Silent Witness (1996–…): Season 22, Episode 5 - To Brighton, To Brighton: Part 1 - full transcript

The Lyell team are summoned to a waste dump in Brighton where a body part has been found. The search is on to recover the other remains.

This programme contains
some scenes which some viewers may
find upsetting

# Testator silens

# Costestes e spiritu

# Silentium

# Testator silens. #

PHONE VIBRATES

Thomas?

A body part has been found
on a municipal dump

and they want a couple of Home
Office pathologists on the scene.

How do you feel about a trip
to Brighton?

DI Neil Taramelli.



Nikki Alexander?
Jack Hodgson.

Dr Nikki Alexander's my
colleague. She's on her way.

Oh, sorry. Crossed wires.
That's all right.

He's not himself this morning.

DS Hannah Quicke.
Hello.

It's, um... It's over there.
Right.

He's already coughed up his
breakfast. It's not funny.

I'm meant to be investigating
this.

How am I going to do that if I can't
even look at the evidence?

The guy who found it thought
it was part of a painted dummy.

Uh-huh.

There.Thanks.

Any more body parts been found?

No. As soon as they found that,



they called us and cordoned off this
area.

According to the time sheets,
it was the first lorry of the day.

Uh-huh.

Where there's one body part...

Oi! Get out of it!

Ah!

Yeah, that's a foot in a pizza bag.

HE GAGS

Here!

I'd rather not.
If you're going to be sick...

You OK, sir?

Yes...

How quickly can you raise a
DNA profile?

We need to do the initial
examination here first.

Once that's done, everything will be
sent to the Lyell.

It's only about an hour away.

Right.

Now let's see if we can find
the rest of this body.

WATER RUNS

THOMAS:To Brighton, to Brighton,
where they do such things.

CLARISSA:Poetry, Thomas?

One of my first jobs was in
Brighton. A young man found
murdered under the pier.

We never did catch his killer.

Not a happy memory, then?

Well, you know how you
always remember the failures.

What time did you call Nikki?

She not there yet?

How did she sound?

Quite pleased to be out of the
Lyell, if I'm honest. Why?

She seems a little preoccupied.

Long-distance relationships.

Most relationships, if
you ask me.

That's an irezumi.

An ire what?

I'll call you back.

VOICEMAIL:Hello.
This is Mark Garcia.

Please leave a message and I'll get
back to you as soon as I can.

Hi, it's me.

I'm in Brighton, and it's lovely.

I know you're an ocean away,

but standing here by the sea
with the sun on my face...

..just made me think of you.

Call me.

PHONE VIBRATES

Clarissa?
Nikki.

Where are you?

Nearly there.

Are you OK?

I was going to ask you the same
thing.I'm fine.

You should come down.

I'd love to, but someone
needs to be here, hold the fort.

What's the weather like?

Terrible. Wind. Rain.

You'd hate it.
So when it says 24 degrees

with a light south-westerly...?

I'll bring you back an ice cream.

On first viewing, I would say

these have been cut using a saw of
some kind.

Would it need an electric saw?

Not necessarily,
though that would be quicker.

Dismembering a body by
hand is hard work, it takes
time, not to mention the mess.

Look, can you see?

It's not a clean cut - kerf marks at
the end suggest a hand saw.

Oh...

DI Taramelli.

Dr Nikki Alexander?
Yeah. How are you doing?

Been one of those mornings.

I'm guessing you
people get special injections.

For what?

For working in a place like this.
God knows what you could catch.

Bubonic plague, if you're lucky.

We've got the right arm,
heavily tattooed,

and a left foot.

So far, anyway.

HE WHISTLES

Nikki!

This smell gets right inside you.

Maybe that's it, Detective.

The smell, not the body parts,
making you feel sick.

You must have seen worse.

Bobby on the beat -
one of my first jobs

was to wait inside a house
with a dead body.

His face had been half eaten
off by his Jack Russell.

Ohh! How long had he been
in there? Two weeks.

So the smell must have...
I had to burn my uniform.

I should have come to you
for my post-traumatic therapy.

Should have.

I wonder if the head has been put
somewhere else.

What, to hide possible
identification?

And the hands. Neither have been
found so far.

Property News.

You see those outside
every estate agent's.

So unlikely to help us find
the scene of the crime.

And there was me thinking
police work

was going to add some glamour to my
life. Not done this long, then?

This time three years ago,
I was teaching Year 11s

quadratic equations and single
variable inequalities,

but then... My husband calls it
the ultimate mid-life crisis.

What's that?

Thomas!

Mick? >
Yeah.

What?

You're not going to work,
are you?

You should be inside.I'm OK.

You need to rest,
you lost a lot of blood.

Hello, you.

We need to decide on a name.

What about Maud?Maud?

You are kidding me?

Carola, can you hear me? Carola?

Her pulse rate has increased
slightly.

Her temperature is down.

Is her husband still here?
I don't think so.

After you talked to him about

the possibility of Carola
donating her organs...Yes, well...

I'm waiting to speak to a colleague
who's more of an expert,

but if these body parts
are from the same body,

what you're looking at
is an irezumi body suit.

Japanese?
Traditional tattooing -

done by machine,
or by hand using a tebori.

The needles at the end of the tebori
are jabbed into the skin,

depositing the
different-coloured inks.

It's a highly skilled art form.

And painful, by the looks of it.
How long does it take?

It depends on the size and the
intricacy of the design,

but usually months,
years sometimes.

Aren't they symbols of gangs
and criminals?

Irezumi tattoos are associated
with yakuza,

but not limited to them.

Yakuza gangs in Brighton?

That's all we need.

BANGING ON DOOR

MAN: Akito!
We know you're in there!

CLARISSA:Heisuke, konban
wa.

Yeah, Clarissa, mata kondo
mitte ga ureshi, yo.

Watashi mo. Kochira wa watashi no
douryou...

..Nikki, Thomas, and this is
Detective Inspector...

..Taramelli. And Detective Sergeant
Quicke.

Nice to meet you all.
Sorry to call you so late.

That's fine. This is important -
these photos you sent me.

I'll put up some of the more
recent ones we've found.

This style of bodysuit
is called munewari.

The man had this done in the
UK?We don't know.

You might find he's come to Japan
and gone to an irezumi master.

Or it could be a Japanese
man who's come to the UK.

I wanted to ask you about the
meaning of the various images.

It might help tell us something
about the man.Sure.

On his shoulder is a koi, which
swims against a very heavy current,

so this suggests the person has been
through very difficult times.

And the...

..lotus flower?

It's an image tied to the
Buddhist faith.

Spiritual awakening.

The lotus starts at the bottom
of the pond

and slowly makes its way to
the top.

And what about this one?

The namakubi -
death before dishonour.

This man was not to be
messed with.

TARAMELLI:Any idea who might have
done these tattoos?

Oh, yes. Most irezumi artists
sign their name -

the first part in Chinese kanji -

"hori" meaning "carving",

and the second part
in Japanese characters.

Does that mean that whoever did
these tattoos

might know who this man is?

That would be possible,

but the signature

on this irezumi isn't complete.

As a result of the
dismembering, I think.

PHONE VIBRATES
Hello?

Are there traditional irezumi
artists like this in the UK?

I'm sure there are but, again,
this work looks quite exceptional.

I can circulate the images
with the people I know.

Also, I do have a database of known
yakuza designs

that I can share with you, Clarissa.

Heisuke, arigatou.

Iie de. Clarissa no tame
datta nande wo suru, sa.

Mata ne.

Mata ne.

Are there no limits to
this woman's talents?

No,

wa nai.

Ah, apologies.

That was the lab.

DNA confirms all parts from
the same body

but there's nothing on the
database to identify him.

What about a familial search?
They're doing that now.

So, no identifiable DNA,
but we do have the tattoos.

Which we can show to the various
tattooists in Brighton...

Well, not just Brighton. If this
is as specialist

as your friend suggests,
we need to spread the net wide.

What?

You lied to me.

I found this in your jacket pocket.

You promised me...
It was the last time.

It was a final blowout
before the baby came.

How can you even afford this
when we can't even afford a
new cot for the baby?

It's not my fault she came
early!

That's all done now. Yeah?

I swear...

..on the baby's life.

This is a new start, yeah?

For me, you, the baby.

We're a real family now.

I'm sorry.

What's this?

I cut myself.

My mum bought us this.

You're going to have to be more
careful, Mick,

especially around the baby.

CLARISSA:Make sure we get
the far end.

JACK:Brought your new toy
to Brighton, then?

When will we see the results?

Once I've combined
the scans at the Lyell,

we should have a full 3D model.

Uh-huh.

Would you, uh, mind getting
out of shot?

Have you identified
the dismembered man yet?

Not yet, but they're working on it.
What about the bin lorry?

What about the bin lorry?

Well, we know it was the first
lorry back after the
early-morning round.

Timed in at 07.42.

We also know which route it took.

So now all we have to do is
go through all the rubbish

and hope they'll give us a
clue as to which bin, or bins,

the body parts were dumped in. We've
already collected some evidence -

papers, letters, business details

that were in contact
with some of the body parts.

I'll go through those.

Which means that...?
You coming back here

first thing tomorrow and seeing what
you can find. Right.

So, let's have a look.

CLARISSA:I'd like to take
something back.

A stick of rock?Hmph!

Hmm...

Shells. I used to love listening
to them - you know, the sea,

and I'd be off on a ship,
sailing the seven seas.

Hmm. What about a wooden
seagull? Hmm?

Here we go. Perfect.

Where...where are we going?

Lovely as this is, Jack,

it's just downtown Tokyo
rather than Brighton.

A lot of people come to Brighton
just to get one of these.

You mean a tattoo?

Don't tell me you've never
thought about getting one.

I've thought about it,
and then I thought about how my
mother would react.

How your mother would react! Bet you
still got one, didn't you?

When did you get yours done?

15. I told them I was 19.

And they believed you?They believed
in the money, all right.

Can I help you?

This is what you should get.

Is that done by hand or machine?

All done by hand,
in the traditional way.

I bet that hurt.Of course.
But the pain was worth it.

Is that cherry blossom?

Cherry blossom falls, scattered
by the four great winds.

Life is but fleeting.

Did you get that done here?
Yeah.

A few years ago now.

The colours -
nothing has faded.

I wish I could do work as good
as this.

So who did it?

MK. But he's not here right now.

He travels around a lot,

but I think he is due back in
Brighton soon.

If you leave your number with me, I
can see if I can contact him.

How long are you here for?
A few days,

a week.Does this tattooist have a
name?

This is his unique signature.
Hori Cho Cho.

Sorry?

The...the carving butterfly.

Thanks. I'll be in touch.
Brilliant.Thanks.

How come you know Japanese?

How come you don't?

Sorry. I was busy earlier.
I couldn't answer...

KNOCK ON DOOR
Wait a second...

Your one-thirty.
I'll be right there.

I'm just...
And the press briefing...

I got it. Thanks, Audrey.

You sound busy.

Bat-shit crazy. Starting a new
campaign never gets easier.

But I always have time for
you. I miss you.

I miss you, too. Can you still
come over next weekend?

God willing.

Nikki?

I, um...

KNOCK ON DOOR

Sorry, sir, but he's not waiting.

You'd better go. We can talk
later. It's fine.

No, no, no. We're talking right
now. OK?

So, what's going on in Brighton?

I'm sure you've seen
some gruesome stuff.

Gruesome body parts, but with the
most amazing tattoos on them.

Don't get me started. Kelly
just got back

from a trip and she got a
tattoo. Can you believe it?

I thought you liked them.
You said you liked mine.

It's not the tattoo, she was always
going to get one,

she just promised she wouldn't do it
till after she graduated college.

Makes me wonder what else
she's getting up to.

Well, if she's anything like I
was at her age, then...

KNOCK ON DOOR

Sir?OK, just send him through.
I'm sorry.

Nikki, I'm so sorry. I have a major
donor who's threatening

to walk out on me if I don't...

OK. Right.

I'll call you later. I love you.

You all right to drive?

You go safe now, yeah?

Now, collapsed sinuses
in the groin.

Pock marks to the lower limb.

Do you see?Mm-hm.

Looks like intravenous drug use at
some point in this man's life.

He was stabbed in the heart.

Upper end of the wound
is 10cm below the clavicle,

6...no, 7cm left of the midline.

Judging from this, the blade
entered the left ventricle

causing a cardiac tamponade.

I can't see any obvious incision or
defence wounds to the forearms.

Maybe he didn't have time
to protect himself.Hmm.

The fatal injury was a vertically
positioned stab wound to the chest.

The track...yeah, appears to
be angled downwards,

angled in towards the midline.

Last night, me and Clarissa found
this place.

We met a tattooist - Bex.

She knows an irezumi artist.
Did you get their name?

His tattooist name is
Carving Butterfly,

but better known as MK.
He doesn't have a real name?

She's gonna call me later.
I'll get someone down there.

Thanks.Uh-huh.

You all ready for this?

No breakfast, and I'm sucking
mints.

I love the smell of festering
rubbish in the morning.

HE CHUCKLES
Very good.

Sir?

Thank you.

HE EXHALES

Here's another one.
Bloodstains?

Blood...or ketchup.

Looks like blood to me.

We'll get it tested, see if it
matches the dead man's.

This is in Church Street.
Hmm.At the far end.

So far, we've got letters addressed
to three houses and two businesses

at the western end
of Church Street.

Clarissa will be thrilled.

We're closer to identifying the
dead body.

Yeah, but mainly because it
was her idea.

Hmm.

Teeth.

Two of them.

In his stomach?
Mm-hm.

Knocked out and swallowed?

I've seen it happen to people
in road traffic collisions,

where their teeth have been
hit so hard...

Could he have been tortured?
The teeth pulled out

and the man then forced to
swallow them?

If this is yakuza related,

torture is their stock-in trade.

Male aged between 30 and 40.

He was in the past
an intravenous drug user.

Anything from Missing
Persons? Not yet.

Did you speak to that tattooist
I told you about?

I've called her,
we're meeting her tomorrow.

We have spoken to a number of other
tattooists, two in London,

one in Bristol and Portsmouth.

Did they recognise any of the
tattoos?

Most of them, like Heisuke,

think they were probably done
in Japan by an irezumi master.

So, with little else to go on,
we have evidence

that the body parts were dumped in

this area of Church Street.
So, the only way

of knowing where they were put
before the bin lorry collected them

is to walk along Church Street
and inspect every single bin.

What exactly will we be looking for?
The head and the hands?

Blood.

Most of the body parts were wrapped
in newspaper and bin liners,

but the average body contains five
litres of blood. You chop one up,

you're going to leave a trace, no
matter how conscientious you are.

Morning.Morning.

Bright and early.Yep.

Sorry to interrupt you there.
I was just wondering

if you'd managed to contact MK yet.

Oh. I thought you'd come
here to see me.

Aye, well, that, too.

I've called him a couple of times,
left messages, but that's MK.

Maybe if I call him.What?
Steal my commission?

I'll tell him you gave me his
number. Scout's honour.

I don't believe that you were
ever in the Scouts.

I'll text you his number.

Great.

Hang on. You're not in the
police, are you?

Do I look like police?

They came round here yesterday
wanting to talk to me,

but me and the police, we don't have
a particularly happy history.

Uh-huh?I used to shout a lot, get
arrested.

I still do sometimes.

OK.

Here you go.

Fantastic. Thanks.

Much appreciated.You sure there's
nothing else I can interest you in?

I mean, I can't do irezumi,

but there's plenty more things I
could offer.

Mmm.

DOGS BARK

MK's phone number.
How did you get that?

I went to that place twice,
and I rang her.

Shall we start?

That's the problem with
cadaver dogs.

They're brilliant,
but they're trained on pork.

These bins must be driving them mad.

Some water?

Thanks.

Thanks for helping out with this.

Checking bins?
Top of my bucket list.

JACK CHUCKLES

Ready?Yeah.

JACK GASPS

FLIES BUZZ

Do you ever think about being a dad?

Yeah, sometimes.

Unlike you, I haven't found anyone

who'll put up with me long enough to
find out.

Is that what you've been
thinking about?

Doesn't everyone
at some point in their life?

Anything?

Not yet.

Well...

..I think he'd be mad to say no.

JACK:Just another 3,000 to go, huh?

SHE GASPS
You've got to stop him!Carola?

What are you doing here?

You're in
hospital, you have sepsis.

Where's Guy? Does he know?
We're trying to contact him.

Guy...He said he was going
back to the boat.

SHE MUTTERS

JACK:Over here.

DOG WHINES

Huh?

This could be blood.
This is blood.

Excuse me.

What are you doing?
Sorry?

You live here?

No, I work at the estate agent's
that rents out these flats.

What's going on?

Who are you people?

Stephen's not here right now.
He owns the flats?

No, we just act as agents.
And you are...?

Andrew. Andrew Dewey.

When will Stephen be back?
I'm not sure.

He's not been in for a couple
of days.

I can give him a call,
if you like.

I'm assuming you've got a record of
who was using the apartments

over the last few weeks.

Yeah. I'll print you a copy.

How do they book?

Mostly online. Some call,
some just walk in. It depends.

And they pay cash or card?

Mostly card or PayPal.

The apartments are owned
by different people.

Hi, Stephen. The police and some
other people in masks

want to talk to you about
the booking last week.

They also want to look at the Church
Street holiday apartments.

Call me.

Do you have keys for all the Church
Street apartments?

I'm not sure I have the authority,

and most of them are occupied right
now. It's a very busy time.

Summertime in Brighton.We're
conducting a murder investigation.

We need those keys.

Who's been murdered?

If you could help us it would be
greatly appreciated. Yeah.

This is a master key -
it opens all the apartments.

Printer's not working, sorry.

According to this, all the
apartments were booked out
last week except number 3.

E-mail me what you've got
there. Here.

- Thanks.
- Sorry, what's happened?

It's just Stephen... As I said,

I've not seen him in a couple
of days.

And that's unusual?

No, he does have to travel for
work sometimes. I just...

When I know anything more, I'll let
you know, and if Stephen calls...

Yeah, I'll tell you.
And get me the names

and contact details
for the last few weeks.

Detective?

Do we know if anyone's in this
one?

KNOCK ON DOOR

Hello?

By the smell of it, someone's been
using a lot of bleach in here.

Yeah. We should find out when the
apartment was last cleaned.

When was this apartment -
number 3 - last occupied?

I'm not sure, the printer's broken.
He's going to send me the list.

He did say that apartment 3
was unoccupied last week.

I'll find out some more.

If this is where the body
was dismembered,

someone must have been in
here for quite some time.

Yes, I'll send you the details.

Can you just give me your
e-mail address?

Thank you. Goodbye.

Sorry. I managed to get
the printer working again.

The list of all the apartments

and who was in them last
week and the week before.

Names, addresses and
payment details.

But no-one
in apartment 3 last week?

Stephen deals mainly with the rental
side of the business,

but it doesn't look like it.

Are you and Stephen the only people
who have access to the flats?

We don't go into them,
we just hand over the keys,

and organise the cleaning and so on.

Is it possible that someone else
could access the apartment?

Not to my knowledge.

The only people I can think of
are the people who own it.

They live in the Algarve.

I can print off their details, if
you like. Thank you.

Do they often come over
and use the apartment?

Not to my knowledge. I'm sure
they would have contacted us

to make sure we didn't rent it
out if they did.

Here you go.Thank you.

And when was apartment 3
last cleaned?

That was empty,
so...five, six days ago?

Has something happened in there?

Have you got a photo of Stephen?

Why?

You said he was missing.

Is Stephen your boyfriend?

We don't live together or anything
like that. We just...

..go out.

Does he have any tattoos?

Tattoos?

No.

No. Does that mean...?

Send me Stephen's photo
and details. We'll be in touch.

NIKKI: Whoever cleaned this place
has done a pretty thorough job.

How tall are you, Detective?
6ft.

Really?

5'11"...with my shoes on.

We estimate the height of the
dead man

to be 5'10", so that should be about
right. Would you mind?

Stand here for me.

Now, it's hard to determine if this
happened in the last few days,

but it appears someone was pushed
violently against this wall.

With enough force
to knock his teeth out?

Mm-hm. Cessation cast-off.
See that?

As the object - in this case,
the man's head -

hits the wall...

..blood is cast off,
causing the fine spatters.

Jack? Detective?

Attacked in the hallway...

..and then dragged into the
bathroom...

..and then cut up in the bath.

Mick?Keryn.

If you're coming to see me,
you can piss off.

I lost my phone.

I knew it was a one-nighter but you
could have at least said goodbye.

I didn't want to wake you.
Bollocks.

Look, you can't tell anyone
I was with you.

No more messages.

I thought you lost your phone.

Just make sure you lose my number.

Yeah?

Possible murder weapons?

Possibly.

Hungry?

I've seen this.
What?

This logo.

It's a pizza place on the front.

A moped.

A moped with this logo on it.

Excuse me...

Excuse me!

He's taking the moped!

He was wearing a black
hoodie, dark trousers...

And the moped - it looked like
it had been in an accident.

Yes, the main light and indicator

were broken, I think there's debris
from it here.

It was reported stolen by the Sea
View pizza restaurant

on Thursday night.Shit!

But if it was the killer,
why risk taking the moped?

Incriminating evidence?
Something in the box maybe.

We need to set up a
door-to-door.

If that moped was involved
in an accident on this street

someone will have seen something,
or at least heard it.

FLIES BUZZ

Jack?

Stop!

Stop the work!

The commercial waste is
collected

depending on the contract
we have with the customer.

Sometimes it's daily,
twice a week, or whatever.

And the bin in Church Street?

That came in this morning and, as I
say, was emptied in that area.

Usually they check the contents of
the bins

before they put them into
the lorry,

but the driver says he didn't
see anything untoward.

Detective Taramelli?

We've found a dismembered hand.

I'm assuming they did this
on purpose -

put most of the body parts in one
bin, the head and the hands...

Hold on...

Is that the head?

The left arm with an irezumi.

But we already have a left
arm...

Detective?

There...

There...

A second dismembered body.

Right, let's get a full team in
here as quickly as we can.

I want this place sealed off and
every part of that body found.

Yes, sir.What can you tell us?
Anything.

We'll find out more when we do the
postmortem back at the Lyell.

What time's Matt calling you?

He said before midnight.

His midnight or your midnight?

That's the problem.

You know what we were
talking about earlier?

Years ago, I was...

..seeing a woman,
I was very close to her,

and she called up,

she asked me if I wanted kids.

I was so surprised.

What, you didn't answer her?

I did, but...

..she heard the silence.

Had she been in the room,
well, who knows?

Might have turned out different.

Know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Yeah.

See you tomorrow.

Yeah.

Thanks.

Ruby.

Ooh, sorry.My bad.

# Testator silens

# Costestes e spiritu

# Silentium. #