Ramouter scanned the empty office. It was the first time that he had been alone in the SCU since he’d joined the team almost a week ago. He hadn’t had a chance to breathe.
Ramouter typed the name on Olivier’s visitors’ register into Google. Chance Blaine. Helpfully, the prison had provided a copy of the passport that Blaine had used as ID.
‘That’s odd,’ Ramouter said out loud. Blaine’s passport confirmed that he was twenty-nine years old. A sparkling millennial with no social media presence whatsoever. He didn’t even appear on the electoral register. Ramouter searched Blaine’s information in the Police National Computer. He had previous convictions for possession of cannabis, drunk and disorderly earlier in the year, and perverting the course of justice in January 2015. He lived on Ha-Ha Road in Woolwich. A mere two miles from Belmarsh prison and four miles from where Daniel Kennedy’s body parts were found on the river. Alarm bells rang in Ramouter’s head when he saw that Blaine had an alias. Joseph McGrath.
This was a man with something to hide.
As Ramouter repeated his searches, this time for Joseph McGrath, he didn’t notice Eastwood and Ezra walk into the room.
‘Oi. Ramouter,’ Ezra said, slamming his hands on Ramouter’s shoulders and causing him to jump. ‘While the bosses are away, getting a bollocking, we’ve decided to go to the pub. And you’re buying.’
‘Fuck me,’ Ramouter said, too distracted by what was on his screen to fully register Ezra’s words. Ramouter quickly copied and pasted the link to the article and emailed it to Henley.
NQ SOLICITOR JAILED FOR PERVERTING THE COURSE OF JUSTICE
Farha Winter, 12 June 2018
A newly qualified solicitor of north London firm Osbourne Barrett Solicitors, who was part of the legal team representing the convicted serial killer Peter Olivier, was today sentenced to fourteen months in prison.
Joseph McGrath, 24, from Dalston, London, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice on 22 May 2018. The verdict followed a three-day trial at Southwark Crown Court.
In September 2017, McGrath had contacted members of the jury on the Peter Olivier murder trial and offered them money in return for a not guilty verdict. CCTV footage showed McGrath following a jury member onto a bus as she made her way home. McGrath maintained his innocence and gave evidence that it was a case of mistaken identity.
In her sentencing remarks, Her Honour Judge Henry said the matter, ‘Struck at the very root of our system of justice.’ She added that as a qualified solicitor – albeit an inexperienced one – McGrath must have known that seeking to influence members of a jury was thoroughly inappropriate and showed a blatant disregard for our judicial system. ‘A solicitor must uphold the rule of law and administration of justice. Sadly, in this case, Mr McGrath, you have failed in those duties and the sentence must be one of immediate custody.’
Joseph McGrath has been struck off the roll of solicitors over his conviction and ordered to pay £19,786 in costs.