone, sir, but I checked my memory of certain events with DC Owen and DC Swanson subsequently, and I did make one or two changes based on my discussion with them, which I indicated by initialling them in my notebook.'

‘And what was the purpose of discussing your notes with those other officers?'

‘To make sure we had the best possible recollection of events, sir. Everything happened very quickly that day, and there was no way all of us could have remembered everything that happened.'

Roberts looked over at Ben once again. Ben stood at once. It must already have become clear to the judge that he had every reason to look at the officer's notes later if he wished. There was no point in giving Roberts any more of a hard time now, just for the sake of it.

‘No objection, my Lord.'

DS Parker produced his notebook from the inside pocket of his suit jacket, opened it carefully at the page he wanted and placed it in front of him.

‘Detective Sergeant, in the early morning of 1 July 1969, were you on duty as a member of a team of officers assigned to duties in Caernarfon in connection with the security of the Investiture of the Prince of Wales?'

‘I was, sir. I am usually based in London, but I had been assigned to Caernarfon about three weeks before the Investiture.'

‘What were your particular duties on that day?'

‘I was part of a small mobile unit with my colleagues DC Owen and DC Swanson. We had no definite assignment, but we had to be available for immediate deployment to anywhere we might be needed at very short notice. We were under the command of DCI Grainger, who, I was given to understand, was working with a senior officer of the Domestic Security Service, MI5.'

‘Were the members of your unit in uniform or plain clothes?'

‘Plain clothes, sir.'

‘And is there any other detail it might be relevant for the jury to hear?'

‘All the members of my unit are trained in the use of firearms, sir, and we carried side arms whenever we left the police station.'

‘At what time did you begin duty on that morning?'

‘In fact, sir, we had been on duty since about 11 o'clock the previous evening. We replaced colleagues who had been on duty until then, liaising with the Earl Marshal's team, and who had been extremely busy.'

‘Yes, I see. And at about 12.30, did the unit receive any information? Just answer yes or no, please, Sergeant.'

‘Yes, sir, we received some information from DCI Grainger.'

‘As a result of that information, did you do anything?'

‘Yes, sir. We immediately checked our side arms out of storage, and made our way in an unmarked police car to the junction of New Street and Chapel Street, not far from the
Maes
, the name given to the town square, and also not far from the Castle.'

‘Yes. Sergeant, you should have before you a copy of a plan of the town centre. My Lord, that is Exhibit 1.'

‘Yes,' the judge replied.

‘And on Exhibit 1, would you please point to the junction of New Street and Chapel Street, and hold the plan up so that My Lord and the jury can see it.'

‘Yes, sir, it's just here.' The sergeant made a broad sweep of the court, the forefinger of his left hand resting firmly on the spot.

‘Thank you. What did you do on arriving at that junction?'

‘We parked the car a short distance away from the junction, and remained in the vehicle, from where we had a good view of the street. Shortly after our arrival, I saw DCI Grainger arrive in an unmarked car, and park nearby. I saw that he was in company with two officers of the Domestic Security Service.'

‘At about 1.15, was your attention drawn to anything in particular?'

Sergeant Parker looked down at his notebook for the first time.

‘Yes, sir. At about 1.15 I noticed a vehicle approaching the junction in a southerly direction on New Street. As the vehicle approached the junction, it seemed to slow down, and it stopped at the junction, about fifty yards from our position. I was able to see that the vehicle was a grey Austin 1100 car, registration number EVF 421D.'

‘Were you able to see who was in the vehicle?'

‘Yes. I was able to see that the driver was a female, who I now know to be Arianwen Hughes. In the front passenger seat was a male I now know to be Dafydd Prosser.'

‘Did the driver get out of the car?'

‘Not immediately, sir. She remained parked, with the engine running for, I would estimate, about three minutes.'

‘Then what happened?'

‘Dafydd Prosser got out of the car and walked along New Street to the junction with Chapel Street, crossed the road, and continued down New Street in the direction of Segontium Terrace. I lost sight of him. Mrs Hughes remained in the car with the engine running.'

‘Did you see Dafydd Prosser again?'

‘I did, sir. After two minutes or less I saw Prosser approaching, walking along New Street, coming back the same way he had gone. He was in company with another male, who I now know to be Caradog Prys-Jones. Mr Prys-Jones and Mr Prosser seemed to be having an animated conversation, though I was unable to hear what they were saying. Mr Prys-Jones was carrying a brightly-coloured duffle bag. They crossed Chapel Street and walked towards the rear of the car. At this point, Mrs Hughes got out of the car, closed the driver's door, and also walked around the car to the rear.'

‘Was any of the three of them doing anything you could see?'

‘Yes, sir. Mr Prosser appeared to bend down as if examining or looking for something in the boot. Mrs Hughes and Mr Prys-Jones were standing next to him.'

‘Did you do anything at that stage?'

‘Yes, sir. We were in radio contact with DCI Grainger's car and, at this stage, I heard the DCI shout “Go! Go!” several times, very loudly. Together with DC Owen and DC Swanson, I left our vehicle. I drew my weapon and ran towards the boot of the Austin, shouting as loudly as I could, “Armed police! Put your hands in the air! Now!” I repeated this several times as I ran towards the car, and I heard DC Owen and DC Swanson shouting similarly. They also had their weapons drawn.'

‘Tell the jury, please, why you had drawn your weapon.'

‘I couldn't see the suspects' hands. From the direction we were approaching, my view was blocked by the lid of the boot, so I couldn't see whether one of the suspects might have been reaching into the boot to retrieve a weapon. The situation was unclear, and could have been dangerous to myself, other officers, or members of the public.'

‘Yes, I see. What happened when you reached the rear of the car?'

‘All three suspects appeared to be taken completely by surprise, sir. None offered any resistance. DC Owen and DC Swanson got there a moment or two before I did, and I saw them holding Mr Prosser against the boot of the car so that they could handcuff him. They then dealt similarly with Mr Prys-Jones. I went over to Mrs Hughes and put her up against the rear passenger side of the car, and handcuffed her by her wrist to the door handle. She said something about her son. I looked into the rear of the car, and saw a male child who appeared to be four or five years old strapped to a car seat in the rear driver's side seat.'

‘What did you do about the child?'

Sergeant Parker shook his head. ‘Well, sir, I did a whole series of things in a hurry at that point, because just as Mrs Hughes pointed out the child, I heard DC Owen shouting loudly from the rear of the car.'

‘What was he saying?'

‘He was saying that there was a bomb in the car, that we had to evacuate the area now, and call in Bomb Disposal. By that time, DCI Grainger had arrived on the scene and had seen the bomb for himself, and he was already on the radio.'

‘Go on.'

‘I instructed DC Swanson to arrest Mr Prys-Jones and take him to the police station. I instructed DC Owen to keep Mr Prosser in cuffs, and to remove him to a place of safety away from the vehicle. I immediately took the cuffs off Mrs Hughes and instructed her to follow DC Owen in company with a uniformed officer. She declined to move until she knew her son was safe. I judged that she was not a flight risk, and rather than wasting time arguing with her, I left her where she was. I then opened the rear driver's side door and removed the child from the car seat. I handed the child to Mrs Hughes. We then took her and the child to the police station.'

‘Do you now know that the child was Mrs Hughes' son, Harri?'

‘Yes, sir.'

‘Sergeant, why was Mr Prosser not taken immediately to the police station?'

‘Based on information we had received, sir, I had reason to believe that Mr Prosser would have information useful to Bomb Disposal in making the device safe. We needed to have him at the scene so that we could ask him to assist.'

‘And is it within your knowledge that he did in fact assist in that way?'

‘I wasn't present, sir, but I believe he did.'

‘Did you actually see the bomb yourself?'

‘No, sir, there was no time. We had to get Mr Prys-Jones, Mrs Hughes and the child into the police cars and take them to Caernarfon Police Station. I was in one car with Mrs Hughes and her son. DC Swanson accompanied Mr Prys-Jones in another car. On the way, I informed Mrs Hughes that she was under arrest on suspicion of the unauthorised possession of explosives, and cautioned her. She made no reply to the caution.'

Roberts paused again. Broderick was whispering to him from the row behind.

‘Yes. I am much obliged. Sergeant, as this is the first time the jury has heard a reference to the caution, please tell the jury the words of the caution.'

‘Yes, sir. The words of the caution are: “You are not obliged to say anything unless you wish to do so, but what you say may be put into writing and given in evidence.”'

‘Sergeant, after delivering the suspects to the police station, what did you do?'

‘We immediately returned to the scene to assist uniformed officers in evacuating a considerable area around where Mrs Hughes' vehicle was parked. This included the Castle Hotel in the square, which had many guests, so it was a major undertaking. In fact, within a fairly short space of time, we received word from Bomb Disposal that the device was safe, and officers informed members of the public that they were now free to return to the buildings from which they had been evacuated. As soon as I received word that it was safe, I joined DC Owen, who had arrested Mr Prosser and was still detaining him, and we conveyed Mr Prosser to the police station. By now, it was after 2.30 in the morning, sir.'