Silent Witness (1996–…): Season 23, Episode 2 - Deadhead: Part 2 - full transcript

So who is Manfred?

It's a chatroom for people who
struggle with suicidal thoughts.

- How many people are on here?
- It's Rowan Cole.

"I want to knock "myself out
and let my aircraft take me."

- "Do it. Stop hurting."
- "With you."

This is incitement to suicide.

"There was an innocent child.
My doing

You don't know
the half of what I've done.

So who was on it?

Ezra Heller. 11-years-old.
Jonathan Kraft.

Ex US Ambassador Jonathan Kraft?



Matt, can you give me a call?

Jonathan didn't make it.

A couple of pilots.

The captain, Alex Vitarnen,
and Rowan Cole, a non-flying pilot.

Rowan Cole was seeing
a psychotherapist.

Did he express suicidal thoughts?

Not to me.

Peter Sachs.

Shot himself through
the roof of his mouth.

Desperate men looking
for someone to trust

and he's preying on them.

I haven't been completely
honest with you.

Matt?

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
Sync by Marocas62



SILENT WITNESS
Season 23 - Episode 02

"Deadhead"
Part 1 of 2

The last moments that
plane was in the air,

it was trying to pull up. Which is
why the tail hit the ground first?

- Right.
- So, what?

Did Alex come around
and find the plane in a steep dive?

He was fighting to save
the people on board?

Nikki,
you with me here or what?

- Can I catch you up?
- Yeah.

Hi, this is Matt.

I can't get to the phone.
Please leave a message.

Well, everything's been
catalogued and laid out,

so it's up to you what you
want to see first.

- Great.
- Sorry.

So what does the flight data
recorder tell us?

The FDR will give us stuff like the
heading direction of the aircraft,

airspeed, altitude, et cetera.

But it's not going to tell us
who was flying the plane?

No. It won't tell us whose
hands were on the controls,

just that the inputs were
being made.

The plane was in a dive,

then it levelled out,
then dived again.

Am I right in thinking that the nose
came up just before impact?

- Yes.
- And that wasn't the autopilot?

No, it wasn't engaged.

OK. So the two
steering yokes.

They move in unison.

Though the FDR can record
that the plane

was being moved or
put into a dive,

it won't be able to tell you
which yoke, which pilot, did that.

But you got fingerprints
from both, right?

Yes. Extensive patterning on Alex's.
Less so Cole's.

Cole shouldn't be flying at all. He
wasn't rostered to fly this trip.

He was just a pilot
hitching a lift home.

- Can we see the steering yokes?
- Sure.

- Which one had Cole's prints on it?
- This one.

We're looking for blood.

Cole had lacerations
on the palms of his hands.

Yeah, there's handprints.

Where most of the blood is,

it's where his hands would've
been if he was flying the plane.

See here,
these tears on his palms?

Right.

X-rays confirm fractures
of the thumbs and both wrists.

It's more than straightforward
impact damage though.

The way they're broken suggests
specifically that his thumb

and fingers were firmly closed
around something on impact.

Holding on to something
like a steering column?

More than holding on.

Fighting with it.
Pulling back hard.

Like maybe when you put
the plane into a hard dive

then changed your mind
at the last minute?

So, are we saying he was
definitely flying the plane?

I can't confirm that,
absolutely, but...

but his injuries may be
consistent with it, yes.

The aircraft's descending
at six thousand feet per minute.

But at fifteen hundred feet,

whoever is flying
the plane panics

and tries to pull up.

But too late to save the aircraft.

And 15 seconds later,

the tail and rear fuselage
hit the ground.

Immediately after that the rest
of the aircraft hits the ground.

The cockpit
and central section break away

and the fuel tanks
in the wings ignite

and the passenger cabin
bursts in to flames.

This is all borne out
by the Flight Data Recorder.

So, Rowan Cole.

What were his movements
before boarding the flight?

- Did you manage to...
- Yes.

He flew out of the UK the day
before to pilot an empty aircraft

from Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam,
to Dubai.

But the job was cancelled.
The client changed their mind.

So he hitches a ride back to the
UK on Juno 537.

When did he know he'd
be on that flight, then?

Just a couple of hours beforehand.

It couldn't have been his intention
to target Kraft then, could it?

So it's pilot suicide?

A few people on the chatroom

are using a Virtual
Private Network.

Which is what, some sort of device
to hide your identity?

Normally your internet
service provider

gives you an IP address

that we can trace you to
or ID you that way.

You paid for it, so you'll have
given them your info or whatever.

- Yeah.
- If you're using a VPN,

it takes you to a remote server,
usually in another country.

- What, and that's it?
- Yeah. In effect, that's who you are.

The server.
No name, no address,

no payment details, nothing.

This guy, Manfred.

He's using multiple VPNs.

If I trace him to a server, well,
there's another and another and another.

- So he's untraceable?
- Pretty much.

But here's the interesting thing.

I traced this user to his ISP.

The police got a warrant

for LoneRangerUK78's
payment details.

He's your guy.

Peter Sachs.

We've got more from
Cole's smartphone.

He's been communicating
privately with Manfred

on a secure messaging app.

The messages were encrypted, but...

This is how it looks
after we got access.

These are from a user
called Ridley33.

- Ridley meaning Rowan Cole?
- Yes.

He's at Schiphol in Holland

panicking because his
flight's been cancelled.

The Dubai flight presumably?

"Schiphol cancelled,

"back to UK with one crew,
three cabin, and me, deadhead."

"Need to take my life so bad now."

He's going to be on a flight
with other people,

but he still wants to bring it down.

So he's got a dilemma.

He wants to die now, but that
involves killing other people.

Manfred tells him to do it anyway.

Manfred killed them.

By incitement.
By inciting Rowan Cole.

So who else is he
private messaging?

All the people on that chatroom
are potentially at risk.

Ezra Heller, the boy on the plane.

He's conscious.

- Help!
- Dad!

J0rdy6699: "I feel so bad"

Lew1s_R8: "No point.
What's done is done."

J0rdy6699: "I don'tknow"

J0rdy6699: "Decided.
Whatever comes after it"

J0rdy6699: "=Better"

J0rdy6699: "What I've done.
Shameful."

J0rdy6699: "Soon?"

J0rdy6699: "I'm ready."

Lew1s_R8: "Are you sure?
Please be sur.

J0rdy6699: "Yes"

Ezra.

Was this your seat?
Here by the window?

But you didn't stay
in your seat, did you?

The other guy took me.

- To the flight deck?
- To meet the captain.

And then you went back to your seat?

And while you were
on the flight deck,

did you see him do anything,
the other pilot?

- That's enough now.
- He texted.

Just a minute, please.

He texted?

And you saw that clearly,
did you, Ezra?

Did you see who he texted?

Did they have a name?

- No.
- No. OK.

Well done, Ezra.

Thanks for that.

How's he doing?

It's watch and wait.

Right.

It's so tough for you.

Telling him
about his mum as well.

I'm sorry, I didn't...

He doesn't know.

I can't tell him.

No, text.

Yeah, definitely text.

Here's Jack. I'm just going
to put us on speaker phone.

I've not started to try
and recover texts, yet.

Everything was deleted.

Just a sec.

Hi, Clarissa.

There's a list of numbers
Rowan Cole called and texted,

but no content yet,
not from the texts.

It's in a file called RCTXT.

Yep, I've found it.

Well, the last text he sent
was at 05:34?m

to 077

00900475.

So, 12 minutes or so
before the plane went down.

We're just looking that number up.

The last person he contacted
was a John Stanley.

His psychotherapist.

OK.
I'll get a warrant.

So, when we spoke previously, why
did you withhold that information?

Why didn't you tell me that
he'd texted you from the aircraft?

You must have realised it was
relevant to our enquiries?

How is it relevant
who he texted?

I didn't tell you about it because
I didn't think it was important.

If it is.

And I didn't reply to it,
so it wasn't a conversation.

Rowan was searching
for direction in his life.

Answers to things that had
happened to him in the past.

Childhood events he'd not been
able to come to terms with.

He'd never been taught
how to love freely.

His parents were damaged people.

And he couldn't accept
that he was capable of being loved.

Or that he could love in return.

He didn't trust anyone.
Me included.

And progress was...

limited,
at best.

I don't remember asking
for an analysis of his psyche.

- I'm sorry?
- That's because I didn't.

Why did he text you?

To thank me for our work together

and to tell me he wouldn't
be around for a while.

- That all?
- Yes.

So why delete it
from your phone?

I do that regularly.
I delete old texts.

See,
I don't get why

he would text you

at that moment

just before the plane came
down to tell you that?

- Neither do I.
- What was so important?

I didn't even know
he was on a plane.

I didn't realise that at the time.

But you did after it came down?
You must have known then.

His name was among the dead.
It was across the press.

And yet when we spoke,
you made a decision

- not to mention something that you...
- I was shocked.

- You were shocked?
- Yes.

And ashamed.

With hindsight,
I...

..think perhaps he
got in touch with me

because he wanted my help.

And what did I do?

Nothing.

I didn't pick up on his desperation.

My fault.

Absolutely.
The whole thing. My fault.

So you told me nothing
because you felt guilty?

- Howdy.
- Hello. I've sent you a pic.

It's a wee bit of foil that pops out

when you push a tablet through
the blister pack, you know.

Yeah, I've got it.

You'll be delighted to know
it's from an Alprazolam pack.

Fantastic.

You think it's a good thing
he killed himself?

Are you being rhetorical or are you
actually asking me a question now?

People struggle.

And people recover.

You prey on them

- when they're at their most vulnerable.
- No!

My practice is founded on the
principles of self-determination.

I try and help people
to take responsibility

for who they are and how they act.

Who...

..is Manfred?

Are you Manfred, Mr Stanley?

Hiya. Jack has found evidence of
Alprazolam at Stanley's apartment.

But he was prescribed it
some years ago for insomnia.

- So he has it legitimately?
- Yeah.

And the prescription hasn't
been renewed in over five years.

It's a fairly common drug.

And Jack hasn't found anything else.

There's nothing to link Stanley
to Peter Sachs

and there's no evidence
on his computer

that he was on that chatroom.

Jack's going to take away
his computer

- and look more deeply, but...
- It's not enough.

We'll have to let him go.
We'll keep an eye on him.

Thanks.

OK,
that's all booked in for you.

Would you like
to add breakfast?

I'll just take the room
for the night if that's all right.

- No problem.
- Thanks.

And I'll pay cash.

This is Kyle.
Leave a message.

Ella?

Ella?

Help!

Dad!

J0rdy6699: "Pills?"

Lew1s_R8: "J0rdy6699,
can I join you?

J0rdy6699: "Yes"

Lew1s_R8: "Do it together?"

Manfred068: "Kind offerr."

Jack.

Manfred's online.

What have we got?

Look.

J0rdy6699: "So can you get me them?"

Mandfred068: "On my way"

- DI Rosen.
- It's Clarissa Mullery.

I don't know if your people
have flagged it,

but there's been
activity online.

Manfred's on the move.

Thanks.
Yeah, we've got him.

All units from DI Rosen,
suspect is on move.

turning right into Thornton Rise.

Suspect is turning right
into Cerrington Road.

He's messaging again.
Live.

What's he doing? Typing and driving?

This guy's got serious pretensions.

Another message from Manfred.

"Mohammed's coming to the mountain.
Stay calm.

"Won't be long now.
Will leave it for you."

- How's he doing that?
- Voice command.

- Auto-dictation.
- He must have his phone on him.

He must be messaging
that guy right now.

Let's grab him.

All units.
He's turning.

He's going back the way we came.
Up Thornton Rise.

All units, suspect is on
Thornton Rise.

He's heading home.

Get out of the car.

- What did I do?
- Stand over there.

Raise your arms.

Where were you going, Mr Stanley?

I was heading into town until
I realised I'd forgotten my phone.

Just stay there.

- Anything?
- Car's clean, Guv.

It's not him, is it?

He's not our man.

Kyle?

She's OK.

Where are you?

I'm sorry.

I shouldn't have said what I did.

If you've taken her
to punish me...

No, no.

That plane.

Something I said online
made it happen.

So...
I've got somebody helping me.

It's going to be OK.

We're going to be with Tommy soon.

I love you.

Kyle?!

Emergency services operator.
Which service do you require?

Police, please.

Connecting you now.

- Hi.
- Hello, sir.

I think someone may have
left something for me here.

Room 1020.

OK.
One second.

- There you go.
- Thanks.

What's your mum going to say?

Do you think you could do it,
Holly?

I think you can.

- Help!
- Dad!

Did Kyle talk about
wanting to end his life?

We both did at the beginning.

At the beginning?

Yeah.

September last year.

Can you tell me about that?

We had a son as well as a daughter.

Tommy.

He was five years old.

Kyle took them out for the day.

I was working.

He was playing with Ella...

..and there was a lake.

When he realised...

..Tommy was face down in the water.

I'm so sorry, Kate.

And Kyle blames himself?

It was him.

It was his fault.

Sorry.

What's happening, Matt?

I don't know.
I...

..I was about to board my flight,
and I thought,

"What are you doing?
"Why am I going?"

Maybe it's all this stuff
with Jonathan's death has...

..reminded me of...

of losing my brother Dan.

I mean...

..was there something I could
have done to save them?

There is nothing in the world you
could have done to save Jonathan.

Dan, then.

I mean, maybe if I was there,

I would have made sure that
he didn't swim out so far or...

..or something.
I don't...

Look, I understand
that's how it might feel,

but you can't spend a lifetime
blaming yourself.

Yeah, but you don't understand
how I feel, do you?

Because it didn't happen to you.

I don't know what to say.

I don't know what to do
to make it better.

I know people you can talk to.

This is what we know so far.

Her husband called her.

She thinks he's suicidal.

She mentioned Juno 357
to the attending officers,

so obviously they flagged
that up to us.

- Mentioned what?
- That Kyle was responsible,

that he posted something online
that encouraged the pilot.

I was told he'd left
his smartphone behind.

Yeah.
That's it.

He...
probably didn't want it traced.

Wiped his browser history.

There's an app here.

It's the same app Manfred
uses for personal messaging.

- I'm going to crack on with this.
- Yeah, I'II...

Sorry about that.

Does the name Manfred
mean anything to you?

Or Jordy...or Lewis?

Does that sound familiar?

You're doing great, Kate.

What do you think
he's thinking right now?

In Kyle's head...

..Tommy's in another place.

He said before,
when it was bad,

he wanted us all to be
there together.

It wasn't like a rational thing.

It was a reaction.

I wouldn't, obviously,

but Ella...

So Kyle's logic

is that he wants to...

reunite himself and
Ella with Tommy?

Is that what you're saying?

OK.

Kate, be back in a minute,
all right?

He's been back online.

Direct messages.

Calls himself Jordy6699.

Messaging Manfred?

Jordy's expecting something
to be delivered,

and Manfred says he'll leave
it for him somewhere.

Pills.

He asked them for them
in the chatroom.

So why's he got his daughter
with him?

Lew1s_R8: "J0rdy6699,
going to ask again,"

Lew1s_R8:
"Can we do it together?"

Lew1s_R8: "Real offer."

J0rdy6699: "Yes."

Lew1s_R8:
"Meet somewhere special for you?"

J0rdy6699: "Yes."

Got you, J0rdy6699.

Kyle Cunningham's room, please.

OK, thanks.
With me.

Go on.
Check the room.

We had fun, didn't we?

You know I love you, right?

I love you, too, Dad.

All right.
Take your stuff.

You've got to go home now.

I said you got to go.

We've got a match.

Fingerprints on the box of tablets

match an unidentified profile

found at Peter Sachs' house.

You didn't go to the scene,
the Peter Sachs scene, did you?

- No. Shall we take a look?
- Yeah.

Yeah.

- This is where he shot himself?
- Yeah.

So if someone was with him,

they'd come in through
the main garage doors here.

- This door into the house, maybe.
- OK.

Where does this go?

I've got blood here.

These are from Peter Sachs' house.

These are from the crash site.

Same boot tread?

Same boot tread.

So possibly the same person
at both scenes.

We've got someone with Peter Sachs
around the time he killed himself,

we think, and the same person
visiting the crash site,

visiting Rowan Cole.

Are we saying we have
Manfred's fingerprints here?

Yep, and likely his
footwear marks, too.

We just don't have a name.

I've got a lead on the gun, too.

From the serial number
you recovered,

it's registered to

Gregory Anthony Bell.

Died a couple of years ago.

Ex-parachute regiment.

Must be an old service weapon.

- Probably kept it after
he was discharged.
- Or sold it.

Somebody did after his death.

Cause of death -

suicide.

Can I just...?

He's got a son.

POLICE! POLICE! POLICE!

Police! Police!

Hello?

- Hello.
- I've unravelled the VPNs

and traced Manfred and
Lew1s' IP addresses.

They're the same.

- They're the same?
- Yes.

You mean they're the same person?

Yes. Lew1s_R8 is another
online ID for the same guy,

for James Bell.

Son of Gregory Bell,
the gun owner.

Right.

Be careful, Jack.

- Anything?
- Not yet, guv.

Right.

This looks interesting.

- You want me to get the enforcer?
- Nah.

Prefer a lighter touch.

- OK.
- OK, let's see what we've got here.

Trophies.

Peter Sachs' wedding
ring maybe? Huh.

A tie pin.

Rowan Coles'?

Maybe James Bell went out to the
site, took a trophy from Rowan Cole.

Did he track the flight?

Maybe he knew in advance

roughly where Cole was going
to bring it down. One or the other.

Juno Airlines.

Damage likely from the crash.

These were from James Bell's place.

- Clean?
- Yeah.

Blood.

Lots of tiny spots.

We need to send this off
for DNA profiling straight away.

Lewis?

Yeah.

I hoped you'd say yes
to me being here with you.

Come on.

Let's go.

It's hard to leave.

Even when you really want to.

That instinct.

It's so strong.

DI Rosen.

Where?

OK.

ANPR's picked up
Kyle Cunningham's van.

- Where?
- Heading west out of London on the A4.

I told him to do it.

It was my fault.

I'm responsible for the death
of innocent people.

The people on that plane.

Tommy.

I don't set out to harm people,
but it's like...

..my presence, my energy, it's...

Better not here.

Yeah.

Better not here.

I feel the same.

That's the last sighting of him?

- Yeah.
- So where's he going?

What did Jim Bell
say online to Kyle -

you know, about where to meet?

"Somewhere special for you."

His son drowned.

Where?
Where did that happen?

We never talk about Tommy any more.

I can't remember his face.

Dad!

Help!

Help!

I love you, Dad.

Dad!

When are we going home?

I love you, Dad.

Kyle?

Kyle?

Kyle?

Can you hear me?

Kyle.

Jim Bell.

I think you might be looking for me.

Just need this, please.

I don't pretend to know
if there's an afterlife.

Of course I don't.

I don't preach religious dogma.

But I've been on the cusp
of life and death.

I've seen it.

I watched my father suffer.

I held his hand.

Tell me about the chatroom.

If you read my posts,

you'll see they're mainly
about the sanctity of life.

The joy of it.

And encouraging desperate men
to take their own lives.

You had a message exchange
with Rowan Cole

when he was at Schiphol Airport
in Amsterdam.

Did I?

He messaged you

to say that he was being
put on an alternative flight

but that he still needed
to take his own life,

and you replied...

.."Don't hesitate."

Yes, take the flight.
Don't hesitate.

- Come on!
- Don't wait there alone.

Come home.
Get help.

You're saying what you wrote him
is open to interpretation, are you?

When you were arrested,

you were wearing Kyle Cunningham's
wedding ring.

Why was that?

He gave it to me to give
to his wife.

So you had arranged to meet, then?

In a way, yeah.

He'd hinted previously
that he would go there,

and I went to try and find him.

And when you found him,
you just, what, walked away?

I believe people have the right
to self-determination.

- People in distress?
- Yes.

People who might be mentally ill?

People who could be helped?

- Kyle Cunningham wanted to live.
- No.

No. He crawled out of that
place on his hands and knees.

He's in A&E now.

He told me he wanted to die.

No.
You told him that.

He reached out for help, and
you told him to take his own life.

Why would you do that?

Because you like the feeling
of power it gives you?

People have the right to choose.

Like your father?

He chose what he wanted
for himself, did he,

when he took his own life?

Or did you choose that for him?

Tell me about Peter Sachs'
wedding ring.

He gave it to me, like Kyle did.

Also to pass on to his wife?

No, for myself,

as a gift for trying to help.

His wedding ring.

His marriage meant
nothing to him.

It was a token.

We all know what this is, Jim.

These are killings, pure and simple.

A kind of murder by proxy.

You get to kill all these people

without actually having
to lay a hand on them.

You just encourage them
to do it to themselves,

and then you take a token
to remember them by

and to remind yourself
of how powerful you are.

- How clever.
- No.

They were all desperate men
in their own different ways.

I just tried to help.
That's all I did.

Is that how it began...

..with your father -

helping to end his suffering?

But it felt good, right?

And all of a sudden,

there you are

with all this power.

So we've got enough to charge him
with assisting a suicide,

certainly for Kyle Cunningham,

but we can't prove any more
than that, can we?

This is Peter Sachs'
wedding ring that

Bell says he gave to him.
Want to take a look?

- You see it?
- Sure.

It's a small amount
of gunshot residue.

Which means the ring
was removed from the hand

after the gun had been fired.

After?

Which in turn proves it wasn't
given to Bell by Peter Sachs.

Sachs was already dead
when Bell took it.

So you're saying

James Bell was actually
with Peter Sachs

- when he shot himself?
- More than that. My turn.

James Bell's clothing.

So this is the shirt
we found at his house.

DNA confirms it is
Peter Sachs' blood.

When a gun is fired at someone
from close range,

you can get a fine mist of blood
spraying back from the entry wound.

- OK.
- Peter's hand

showed a minimal amount of this.

James Bell's shirt sleeve,

covered in it.

Obviously, we can't say
exactly what happened.

Perhaps Peter Sachs
changed his mind, but...

James Bell pulled the trigger.

James Bell,

I am charging you with
the murder of Peter Sachs

and the manslaughter of
Alex Vitarnen, Jonathan Kraft

and Miriam Heller,

and, under Section Two
of the Suicide Act,

encouraging or assisting
the suicide of Rowan Cole

and your father
Gregory Anthony Bell.

Hey. Hey, mate.

You want anything?
What can I get you?

Are you ever going
to tell me about Mum?

I'm just waiting for Nikki.

- Sure.
- How's it going?

Good.
You?

Yeah.

Sorry to hear about your friend.

Nikki told me you worked together.

Yeah, he was a good guy.

He was working with Syrian refugees.

Kind of my area.

I was in Damascus
for a couple of years.

At the conference in Amsterdam,

he had asked me to go
along as an advisor.

- OK.
- And I said yes,

but then I pulled out...

..so I could spend time
with Nikki.

You telling me you should
have been on the plane?

I haven't told Nikki yet.

Hi.

I wasn't expecting you.

I'm going to leave you guys to it.
I've left something in here.

- Good to see you.
- Yeah.

Hi.

Hi.

- Nikki Alexander, pathologist.
- Jack Hodgson, forensics.

There are strong indicators

that the body discovered
this morning is Jason.

So when you going to pick
Malcolm Wilde up?

I've swabbed for DNA.
We'll see what comes back.

How'd you come by those
scratches on your neck?

Despite what people want to believe,

the person responsible's
unlikely to be an outsider.

Do you see a freezer big enough
to store a body?

We're talking about
the reputation

of an assistant commissioner

widely tipped for the top job.

It's not my fault
you're desperate
and he's not cracking!

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