The Crown began the afternoon with collision investigator Lionel Henbury. Hussain knew that as a trained police officer he was bound to be partisan, hence extreme caution was required, since as an expert witness he was entitled to give opinion evidence.
Once he was sworn, Stapleton began to take him through the gory details of the crash site and then, crucially, the movement of Anderson’s vehicle. ‘How did you ascertain the direction of travel prior to impact, officer?’
‘I was able to look at the track of damage, post impact.’
‘For the ladies and gentleman of the jury, you mean the spread and angle of the debris in relation to the final resting place of the vehicles after the crash?’
‘Yes, that’s right, and I also considered the eyewitness evidence from the written statements of those who saw the vehicle.’
‘Was there any evidence of the defendant’s car taking evasive action prior to impact?’
‘No, all the evidence suggests a gentle drift involving no driver input.’
‘Any skid marks on the road, officer?’
‘None.’
‘Thank you, please wait there.’
Hussain got to his feet. ‘Officer, it’s important to be fair and objective in the presentation of your evidence, isn’t it?’
‘Of course.’
‘Mr Anderson was driving a Volvo that day, wasn’t he?’
‘He was indeed.’
‘That vehicle is fitted with ABS brakes as standard.’
‘I believe so.’
‘You know don’t you, that in vehicles fitted with ABS one doesn’t see skid marks even where there has been hard braking?’
‘That’s correct.’
‘So why didn’t you tell Miss Stapleton that?’
‘She didn’t ask.’
The jury tittered.
Not the great point that Hussain had hoped for and he was still stuck with the drifting. He decided to cut his losses and sit down rather than draw attention to the weaknesses in his case.
Stapleton took the next witness, sleep expert Professor Hawthorn, through his report, emphasising the important areas. Hawthorn was a tall, thin man, approaching the end of a long and distinguished career. His shambolic hair had the freedom of a life spent in academia. His confidence in the box revealed that he had given evidence many times before. Hawthorn was in no doubt that Anderson had fallen asleep at the wheel. As with the last witness, the defence had no expert that could counter his opinions and so Hussain would have to rely on cross-examination alone – at a critical stage of the case.
Stapleton finished in chief by blocking an escape route for the defence: ‘Professor, we know there was a passenger in the vehicle. If the defendant was asleep, wouldn’t she have noticed? Tried to grab the wheel or something? It’s just that we know there was no sudden change to the direction of travel, just the drifting that the jury have heard about.’
‘She may have noticed eventually, prior to the impact, but what many people don’t know is that a reasonable reaction time for a human being is 1.5 seconds. That is the time between the hazard occurring, i.e. noticing the driver is asleep, and actually doing the evasive act such as hand touching steering wheel. It takes time for the brain to decode the information and send a message to the hand. If the vehicle was travelling at sixty miles per hour it covers twenty-seven metres every second.’
‘So,’ Stapleton interrupted, ‘the vehicle could have travelled some forty metres in the wrong lane without time to take any evasive action, even if the passenger was aware of what was happening?’
‘Exactly.’
Satisfied the jury had the point, Stapleton sat down.
Hussain got to his feet. ‘You were instructed by the Crown Prosecution Service to compile a report on this collision, were you not?’
‘Yes, that’s right.’
‘So you knew that a prosecution was being considered?’
‘Yes.’
‘The obvious issue to consider was sleep?’
‘Yes.’
‘If nothing else, because you are an expert on sleep?’
‘Well, yes.’
‘I make no criticism, Professor, but it is a fact then, from the very beginning of your analysis, you were searching for evidence of sleep? Anything that could support that theory?’
‘I can assure you I took an entirely objective view of the evidence.’
‘Of course, but your whole report comes from the perspective of sleep – in other words, can the facts fit sleep?’
‘Well, yes.’
‘What’s your point, Mr Hussain?’ interjected the judge.
Hussain cut to the chase: ‘If you had been asked whether the evidence from the crash was consistent with a seizure, for example, you would have to say yes, wouldn’t you?’
‘I can’t comment on that, I’m an expert on sleep.’
‘But Mr Anderson wasn’t taken from the vehicle asleep, was he?’
‘No, he wasn’t.’
‘You are relying on the movement of the defendant’s vehicle – the arcing or drifting − being consistent with a lack of braking, which you say suggests sleep?’
‘That’s right.’
‘That evidence alone does not distinguish between sleep and any other state of unconsciousness.’
‘Well, no. If there was evidence of a pre-existing medical condition I would have to revise my findings.’
‘Is there any evidence?’ asked the judge, already aware of the answer.
‘No, Your Honour, although there rarely is in these cases.’
‘Are you giving evidence now, Mr Hussain?’
‘No, Your Honour.’ Hussain turned back to the witness. ‘Professor Hawthorn, there is no evidence that Mr Anderson was tired, is there?’
Stapleton cut in: ‘No medical evidence of tiredness.’
The professor followed her lead: ‘There’s no medical evidence of tiredness. One has to look at the surrounding facts, such as the evidence of Sandra Granger.’
‘Yes, thank you, Professor,’ said Hussain, eager to change the subject. ‘And there is evidence that the defendant had a cup of coffee shortly before the crash. Surely that would have prevented sleep?’
‘Well, firstly we don’t know how much he drank. That is critical in answering what effect it would have had. But secondly, and perhaps more importantly, coffee does not act as a stimulant until at least twenty minutes after it’s consumed. We see this a lot after people stop at the services on the motorway due to tiredness, grab a coffee and continue their journey. They then fall asleep a few minutes later.’ Hawthorn was in full flow. ‘The point I make is this – from what I’ve read the defendant consumed the coffee at most, twenty minutes before the crash. Sadly, it didn’t have time to stimulate him.’
‘But do you agree with this proposition, Professor?’ asked Hussain. ‘Because Mr Anderson had just drunk a coffee he would have assumed himself to be awake and fit to drive?’
‘I can’t speculate about that, I’m afraid, but I can say this: if someone falls asleep, there must have been a moment, before sleep occurred, where the driver felt tired and should have pulled over. Sleep doesn’t just happen out of the blue.’
Hussain sat down and instinctively turned to Anderson who gave a nod of appreciation, but both men knew the professor’s last answer had been most unhelpful.
Day one of the trial was over. Hussain hurried off to the robing room to discuss matters with Stapleton for the following day, but not before reaffirming his promise to explain things later.
Anderson and Adey set off on their train journey back to Manchester. The long silences weren’t uncomfortable anymore, almost expected. They both relived the expert evidence in their heads, trying to find answers that weren’t there. Anderson was certain there was so much more to discover. What was it? Would he ever know the truth?
Or was he just going mad?
Adey paid for a cab from Victoria back at the flat.
Anderson stood in Adey’s lounge, staring aimlessly out of the window across Manchester, ignoring the piece of paper stuck on the glass, and its contents. The gentle tapping of Adey’s fingers on her laptop had become such a familiar sound that he hardly noticed anymore.
‘I give up!’ she shouted, slumping back in her chair.
‘What is it?’
‘The ghost of Heena Butt. I’ve searched everywhere. This woman doesn’t exist, not with that date of birth anyway. It’s never happened before. You can always find them somewhere, whether it’s on the electoral role, benefit claims, or even a dating site. With her there’s nothing.’
Anderson joined Adey at the table and tried to come up with new lines of enquiry. ‘OK, so all we know is that she had a library card?’
‘And yes, amazingly she didn’t need any ID to get it. She gave a fake address, I’ve checked it out.’
‘So we know she needed access to books?’
‘Computers more like.’
‘Right, of course,’ acknowledged Anderson.
‘So what else would she definitely need to exist?’
‘A place to sleep,’ Adey replied immediately. She’d obviously spent hours considering these questions. ‘She didn’t own a property but she might have used hotels. It’s impossible to check every hotel and hostel even in Manchester, let alone England. And that’s even if she used the name Butt.’
‘What if she was in Manchester more long-term? She could’ve been renting. It’s very hard to rent anywhere nowadays without ID – all these new money laundering regs.’
‘Maybe,’ nodded Adey. ‘I’ll put it on my list.’ She checked her watch. ‘Come on. Let’s go. He’s had long enough to speak to Safa. I need to know what the hell’s going on.’