Dougie Judd, the supposed rapist, got off lighter than Barrie. His account of 9 October 1986 matched Barrie’s and, despite some probing here and there from Mr Bennathan, he emerged from that part of his evidence relatively unscathed.
The real focus was always going to be whether or not he raped Nicola on camera, or indeed at all. He accepted that there were fictitious rumours of him having an affair with Marion Stevenson. He knew her for sure, and accepted that he smoked cannabis with her and Russell Bishop from time to time, but that was as far as it went. He remembered exactly what he was doing when he heard that he was supposed to have been filmed abusing Nicola.
On Sunday 13 December 1987, three days after Bishop’s acquittal, he was working in a cafe on Lewes Road when a friend phoned to quiz him about that morning’s News of the World article. It did not take a lot of working out that the lodger referred to in the column was him and Dougie remembered being both shocked and bewildered. Later, Marion Stevenson and Russell’s brother David came into the cafe. David glared at him as they took a seat. Dougie sat down with them and demanded to know if the person Marion was talking about in the newspaper was, indeed, him.
Dougie repeated the conversation for the jury. ‘ “Yes, I thought you knew. I was a hundred per cent sure,” she said. I told her, “You’ve made a big mistake. You want to get your bloody eyes tested.” I would be straight down to the police if I knew anything about a video and the kids.’
Brian Altman asked: ‘Did David Bishop say, “If it’s not you in the video I feel very sorry for you”?’
‘Correct,’ replied Dougie.
‘Did you ever watch any videos while at Barrie Fellows’ house?’
‘No.’
Bennathan focused on the discussion in the cafe more than the footage itself. He was curious why Dougie only told Marion she needed her eyes tested rather than denying it outright. Dougie maintained this was his way of denying what he regarded as an outrageous allegation. The defence barrister said, ‘Did you get mixed up with Barrie Fellows in a bad way? Did you get mixed up with Barrie Fellows and paedophilia?’
‘No.’
‘Did you ever have an improper relationship with Nicola?’
‘No. The first time I heard the story I thought it was a wind-up.’
He described to the court how he had been arrested and interviewed about this back in 2009, as had Barrie, and that the police had found absolutely no evidence to back up the claims. As he had with Barrie, in re-examination, Altman wanted to leave clarity ringing in the jurors’ ears. ‘It is not just you getting mixed up with Barrie Fellows in a bad way and paedophilia. It’s not just an allegation of improper relations with Nicola. The allegation is you were in a video with Nicola either completely naked or semi-naked having sex with Nicola. Is there any truth in it?’
‘There is no truth in it whatsoever. Total lies,’ replied Dougie with a steely gaze and cast-iron certainty.