Thursday 7 October 1971
Lewis, a retired barrister who was the Old Bailey’s most experienced court clerk, came out into the judicial corridor where he had asked Andrew and Ben to wait.
‘The judge will see you now, gentlemen,’ he said.
They followed him inside.
Conrad Rainer was sitting at his desk. He had put on his wing collar and bands in preparation for court. His tie and street collar lay on the desk next to a cup of coffee which was already cold. There was no sign of any of the case papers and his copy of Archbold was closed. He looked pale, and there were dark rings under his eyes.
‘Counsel in the Lang case to see you, Judge,’ Lewis said, before taking an inconspicuous seat in a chair by the door.
‘Come and have a seat,’ Conrad said. ‘We’re making quite good progress, I think, aren’t we? We’ll finish your client this morning, will we, Schroeder?’
‘I would think so, Judge. I don’t have much more for him – just the event itself on 28 April, which won’t take long. I don’t know how long Pilkington will need with him.’
‘I won’t have all that much, Judge,’ Andrew said. ‘It’s a straightforward issue. I don’t see why we can’t finish with him by lunch.’
Conrad nodded.
‘Good. Then we have your point of evidence, and if I agree to let it in, that will take how long?’
‘It will be very short,’ Ben replied. ‘Half an hour at most, I would have thought.’
‘I’m anxious to conclude this trial tomorrow,’ the judge said. He paused. ‘I have other matters to attend to next week. Pilkington, I would like to get your closing speech in this afternoon, then defence speech and summing-up tomorrow. Any problem with that?’
Andrew looked at Ben. Even with his considerable experience, he was nervous. In the past, while he had sometimes found it necessary to speak directly to a judge in court about the way in which he was conducting a trial, he had never confronted a judge in chambers about whether he was in a fit state to conduct a trial. But there was no turning back now. The Director of Public Prosecutions had given him his support, but Andrew would have to take it from there. The moment had come.
‘I don’t see any problem with the timetable,’ he replied. ‘But, Judge, the reason we’re here is because Schroeder and I are concerned about the way the trial is going.’
Conrad raised his eyebrows.
‘Oh? It seems to be going smoothly enough to me. Of course, I don’t have your experience in criminal cases, so I may be missing something.’
‘Judge, both Schroeder and I have had problems getting your attention in court, when something arises that we need your guidance on. We’ve both had to repeat ourselves. You give the impression of being far away, and not concentrating on the case, and we have noticed that you haven’t been taking notes of the evidence. Frankly, we’re worried. We don’t want to pry, but it has occurred to us that you may still not be feeling well. You did mention before that you weren’t feeling 100 per cent, and from the Bar it does seem that it may be affecting you. If you would like us to apply for a short adjournment, or if we should apply to discharge the jury, we would be grateful if you let us know.’
Andrew glanced quickly at Ben.
‘I agree, Judge,’ he added. ‘Obviously, my man is charged with a very serious offence, and I am anxious that the summing-up should be as complete as possible. Provocation is not the easiest of things to sum up.’
Conrad nodded thoughtfully.
‘I’m not feeling particularly well,’ he replied. ‘I’m not sleeping as well as I should. I’ve… I’ve suffered a… well, a bereavement, you see, and…’
‘Oh God,’ Andrew said at once. ‘Judge, we had no idea. Our condolences, of course.’
‘Of course,’ Ben added. ‘I’m very sorry to hear that, Judge.’
‘There was no way you could have known,’ Conrad said, ‘and I wasn’t going to mention it in open court, for obvious reasons. But you’re quite right to raise it with me. I know I’ve been somewhat preoccupied. But I’m going to finish the trial, and I don’t want to adjourn it.’
There was a silence. Eventually, Conrad smiled.
‘You’re worried that I may not be taking in the evidence?’
‘It is the practice in these courts to take notes,’ Ben replied. ‘No judge can remember all the evidence in a case, especially in circumstances like this, and sometimes the small details turn out to be the most important.’
‘Name me a witness,’ the judge said suddenly.
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Name me a witness.’
Ben looked inquiringly at Andrew.
‘Mrs Pettifer,’ Andrew replied.
Still smiling, Conrad nodded.
‘Right. How’s this? Mrs Pettifer is 67. She lives with her husband Fred, 69, at 36A Alwyne Street N1. They bought the house years ago, it was too big for them once the children were gone, so they divided it into two flats. Having been in the building trade all his life, Fred did the work himself, except for the electricity, because you can’t take chances with that, can you? They live downstairs in 36A. A year or so ago, they leased 36B, the upstairs flat, to Henry and Susan Lang. Mrs Pettifer didn’t really know Henry because he was at work the whole time, but she did get to know Susan because of their chats in the garden with the laundry, and over coffee in her kitchen. She heard some things about their marriage, but very properly, she was not asked what she heard. She babysat for the two girls on Fridays sometimes when the Langs went out to the pub and the Indian. Then Susan started getting dressed up rather smartly, and going out at night by herself two or three times a week, returning home after midnight. Mrs Pettifer heard her high heels on the stairs. Sometimes, she heard the Langs arguing. He would shout at her, and she thought she sometimes heard him hitting her. In February, Susan left without warning, taking the children with her.
‘In a very nicely judged cross-examination, Miss Farrar got her to say that she really couldn’t be sure who hit whom, and that she did smell a pungent odour coming from upstairs, which at the time she thought to be Turkish coffee – not that she has ever tasted Turkish coffee, but still – and which Miss Farrar almost got her to agree might have been the smell of someone smoking cannabis.
‘I could go on…’
Andrew and Ben looked at each other. In his corner, Lewis was chuckling out loud.
‘Not necessary, Judge,’ Andrew replied.
‘I may well need your help with the law on provocation,’ Conrad said. ‘I’ll let you know if I do. Now, shall we get on with it?’
‘How did it go?’ Jess asked, as Ben and Andrew returned to the courtroom, Lewis, still chuckling, behind them. ‘Are we going ahead?’
‘He liked your cross of Mrs Pettifer,’ Ben replied.