The news filtered back to Marsh Lane. Blue paint stains on clothes, possible blood stains on shoes, bizarre comments from the boys … Jim Fitzsimmons began to think it looked good. He had to caution himself. Snowdrop Street had looked good, too.
Here at the heart of the inquiry, the mood was becoming electric. Tired people, depleted of energy, with little more than adrenalin to keep them going, wondered if this was the last stretch. They were anxious to get the interviews started, but didn’t want to trip up in the rush. There were so many things to consider.
The station was awash with senior officers. The Chief Constable, Jim Sharpies, had come down from headquarters with Pauline Clare, the Assistant Chief Constable in charge of Crime, and George Bundred, the chair of the Merseyside Police Authority. They weren’t there to take over, they just wanted to offer some encouragement, and to see for themselves what was happening.
The interview teams had to be selected. They had to be briefed. The interviews could be video recorded, but the only video suites were at outlying stations. Was it better to move the boys and risk unsettling them, or forget the video, and go with conventional sound recording?
There was also the new Downstream Monitoring equipment. A twin cassette recorder, not unlike those fixed in the interview rooms, but portable, and with an additional unit which could be placed in an adjoining room with a speaker or headphones, to enable other officers to eavesdrop on the interviews. It also meant a Pallen typist could transcribe the interviews as they went along. Merseyside had Downstream Monitoring, but it only had one set. It could only be used if the interviews were staggered, one after the other, running the machine back and forth between the two stations where the boys were being held. Also, the machine was already in use elsewhere, and they would have to wait until it became available.
Albert Kirby was keeping an eye and an ear on these discussions, and preparing his own brief for Crimewatch. He still wasn’t sure whether to go. He was due on the four thirty flight from Manchester. He didn’t want to be away overnight. George Bundred stepped in and said the police authority would pick up the bill for the helicopter Mike One to meet Albert outside London after the programme and fly him home. This helped, but it didn’t remove the central dilemma.
It was Jim Sharpies who finally resolved the issue.
‘Are you happy’, he said to Albert Kirby, ‘that these are the right two boys?’
The answer had to be, and was, ‘No sir, I can’t say I’m happy it’s them.’
‘Well, go for it then.’
And Albert went, blazing down the outside lane of the M62 in a marked police car, round the M56 to the airport, where he just made the flight.
At Heathrow, he was met by the Crimewatch researcher, who sat with him in the back of the car, going over notes as they drove through West London to Television Centre. Albert was impressed by the meticulous attention to detail. But the travel and the tension were taking their toll. He was beginning to feel decidedly manky.
Throughout the day, OSD search teams had been back and forth from the three addresses, rummaging for anything that might be significant. They bagged and labelled numerous extra pieces of clothing, and various pairs of shoes and trainers.
At Bobby’s home they found a bamboo cane, a copper cylinder with protruding prongs, two studded leather bracelets, a belt, a Sainsbury’s carrier bag full of cassettes, and a Manchester United tracksuit top. At Jon’s father’s maisonette an officer found a child’s drawing lying in the bottom of a wardrobe. It depicted a scene in the film Halloween. From his mother’s home they took Jon’s Thunderbirds computer game and his sketch pad.
As the OSD searches were finishing, the arresting officers gathered at Marsh Lane for a last briefing before the start of the interviews. Video recording was out, and they could wait no longer for the Downstream Monitoring. In any case, it would be too cumbersome, staggering the interviews for the benefit of the extra equipment.
Jim Fitzsimmons would dearly have liked to have been one of the interviewers. All detectives think they are good at interviewing and Jim was no exception, but he knew it wasn’t his job this time. He would stay at Marsh Lane to act as the coordinator. It would take the pressure off the two teams, and he could feed information from one to the other.
Phil Roberts remained team leader for Bobby’s interviews. He would be accompanied by Bob Jacobs, and there would be two back-up officers in the station for support. Mark Dale would go in with George Scott, and they too would have a back-up team.
There was no question of telling them how to conduct the interviews. They were all trained and experienced, and they knew what was required. But the ages of the boys could not be ignored, and neither could the fact that it seemed as if the whole world was watching. To fuck up now would be catastrophic.
Interviews were about getting to the truth. Sometimes this meant putting people under pressure, pushing them that bit further. You might provoke anger or tears, if that would get an honest response. It was about judgement, and instinctively suiting the approach to the moment.
There could be none of that now. No pushing, no pressure, no ploughing on through a child’s distress. That would be wrong. It could be disastrous. The boys’ lawyers would be there; let them decide. Watch for tiredness, hunger, and keep checking with the lawyers: are they happy to carry on?
Okay, good luck, keep me informed, let’s go.