Read Online The Hanging Tree by Geraldine Evans - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Geraldine Evans
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once before,' Rafferty reminded him, but he didn't
pursue the point. For the moment, he was prepared to accept what Stubbs told
them. 'Tell me — did you believe Smith was guilty?'
'Damn right I did. He was guilty as hell. Although I was beginning to
have doubts we'd get a conviction as proof rested on the evidence of the
victims and Smith's confession, I had no doubt at all that he raped those young
girls. He even admitted to Thommo and me when we went to see him after the
judge acquitted him, that he'd raped another young girl; an attack we knew
nothing about and which had never even been reported.
'Oh, I know we shouldn't have gone,' he burst out, as he caught
Rafferty's surprised glance. 'Been warned off, hadn't we? But we went just the
same. Smith said he'd picked this other young girl up in broad daylight. Wanted
us to find her so he could apologise for smashing her violin!'
He shrugged. 'I suppose the parents must have thought she would get over
it more quickly without the trauma of a court case. Turns out they were right,
doesn't it? Can't blame 'em, I suppose. Smith's other victims were all very
young, none older than ten, and Alice Massey was only eight. Smith said this
other girl was no older. That was the way he liked them, young and gullible.'
Stubbs rubbed the flat of his hands on the rough material of his
trousers as if he felt he could rub away the stain of his own guilt over the
case. Rafferty got the impression Stubbs found it as hard to forgive himself
for his failure as he found it to forgive Smith for his perversion.
'Even though, in his chambers, the judge accepted Smith's confession as
true, he rejected it as evidence because he thought the prosecution would have
a hard time proving it hadn't been obtained by oppression. Said something about
me and Thommo not saying 'please' and 'thank you' often enough, a la the
decrees of PACE. So, that was that.'
Rafferty understood Stubbs' bitterness only too well. How often had he
himself experienced that hollow feeling of despair nowadays all too familiar to
crime-wearied policemen? It wasn't that he didn't agree with aspects of the
Police and Criminal Evidence Act - he did, many of them were needed, certainly
for first-time offenders. But it was a different matter altogether for
practised criminals. In their case, it made the pursuit of justice more of a
lottery than it should ever be. Naturally, the practised criminals and their
lawyers took such advantage of a legal system so weighed in their favour that,
to the law-abiding public, it seemed the very service set up to prosecute
offenders more often acted as their accomplices.
The trouble, as Rafferty had frequently pointed out when an excess of
Jameson's had made him unwisely vocal on the subject, was that so much of the
legal process and its administration was in the hands of icy-veined
intellectuals, who seemed to think the law was more about arguing legal points
that securing justice.
They were so far removed from the mass of the population in their
thoughts on the subject that they might as well have been visiting Martians for
all the confidence they inspired. And when they were paired with the bleeding
heart social workers who thought Johnny could do no wrong, who would never
accept that Johnny might just naturally be a nasty, evil little bastard, who
liked hurting those weaker than himself, such despair was unsurprising. It's
his lack of education, it's his background, he's from a one-parent family, it's
because he can't get a job, they cried.
Rafferty, with a pretty basic secondary-modern education, and from a
one-parent family himself, knew damn well that often Johnny didn't want a job. Why
should he, he reasoned? He got far more rewards from mugging old ladies or
selling drugs than he'd ever get filling shelves in the local Sainsbury or
working in a Homebase storeroom, which was all his limited education had
equipped him for.
It was no wonder ordinary people, coppers included, raged,
pursue the point. For the moment, he was prepared to accept what Stubbs told
them. 'Tell me — did you believe Smith was guilty?'
'Damn right I did. He was guilty as hell. Although I was beginning to
have doubts we'd get a conviction as proof rested on the evidence of the
victims and Smith's confession, I had no doubt at all that he raped those young
girls. He even admitted to Thommo and me when we went to see him after the
judge acquitted him, that he'd raped another young girl; an attack we knew
nothing about and which had never even been reported.
'Oh, I know we shouldn't have gone,' he burst out, as he caught
Rafferty's surprised glance. 'Been warned off, hadn't we? But we went just the
same. Smith said he'd picked this other young girl up in broad daylight. Wanted
us to find her so he could apologise for smashing her violin!'
He shrugged. 'I suppose the parents must have thought she would get over
it more quickly without the trauma of a court case. Turns out they were right,
doesn't it? Can't blame 'em, I suppose. Smith's other victims were all very
young, none older than ten, and Alice Massey was only eight. Smith said this
other girl was no older. That was the way he liked them, young and gullible.'
Stubbs rubbed the flat of his hands on the rough material of his
trousers as if he felt he could rub away the stain of his own guilt over the
case. Rafferty got the impression Stubbs found it as hard to forgive himself
for his failure as he found it to forgive Smith for his perversion.
'Even though, in his chambers, the judge accepted Smith's confession as
true, he rejected it as evidence because he thought the prosecution would have
a hard time proving it hadn't been obtained by oppression. Said something about
me and Thommo not saying 'please' and 'thank you' often enough, a la the
decrees of PACE. So, that was that.'
Rafferty understood Stubbs' bitterness only too well. How often had he
himself experienced that hollow feeling of despair nowadays all too familiar to
crime-wearied policemen? It wasn't that he didn't agree with aspects of the
Police and Criminal Evidence Act - he did, many of them were needed, certainly
for first-time offenders. But it was a different matter altogether for
practised criminals. In their case, it made the pursuit of justice more of a
lottery than it should ever be. Naturally, the practised criminals and their
lawyers took such advantage of a legal system so weighed in their favour that,
to the law-abiding public, it seemed the very service set up to prosecute
offenders more often acted as their accomplices.
The trouble, as Rafferty had frequently pointed out when an excess of
Jameson's had made him unwisely vocal on the subject, was that so much of the
legal process and its administration was in the hands of icy-veined
intellectuals, who seemed to think the law was more about arguing legal points
that securing justice.
They were so far removed from the mass of the population in their
thoughts on the subject that they might as well have been visiting Martians for
all the confidence they inspired. And when they were paired with the bleeding
heart social workers who thought Johnny could do no wrong, who would never
accept that Johnny might just naturally be a nasty, evil little bastard, who
liked hurting those weaker than himself, such despair was unsurprising. It's
his lack of education, it's his background, he's from a one-parent family, it's
because he can't get a job, they cried.
Rafferty, with a pretty basic secondary-modern education, and from a
one-parent family himself, knew damn well that often Johnny didn't want a job. Why
should he, he reasoned? He got far more rewards from mugging old ladies or
selling drugs than he'd ever get filling shelves in the local Sainsbury or
working in a Homebase storeroom, which was all his limited education had
equipped him for.
It was no wonder ordinary people, coppers included, raged,
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