The tension in the viewing room had slowly begun to ease as they watched Jack quietly and gently guide Amanda through his questions. She spoke about her first meeting with Rodney Middleton, as a twelve-year-old runaway. She wanted to explain how she had never met anyone like Rodney, someone so kind and caring.
‘He offered to help me find someplace to live and I told him I had no money, so he took me back to his flat.’
‘Were there any other girls living there at this time?’ Jack asked.
‘No, he told me he had split up with his girlfriend. He said the sleeping bag was hers and he said she might come back, so because he had this girlfriend it never worried me about being there with him.’
Jack nodded. ‘At what point did Rodney Middleton initiate a sexual relationship with you?’
‘Oh, not until about six months after we met. He said he was concerned about doing it cos I was underage, and he could be arrested. That’s why he used to keep me at home.’
‘Did his girlfriend, the one who owned the sleeping bag, ever return?’
‘No, but I was glad. It was like we was a married couple.’
Amanda explained that he would buy the groceries and do the cooking and cleaning, and would buy DVDs for her to watch, and games to play. She got upset when she recalled the time he started to get a bit nasty with her, locking her in the flat. Then, about eighteen months after she’d moved in, he asked her to go to Euston Station with him.
‘I met Jamail, and we got talking. I said she could come back to the flat with us, like he told me to do. She was very young and a bit daft, and he was all over her, sending out for curry and takeaway food that she liked. But I didn’t like it, and she got right on my nerves. Anyway, he moved her into our bedroom and told me I had to sleep in the little back room. I was really upset and told him I was going to leave. He got very angry and said he was going to get rid of her because she had told him she was pregnant. I didn’t believe it cos she was only my age. Anyway, he give me a bottle of cider and a hamburger and told me to stay in the back room. He got a padlock and locked me in.’
Amanda pointed to Jack.
‘You was right; I did hear some screaming . . . well, a lot of screaming. She left about a day or two later, then he let me out. He gave me some money, and I had to go and take a bag of Jamail’s clothes to the charity dumpster. Then he went and did this attack on the local corner shop owner. It was stupid, cos he was arrested, and it left me on my own. But he called me from prison and told me that I was special. Said he wanted me to stay and wait for him, so I did. Then he was sent to some medical clinic, and I was allowed to go and see him.’
Jack checked through the files. The date Middleton committed his first assault now linked to the murder of Jamail. He’d also underlined the name Heather in connection with the sleeping bag and that they needed to continue to make enquiries about her.
‘Did you not worry that perhaps something had happened to Jamail?’
‘No, she was a pest, I didn’t like her. What she left behind was rubbish, and Rodney told me she was rubbish too. When he come out from the clinic, we had a very nice time together.’
Amanda appeared to be enjoying the fact that she was now the centre of attention. She asked for a fresh bottle of water, flicking her hair from her face. Jack led her back to the next meeting at Euston Station, as she had gone off on a tangent and was telling them about which TV programmes she liked best and how Rodney would record some for her. Amanda spoke about a tall blonde girl they had met, but she hadn’t stayed for long because she had tried to steal something. She couldn’t remember her name but thought she was Scottish. Then she described another girl. Neither had come up on the police radar, but Jack knew there was a considerable amount of DNA that had not yet been matched.
‘Tell me about Trudie,’ Jack said.
‘Well, I told you that we swapped things, like that bracelet, which was not a good deal as the clasp was broken, and I gave her my gold ring. We met her at the station, and she was all over Rodney. I couldn’t believe it; it was like I didn’t exist. It was pretty disgusting because he wanted the three of us to have sex in the same bed, but I refused. He put her into the back room, and she was really nasty, shouting and screaming and telling him she was going to the police. He got very angry and took her out, trying to persuade her to be nice, but she was a real bitch, biting and kicking. The next minute he had her in our bedroom.’
She drank some bottled water, then shrugged.
‘He got rid of her, but he let me out. Gave me money to go and exchange some DVDs and have my hair cut. When I got back, she had gone. He was really angry because she had tried to steal some of the films he had bought. He said I needed to take the bed sheets to the laundromat cos she had stained them. He was washing down the shower and said that he hated the fact that she had used it, cos she had been on her period.’
‘Did she leave her clothes behind?’ Jack asked.
‘Yeah, they were nasty, dirty. I took them to the charity bins. Rodney got mad when I was going to keep a sweater, and I said to him she had my gold ring, but then we made up the bed again, nice fresh clean sheets, and it was all good.’
‘So, didn’t any of the things he asked you to do strike you as suspicious?’
Amanda was getting tired. She yawned, sipping more water.
‘Please answer the question, Amanda.’
‘I had helped wash the shower before, cos it was a new one and he said he wanted to keep it clean, but I didn’t think anything about it.’
‘When did Nadine come to the flat to stay?’
Amanda shrugged and said she couldn’t recall when it was. Rodney was helping her use Snapchat and had bought her the DVD of Frozen.
‘I loved that film – I really loved it – but then she came back with us to the flat and she kept on playing it and singing that song, you know the one, “Let it Go”. I said to her it was my film and she ignored me. Kept on singing that fucking song over and over again. It was driving me mad. Then it happened again, and this time I was really pissed off. I mean, Rodney and I had been really good together, you know, like man and wife. Then he turfs me out of our bedroom into the back room again and she moves in with him.’
‘How long did Nadine stay with you in the flat?’
Amanda pursed her lips.
‘Was it a lengthy period this time, or just a few days?’ Jack asked, trying to keep her on track.
‘They was doing drugs, taking some of his medication, and she was singing at the top of her voice. I got my bag and I said I was moving out. Rodney started to get really upset and came and sat with me in the back room, then he got into me sleeping bag with me. He was trying to make it up to me, bringing me hot chocolate, and promised he would send her packing cos he was tired of her and hated her singing, and . . .’
‘Go on, Amanda,’ Jack said gently.
She lowered her head, and her voice was a hoarse whisper. Jack had to ask her to repeat herself.
‘The screaming happened, like an animal.’
‘Did you think it was Nadine?’
‘No, it was the rats. He had to get rid of the rats in the coal hole and some were caught in traps, and then they scream. I never went in there, cos I was scared of them; some were the size of cats. I got hysterical about them. He give me a sedative from his prescriptions, but they gave me terrible nightmares and sometimes I couldn’t get out of bed in the morning cos my legs were so wobbly. Then there was the smell of the chemicals he’d used to get rid of the rats.’
‘How did he get rid of the bodies?’
There was a flash of panic in Amanda’s eyes, then Jack quickly said. ‘Of the rats, I mean?’
‘Oh, in the wheelie bins. He wrapped them up in plastic and tied them with string.’
‘How big were they?’
Amanda held out her hands about eighteen inches apart. ‘Like I said, some of them was the size of cats.’
‘But you never actually saw one of the rats?’
‘No, I never went in there . . . too creepy.’
‘So, Nadine left. Did she also leave behind some of her belongings?’
‘Yeah, but they weren’t worth keeping.’
‘Were you not surprised that she had left without taking her belongings? I mean, there had now been three different occasions when a girl had come to stay, and then when they left, you took their clothes and shoes and put them into the charity bins.’
‘No, not all of them I didn’t.’
‘We have you on CCTV footage, Amanda, making three trips to the same charity collection bin, but you didn’t find this in anyway suspicious?’
‘No, why should I? I took a lot of his clothes as well, you know, for the poor in Africa.’
‘But you mainly took the girls’ clothes, and you didn’t ever question why they would up and leave without taking their things with them?’
‘Well, I did a bit, but I kept Trudie’s bed socks cos I liked them. The rest I didn’t want, so why not let some poor people have them?’
‘What about toothbrushes and hairbrushes and things like that, did they leave those items behind as well?’
‘Yes, they left them too . . . I tossed them out eventually, into the bins outside the flat.’
‘OK, so you kept Trudie’s socks because you liked them. So how do you explain the fact that they had traces of her blood on the soles?’
‘I dunno, it could have been from the shower . . . I told you we got a new shower and Rodney liked it kept immaculate, scrubbing it with bleach. I might have trodden in it before she left cos he told me she had been on her period; the sheets was stained with it too.’
In the viewing room, Laura sat back in her chair, shaking her head.
‘Can you believe this? She may be on the thick side, but my God she is doing a good job implicating herself. She had to have known what was going on. I think she’s got more intelligence than we have given her credit for.’
Anik agreed, but at least they now had enough to charge Rodney Middleton with three murders.
‘When is he being brought in?’ Laura asked.
‘Soon, and after this it’s going to be very interesting. I don’t think he has a leg to stand on with all the evidence we have against him, and with Amanda Dunn as a prosecution witness he’ll get three separate life sentences, I reckon.’
Finally, Jack asked Amanda about the last time she had seen Nadine and what had happened afterwards.
‘Well, he did it again. Rodney goes out and attacks the fucking Greek shop owner that knows him. They come round to arrest him, and he walks out with the knife he’d used, telling them he’s guilty and he done it.’
‘So, while he was in prison, did you live there alone?’
‘Well, not straightaway. I went and dossed down on the streets for a while, hung out a bit at Euston Station. They got good cafés, and it’s warm there.’
‘So, during this time did you keep in contact with Rodney?’
‘Yeah, every day. He was making calls from the phone at Brixton to keep my spirits up, and he told me that if I needed anything I could call his aunt Joyce.’
‘Did you visit Joyce Miller?’
‘Yeah, but they wasn’t that friendly. Gave me a few quid and told me to go back to Liverpool. But I was never going back there. It got me really angry, that awful big fat woman telling me to get out, that if I knew what was best for me, I would leave. For a while I sort of thought about catching the train; I mean they had been nice to me at that hostel place and I was really angry at him. That’s when I called you, because I was fed up with him and I had no money, but he called me. I never said I talked to you cos it would have made him go ballistic. He told me that he had spoken to Mrs Delaney, the caretaker. She had a spare key so she could let me into the flat.’
Jack nodded. ‘I remember, that’s when you told me about the bracelet, and the ring you gave to Trudie.’
‘Yeah, that’s right. To be honest, I was still pissed off about being left on the streets, but when you offered to pay for the train ticket . . .’
‘Can I just clarify: did you meet me before or after that phone call from Rodney to say that you could collect the spare keys to the flat?’
‘Oh, it was before I think, yeah, cos I should never have told you about the bracelet. But I was still mad that when Trudie left, she took my ring. I never told him about telling you about that either.’
Jack tapped his notebook with the pencil and looked up.
‘Can I just take you back to the evening when Rodney was arrested for the first assault?’
Amanda pulled a face, sighing.
‘Yes, they took him away, arrested him.’
‘So, how long were you with Rodney after he had committed the assault, and before the arrest?’
Amanda shifted in her seat, chewing at her bottom lip. Jack repeated the question before she answered.
‘Few hours.’
‘I see, so in those few hours with Rodney, did he tell you what he had done?’
‘Not really, but he had blood on his shirt cuff. He said it was nothing, though.’
‘What did he tell you to do?’
She was becoming anxious, squirming in her seat, crossing her legs and then uncrossing them.
‘Amanda, you need to answer the question. Rodney had assaulted a man with a knife, someone he knew, as he was a frequent customer in the shop. We know he’s already committed a similar offence in the past and served time for it, so he had to know that it would only be a short while before he was arrested. What did he tell you to do?’
Bukhari put up his hand. ‘You’re coercing my client. She has already made it clear that she was concerned that Mr Middleton had blood on his shirt sleeve.’
‘I am asking what Mr Middleton asked Miss Dunn to do once he was arrested, because he had to know it would only be a matter of time before the police would be round.’
‘I didn’t know what he had done,’ Amanda said firmly.
‘I am only interested in exactly what Mr Middleton discussed with you, because shortly after his arrest, if we are to believe what you have told us, you left the flat and were living on the streets.’
‘I never had a front door key to get back in. But I was hungry so I went out for some food and then I couldn’t get back in,’ she said.
‘So, you left to buy food shortly after Mr Middleton was arrested, taking a holdall with all your belongings? That doesn’t make sense, does it, Amanda?’
Amanda looked to Bukhari, then back to Jack. In her hands she was twisting the paper tissue she had used, tearing small strips from it, in exactly the same nervous way her mother had done when she was talking with Jack.
Jack flicked back and forth through his notes, then looked back up at her.
‘Did you go to speak to Mrs Delaney?’
‘I don’t remember.’
‘We have a statement from Mrs Delaney saying that she saw the arrests from her window. She claims that you came to her front door to tell her that Rodney could not help her husband carry the bins to the pavement, and that they were due for collection early the following morning.’
‘Oh right, yes, he told me to do that. Sorry, I forgot.’
Jack looked over his notes. This was the time when the bins were not collected due to a strike. It must have freaked Rodney out as he obviously expected they would have been collected as usual.
‘What else were you told to do?’
She gave a long sigh and shrugged. ‘Clean up the kitchen and the bathroom.’
‘What about the shower?’
‘Well, yes, as it’s in the bathroom.’
‘So, after his arrests you remained at the flat until the following morning, waiting until one of the tenants helped to carry the bins to the pavement.’
‘I wasn’t waiting just for that. I had to get my head round being on my own.’
‘Then what did you do?’
‘Well, the bins wasn’t picked up. I told him and he went funny, got really angry. But they was only out a couple of extra days before they were collected.’
‘That would mean you stayed at the flat longer than you previously claimed.’
‘Yeah, suppose so. I just forgot.’
‘So what was the next thing you were instructed to do?’
‘I used the hose pipe to clean out the bins after they’d been emptied; that was Rodney’s job, he always did that.’
‘So, he told you to do it for him?’
‘Yes, and I hosed down the courtyard as well.’
‘That was quite a big task, and you just complied with his wishes?’
‘Yes, I did, because sometimes the bins smelt bad. I had helped him before, using bleach.’
Jack glanced at DCI Clarke, then back at Amanda.
‘After the other girls left, was it usual that the bins were very heavy and often had a bad smell?’
Bukhari interrupted again, accusing Jack of trying to bully his client into admitting that she was involved in the disposal of bodies. Jack cut him off.
‘I am simply asking her to describe the contents of the bins. She has admitted to cleaning them with a hose pipe. Bodies decompose quickly, and there would have been residue in the bins. We believe the bodies were dismembered in the coal hole, and the remains possibly washed in the basement flat’s shower, before being deposited in the bins. The reason I’m pressing for Miss Dunn to answer my questions is the fact we know that on this specific date, contrary to expectations, the bins weren’t collected in that area due to a strike. This delay would have resulted in quite a stench.’
Jack glanced at DCI Clarke and tapped the table with his pencil.
‘Have you anything further to say, Miss Dunn, regarding my previous question?’
‘No, I don’t. And for your information, he never told me to leave. I just did that on my own.’
‘When did you last speak to Mr Middleton?’
‘I’m not going to answer that because I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.’
Jack knew she must have been in contact with him recently, probably via one of the carers at the safe house where she had been held after leaving the hospital.
Jack looked at DCI Clarke again, who nodded.
‘Miss Dunn, I believe you haven’t answered all my questions honestly. You will, therefore, be charged as an accessory to the murders of Jamail Brown, Trudie Hudson and Nadine O’Reilly.’
Amanda gave a loud screech and hurled the empty bottle of water at Jack.
*
There was a short delay whilst Amanda Dunn was given her arrest details and told that she would be held in a secure place for protective custody until she was re-questioned prior to her trial. She appeared confused, believing that after the interview she was going to be walking out, then started sobbing loudly.
Jack made his escape and left it to DCI Clarke and Bukhari to explain the proceedings to her. Jack was exhausted. His head throbbed as he hurried to the incident room to collect his briefcase. Anik was also getting ready to leave and looked over at Jack.
‘Well done, very impressive. You made the first big crack in her defences when you brought up that story about you falling over your kid’s toy and the curtain cord. What was that all about?’
‘Oh that, I just made it up. I hope you’re feeling better?’
‘Yeah, a bit. Stomach’s still churning, though, so I might take the day off tomorrow.’
‘Well, you started the ball rolling for me. Good work.’
Jack watched Anik walk out. He was still irritating, but at least he’d made the effort to thank him. He picked up his briefcase as DCI Clarke opened his office door.
‘Jack, a moment. That was impressive, if at times a bit unethical. I have made the decision that you’ll lead the interview with Rodney Middleton on Monday. We all need a break, you more than anyone. It will give us the time to assess Amanda Dunn’s statements and see how we can use them. So, I’m holding back until Monday, which will give you two days off. We can reconvene on Sunday to discuss the Middleton interview. It will also give you the time you need to be ready for him and the formidable Georgina Bamford. You made mincemeat of her prodigy, Mr Bukhari, but she’s far tougher.’
‘Thank you, sir.’
Clarke shook his head. I’ve got to say, Amanda Dunn even had me for a while, believing she was an unwitting pawn in the murders.’
‘Almost had me too, sir. But I always had a gut feeling she was a devious liar.’
‘Well, you get some rest and get ready for Monday. Good work, very impressive.’
Jack walked out and once he was alone in the corridor, all the tension of the last twenty-four hours was suddenly released. He pumped a fist in the air and let out a muted ‘Yes!’
Tired as he was, he couldn’t wait for Monday.