Accused (2010–2012): Season 1, Episode 3 - Helen's Story - full transcript

This programme
contains some strong language.

They're starting again.

'Would you like to take the oath
on the Bible or by affirmation?

'Affirmation.

'I don't believe in God any more.'

You'll notice I no longer have
anyone representing me.

I told my lawyer that

I was going to take the
stand and say to you,

"Yes, I did it.

And here's why."

She said if I did that she'd quit.



And she has.

Yes, I did it.

And here's why.

Forward. Reverse. Right?

No brakes, so you reverse
to lose speed. Right? Dave!

Yeah. Two minutes!
Big red button cuts the power.

Up, down. It's going to raise
by about ten to 15 feet...

I need you. Now! And that there.

Ten minutes practice and
you start order picking.

Fat bastard, in't he?

Yes! Yes! But one at a time, please.

Now. How old do
you think our solar system is?

Tegan. Really old, like...
156 million years, Miss.

Good guess, Tegan...



but it's much, much older.

It's 4.6 billion years old.

So if you think that human life has
been around for about 200,000 years,

and we live to be, say,
75 years of age, well,

that's not much, is it, compared
to the age of the solar system?

If it's on answer, I'll kill him.

'Hi, it's Rob...leave a message.'

Siobhan's eating your sandwiches.

What's the point of making them if
you're always going to leave them?

I'm not stupid, you know,
I know you do it on purpose.

Don't just eat chips!

And he's not answered?

He should have been back for six.

Have you got a number for Michael?

Can I call you back in a minute?

'I hid.
Don't ask me why, but I hid.'

I'm out of view.
They're out of view.

Maybe they're next door.

Nothing to do with me, nothing
to do with Rob, it's next door.

As long as the bell doesn't ring.

Please, God, do not
let that bell ring.

Bloody hell!
We're in extra time! Helen.

Mrs Ryland?

Are you in on your own?

Frank. Frank!

What is it?

Can we come in?

Come in.

We've come to inform you

that your son, Robert,

was fatally injured at
Maxfield's Wholesalers this morning.

Injured. Where is he?

Is he in the hospital?

Helen, he's dead.

What happened? I'm afraid
we don't have any more information.

You'll have to call the station
for more details.

If you...

ring this number,

and quote this reference.

You'll need to phone the
Coroner's office in the morning.

No point doing it now,
there'll be nobody there.

'Hello, can I help you?'

Yes, erm...

Two officers have just been.

And they, they told me my son...

..my son's been killed...

and they said I should...

'Have you got a
reference number there?'

Yes. DOA...

DOA 9461.

'Just hold on a minute, please.'

'Sorry about the wait, Mrs Ryland.
According to the paperwork

'your son's body is being
held at Failsworth General.'

Mum's here.

You did a post mortem. Yes.

Did you use anything?

Sorry? Did you...

use any of his organs?

No, I promise you we didn't take
anything. He's... Is it too late now?

Because he wanted to be a donor,
you see. In the event of...

something like this, he
wanted his organs used.

It is too late, I'm sorry. We
needed to know at the time of death.

But nobody told us he was dead.

'Welcome to the answering service.

'You have one new message. Main menu.
To listen to your messages...'

'Siobhan's eating
your sandwiches...'

You cope your way. I'll cope mine.

You're Rob's mother? Helen. Alan.

Alan Maxfield. Good to meet you.

And you. This is his dad, Frank.

How d'you do?
Dave Price, general foreman.

And this is Stephen Simpson.

Right. Shall we?

I spoke to Rob and his mate.

Michael. Michael, yeah. Good lads.

I said to Dave, "How come two lads
like that are doing agency work

"when we've got full timers
not a patch on them?"

He was a credit to you.

A credit to you both.

Thanks.

It was here.

He hit that section there.
The whole lot came down.

How? He lost control of the truck.

I'd just like to say that if there's
anything we can do, we'll do it.

Nothing like this has ever
happened to us before, you see.

We put the welfare of our
workers above everything else.

The boy he was with...

Sorry. Michael.
Michael will tell you they did

all the Health and Safety stuff,
and they did it conscientiously,

but if there are any questions
or any problems, please shout.

Thanks.

Did you have a question?

Did he suffer?

No.

From what I've heard it
was almost instantaneous.

I'll walk back with Frank and Helen.

Is Michael in?

No, he's at work.

Can I come in?

Please.

Yeah.

Come on, sweetheart.

I'm sorry about the... Oh, no.

Did Michael say what... Ryan, what
is that you've got in your mouth?

No, take it out of your mouth,
it's dirty.

What have I said about
putting things in your mouth?

Where's the dog?

We haven't got one. The sign's
just to keep smack heads at bay.

I think Michael
probably just popped into his mum's.

I have no idea how long
he is going to be before he...

Say hello to Daddy!
Come here, sweetheart.

Here you go!

That agency still getting you work?

Ryan didn't want to go to nursery
today. Kicked up a real fuss,
felt really bad.

Been lucky enough to
get a full time job.

Michael, you were there.

You were with him.

Did he suffer?

Are you sure?

You see, I've arranged my son's
funeral for next Thursday,

and I've been told to cancel it

because I haven't got
Alan Maxfield's permission.

It's Angela, isn't it?

Well, that's my problem, Angela,

I need your boss's permission
to bury my son. That's my problem.

I will do it. I need a shirt.

Just leave the bloody thing alone,
for God's sake! I need a shirt!

Have you got a mobile number
for him, please?

I'm coming round.

Just try not to burn the place down.

Good to see you again.
Good to see you.

Alan's out on business
or he'd be talking to you himself.

I've been waiting 11 days
for permission to bury my son.

11 days.

I can't believe for a moment that
Alan Maxfield knows about this

because he would not treat
a grieving mother in such
an appalling fashion.

So, please, bring him here.

I can't.

Right. I'll wait.

Helen, I am so sorry. I knew
absolutely nothing about this.

I'm going get on to everybody
right away and it'll all go ahead
on Thursday as planned.

My fault. I'm absolutely
fuming about this, Helen.

It should never have happened.
I'm so, so sorry.

All my fault.

I objected without consulting Alan.

You objected? Yes.

I'm sorry to be rude.
I don't mean to be rude, but what's
my son's funeral got to do with you?

I'm Alan's lawyer.

Michael!

Hi.

You're working here? Yeah.

Permanent? Yeah.

Well, six months probation
and then permanent, yeah.

He said you impressed him,
you both impressed him. Did he?

The funeral's Thursday.

Two o'clock. Right.

You'll be there? I can't make it.

What?

I'm working, aren't I?

You'll get time off.

He died in there, Michael,
they'll give you time off.

I'm sorry.

You were his friend, Michael,
so, ring me, please.

Lads I served my time with...
we stuck together.

I need you to come with me tomorrow.

We should have let him join the navy.

You learn a trade in the navy.

Talk about ironic, keeping him out
the armed forces cos it's dangerous

and sending him to...
You're blaming me?

No. You are.

I made him go to that place,
so you're blaming me. I'm not.

I'm going to the
police station tomorrow.

I don't want to go there on my own.

Will you come with me, please?

You're wasting your...
Will you come with me, please?

It's a Health and Safety issue,
really. So, yes, just me.

Did you look at the CCTV film? No.

No? The
cameras weren't working that day.

They told you that? Yes.

And you believed them?

Well, why not? For God's sake.

You prick.

Sorry!

He was with his friend. Michael.

He must've seen everything.

Yes, we got a statement from him.

It absolves the
company of all blame.

He says it was all your
son's fault, Mrs Ryland.

'I know something stinks.'

CCTV cameras not working.

Alan Maxfield frightened to open
his mouth unless his lawyer's there.

Michael too ashamed
to look me in the eye.

You're only here so you can
say, "I even attended the
boy's funeral, your honour."

I swear that's not why I'm here.

You lied to me.
You told me he didn't suffer.

Michael lied too, but
he lied for good reasons.

You lied for bad reasons, for
money reasons, or legal reasons,

or...God knows what reasons.

So please go.

'I was run over once
when I was a kid,

'and I lay there for a couple of
minutes wondering if I was dead.

'And then someone tried to move me
and the pain came flooding in.

'That's what it was like
when I realised that

'Rob's death was suspicious,
everything hurt.

'But I was alive again.

'But not Frank.

'He saw no good in such pain.

'He wanted it numbed...

'with booze.'

Can you just leave that, I'll
clean it up before I come to bed.

It stinks. And if I don't do it now,

it will still be here in the
morning! Look, I'll sort it.

I'm capable of moving an ashtray!

Yes. "Have you drunk all this?" Yes.

And don't even think
about bollocking me, Helen.

Today of all days,
don't even think about it cos
I've got a few home truths for you.

I'm listening.

It's about time you heard a
few home truths. I'm listening.

First,
nobody gives a shit that Rob is dead.

Nobody gives a shit so
you can shove your decorum

up your arse, shove your dignity up
your arse, cos nobody gives a shit.

Secondly, I am sick
of you looking down your

nose at me. I am sick
of you treating me like a child.

What you see here is grief.
This is acceptance of grief.

A mature and adult
acceptance of grief. Adult!

That's not what I see when I look
at you. I see a woman running round

like a blue-arsed fly cos she's
too scared, too bloody immature,

to face the fact that our son
is dead. ROBBIE IS DEAD.

You're immature, you're a big kid!

And all this Sherlock Holmes stuff,
this detective shite,
is not going to change that fact.

Since when has binge drinking
been the answer to anything?
No, no, no, you listen to me.

Time for me to do a bit of spouting,
a bit of pontificating. You're drunk.

'Sometimes when an ape dies
the other animals withdraw,

'stare into space,
refuse to interact with each other.

'We were worse than apes,
we turned on each other.'

You don't know what
grief is, because you're
too stubborn to feel it!

Sorry.

All those things we did with him
before he was, say, five...

I resented them.

I knew he wouldn't
remember them, see.

But after five...

traipsing round Alton Towers
and Disney,

fishing,

footie,

he'd remember them.

And 50, 60 years after us going,
he'd still remember them.

But he's gone before us.

And so have those memories.

And I feel...

I feel so cheated.

Sing to me.

I can't.

Sing to me.

♪ Oh, you are a mucky kid

♪ Your face just like a dustbin lid

♪ When he hears the
things that you did

♪ You'll get a belt from your dad. ♪

This is an inquest into
the death of Robert Ryland.

Now, this might be
a little confusing to you,
but I'm opening and adjourning

this inquest, because
the Crown Prosecution Service
might bring a manslaughter charge

in connection with Robert's death.
And they might not, of course.

We'll re-open when they've decided.

Morning.

Good morning, 5R.
Good morning, Miss.

Now, if you could all get out
your planners

and turn to the week starting June.

Miss. Yes, Tegan?

Miss, we got you something,
the class. We all got it.

It's a plant for your son.
It's an oak tree,

so it lasts a long time.

Is that all right, Miss?

Right, now... So if you could all
get out your planners...

I'm sorry, Helen,

but the Crown Prosecution Service
is not going to bring charges.

And that's it? Yes, I'm sorry.

So my son is killed
and no-one held to account,

no-one asked to explain.

Would YOU accept that?

Michael. Sorry.

I don't know anything.

I'm sorry.

She's sat down.

She's sat down. Tell her to go.

If that had been you...

Do you want to move out?
Imagine it was me left like that.

You're always going on at me that
you're desperate to get out of
this dump! Imagine it's your mum.

If it was your mother,
would you leave her out there?

Do you want Ryan to be
the only kid that gets
walked to school in the morning

cause all the other mums
are too out of it?

She needs to know. You can't just
leave her in limbo, it's cruel!

Too off their head to walk their own
bloody kids to school. I don't want
that, and this is the price we pay!

You don't want to stay here, do you?

No. If we want Ryan to go to
a decent school in a decent area,
this is what it costs!

You're a lot of things, Michael,
but you're not cruel.

Will you help me, Michael? Yeah.

I've never had a job, not a proper
one with regular money and that.

We need to get out of that house.

We've been robbed twice this year.

I'm ashamed of what I did, but...

..I did it for Leanne
and I did it for Ryan.

On the day Rob died,

Alan Maxfield offered me
a permanent contract.

All I had to say was we'd been
trained to use that fork-lift truck,

but we weren't.

We had a five-minute demonstration,
that's all, and that's not training.

And I said in my statement
that we'd had a full Health and
Safety rundown, but we hadn't.

We could use Michael's statement
to go for review.

Review of the decision
not to prosecute.

But it's risky and expensive.

Your costs could be 15 grand.

15 grand! And if we lose... We won't
lose. 15 grand! But if we did,

you'd have to pay the other side's
costs too. Could you manage that?

If we win,

they prosecute Alan Maxfield?
15 grand. Yes.

We'll get a second mortgage.
We can't afford a first one, never
mind a second. We can. We can't.

We'll leave you to talk.

No, you're leaving her to talk.

You're leaving me to listen. Frank.

Who are you doing this for anyway?

It's not for Rob.
It's not going to bring him back.

I know. And do you think that
he would want this?

Do you think he'd want us
to get up to our eyes in debt
just for you to prove a point?

How dare you?

This is the fitted kitchen moment,
isn't it?

Man slices his dick off at work.

Surgeon says,
"You're going to get 40 grand comp.

"You can get the four-inch penis
for 20 grand, the six-inch for 30,

"or you can get the big
eight-inch penis for the full 40!"

He says he fancies the eight-inch,
but his wife's there,

so the surgeon says, just as that
lawyer has, "I'll leave you to talk."

Five minutes later,
the surgeon comes back.

"Have you made up your mind what
you're having?" The man nods.

"We're having a fitted kitchen."

I'm afraid we won't reach a decision
today, but we'll meet again
tomorrow.

What are you doing? Oxfam.

I use them. No, you don't.

When did you last play cricket?

You don't play anything anymore.

You don't do anything anymore.

You just...

sit in front of the telly
and drink and smoke...

and rot.

Thank you for your patience.
I realise we've been deliberating

for what may seem
an inordinate amount of time...

..but we felt it was crucial to
give this case proper consideration.

However, Michael Lang did not seem
to us to be a sufficiently
believable witness.

In view of this, we feel
a successful prosecution would be
very difficult. With this in mind,

we uphold the Crown Prosecution
Service's decision NOT to prosecute.

It's a fucker.

Tonight, I'm getting you
pissed and laid.

I've been married 20 years.

You'll be used to doing it
in that order then.

Beer and tequila!

I'm only staying an hour, Siobhan.
Ah, you're not!

Last night, my tight bastard
of a husband says to me,

"Get your coat."
I says, "Why, where you taking me?"

He says, "Nowhere, I'm turning the
bloody 'leccy off." So, if you go,

I'll have to go too, so come on!

Like there's no fucking tomorrow!
Like there's no tomorrow!

Aah... Oh.

I've got me mate back.

We're having another! No! Aye. Oh...

Oh, come on!

Oh, for God's sake!

Will I just do my own version?
Yeah!

Right, right, right, right, right...

♪ A pair of knickers

♪ With a stain between them

♪ A spot of petrol
where you tried to clean them

♪ A brothel sign that swings

♪ These foolish things
remind me of you... ♪

You may remember that last time
we met, I adjourned the inquest
into Robert Ryland's death

pending the
Crown Prosecution Service's decision
on whether or not to prosecute.

That matter is now settled, and so
I'm now re-opening this inquest.

I'd like to hear from
the family first.

Mrs Ryland, would that be
agreeable to you?

'Time and time again,
the law had failed us, but...

'I clung to the idea that
the inquest would right everything,
that the truth would come out,

'that Alan Maxfield would be held
responsible for my son's death.'

'All those courtrooms,

"all those knock-backs,'

but I still had hope.

I was like a battered wife,

getting hurt, but thinking,

"One last go.
This time, it'll be different."

Did Robert go out
the night before he died?

There was a match on Sky.

He watched it in the pub.

Where he had several drinks?
He didn't come home drunk,

so if you're trying to infer that
Rob was drunk the next morning,
forget it.

He went out with a tenner,
a tenner that I gave him,

and he came back with £5.40...

having spent £4.60 on
two pints of lager.

I know this because there was
£5.40 in the...plastic bag,

along with his phone and his wallet
and his other...

..effects.

Michael Lang is mistaken. Both boys
were given detailed instructions

on operating the fork-lift, and they
had two or three hours' training.

Now, whether they listened, whether
they paid enough attention...

I know that when they were outside
the office, Ryland seemed to be
cracking jokes all the time.

The door was open
and I found it distracting.

I'd just like to express
my deepest sympathies.

I know how hard it must be for you,
but I hope this verdict helps.

The verdict is accidental death.

I hope you find some comfort from
the fact that no-one was to blame
for your son's death.

Accidental death.

Blood drains. You know, you hear
people say that all the time.

"The blood drained from him."

Well, when you get told that
your son is dead,

the blood really does drain.
You can feel it drain.

You feel your veins widen
and the blood just drops.

And it drained again
when the coroner said

no-one was responsible for
my son's death.

Someone WAS to blame.

Alan Maxfield.

Have you ever been to Ibiza?
The Carthaginians founded it,

lived there till the Romans
wiped them out.

Then the Arabs settled there
for 500 years,

until the Catalans laid siege, tore
down the mosques and built churches.

How did you get in? The bohemians
arrived in the '60s and '70s
and turned it into a party island.

Rob was saving up to go there.

How did you get in here?

His swipe card.

It was in the plastic bag.

Another of his...effects.

All his mates knew about Ibiza was
clubbing, but Rob was different.

Yes, he'd stay up all night
dancing, but the next day,

he'd be wandering around the house
with a book in his hand.

And after he died, I found this book
on Ibiza beside his bed.

What do you want, Mrs Ryland?

I want you to say that you're sorry
Rob never got to Ibiza...

..that he never made his 21st,
or even finished his book.

Say he didn't need to die
in your warehouse,

that you coated him in so much...

..so much shit,

there was none left to stick to you.

I want you to say that
you are sorry for all that.

And when you have, I'll go away...

and get on with my life.
It was an accident.

There's no-one here but me and you.
It's just between us.

I need to hear it.

Just say...I'm sorry.

People say it all the time. They
bump into each other in supermarkets

and they say it automatically,
instinctively. "I'm sorry."

Even when it's not their fault.

"I'm sorry!"

My lawyer won't let me.

Oh...

Oh, Jesus!

Do you know who killed your son?

Shall I tell you who killed
your son, you stupid bitch?!

A billion Chinese,
half a billion Indians.

all working for a pound a day.

I'm paying 50 a day
and I'm supposed to compete!

That's who killed your son,
you stupid, mad bitch!

When you lose someone you love,
it hurts.

Of course it hurts.

But imagine losing them
over and over.

Every time the law let me down,
Rob died again.

There's only so many times
you can take that.

I teach, I'm used to being lied to.

But the difference between Alan
Maxfield and a child is that when
you confront a nine-year-old child

with the fact that they're lying,
they own up, they say sorry.

And when you've lost your child,
an apology

isn't all that much to ask.

I wouldn't be here talking
to you now if Alan Maxfield
had just said sorry.

My lawyer said that
saying all this to you was stupid,

that you'd throw the book at me.

Well, fine, throw that book.

The law's hit me so many times,
I'm numb,

I won't feel it.
To hell with the law.

Yes.

I can speak to you like this because
I've learned so much.

I'm an expert.

I've paid the highest tuition fees
in the world, you see...

..the death of my son.

When you go away
and consider what I've done,

I'm asking you to reach a verdict
based not on law,

but on something
I've been thirsting for...

..something that Rob deserved

and never got.

Something I'm frightened

may no longer exist.

Justice.

I'm asking you to give me justice.

However sympathetic you may feel,
Helen Ryland stands accused of
a very serious crime...

What's going on here?
Who are you, please?

Frank Ryland, husband of the accused.

And, yes, this is to show my contempt
for this court, my contempt for

any court, my contempt for anything
to do with the law... Mr Ryland...

My wife said that
the law was a joke and I argued,

but not because I thought that she
was wrong... Mr Ryland. ..but because
I didn't have her courage.

If I had half the guts she has,
it'd be me in that dock.

Sorry.

Mr Ryland, have you finished?

I'm going to call
an officer of the court.

I'll deal with you when this case
is finished. Do you understand? Yes.

By her own admission, she set fire
to that warehouse and showed
a total disregard for human life.

Now, I'm not going to direct you
to return a guilty verdict,

but all the evidence...
# Desperado... #

♪ Why don't you
come to your senses?

♪ You've been out ridin' fences

♪ For so long now

♪ Oh, you're a hard one

♪ I know that you've got your reasons

♪ These things that are pleasin' you

♪ Can hurt you somehow

♪ Don't you draw
the Queen of Diamonds, boy

♪ She'll beat you if she's able

♪ You know the Queen of Hearts... ♪

Jury's coming back.

Members of the jury...

are you agreed upon a verdict?
We are.

Do you find the defendant guilty
or not guilty of arson and
wilful destruction of property?

Not guilty.

And is that the verdict of you all?

Yes, it's unanimous.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Guilty?

Not guilty.

What?

Not guilty.