Silent Witness (1996–…): Season 11, Episode 9 - Peripheral Vision: Part 1 - full transcript

Play one of the best new FPS shooters,
search Steam for PROJECT WARLOCK

I'm going for a walk.

OK, love.

'ECHOING: Happy birthday, Clara...
happy birthday, Clara...
happy birthday, Clara...

'ECHOING: You're not going down
there again...not going down there
again...going down there again...'

I told you, I knew it was them pikeys
that killed her, I told you.

'ECHOING: Just shut up, will you,
and get me back to my house!'

'ECHOING: No, Mum,
it's my close-up...my close-up...'

POLICE RADIO

Ahhh!

For God's sake.
Sorry.



No, no...I love the feeling of
whiplash in the morning.

This looks like the place.
Yes, it does, doesn't it?

News travels fast.

Police are still refusing to confirm
the girl's identity,

but the local community
remain convinced...

Morning.

Dr Alexander, Dr Cunningham?

DI Mays, pleased to meet you. Hi.

So, er,
do you want to come and join me?

Either of you had breakfast? No.

Here, take this, love, run along
and get some things, will you?

So these people think you've found
the body of Clara Young?

They don't "think",
they're absolutely bloody certain.

A photograph, please.



Did you know her at all?

I knew her dad. At the time
she disappeared he was my DCI.

That must've been tough.
Harry, there's something else here.

Ha! It's a gin trap.

Bloody Gypsies.

This place used to
be a Travellers' site.

You don't recognise them?
Nah, mate, sorry.

Thanks for your time.

We have a section of the pelvis
that shows signs of ageing
and swell damage.

Left femur, not fully matured,
showing extensive damage.

Found in G17 after death.

Anterior fragment of skull
with some animal teeth damage.

Harry, can I have a word?

OK.

Now.

What is it?

It's an insurance dispute.

If Nikki needs any help,
I can back her up.

Everything all right? No,
I'm being hassled by journalists.

Look, I really need to know
what I can say about these bones.

Well, all the remains
are severely damaged.

I'm afraid even low copy
DNA extraction will take a while.
You mean you can't ID her yet?

The one thing we know is that
four years ago Clara broke her left
ulna, her arm, falling off a horse.

If I can find evidence
of the fracture we can start
talking about an ID.

HE SIGHS

But I can tell you that
this is a human femur and
its length suggests a height of...

..around five foot two or three.

And the sub-pubic angle of the
pelvis strongly suggests a female.

What about age?
Well, the indicator is the fusing

of the growth plates at the end
of a child's bones as they develop.

But the rate between individuals
is always different, so the best

I can say is somewhere
between fifteen and eighteen.

So we have a girl
who's almost identical
in age and height as Clara Young?

Sorry. I know you're
under pressure, but all I can give
you right now are the figures.

Have you established yet how
she died? I think this is a small
section of the skull.

There's a lot of
post-mortem damage,

rat bites, fox bites,
that sort of thing, but...

..you see these marks here,

they're much cleaner.

They look like fractures, the kind
of trauma that could have been
caused by a blunt, heavy instrument.

She might have been killed
with a blow to the head? Possibly.

But there's also
a snapped second cervical vertebra.

Beaten and then had her neck broken?

Anything else?

No clothes were found with
these bones or on the scene.
So at some point she was stripped.

Look, there will be
more bones out there.

If you can keep the bystanders away
and get me another ten volunteers

and close off the woodland,
I'll tell you whether these
are the remains of Clara Young.

OK.

DOOR BUZZER SOUNDS

And we leave that item now
as we bring you some breaking news.

Local schoolgirl Clara Young went
missing 18 months ago

and, although there's no confirmation
as yet,

people here are already speculating
that this could be her.

The bones were found on a site just
outside Lisbey by local developers.

We understand that the site was
occupied by travellers
at the time of Clara's disappearance.

George!

Right, George, I'm giving you
two hours to get off this site.

HEN CLUCKS

Did you have a meeting with
the vice-chancellor yesterday?

That's not what this is about.
Really?

We have to start
diversifying our operations.

We have to bring new cash into
the lab, broaden our skill base.

That is the gibberish you could
only come out with
after lunch with the board,

and this is the kind of brain-numbing
nightmare that'll kill me with tedium
IF I agree to do it.

Well, perhaps you can
explain that to Amita Joshi...

daughter of the deceased.

Amita, this is Harry Cunningham,
the pathologist I've assigned
to your case. How do you...

Have you read the files?

No, I've only just got it so... So
you haven't seen what they did? No.
Who?

The bastards who said that
my mother died in a drunken fall.

My mother's never had a drink
in her life! Ask anyone she knew.

I'll leave you to it.
She never drank or smoked.

A female monk, that's how I would
describe my mother.

These are the thermal images
from the police helicopter.

I'm hoping they'll show up
more areas of disturbed ground,

because we have only found two sites
and 10% of the skeleton.

And there are no teeth, no hands
and almost none of the skull.

So, in other words, we've got a
very thorough killer who's left us
with nothing to identify her with.

So you haven't found any
evidence of Clara's fracture? No.

OK. Any progress with the weapon?

No, but I've dusted all the soil off
the bones and sent it for analysis,

which should tell us about
what's been in contact with them

and narrow down
the time since death.

OK, right,
I want to show you something.

We've re-plotted Clara Young's
last known movements.

She left home after an argument
with her father at about 8.30am.
Was he ever a suspect? What?

Well, you know,
in cases like this...

No, it was just a teenage spat
between father and daughter.

Clara said she was going to
the training session
at the local running track, here.

But CCTV places her all the way from
her home here, come and have a look,

from here to the car park
at The Bell at 8.42am, right here.
I remember this from the news.

This is the last image we have
of her, heading in this direction.

But the running track is just there.

How seriously did
she take gymnastics?

She bet me she'd make the
Olympic pentathlon team for 2012.

And here, this little pathway here,

is the location of your find.
At the time, it was a pikey site.

So if she was due for
a training session at the track,

why was she crossing a car park
in the opposite direction,
heading towards a traveller site?

That is exactly what we need to
find out.

Well? She clearly suspects
it's Clara,
but she won't make a formal ID.

Who the hell else does she think it
is?! It's just a matter of procedure.

You haven't brought anyone in?
Searched the site?
I can't just steam in there.

They know what happened to her!

I know they know.

Polar bears.

Sean says it's the only channel
they can watch and know they're not
going to see something about Clara.

We'll get him, Malcolm. Nikki
Alexander will prove it's Clara,
and we'll get him.

Are you checking up on me now?

I'm just interested.

I had a conversation with
the hospital pathologist yesterday.
Yeah? What did he say?

Well, Rupa Joshi was taken
straight to A&E after her fall.

She died two hours later,
very early on a...Thursday morning.

But because the hospital
was dealing with a rise in deaths
due to a cold spell,

she didn't get a post mortem until
late afternoon on Monday,

by which time she had spent
five days quietly fermenting.

That might explain the alcohol
levels in the initial report.
It's possible.

Doesn't change the fact
she's got a whopping great bruise
on the left upper temple,

indicating
severe trauma to the cranium.

Severe enough to have killed her?

What is it? She's got some
very nasty looking scratches.

Any history of eczema
or any other skin condition?

None.

DOORBELL

Yes?

Oh, hello, I'm, er,
Dr Harry Cunningham.
I was hoping to see Amita Joshi.

I'm sorry, she's out.

Are you the husband of Rupa Joshi?

I don't understand...

What is worrying my daughter?

Well, the thing is, as you know, um,
Rupa was probably killed by her fall,

but what your daughter doesn't accept
is the cause for the fall
given by the initial post mortem.

But I did find something else
which I can't quite explain.

What did you find?

Was Rupa suffering from, um...

anxiety or...or stress
in the last few months of her life?

I don't know.

She wasn't depressed?
Behaviour didn't change in any way?

Hi. Hi. Dr Cunningham.
Have you found anything yet?

He wants to know if Rupa was
depressed before she died. What
would she have been depressed about?

I'm really just interested in any
change in her behaviour.

My mother was a rock.

She didn't even know
the meaning of self pity.

I'm sure he was about to
tell me something when the daughter
walked in. Like what?

People don't start scratching
their own skin off for no reason,

so either there was a psychological
problem, or something the
initial post mortem didn't pick up.

Either way, he seems to have
got your interest.

Just doing the job, Leo.

How about that?

'Her name's Noora Khoury. And after
20 months, two weeks and four days,

'she's finally decided'

to respond to our appeal and tell us
she thinks she saw Clara after she
crossed The Bell car park. Where?

Over here.
Just across this little path,

on the edge of the woodland
around the traveller site.

Did she say Clara was on her own?

No. She said she was with an
unidentified male between 30 and 35.

We're putting together an e-fit now.

Why did it take her so long
to come forward?

How keen do you think she was
for her family to find out she'd
been meeting a traveller boy?

What have you got?

I think it's a trace of paint
from the murder weapon.

Hmm.

Any idea what it might have been?

Something that could inflict
heavy trauma, but nothing too blunt.

My guess would be a shovel.

You're gonna love this.

Whoa!

Huh!

Do you know him? Yeah. George Woods.

He was our main suspect
when Clara disappeared.

And he's on the
sex offenders register.

George likes them teenage.

He's gone!

Woods! You two, right, go!

THEY SHOUT

DOG BARKS

SIRENS WAIL

We've got him now!

Come on, Gingo.
Don't make this difficult.

All right, Gingo,
ready for your close-up?

Sorry, sorry. It's not Alzheimer's,
it's not Parkinson's

or multiple sclerosis. You must be
running out of things she could
have been suffering from? Not quite.

What is it?

Well, if it is what I think it is,

then it wasn't very much fun
for Rupa Joshi.

What do you think it is?
Have a look.

Christ...

It is, isn't it?

Having CJD...

It's like going mad, isn't it?

The disease would have been
in its early stages.

So Mum was suffering
and we didn't even know.

So, I need you to cast your minds
over how she was over
the last few months of her life.

Was there anything unusual...?

Anything that might have indicated
the start of degenerative symptoms?

And, of course, anything
you can think of that might have
caused the infection.

She said she was taking the short cut
at the back of our site to
meet a friend. Who was her friend?

Who was it, George?

She didn't say. Uh-huh.

And then what happened?

We had a chat and then I
kept her company till she walked
to the edge of the trees.

And what did you chat about?
The usual.

What a bummer it was being
the daughter of a senior pig.

How she preferred
traveller men to gorgios.

I think what my client
is trying to say is that

it was a personal conversation
with no relevance to your inquiry.

CAMERA CLICKS

PHONE RINGS

Yeah, go ahead, Nikki. 'The soil
we found in Woods's trailer -'

it's definitely the same as on
the first bone fragments
that we found at Lisbey Common.

Well done. That's fantastic news.
I knew you'd do it.

What is it? Take a look at this.

How do you explain that, George?

How do you explain that soil
found on your carpet was the same
as the soil found on the bones?

My trailer used to be parked on
that common. Why shouldn't there be
soil from there in it?

What about this, George?
Do you recognise this?

I am now showing George Woods
a girl's sports watch
that was found in his caravan.

No. I don't recognise it.

Ah. Maybe you recognise it now?

Because Clara is wearing
that watch in this photo.

You see the lines I mean?

Of course.

Can you pass me Clara Young's
medical records?

What do you think they are?

They are an absolute catastrophe.

These markings here
are called Harris lines.

They indicate a period in which the
skeleton stopped growing, often due
to poor nutrition or severe trauma.

There's nothing in Clara's medical
records to suggest she had them.

Is it definitely the sort of thing
a doctor would notice?

If she'd managed to hide it
and keep her sport going,
I'd be surprised.

I've already brought George Woods
in. I've got 24 hours
to charge him or let him go.

Can't you just bail him?

You don't know what these people
are like. He'll disappear!

We need to go and see the Youngs.

I need to ask a few questions.

What sort of questions?

Can you just talk me through Clara's
appearance and any distinguishing
marks we might not know about,

and we'll take it from there.

Well, you know she broke her arm
falling off a pony four years ago.

We knew about the fracture, yes.

And, er...

she had size 5 feet.

Is that right, love? Size 6.

We went shopping for a new uniform
the week before she left.

She'd gone up to size 6.

Do you mind telling us why we're
having to go through all this again?

We're just trying to be as specific
as possible about what we've found.

Are you saying
you can't identify her?

No, no. It's just...
Of course they can't!

..a complex process. Sorry,
what did you just say?

I said of course they can't
identify her. She's not dead, is she?

Were there any other issues
relating to Clara or her health?

How do you mean?

Had you ever noticed any specific
changes in her health as she was
growing up? Any eating disorders?

Or whether she'd been under
any unusual pressure?

What are you trying to say?
There are markings on
one of the bones that suggest that,

several years before death, the body
had been put under a lot of stress.

Are you accusing us of
pressuring Clara?

Oh, no, no. I'm not
accusing you of anything.

I'm trying to confirm on the bones.
Are you saying we made
our daughter unhappy? Love...

I'm sorry if I've been unclear.
How dare you! Ange, please.

Excuse me, but do you have children?

No, you don't, do you?

I can tell that.

Because if you did, you would know
what it meant to love a child.

To know that you'd give everything
for that child,

and the only thing you're not
capable of, is doing something
that would harm them.

If you did, you could never
make that suggestion.
I think we've finished here.

Mrs Young, I'm truly sorry
if anything I've said is... Please!

Leo thinks he's found
a solution to your problem.

This is a fractured ulna. It took me
four magnifications to find it.

So that's got to be Clara. Yep.

She healed up the way only
a sports-mad 12-year-old could.

What about the Harris lines?
What about them?

There's nothing anywhere to suggest
she would have had them.

Did you X-ray the other leg?
Yep.

Harris lines?
No.

Can they be present
on one leg and not the other? Never.

So this bone and this bone
belong to two different people.

So...

If that's Clara Young...

Who the hell is this other girl?

All I can tell you is that
she or he is almost exactly
the same height and build as Clara,

and the same weapon
was used on both.

My client has not slept for 48 hours.

He's been denied visits.
He's been spied on.

He's been shouted at
and racially abused,

all without one charge
being brought against him.

You know what we've found out?

You know what we've worked
out now, don't you, George?

I was just visiting a friend.
I was living and working in Southend.

I didn't have anything to do with
the disappearance of any girls.

Who mentioned anything about girls?

I didn't say 'girls', I said 'girl'!

George, you're being recorded.

I didn't do anything.

Yep?

Nikki, do you have access
to a fax machine?

Why? Only the rest of this
soil analysis has just come in.

Er, have you got a fax machine
I could borrow? In the back room.

I didn't do anything.

I tell you, whatever happened, it
didn't have anything to do with me!

The courts granted us
a 36-hour extension.

As soon as we get ID on the
second girl, we can charge him.

I don't see how anything
in this report changes our position.

There are two different
types of soil on the bones. So?

Why would George Woods bury these
two girls somewhere else first,

then move them nearer his caravan,

just as the furore over
Clara's disappearance was raging?

I'm sure we establish that
as we continue with our inquiry.

There's something else.

Something that was bothering me
as I watched the interview.

What?

The way Woods holds his left arm...

It's because it's weak.

You heard him in there.
He practically confessed.

I'm not sure he could have caused
the injuries those bodies sustained.

We can take that into account
as we move forward.

Detective, I think you might
have the wrong suspect.

Well, thank you for your opinion.
We'll definitely bear it in mind.

But right now, I think we need to
start checking hospital records

to get an ID on this second girl.

Anything else?

We've got to face them...

No! Don't let them in!
Don't let them in!

No! No, don't! Get out of my way.

No! No, don't!

# When they found your body

# Giant Xs on your eyes

# And with your half of the ransom

# You bought some
sweet, sweet, sweet

# Sweet, sweet sunflowers

# And gave them

# To the night. #

Hello?

'Hi, it's Nikki Alexander.'

If I needed to speak to the
travellers, could you take me there?

The town have been kind enough
to let their feelings towards
the travellers be known.

Oh, and this time, their excuse
is they're using the land

to build a "community" centre.
For everyone.

Do you think we'll be welcome
at that community centre?

When was this photo taken?

Oh, George there,
he came back late May,

three or four days
before Clara disappeared.

And he was living
on the site at the time?

Well, it wasn't ideal for us, but if
someone like him wants to pull up,

what right have I got to deny him?

He might not be family, but...
Who's that man? Liam Clegg.

He was George's friend.

Look, why don't you tell us
what we can do for you?

I've established that there
was more than one victim.

Early tests on the soil suggest that
the other girl died before Clara.

At least three months before her.

So if George Woods is going to
be charged with two murders,

I want to be sure that he did them.

What? Is there something else
about Woods?

Do you know who she might have been?

Floria Hearn.

I think I've got an ID
on our second victim.

Have you heard of a traveller
girl called Floria Hearn?

The hospital confirmed she
had Harris lines.

I asked Social Services,

and they said they'd informed
the police she was missing.

Look, do we need to have
this discussion right now?

Malcolm Young just
called from the hospital.

His wife took an overdose
last night.

Well, I can see that this is
a bad time, but who this girl is,

and when she died casts real doubt
on whether or not Woods is guilty.

Approximately one hour ago,

George Woods was charged
with the murder of Clara Young.

He'll appear in court
tomorrow morning.

These girls were dismembered
with the same weapon.
You can't separate the crimes.

Your soil test proved that patches
of Woods's carpet were stained with
earth that matched the bones.

And your own searches established
that the greatest concentration
of bone finds is right here.

Right next to George Woods' caravan!

But equal distance
from Liam Clegg's.

If George Woods is a suspect,
why isn't Clegg?

Why hasn't he been interviewed?

Because for the last two years,

Liam Clegg has been serving
a prison sentence,

and he was never part
of this inquiry!

I think you're letting your loyalty
to Malcolm Young
influence your judgement.

We have a very strong case that
George Woods killed and disposed
of Clara Young,

and that is why we are putting him
on trial,

and from where I'm standing,

there's not a damn thing
you can do about it!

Congratulations on your diagnosis.

Our claims investigators were
impressed. Thanks.

There were a couple of things
we thought we should bring
to your attention. Which are?

Here is a copy of Rupa Joshi's
declaration of health.

In it, she confirms that she's
a vegetarian who's never eaten beef.

I'm not claiming she was infected
that way. Then how WAS she infected?

The only medical procedure
she has had in the last four years
is an appendix removal,

at a hospital that was
implementing anti-CJD procedures.

So despite proof that
she was suffering from
a degenerative illness

that almost certainly caused
her fall,

you are still not going to pay
out on Rupa Joshi's policy?

There doesn't seem to be
any way that Rupa Joshi could have
contracted variant CJD

without contradicting the terms
of her declaration,

or withholding information concerning
her medical treatment.

And until you can prove otherwise,
our situation remains unchanged.

Well?
Well, the thing about the internet

is that anyone can put
any crazy theory out there.

I told you he'd react like this.
I really don't think
she was killed by her work.

25 years in that munitions factory.

25 years my mother handled dangerous
weapons without any protection.

The British establishment
killed her.

Amita, your mother was not killed
by the British government.

How do you know? You won't
even speak to the scientist.

He's not actually a scientist,
he's a loony.

What, because he's not
a posh white boy with Oxbridge
stamped all over his buttocks?

Look, if you think you can
actually think of anything

which might really help us work out
how your mother got CJD,

you know where to find me.

Don't you dare stand up for him.

I know that you're short of time,

but I'm afraid you're going
to have to be patient. Yeah, yeah.

Some of this stuff is
almost impossible to see. OK.

DOOR ENTRY SYSTEM BUZZES

The trip was a special treat,

to mark Rupa's retirement
from the factory.

Amita couldn't go with us,
but she made us promise
not to drive.

She said we couldn't rely
on the Indian drivers.

But in the second week,

Rupa wanted to visit a cousin
who lived in the mountains,

a long way from Calcutta.

So remote,
there are no train stations.

And on the way, you had an accident.

How long was Rupa in hospital?

Three nights.

They gave her some kind of blood
product, when she was admitted.

We told Amita
something had happened.

But not the whole truth.

Yes, yes, I know she was treated
at your hospital,

what I'm trying to do is trace
the actual batch numbers of
the blood products you gave her.

'Would you mind holding?'

Yes.

'I can confirm that Mrs Joshi's
blood was part of a batch
sent from the UK.'

Are you sure?
'Definitely, sir.'

Harry? Bill.

Welcome to the mothership.
Thanks for seeing me.

Bill, have CJD-infected
blood products been exported
from Britain to India?

Why do you need to know?

Because the blood products
in this case I'm investigating
were apparently British.

Bill?

It's not like we meant to
give them the disease.

It's not like anyone meant
to let the damn thing

into the blood supply in
the first place. Bloody hell!

I know that sounds bad,

but we are doing everything we can
to rectify the situation.

That's very reassuring(!)

In that case,
what I need to know from you

is whether the batch given to
Rupa Joshi has been identified
as one of the ones that was infected.

OK, Harry. Just this once.

How long have we got?
He's due in court in...

20 minutes ago.

Right, next sample.

You're not going to give up,
are you?

Which is...

Forsythia X Intermedia.

The most prominent pollen found so
far. Have you been here all night?

How did you guess? Why?

We're trying to identify the pollen
found in the earth around the bones,

so we can prove George
Woods's alibi. Which is?

The two killings are linked,
but separated by several months.

Even the police accept
that he wasn't in Lisbey before
the end of May 2005.

Looking for something
that flowers before then.

Exactly. Any luck? Uh-uh.

All we've found so far is
small traces of stuff
that flowers in summer -

by which time,
he was back on the scene.

MOBILE PHONE RINGS

Amita. How can I help?

What about this forsythia?

Today? When?

What! Don't say anything
until I get there.

There's no forsythia
found on the bone find site.

The pollen must have come
from wherever the two girls
were buried first.

What time of year does it flower?

February.

Over the past few weeks,

Wessex Protect have been giving
a great deal of thought

to the distress that Rupa's death
has caused your family.

Naturally, we are, as you know,

always keen to
help out in any way we can.

As a result of this,
my superiors and I have agreed,

although we're under
no obligation to,

a compromise which will allow us
to pay out a large proportion
of your mother's policy.

How large? About 30%.

I should point out that
works out at a capitalisation
of just under ?15,000.

Unfortunately, I do need to have
your answer before the end
of this meeting.

Yeah, I think that we'd like to...

What do you think?

Well, I would like to know
exactly why Wessex Protect

suddenly decided to call
this meeting out of the blue,

and offer you a compromise,

and whether it has anything to do
with them getting wind of findings
I have recently made

which could prove exactly
when your mother was infected,

and force them to pay out in full.

I feel obliged to point out that,
as neither a holder of the policy,

nor a potential beneficiary,

Dr Cunningham really has no role
in this meeting.

Look, um, tell us.
What do you think we should do?

I think you should reject
anything except a full payout.

MOBILE PHONE RINGS

Bill, how are you?
Harry, old pal.

I've done some digging around,

and I've got some fantastic news
for you. Great.

The batch that your lady had
was completely clean.

'I checked the serial numbers,
I've checked the blood centres.

'Absolutely no vCJD at all.'

Are you sure?
Of course I'm bloody sure.

I can't sit here
and debate it with you.

I've got about ten million
things to do.

We've done as you said.

George Woods, it is charged that
some time after the 28th of May,

you did murder Clara Young,
contrary to common law.

You will remain in custody to appear
before the central criminal court

to stand trial.

ANGRY MOB SHOUT ABUSE

Scum! I hope you burn in hell!

RAUNCHY MUSIC PLAYS

Come on, baby.

I think you're a little late,
aren't you?

Floria Hearn was killed during
or just after late February 2005.
Now, you...

MUSIC IS TURNED OFF

You have witnesses that confirm that
George Woods was living and working
full-time in Southend at that time.

That, and all the forensic evidence,

which I'll make available
to both sides...

proves that her death is irrefutably
linked to the murder of Clara Young.

So, I think, Detective,
that your case against Woods is,

if you'll pardon the expression,
dead.

Oh, and I also think -

I'm sorry for taking up
so much of your precious time -

that if two girls can go missing,
in this country,

in the 21st century, but because
one of them is a traveller,

no-one gives a toss,
then something is very, very wrong.

MUSIC: Town Called Malice by The Jam

What is it? Albert!

What is it?

# The ghost of a steam train

# Echoes down my track

# It's at the moment
bound for nowhere

# Just going round and round

# Playground kids and creaking swings

# Lost laughter in the breeze

# I could go on for hours
and I probably will... #

George!

George!

# ..Town called malice

# Yeeeeahhh. #