thought. More worryingly, however, was that the assistant added that the police had informed their office that images had been found but could offer no further information or advice. At this last piece of information, Jeremy frantically called Hopkins who confirmed that he did indeed have to turn up at the police station to sign a statement for return to bail. He took this opportunity to ask Hopkins about what images were found, insisting that there was nothing on any of the five computers that they had. Hopkins said that he had received a forensic report that said there were ‘images of note that may be of interest to the investigating officer’. Jeremy asked what that meant and Hopkins said that he would not know until he received the full report and the disc of images from his forensic expert. This was an astonishing revelation because he and I knew that there was nothing on any of the computers, at least nothing that he had requested or seen.
Jeremy called me at work in such a state. His voice was high-pitched and he was obviously trying to control his hysteria, his disbelief at what he had been told. Even more frustrating was that his bail had been re-set to 5 July, some ten further agonising weeks later, before he could find out what Hopkins was on about. I was momentarily stunned into silence, confused by this news, and I tried to comfort him but all he could saywas, ‘I haven’t done anything.’ With no answers to be forthcoming until 5 July, it was going to be an even longer painful wait.
Jeremy was furious at what he felt was the inadequate representation by his solicitor and wrote the next day to dismiss him from the case, giving the reasons why.
In my frequent researching of Operation Ore I had come across a law practice that provided some very interesting information on its website about cases that they had worked on regarding this subject. I gave the number to Jeremy and by the end of the day he had instructed a solicitor called David Campbell from Hamiltons Solicitors in London. At least that location was easier to access than the previous one in High Wycombe and Jeremy had arranged a meeting with him on 10 May to go over his case to date once he had received the files from Stephen Bennett. Jeremy felt much better with David Campbell, because it seemed he had found a solicitor that was not just representing him out of duty and business, but appeared sympathetic to his situation. He seemed much more pro-active and the fact that Jeremy could talk to him easily was a comfort. However, this relationship was short lived when, in mid-June, we received the bombshell news that David Campbell had resigned from Hamiltons Solicitors and Jeremy’s file was now in the hands of Angus Hamilton, the company’s owner. Hamilton told Jeremy that even if the ‘images of note’ came to nothing, there was still the case of incitement to purchase illegal images due to Jeremy’s credit card being used to access the Landslide website.
We busied ourselves in our respective jobs, though our social life had taken a definite downturn, with neither of us wishing to mix with friends simply because the effort of putting on a front was too stressful, and even if we did tell them what had happened, would they understand or alienate us? In any case, they would probably ask questions that we didn’t even have the answers for, so we just mixed with immediate family.
Jeremy had recently taken on a part-time bookkeeper called Julie Cullivan to get the books up to date. They had been re-created in a fashion but he was not happy with the result and found it hard to fathom where the business stood. There was still quite a lot of work to do and, despite the odd interference by Gerard, the business did not seem to be doing so badly. Julie worked about four hours a day, three days a week and gave Jeremy the camaraderie he so badly needed to take his mind off the ongoing police case. It seemed that the business was going in the right
Jeremy called me at work in such a state. His voice was high-pitched and he was obviously trying to control his hysteria, his disbelief at what he had been told. Even more frustrating was that his bail had been re-set to 5 July, some ten further agonising weeks later, before he could find out what Hopkins was on about. I was momentarily stunned into silence, confused by this news, and I tried to comfort him but all he could saywas, ‘I haven’t done anything.’ With no answers to be forthcoming until 5 July, it was going to be an even longer painful wait.
Jeremy was furious at what he felt was the inadequate representation by his solicitor and wrote the next day to dismiss him from the case, giving the reasons why.
In my frequent researching of Operation Ore I had come across a law practice that provided some very interesting information on its website about cases that they had worked on regarding this subject. I gave the number to Jeremy and by the end of the day he had instructed a solicitor called David Campbell from Hamiltons Solicitors in London. At least that location was easier to access than the previous one in High Wycombe and Jeremy had arranged a meeting with him on 10 May to go over his case to date once he had received the files from Stephen Bennett. Jeremy felt much better with David Campbell, because it seemed he had found a solicitor that was not just representing him out of duty and business, but appeared sympathetic to his situation. He seemed much more pro-active and the fact that Jeremy could talk to him easily was a comfort. However, this relationship was short lived when, in mid-June, we received the bombshell news that David Campbell had resigned from Hamiltons Solicitors and Jeremy’s file was now in the hands of Angus Hamilton, the company’s owner. Hamilton told Jeremy that even if the ‘images of note’ came to nothing, there was still the case of incitement to purchase illegal images due to Jeremy’s credit card being used to access the Landslide website.
We busied ourselves in our respective jobs, though our social life had taken a definite downturn, with neither of us wishing to mix with friends simply because the effort of putting on a front was too stressful, and even if we did tell them what had happened, would they understand or alienate us? In any case, they would probably ask questions that we didn’t even have the answers for, so we just mixed with immediate family.
Jeremy had recently taken on a part-time bookkeeper called Julie Cullivan to get the books up to date. They had been re-created in a fashion but he was not happy with the result and found it hard to fathom where the business stood. There was still quite a lot of work to do and, despite the odd interference by Gerard, the business did not seem to be doing so badly. Julie worked about four hours a day, three days a week and gave Jeremy the camaraderie he so badly needed to take his mind off the ongoing police case. It seemed that the business was going in the right
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