- 8 months ago
Nancy Church (Pat Heywood), assistant warden for the rehabilitation of ex-alcoholics, she is accused of the murder of Joseph Plowman, one of the residents.
Pat Heywood appeared in many shows, but perhaps most noticeably in shows such as Within These Walls (Remand Wing) and Hammer House of Horror (Rude Awakening). Meg Wynn Owen, here as Celia Plowman, is best known as Hazel Bellamy in "Upstairs, Downstairs".
Prosecuting counsel is played again by William Simons, known perhaps for his appearances in Heartbeat. William Russell (Edward Buckland) starred previously as the companion opposite William Hartnell's Doctor in "Doctor Who". Patrick Barr (Doctor Bardon) also appeared in Doctor Who, in the classic adventure "The Moonbase" opposite Patrick Troughton, but was also known for his film work in "The Dam Busters" and "The Lavender Hill Mob". Ron Pember appeared in most TV series in the 60's and 70's such as the sci-fi show "UFO" and also "Secret Army".
Pat Heywood appeared in many shows, but perhaps most noticeably in shows such as Within These Walls (Remand Wing) and Hammer House of Horror (Rude Awakening). Meg Wynn Owen, here as Celia Plowman, is best known as Hazel Bellamy in "Upstairs, Downstairs".
Prosecuting counsel is played again by William Simons, known perhaps for his appearances in Heartbeat. William Russell (Edward Buckland) starred previously as the companion opposite William Hartnell's Doctor in "Doctor Who". Patrick Barr (Doctor Bardon) also appeared in Doctor Who, in the classic adventure "The Moonbase" opposite Patrick Troughton, but was also known for his film work in "The Dam Busters" and "The Lavender Hill Mob". Ron Pember appeared in most TV series in the 60's and 70's such as the sci-fi show "UFO" and also "Secret Army".
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TVTranscript
00:00:00The 20th and 21st of October, Joseph Ploughman was stabbed in the abdomen with a bread knife.
00:00:10He died the next day in hospital.
00:00:12The incident occurred in the staff kitchen of Valley House Hostel in Fulchester,
00:00:16a rehabilitation centre for ex-alcoholics.
00:00:19Ploughman was one of the residents.
00:00:22Nancy Church, the assistant warden at the hostel, is charged with murdering Ploughman.
00:00:30After you left the hospital, did you go to the Valley House Hostel?
00:00:48I did.
00:00:49Did you see the accused there?
00:00:51Yes, sir.
00:00:52I introduced myself and said,
00:00:54I'm making inquiries about the stabbing of Joseph Ploughman earlier this morning.
00:00:59I cautioned her.
00:01:01Then I said,
00:01:02One of the residents, Miss Newton, says she went in the staff kitchen just after 2am
00:01:06and found Ploughman lying on the floor bleeding from a stomach wound,
00:01:11that you were standing in the middle of the room with a knife in your hand
00:01:14and that no one else was in the room.
00:01:16Is that correct?
00:01:17Did she reply?
00:01:19No, sir, but she nodded.
00:01:21I said,
00:01:21Miss Newton said you kept repeating the word bastard.
00:01:25Why were you saying that?
00:01:26She said,
00:01:28How dare he?
00:01:29He pushed me away.
00:01:30How dare he?
00:01:32He pushed me away.
00:01:34Yes, sir.
00:01:35I then terminated the interview as the accused seemed unable to answer further questions.
00:01:39Did you have a further interview with the accused?
00:01:41Yes, at 6pm on the 21st.
00:01:45I informed her that Ploughman had died of his wound.
00:01:48She said,
00:01:49He was drunk.
00:01:51He burst in and tried to kill me.
00:01:53It wasn't my fault.
00:01:54He fell on the knife.
00:01:56I then cautioned her and charged her.
00:01:57Thank you, Sergeant.
00:02:02Now, when you first interviewed the accused,
00:02:04she was in a somewhat soporific state, was she not?
00:02:08Initially, yes.
00:02:09She was asleep when I arrived.
00:02:11I later ascertained she'd taken three sleeping tablets,
00:02:14two and all, she told me.
00:02:16Her door was locked.
00:02:17I eventually roused her by knocking,
00:02:19but she was in a drug state.
00:02:20Yes, she was also extremely upset.
00:02:23Yes, sir.
00:02:23She was shaking and crying so much,
00:02:25it was hard to understand her.
00:02:27Hard to make out what she was saying?
00:02:29Yes.
00:02:29Yes.
00:02:30Then are you sure that she said,
00:02:32How dare he?
00:02:33He pushed me away.
00:02:35Yes, sir.
00:02:35That is what I understood her to say.
00:02:37Can you say positively that those were her exact words?
00:02:41It is what I thought I understood her to say, my lord,
00:02:44but I couldn't swear to it positively.
00:02:46Yes, I see.
00:02:48Yes, Mr. Honeycomb.
00:02:49Thank you, my lord.
00:02:50I have no further questions.
00:02:52Thank you, Sergeant.
00:02:55Mr. O'Connor,
00:02:56was there any evidence from the post-mortem
00:02:59to indicate whether or not the deceased had been drinking?
00:03:02No, my lord, there was not.
00:03:03I have the Home Office pathologist report here.
00:03:07Ah, yes, you've referred to it already.
00:03:09Which is the relevant section?
00:03:11It's on page two, my lord, the first paragraph.
00:03:14The renal artery had been torn,
00:03:16causing considerable loss of blood.
00:03:18The deceased received transfusions of six pints of blood
00:03:20during surgery.
00:03:21For this reason, it was impossible to ascertain
00:03:23the alcohol content in the blood.
00:03:25Yes, thank you.
00:03:28I call Mrs. Celia Plowman.
00:03:33Mrs. Plowman,
00:03:34you were with your husband on the evening of October the 20th
00:03:38before he was stabbed.
00:03:40Yes.
00:03:41He'd spent the weekend at home in Hampstead.
00:03:43He'd been coming home from the hostel for weekends
00:03:45for, oh, the last two months.
00:03:47What frame of mind was your husband in that evening?
00:03:51He was very happy, cheerful.
00:03:54We'd had a nice weekend together,
00:03:56and of course he was looking forward to coming home permanently.
00:03:59When was that to be, Mrs. Plowman?
00:04:01The next day, the Monday.
00:04:03They were giving a little farewell supper for him at Valley House.
00:04:07I was to come down to Fultchester for it,
00:04:08and we were going home together.
00:04:10You have children, Mrs. Plowman?
00:04:13Yes, two, a girl and a boy, 13 and 10.
00:04:17And what was their attitude to their father coming home to live?
00:04:21Oh, they were very happy about it.
00:04:24Mrs. Plowman,
00:04:25had your husband drunk any alcohol on that day?
00:04:29Of course not.
00:04:30He hadn't touched alcohol for 14 months.
00:04:34That was why he was ready to leave the hostel and come home to live.
00:04:37How long had your husband been resident at Valley House Hostel?
00:04:41Since August 1973.
00:04:44Dr. Barton,
00:04:45the consultant psychiatrist at Breakington Hospital here in Fultchester,
00:04:49referred Joe to the hostel.
00:04:51Joe had been a patient in the alcoholic unit at the hospital for three months.
00:04:55Mrs. Plowman,
00:04:56how long had your husband had a serious drinking problem?
00:05:00About five, six years, I think.
00:05:02Yes, Joe didn't start drinking heavily till 1967.
00:05:07That was when he moved to London from Birmingham.
00:05:09Did he ever attempt to give up drinking?
00:05:11Yes, three times.
00:05:13Did he ever have any medical help?
00:05:16No.
00:05:17Joe wouldn't go to see a doctor
00:05:18because he was afraid he would be told he was an alcoholic.
00:05:22It wasn't until he could finally face that
00:05:24that he could really start to get well, I mean.
00:05:27And when was that?
00:05:29April 1973.
00:05:30Joe lost his job in the February
00:05:33and so he finally went to a doctor.
00:05:35These must have been very difficult years.
00:05:39Yes.
00:05:42Mr...
00:05:42Mr. O'Connor.
00:05:46Mrs. Plowman,
00:05:48Miss Church alleges that on the night of October the 20th,
00:05:52your husband made a violent attack on her.
00:05:54Would such a thing have been typical of him?
00:05:57I mean, had he ever physically attacked you
00:06:01in all the years that he had been drinking?
00:06:03Never.
00:06:05Would you say that he was in any way a violent man?
00:06:08No.
00:06:09Absolutely not.
00:06:10Thank you, Mrs. Plowman.
00:06:15Now, Mrs. Plowman,
00:06:16it's true, isn't it,
00:06:18that just over a year before your husband's death
00:06:20he was involved in an unpleasant incident with the accused?
00:06:25Yes, that's true.
00:06:27Joe got drunk
00:06:29after he'd been living at the hostel for about a month
00:06:31and he went into her room late at night.
00:06:36She said...
00:06:37She seemed to be saying that he'd tried to rape her.
00:06:41You seem to doubt that.
00:06:42Yes, I do.
00:06:44But what did your husband say had happened?
00:06:47Well, he didn't remember.
00:06:48You see, he used to suffer from...
00:06:50They call it alcoholic amnesia,
00:06:53they're sort of blackouts.
00:06:54Afterwards, he never knew what he'd said, done, anything.
00:06:57A sexual attack on the assistant warder,
00:06:59that would be a very serious matter,
00:07:02where the police called in.
00:07:04No, she wouldn't have dared say all that to the police.
00:07:07We raped her.
00:07:08Well, that's what she wished had happened.
00:07:09Mrs. Plowman, that sort of remark
00:07:11has no place whatever in this court.
00:07:14I'm very sorry.
00:07:16Yes, sir.
00:07:18And for such a serious offence,
00:07:20your husband might have been expelled from the hostel.
00:07:22Oh, yes.
00:07:24I think he would have been if it hadn't been for her.
00:07:28You see, when anyone living in the house
00:07:29made a bad slip, like that,
00:07:32the other residents would hold a meeting
00:07:34to decide whether the person should go.
00:07:36She stuck up for him.
00:07:39She said he should stay
00:07:40because she was already in love with him.
00:07:42Did she ever say so to you,
00:07:45that she was in love with him?
00:07:47No.
00:07:48Then, Mrs. Plowman,
00:07:49you mustn't burden the court with such speculations.
00:07:53I'm very sorry.
00:07:54We all understand how very distressing this is for you,
00:07:58but you must confine yourself
00:07:59to what you yourself saw and heard.
00:08:02Yes.
00:08:03I am sorry.
00:08:05Yes, Mr. Hannigan?
00:08:07What was the reason, Mrs. Plowman,
00:08:09for your husband's slip?
00:08:11I mean, why did he get drunk
00:08:12only a month or so
00:08:13after coming to live in the hostel?
00:08:15It was my fault.
00:08:17Oh, really?
00:08:18In what way?
00:08:20It happened on a Friday.
00:08:22Well, I used to visit Joe on Friday evenings.
00:08:25I'd gotten myself a job by then.
00:08:27I was very tired, very depressed,
00:08:30and I felt I couldn't cope with any more of it.
00:08:33So I packed up our things
00:08:34and took the children with me to Ireland to my parents.
00:08:37Did you inform your husband that you were leaving?
00:08:39Oh, yes.
00:08:40I phoned him.
00:08:41I was hysterical.
00:08:44I said I couldn't bear any more of it
00:08:46and that I was leaving him.
00:08:47I didn't let him say anything.
00:08:48I didn't listen.
00:08:49I just said it and hung up on him.
00:08:51But I came back.
00:08:54The next day, after Ted Buckland,
00:08:56the warden of Valley House,
00:08:58telephoned me in Ireland and told me
00:08:59about Joe getting drunk.
00:09:02He asked me to come back
00:09:03just for the day to talk about it.
00:09:07So I did.
00:09:07And really, that was when everything changed.
00:09:12He said it was quite a normal thing to happen.
00:09:16He said that wives of alcoholics
00:09:19who get used to the situation when it's bad
00:09:22become very frightened when their husbands start to get well
00:09:25and they just bolt.
00:09:28He'd talked to me for a long time.
00:09:32Nobody'd seemed to understand so well before
00:09:35what it had meant to me.
00:09:37And he made me understand
00:09:39that it wasn't only Joe who would have to change.
00:09:42He said,
00:09:44there's hardly ever a case in marriage
00:09:46of a victim and a villain.
00:09:49They're usually both a bit of both.
00:09:50talking to him
00:09:53changed my whole attitude.
00:09:55Yes, and from that day
00:09:56you were resolved to
00:09:58save your marriage.
00:10:00Yes.
00:10:01Well, I knew we could manage it.
00:10:03And we would have.
00:10:04Mrs. Plowman, on the evening of the 20th of October
00:10:06you told your husband, did you not,
00:10:08that you changed your mind about his coming home to live.
00:10:11That you decided it wouldn't work.
00:10:13And that you were getting a divorce.
00:10:15No, I did not.
00:10:15And that is why your husband
00:10:17not three hours after leaving you
00:10:19burst in on my client
00:10:21very drunk
00:10:22and in a state of wild rage.
00:10:24That isn't true.
00:10:24I didn't say that to him.
00:10:25Mrs. Plowman, were your children at home
00:10:27on October the 20th?
00:10:28No.
00:10:29No, they'd gone for a week's holiday
00:10:31in Ireland.
00:10:32It was half term.
00:10:33But you've told us that they were
00:10:34eagerly looking forward
00:10:35to their father coming home for good.
00:10:36Oh, yes, they were.
00:10:38Yet they were not to be there when he did.
00:10:40Well, no.
00:10:41Well, I thought,
00:10:42we thought it would be better
00:10:44for Joe to settle in.
00:10:46Mm-hmm.
00:10:46You and your husband had agreed on this plan?
00:10:49Yes.
00:10:50Weren't they disappointed
00:10:51not to be there for the homecoming?
00:10:54No.
00:10:55Well, they didn't know when he was coming back.
00:10:57What, you hadn't told them?
00:10:58No.
00:10:59Well, I,
00:11:00we thought that...
00:11:01You thought it wiser
00:11:02to have a sort of private trial week,
00:11:04in case the project did not succeed?
00:11:07No, it wasn't like that at all.
00:11:09Well, I thought it was just better
00:11:11if we moved gradually.
00:11:12I see.
00:11:14Mrs. Ploughman,
00:11:15can you really tell us here,
00:11:16on oath, in this court,
00:11:17that you never had any doubts at all?
00:11:20Of course I couldn't.
00:11:23Every day I used to wake up
00:11:25wondering if I could be strong enough
00:11:28and if Joe could be.
00:11:30We both knew it was going to be hard.
00:11:33But I never doubted what I wanted.
00:11:35I wanted us all to be together again.
00:11:37But in September 1973,
00:11:39you were not so sure.
00:11:41Not a month
00:11:41after your husband came home,
00:11:44cured from hospital,
00:11:46you abandoned him.
00:11:47No, he wasn't cured.
00:11:49But you can't say that
00:11:50there are cured alcoholics,
00:11:51you say recovered.
00:11:52You see, it means he knew
00:11:53that he could never take
00:11:55another drink in his life.
00:11:56Yes, no doubt, no doubt.
00:11:56Still, after your husband's recovery,
00:12:00you decided to divorce him.
00:12:02I didn't decide to divorce Joe.
00:12:04I got into a state
00:12:05and bolted, as I've said already.
00:12:08What, with no plans at all for divorce?
00:12:10I wasn't thinking ahead.
00:12:11No, Mrs Plowman?
00:12:13Well, why then,
00:12:15on that Friday in September
00:12:16before you left London,
00:12:17did you telephone
00:12:17Messrs. Bendel and Thompson,
00:12:20a firm of estate agents in Hampstead,
00:12:23and inform them
00:12:23that you wished your house number four,
00:12:25Moss Hill, North West 3,
00:12:26to be put up for sale?
00:12:27Yes, I did do that.
00:12:31I have said I was hysterical,
00:12:34and I was.
00:12:35I was in a state
00:12:36of totally rational panic,
00:12:37and I did things
00:12:39in an incredibly fast way,
00:12:41in a kind of mad way
00:12:42that you do.
00:12:42You underestimate yourself,
00:12:44Mrs Plowman.
00:12:45I would not call that irrational.
00:12:48Sell the house,
00:12:49move to a flat with your children,
00:12:51and live off the proceeds.
00:12:52A very prudent move.
00:12:54I tell you,
00:12:54I wasn't making plans.
00:12:55I believe you'd had
00:12:56the deeds of the house
00:12:57put into your name
00:12:58some months earlier.
00:13:00Yes, but Joe knew about it.
00:13:02Well, all this is
00:13:03a little hard to square
00:13:04with a picture
00:13:05that you seem so anxious
00:13:06to paint of yourself.
00:13:08The devoted wife,
00:13:09loyally dedicated
00:13:11in an unswerving fashion
00:13:12to salvaging her marriage.
00:13:14I am not anxious
00:13:16to paint any kind of picture.
00:13:20I'm an ordinary person.
00:13:22I was in a very painful situation.
00:13:24I got muddled and...
00:13:25I'm going to return to the two assaults
00:13:26your husband made on my client.
00:13:27Now, you have categorically denied
00:13:29that your husband
00:13:30was a violent man.
00:13:31That simply is not true,
00:13:33is it, Mrs Plowman?
00:13:35There were frequent scenes
00:13:36of violence in your house
00:13:38and always late at night.
00:13:42You've been getting
00:13:43at my children,
00:13:44haven't you?
00:13:46You've sent someone
00:13:47sneaking over to Ireland
00:13:48to ask my children questions.
00:13:50The CID man promised me
00:13:59that my children
00:14:00would not have to be involved.
00:14:02I've told them
00:14:03that their father is dead.
00:14:05But I said it was an accident.
00:14:07Surely they've got enough to...
00:14:08Mrs Plowman, please.
00:14:09Let me assure you
00:14:10your children have not been approached,
00:14:12nor have they been questioned.
00:14:15Now, did your husband
00:14:16regularly attack you
00:14:17when he was drunk?
00:14:18No.
00:14:20No, it wasn't like that.
00:14:21You make it sound
00:14:22as a joke...
00:14:23No, no, it's you,
00:14:23not I, Mrs Plowman,
00:14:24who make things sound
00:14:25other than they really were.
00:14:27You have testified falsely
00:14:29in this court
00:14:29that your husband
00:14:30was not a violent man
00:14:31and that he never
00:14:32attacked you physically.
00:14:33He wasn't violent.
00:14:34He was drunk on both the nights
00:14:35that he made assaults
00:14:36on Nancy Church.
00:14:37And now you tell us
00:14:38that he used also
00:14:39to attack you late at night
00:14:40when he'd been drinking.
00:14:41I didn't say that.
00:14:42And you assumed
00:14:43that we had got this information
00:14:45from your children.
00:14:46Wait!
00:14:48I knew the children
00:14:53must have heard things.
00:14:56I knew they must
00:14:57have been frightened.
00:14:59But one of the worst things
00:15:00about our lives then
00:15:01was that none of us
00:15:02talked about it.
00:15:04We none of us admitted
00:15:05what was really happening,
00:15:07not even Joe.
00:15:10It was like having a
00:15:11terrible secret
00:15:13that we all knew,
00:15:14but we didn't want to find out
00:15:16if the others knew.
00:15:16Yes.
00:15:17And part of that secret
00:15:19was that your children
00:15:20knew that their father
00:15:22used to attack you
00:15:23late at night.
00:15:23He didn't!
00:15:25Well, I don't follow you,
00:15:26Mrs. Ploughman.
00:15:31It started happening
00:15:32towards the end of 1973.
00:15:37Joe was getting worse
00:15:38all the time.
00:15:38He'd stopped going out
00:15:40drinking every night
00:15:41and he used to sit at home
00:15:42downstairs in the kitchen
00:15:43drinking his way
00:15:44through a whole bottle.
00:15:47It was gin he always drank,
00:15:48not whiskey.
00:15:51Well, then, very late,
00:15:52about two, three in the morning,
00:15:54he'd come upstairs,
00:15:56burst into our room
00:15:57and wake me up.
00:15:58He wanted to talk
00:16:00and I didn't.
00:16:01I used to hate it.
00:16:03I couldn't even bear
00:16:04to look at him
00:16:05when he was like that,
00:16:06but he'd force me to listen
00:16:08when he just wouldn't stop.
00:16:12He'd shout at me,
00:16:14telling me I was evil,
00:16:16that I hated him.
00:16:17He was ranting
00:16:18like a child in a tantrum.
00:16:21And he was so drunk
00:16:22he could hardly stand up.
00:16:24He kept falling down.
00:16:28And he'd cry.
00:16:31He'd always cry.
00:16:34It used to go on for hours.
00:16:38Finally, well,
00:16:40usually he fell asleep
00:16:42on the floor.
00:16:44But he never hit me.
00:16:47He never attacked me.
00:16:50Never?
00:16:52Well, sometimes,
00:16:53sometimes he used to
00:16:54pull me out of bed
00:16:55when I pretended to be asleep.
00:16:58He'd sort of push me
00:17:00around the room.
00:17:01It was to make me listen.
00:17:03He never hurt me.
00:17:06He pulled you out of bed
00:17:07and pushed you
00:17:08around the room.
00:17:10Did he not rather,
00:17:10as he did with Miss Church
00:17:11in 1973,
00:17:13drag you out of bed
00:17:14and violently assault you?
00:17:16No.
00:17:18No?
00:17:19I have no further questions,
00:17:23my lord.
00:17:27Mrs. Ploughman,
00:17:28I know these are
00:17:29very painful memories
00:17:31for you,
00:17:31but I must ask you
00:17:32a few more questions.
00:17:34Tell me,
00:17:35were you ever afraid
00:17:37of your husband
00:17:37during these scenes?
00:17:39No,
00:17:39not afraid.
00:17:41Angry with him.
00:17:43Sometimes I even
00:17:44felt sorry for him.
00:17:44Mostly I,
00:17:47I felt a kind of sad
00:17:48and awful contempt.
00:17:50Did your feelings
00:17:51towards him change
00:17:53during the,
00:17:54his stay
00:17:55at Valley House
00:17:55hostel?
00:17:56I think I got to know him
00:17:59better than I'd ever done
00:18:00and myself too.
00:18:04We used to have a meeting
00:18:05with Ted Buckland
00:18:06every Wednesday night
00:18:07and I began to realize
00:18:10what a good man
00:18:11Joe was basically
00:18:13and brave too.
00:18:18I'd always loved him
00:18:19even when I was
00:18:22hating him most.
00:18:23But I learned
00:18:26how to like him.
00:18:29And,
00:18:29er,
00:18:30on October the 20th,
00:18:31would it be fair
00:18:32to say that you
00:18:33felt you'd come through
00:18:34the long,
00:18:36hard weeks of work
00:18:38and were looking forward
00:18:39to a new life together?
00:18:42Yes.
00:18:44I think that we
00:18:45were both ready
00:18:46to be on our own.
00:18:49Thank you,
00:18:49Mrs. Ploughman.
00:18:51I've no further
00:18:51questions, my lord.
00:18:53Thank you,
00:18:54Mrs. Ploughman.
00:18:58I call
00:18:59Miss Dorothy Newton.
00:19:02How long have you
00:19:03been a resident
00:19:04at the hostel,
00:19:05Miss Newton?
00:19:05Since March,
00:19:061974.
00:19:08Would you tell us
00:19:09what you recall
00:19:09of the night
00:19:10of Joe Ploughman's
00:19:11death, please?
00:19:12Yes.
00:19:14It was just after
00:19:14two in the morning.
00:19:16I heard someone
00:19:17screaming upstairs.
00:19:18I ran up
00:19:19to the staff kitchen.
00:19:21Joe was lying
00:19:22on the floor.
00:19:23His stomach
00:19:23was covered
00:19:24with blood.
00:19:25Nancy was in the
00:19:26middle of the room
00:19:27holding a knife.
00:19:28There was blood
00:19:29all over her coat
00:19:30and skirt.
00:19:31May the witness
00:19:32be shown
00:19:32exhibit one,
00:19:33please.
00:19:37Is this the knife,
00:19:38Miss Newton?
00:19:40Yes.
00:19:41Please go on,
00:19:42Miss Newton.
00:19:43She just stood there
00:19:44staring at him,
00:19:45saying one word
00:19:46over and over again.
00:19:47What was the word?
00:19:50Bastard.
00:19:52Did she say
00:19:52anything else
00:19:53to you at this time?
00:19:54No, nothing.
00:19:55Well, I didn't know
00:19:56what to say myself.
00:19:57It was all so,
00:19:59well,
00:19:59like a nightmare,
00:20:01you know,
00:20:02and I wanted
00:20:03to do something
00:20:04for Joe
00:20:05and I didn't know
00:20:05what to do.
00:20:07I couldn't stop
00:20:08the blood.
00:20:09It must have been
00:20:09extremely distressing
00:20:10for you,
00:20:11Miss Newton.
00:20:11Yes, it was.
00:20:12My heart was beating.
00:20:14It was like thunder
00:20:15in my ears.
00:20:16But, you know,
00:20:18it sounds so silly.
00:20:21The most terrible
00:20:22part about it
00:20:23just then
00:20:23was Nancy
00:20:24saying,
00:20:25using that word.
00:20:27How do you mean,
00:20:28Miss Newton?
00:20:29Nancy always spoke
00:20:30so nicely,
00:20:32prim,
00:20:33like a school teacher.
00:20:34She hated
00:20:35bad language.
00:20:37I do myself.
00:20:38Did you notice
00:20:39anything unusual
00:20:40about the staff
00:20:41kitchen?
00:20:42Yes, there was
00:20:43an empty bottle,
00:20:44a whiskey bottle.
00:20:45No one's allowed
00:20:46to bring alcohol
00:20:47into Valley House.
00:20:49You see much
00:20:49of Miss Church
00:20:50that day?
00:20:51I didn't see her
00:20:52at all until
00:20:52about seven o'clock
00:20:54in the evening
00:20:54when she told me
00:20:56she was popping out
00:20:56to the late chemist.
00:20:58She said she had
00:20:58a bad headache.
00:21:00I heard her come in
00:21:01about half an hour
00:21:02later and go upstairs.
00:21:05I didn't see her
00:21:06again until
00:21:07it happened.
00:21:08To the chemist,
00:21:10something for a headache.
00:21:12Wouldn't the staff
00:21:13have had a medicine cupboard?
00:21:14Oh, yes, they did,
00:21:15upstairs.
00:21:17I never thought
00:21:18of that.
00:21:20What was the accused
00:21:22relationship with
00:21:23Mr. Plowman?
00:21:24Were they friends?
00:21:26Oh, my goodness.
00:21:27Yes, that's one of the
00:21:28things that makes it
00:21:29so dreadful.
00:21:30Nancy was always
00:21:30Joe's champion.
00:21:32It upset some
00:21:33of the others,
00:21:34actually.
00:21:35How do you mean,
00:21:36Miss Newton?
00:21:37Well, it came up
00:21:38a few times
00:21:39at some of the
00:21:40house meetings
00:21:40last summer.
00:21:41We have a meeting
00:21:43every Monday night
00:21:44and everyone's got
00:21:45to attend.
00:21:45It's one of the rules.
00:21:47And you can talk
00:21:48about anything
00:21:49that's bothering you.
00:21:51For instance...
00:21:52What came up,
00:21:52Miss Newton?
00:21:53Oh, about Nancy
00:21:54being too friendly
00:21:55with Joe.
00:21:57Thank you,
00:21:57Miss Newton.
00:22:00Will you stay there,
00:22:02please,
00:22:02Miss Newton?
00:22:03Now,
00:22:06these house meetings,
00:22:08Miss Newton,
00:22:10just as a random sampling,
00:22:12on Monday,
00:22:12February the 11th,
00:22:141974,
00:22:14Mr. Conrad Shepard,
00:22:16a resident,
00:22:16complained that the
00:22:17warden had taken
00:22:17sides against him
00:22:18in a disagreement
00:22:19with another resident.
00:22:21And on Monday,
00:22:21June the 10th,
00:22:22Miss Elsie Hanover,
00:22:23another resident...
00:22:23You've been reading
00:22:24the house log book.
00:22:25No one outside
00:22:26is supposed to see
00:22:27that book.
00:22:27That's one of the rules.
00:22:29Ah, well,
00:22:29when a criminal case
00:22:31is being tried,
00:22:31Miss Newton,
00:22:32I'm afraid,
00:22:32one or two of the rules
00:22:33do get broken.
00:22:35So, as we see,
00:22:36suspicions about
00:22:37favoritism did crop up
00:22:38quite regularly.
00:22:39Now, who was it
00:22:40in particular
00:22:41that made these
00:22:42criticisms
00:22:43regarding Miss Church?
00:22:45It was young
00:22:46A.D. Matthews,
00:22:47mainly.
00:22:47Who was asked
00:22:48by unanimous vote
00:22:49to leave the hostel
00:22:50after two serious slips.
00:22:53Just because she had slips
00:22:54doesn't change her feeling.
00:22:56It doesn't make her ideas
00:22:57any less important
00:22:58than anyone else's.
00:23:00We are not criminals
00:23:01or lunatics,
00:23:02you know.
00:23:03I didn't mean
00:23:03for a moment
00:23:04to suggest such a thing,
00:23:05Miss Newton.
00:23:05I'm very sorry
00:23:06if I gave you
00:23:07that impression.
00:23:08Poor little lady.
00:23:10Only 19
00:23:11and such a pretty girl.
00:23:13So miserable
00:23:14all the time.
00:23:15Yes,
00:23:15and consequently
00:23:16prone to paranoia,
00:23:17hmm?
00:23:18A sense of persecution.
00:23:20I know
00:23:20what paranoia means.
00:23:22Yes,
00:23:23I expect we all
00:23:24suffer from a touch
00:23:24of that at the hostel.
00:23:27Yes.
00:23:29Thank you,
00:23:29Miss Newton.
00:23:32One last question,
00:23:33Miss Newton.
00:23:34Did you like
00:23:35Nancy Church?
00:23:36I had a great respect
00:23:38for her.
00:23:38She was very good
00:23:40at her work.
00:23:40She was ideal
00:23:41for the job.
00:23:42Always very calm.
00:23:44Never got worked up
00:23:45about anything.
00:23:46She...
00:23:46Thank you,
00:23:49Miss Newton.
00:23:50I've no further
00:23:51questions,
00:23:52my lord.
00:23:52Thank you,
00:23:52Miss Newton.
00:23:53Thank you,
00:23:53Miss Newton.
00:23:53Thank you,
00:23:54Miss Newton.
00:23:54Thank you,
00:23:54Miss Newton.
00:23:55Thank you,
00:23:55Miss Newton.
00:23:55Thank you,
00:23:56Miss Newton.
00:23:56I've no further
00:23:56questions,
00:23:56my lord.
00:23:57The case of the Queen against Church will be resumed tomorrow in the Crown Court.
00:24:17In the Crown Court today,
00:24:46Nancy Church,
00:24:47assistant warden of a hostel for ex-alcoholics,
00:24:50is being tried for the murder of Joseph Plowman, a resident of the hostel.
00:24:54The defence claims that Plowman's stabbing was an accident, which occurred when, late at night,
00:24:59he burst into the staff kitchen of the hostel, very drunk, and attacked her.
00:25:03The wife of the deceased has testified that her husband was a sober on that evening and in a happy frame of mind,
00:25:09looking forward to his discharge from the hostel the following day.
00:25:13Another resident of the hostel, Timothy Wilkinson, has just been called to the witness box.
00:25:18Mr. Wilkinson, you were in the hostel on the night of October the 20th?
00:25:22Um, yes, sir, that's all right, sir, I was.
00:25:24Did you see or speak to the deceased, Joseph Plowman, on that night?
00:25:28Yeah, I did, sir.
00:25:30What time was that, Mr. Wilkinson?
00:25:32Well, I wouldn't be able to say it exactly, sir, it was late at night, sir.
00:25:37I'd been asleep, you see, I'd just got up, I went to the lavatory, sir,
00:25:41and I heard the front door go and I heard someone go up the stairs, but, well, I had no way of knowing the time, really,
00:25:47so, you see, I don't wear a watch.
00:25:48Yes, it's enough for us to know that it was very late at night.
00:25:50Where was this lavatory?
00:25:52Er, it's on the ground floor, that one, sir.
00:25:54And it was after you came out of the lavatory that you heard someone coming in?
00:25:58Oh, no, sir, I was still in there, sir.
00:26:00I was, like, finishing, sir, when I heard the door go.
00:26:04Well, I thought to myself, oh, that's Joe.
00:26:06So when I come out, I shout up the stairs, is that you, Joe?
00:26:09And he says, yeah, cheers, Timmy, goodnight.
00:26:11Did he sound himself?
00:26:14I mean, did his voice strike you as being normal?
00:26:17Well, if you mean, was he drunk? No.
00:26:19Wasn't.
00:26:20No, that wasn't my question, Mr Wilkinson, but now you've mentioned it, was it possible
00:26:25that he'd been drinking?
00:26:27No, no, he never had been, sir, no, sir.
00:26:29And his voice sounded quite ordinary to you?
00:26:31Yeah, you know, just normal, sir, it's natural.
00:26:34Is that all you heard him say?
00:26:36Well, no, sir, I was just going back to my bedroom when I heard him call out, yes.
00:26:41Well, I went out in the hall again, sir, I thought he was talking to me.
00:26:44Then I heard her.
00:26:46You heard the accused Nancy Church?
00:26:50Yeah, yeah.
00:26:51And what did you hear her say?
00:26:53She said, will you come up here a minute, Joe?
00:26:55What would you mean by up here?
00:26:58Oh, well, that's the staff flat, sir, it's on the top floor.
00:27:01She'd be calling in from the kitchen.
00:27:03And did you hear Mr Ploughman's response to her request?
00:27:07Oh, yes, sir, he just said, okay, or right old, something like that, sir.
00:27:11Then I heard him go up the stairs and I heard the flat door shut.
00:27:14But she had no right to ask him to go up there and he had no right to go up there when she did.
00:27:17Yes, why did you say that, Mr Wilkinson?
00:27:19Well, residents aren't allowed in a staff flat, sir.
00:27:21It's an house for all.
00:27:23Anyway, he was one of the best friends I ever had.
00:27:27And if he hadn't have gone up there, well, he wouldn't.
00:27:31Yes, try not to upset yourself, Mr Wilkinson.
00:27:34Now, just to recap, the words that you heard Mr Ploughman call down the stairs were-
00:27:39Well, I've already told you what she said, haven't I?
00:27:41Bloody lawyers.
00:27:42I don't think I'm a liar.
00:27:44Well, I don't.
00:27:45I've already told you.
00:27:53You all right, Mr Wilkinson?
00:27:55No, it's all right, I don't worry.
00:27:59Mr Wilkinson, perhaps it would be better for you not to continue now.
00:28:03No, sir, it's all right, sir.
00:28:04I'm fine, sir.
00:28:05I'll be all right, sir.
00:28:06Mr Wilkinson, we can postpone your evidence until you are feeling better.
00:28:10Oh, thank you, Lordship.
00:28:11No, I'd rather go on.
00:28:12No, I'm all right, sir.
00:28:13I just felt a bit faint, that's all.
00:28:16Very well.
00:28:18Now, Mr Wilkinson, you have told us that late on the night of October the 20th,
00:28:25you heard the accused, Nancy Church, call down the stairs to Joseph Ploughman
00:28:30and ask him to come up to the staff flat.
00:28:32Yeah, I did, sir.
00:28:33I told Ted about it the next day.
00:28:35Edward Buckland, the warden of the hostel.
00:28:37Yes, sir.
00:28:38And you've told us that it was a rule of Valley House
00:28:41that no residents were ever allowed up into the staff flat.
00:28:45Yeah, that is correct, sir, yes.
00:28:48Thank you, Mr Wilkinson.
00:28:52Mr Wilkinson, you claim that you were able to hear the exact words used by Miss Church.
00:28:58Yeah?
00:28:59Yes.
00:29:00You were in the hall of the ground floor of the hostel.
00:29:02Yeah.
00:29:03And Miss Church was on the top floor, two flights away.
00:29:07Yeah, but I've already told you so. She spoke loud.
00:29:10But it's strange, isn't it, Mr Wilkinson, that you can recall the exact words used by Miss Church.
00:29:14And only a vague approximation of Mr Ploughman's reply.
00:29:18You said, OK, or right-o, or something like that.
00:29:22Yes, but I was more struck by what she said.
00:29:24Or by what you would have preferred her to say.
00:29:27You don't like Miss Church, do you?
00:29:29No, I don't.
00:29:30No.
00:29:31No.
00:29:32Now, you say that you reported this alleged remark of my clients to Mr Buckland the next day.
00:29:38Yeah, I did.
00:29:39At what time?
00:29:40Well, it was about tea time, sir.
00:29:42I know it was after we heard Joe was dead.
00:29:44Exactly.
00:29:45And after you had heard that a nearly empty bottle of whiskey had been found in the staff kitchen.
00:29:50And after you had heard that my client had injured Joseph Ploughman in self-defense.
00:29:56It was only then that you recalled what you say you heard.
00:30:00Oh, yes, sir, but you see, I was a bit too upset about Joe to think about it before, so it sort of went out of my mind.
00:30:05Hmm.
00:30:06And very conveniently came back into your minds once you'd heard the facts.
00:30:09How long have you been an alcoholic, Mr Wilkinson?
00:30:12I'm not an alcoholic.
00:30:13It's a bloody lie.
00:30:14Mr Wilkinson, you must not make such an accusation against counsel, and you must not use bad language.
00:30:19Well, I beg your pardon, the lordship, but it ain't true what he said. I'm recovered.
00:30:22Mr Wilkinson, I hope you won't object to telling us how long you've been a resident in the Valley House Hostel for ex-alcoholics.
00:30:29It's about three years, sir.
00:30:30Three years, really?
00:30:32That's a long time.
00:30:34I understand that the usual length of stay for rehabilitation is six months to a year.
00:30:39Well, I did go out, sir, after the first year, but, well, I couldn't get a good job, sir.
00:30:44Old Ted said I could come back here and look after the boilers, you know, be a handyman, like sir.
00:30:48Yes, you couldn't get a good job.
00:30:51I see, and perhaps you found it difficult to remain abstinent away from the shelter of the hostel.
00:30:57No, sir, I never had no slip-ups at the hostel, sir, not until...
00:31:02Until?
00:31:05Mr Wilkinson, I'm sure you're aware that the credibility of any witness's testimony would be seriously undermined
00:31:11if that witness were found to be under the influence of, er, say, drugs or drink?
00:31:17No, sir, no, sir, I never, sir.
00:31:19Well, maybe I did feel like it, sir, I mean, I was a bit nervous about coming here, but I never, sir.
00:31:23Mr Wilkinson, I'd like you to tell me, are you under the influence of alcohol, now, in this court?
00:31:30No, I, I, I, I've played my solemn oath, you lordship.
00:31:32You have taken your solemn oath already, Mr Wilkinson, just answer the question.
00:31:36No, sir, I'm not, sir, it ain't true, sir.
00:31:38Well, it was last night.
00:31:40No, I mean, it was in my mind last night, sir, you know, knowing I was going to be a witness and everything, but I, I didn't, sir, no, sir.
00:31:46No, sir, no, sir.
00:31:47I see.
00:31:48Thank you, Mr Wilkinson.
00:31:49Hmm?
00:31:50No, no further questions, my lord.
00:31:51Mr Wilkinson, the only thing that concerns us here today is the very important evidence which you've related to us.
00:32:00The question of...
00:32:01Look, I'd like to say something, sir.
00:32:03Well, excuse me, sir, but I'd just like to say, I haven't touched the drop, sir, not in two years, I haven't, sir.
00:32:09When I went into break in an hospital, sir, it's because I was having these, like, fits, you know, you know, they call them alcoholic convulsions.
00:32:17Sometimes now, sir, if I get in a bit of a state or I get a bit tired or something, well, I go funny like I did here, but, well, I just wanted you to know about that.
00:32:28Thank you for being so frank, Mr Wilkinson.
00:32:31I've no further questions, my lord.
00:32:34I call Edward Buckland.
00:32:38And you are warden of the Valley House Hostel for the rehabilitation of ex-alcoholics.
00:32:43I am.
00:32:45You were not at the hostel on the night of October the 20th?
00:32:48No, I was at home, but as soon as I heard the news, I went straight to see Joe in the hospital.
00:32:53Did you go to Valley House that night?
00:32:55Oh, yes.
00:32:56I knew that all the other residents would be very upset.
00:32:58I spent the rest of the night there and, of course, I wanted to talk to Nancy.
00:33:03Were you able to do this?
00:33:05Er, no.
00:33:06She was asleep.
00:33:07The police had already woken her up once.
00:33:09I decided not to disturb her again.
00:33:12Was any other member of the staff on duty that night?
00:33:15No, there were only seven residents at that time instead of the usual fifteen.
00:33:19Nancy and I took alternate weekends.
00:33:22And this was your weekend off duty?
00:33:25Well, no.
00:33:26As a matter of fact, it was my weekend on.
00:33:28But Nancy had asked me to exchange that one for another.
00:33:33Did you say why she preferred to be at the hostel that weekend?
00:33:37No, but I assumed she wanted to be there for Joe's last weekend.
00:33:41Would you say that she had a special kind of relationship with Mr. Plowman?
00:33:46Well, yes.
00:33:48We were all very fond of him.
00:33:51He was very popular in the house.
00:33:54I think I'd say that she'd taken a special interest in his case.
00:33:58Mr. Buckland, it has been suggested that the accused might have taken too much interest in Mr. Plowman.
00:34:05A question of favouritism.
00:34:06Did you feel this?
00:34:08I spoke to Nancy about it at the end of August.
00:34:11Some of the residents had brought it up.
00:34:13It's always a problem in a community like ours.
00:34:16I told them, as I always do,
00:34:20that if they have anything to say about any member of the staff,
00:34:23then it must be discussed at the Monday house meeting in the presence of that member.
00:34:28And did that happen?
00:34:29Yes, twice.
00:34:31And what was her response to this?
00:34:33She dismissed it. She joked about it.
00:34:37Now, was your personal discussion with Miss Church on this matter before or after these Monday meetings?
00:34:44It was afterwards.
00:34:45You felt it had not been resolved?
00:34:47I felt perhaps she'd treated the matter a little lightly.
00:34:52You yourself did not regard it lightly.
00:34:55Nancy Church has been my colleague for nearly three years.
00:35:01She's done some marvellous work in the hostel.
00:35:04I've always found her an admirable, a talented person.
00:35:07No, I didn't take it lightly.
00:35:12I was worried about it.
00:35:14I felt that perhaps she wasn't fully aware of the measure of her emotional commitment to Joe.
00:35:22I hoped that I could help her to clear her feelings a bit.
00:35:28She knew as well as I did.
00:35:30It's fatal.
00:35:32It's very risky to get an emotional entanglement with any resident.
00:35:39As you say, Mr. Buckland, it did indeed prove fatal.
00:35:45How did she respond to your bringing this up?
00:35:48It wasn't a success.
00:35:49I think I may have been very clumsy.
00:35:52We were both rather embarrassed.
00:35:54Mr. Buckland, your evidence is a little vague.
00:35:58Are you suggesting that the accused was in love with Joseph Plowman?
00:36:02I don't know. I just don't know.
00:36:07Mr. Buckland, will you tell us a little about Joe Plowman's progress during his stay at the hostel?
00:36:12Well, yes.
00:36:14For the first weeks, he really wasn't able to relate very much to the group.
00:36:19He was very silent and withdrawn.
00:36:22Nancy was one of the only people he was able to get on with.
00:36:25Then he had a bad slip and got drunk.
00:36:28Yes, we'll return to that in a moment, Mr. Buckland.
00:36:30But did his behaviour improve after this incident?
00:36:33Oh, yes. Very much so.
00:36:35He made excellent progress.
00:36:37Of course, it's not possible to be really certain about a prognosis concerning an alcoholic,
00:36:43but it seemed to me that Joe would qualify as fully recovered.
00:36:49Were you surprised, therefore, to hear that Nancy Church claimed that he'd made a drunken attack on her on October the 20th?
00:36:56Yes, I was. Very surprised.
00:36:59Now, this other occasion when Miss Church claimed he tried to rape her, it was in September 1973?
00:37:07Yes.
00:37:08Were you in the hostel on that evening?
00:37:10I was the one who heard the noise and went to Nancy's room.
00:37:13Would you describe briefly what you saw, Mr. Buckland?
00:37:16Nancy was lying on the floor beside her bed.
00:37:20Joe was sort of collapsed in the fireplace, crying.
00:37:24And Miss Church told you that she'd been raped?
00:37:27No.
00:37:28She said that Joe had tried to rape her.
00:37:30You accepted this as true?
00:37:32I had no reason not to.
00:37:34I...
00:37:35Joe couldn't remember a thing about it the next day.
00:37:39Thank you, Mr. Buckland.
00:37:42Hmm.
00:37:43Now, let's get this straight, Mr. Buckland.
00:37:46Is it your present belief that Joseph Plowman attempted to rape Nancy Church on that night in September 1973?
00:37:54I think it possible that she may have misinterpreted his actions on that night.
00:37:59Now, what changed your mind?
00:38:01Timothy Wilkinson telling me he overheard Nancy asking Joe up to the staff flat on the night that he died.
00:38:08Hmm. Now, as to the events of that night, the night that he died, did you hear Miss Church's version of them?
00:38:13Oh, we had a brief conversation. She was very overwrought. It really wasn't possible to make anything clear out of it.
00:38:19Mm-hmm.
00:38:21How long have you been working with alcoholics, Mr. Buckland?
00:38:24Since 1969.
00:38:26And before that time, I believe, you worked in Pentonville Prison?
00:38:28Yes, for six years. I was a prison chaplain.
00:38:31You're a priest, then?
00:38:32I was.
00:38:34I became disillusioned with my work in the prison, and I began to have doubts about being a priest, so I gave up the job.
00:38:42Shortly after that, I left the priesthood and took the post of warden at Valley House.
00:38:49Yes. And what, roughly, are your hours of work at the hostel?
00:38:52Oh, I couldn't really say that.
00:38:55Well, I sleep there every week, and I have to, and most weekends, I have masses of paperwork.
00:39:02I have to be more or less available for the residents at any time.
00:39:07I really couldn't calculate the working hours.
00:39:09No, but there are many.
00:39:10Yes, there are.
00:39:11You don't begrudge them?
00:39:13No. I get tired, but the work is very satisfying.
00:39:16Yes, so much so that it could be said that your work at the hostel is your life.
00:39:21Yes, I suppose it could.
00:39:23Mr. Honeycomb, I'm sure we are all very impressed with Mr. Buckland's splendid initiative, his excellent work, and so on.
00:39:30But it does strike me that we are rather wandering from the issues that we have to consider.
00:39:36My lord, the relevance of this is that this witness, because of the huge importance that his work has for him,
00:39:42has deliberately concealed and distorted evidence in this case.
00:39:53You have deliberately withheld and also slanted the evidence that you've presented to this court, have you not?
00:40:02I don't know what you're talking about.
00:40:03For instance, in your description of my client on that night in September 1973, when Ploughman made his first attack upon her,
00:40:10you made no mention at all of the fact that her nightdress was torn right down the front and that she was lying on the floor virtually naked.
00:40:17Isn't that true?
00:40:18It was a totally unexpected scene. I can't...
00:40:20On the morning of October the 21st, my client told you unequivocally that the reason that Ploughman had been drunk the night before
00:40:27was because his wife had once more threatened to leave him.
00:40:30And yet this is the conversation that you choose to describe as overwrought and unclear.
00:40:35One more example. You did inform us that Timothy Wilkinson told you that he'd heard my client invite Ploughman up to the staff flat on the night of the accident.
00:40:43Yes, I did.
00:40:44Yes. You did not, however, inform us that when you spoke to Miss Church about this the next morning,
00:40:50she told you that it was not true, that he had been lying. Did she say that?
00:40:55Yes, but I...
00:40:56Mr. Buckland, I understand that there is a certain alcoholic type, usually of reduced intelligence and inadequate personality,
00:41:06who finds it very difficult to sustain recovery from alcoholism outside of some kind of sheltering situation.
00:41:13Now, would you say that this applies to Timothy Wilkinson?
00:41:18In some ways, yes.
00:41:19Yes, and you prefer to take the word of a man like that. And a man who has declared his antipathy to my client.
00:41:25It wasn't like that at all. Tim Wilkinson...
00:41:27I'll tell you what it was like, Mr. Buckland.
00:41:29It was like the kind of propaganda machine we used to encounter during the war.
00:41:33A hero image has been built up and must be maintained.
00:41:37I honestly don't follow you.
00:41:39Well, let us move on a little. Perhaps I shall be able to take you with me, Mr. Buckland.
00:41:44I believe your first book, The Way Back, is to be published in June of this year.
00:41:50Yes.
00:41:51And the book is subtitled, A Study of the Place of the Therapeutic Community in the Rehabilitation of Alcoholics. Is that right?
00:41:59Yes.
00:42:00Now, I understand that the central section of your book is devoted to a case history of a man whom you call, uh, Philip Jacobs.
00:42:07This is the story, in fact, of Joseph Plowman, is it not?
00:42:10Philip Jacobs. The character of Philip Jacobs is an amalgam of several residents who have passed through the hostel.
00:42:17Yes. I quote from your book.
00:42:19Philip Jacobs, 39 years old, married with two children, severely depressed and withdrawn.
00:42:29He had difficulty in making any real contact with others in the house with the exception of one staff worker, a woman with whom he became friends.
00:42:36Now, Mr. Buckland, if my client is adjudged correctly, as innocent in this case, it will mean that Joseph Plowman, or we could say Philip Jacobs, had a very serious relapse at a point in his life when you regarded him as a fully recovered alcoholic.
00:42:53It will mean that he did get drunk, did viciously attack the assistant warden of his hostel, and, like a dangerous and uncontrollable animal, died because of it. As was the case, Mr. Buckland.
00:43:06You say so.
00:43:07I do indeed. And you do not say so, because that outcome of the case would seriously jeopardize the publication of your book.
00:43:16That is ridiculous.
00:43:17Oh, come now, Mr. Buckland, it would certainly need massive rewriting, would it not?
00:43:20Not, especially with regard to the character of, um, Philip Jacobs.
00:43:25The publication would have to be postponed, surely.
00:43:28I certainly haven't discussed anything like that with my publishers.
00:43:31That is an assumption.
00:43:32Yes, it is an assumption.
00:43:35But isn't it the truth?
00:43:37The assumption that I will not accept is that I would commit perjury because I was worried about the publication of my book.
00:43:44I shouldn't dream of implying anything so mercenary, Mr. Buckland.
00:43:50I am merely suggesting the possibility that your perception of Joseph Plowman may be subconsciously influenced by your involvement in the creation of a character of fiction so very similar to him.
00:44:03I have no further questions.
00:44:15Mr. Buckland, my learned friend, has presented us with a theory that mysterious psychological forces have compelled you to distort or even to withhold certain items of evidence.
00:44:28Let us, in a realistic and practical manner, examine these items.
00:44:34First, the accusation that you deliberately refrain from mentioning the accused state of undress on that night in September 1973.
00:44:44We are told that she lay on the floor virtually naked.
00:44:49Is this true?
00:44:51I honestly can't remember.
00:44:53My feelings were one of concern, anxiety.
00:44:58Mr. Plowman, you said, was sort of collapsed in the fireplace, crying.
00:45:03Did you notice if his clothing was disarranged?
00:45:06Was he exposed in any way?
00:45:09No, he was not.
00:45:11He passed out shortly afterwards.
00:45:13I put him to bed, undressed him myself.
00:45:16So, one way or another, the impression of rape did not instantly present itself to you on entering the room.
00:45:23No, it didn't.
00:45:25No.
00:45:26Now, you have also been accused of failing to include in your testimony, one,
00:45:31that the accused told you on the night of October the 21st that Plowman was drunk on the night before and had attacked her
00:45:38because his wife had threatened once again to divorce him.
00:45:42And two, she also told you Wilkinson had lied.
00:45:45Well, you did have a conversation with the accused?
00:45:49Yes, a short one, but it was very incoherent.
00:45:52She came downstairs at about, oh, eight o'clock.
00:45:58She was going to stay with Dr. Barden and his wife.
00:46:01Thought her taxi had arrived. In fact, it came about five minutes later.
00:46:05And what was the gist of this one five-minute conversation that you had with her?
00:46:11I asked her what had happened. She said that Joe was drunk, had attacked her, and she was terrified.
00:46:18She kept repeating that it was an accident, and then...
00:46:21Yes, Mr. Buckland?
00:46:24Well, as I've said, she was very overwrought.
00:46:30She said...
00:46:33It's that bloody woman again.
00:46:37I was taken aback.
00:46:39So unlike Nancy to swear, I asked her what she meant by it.
00:46:43She said that bitch told him she was going to divorce him again.
00:46:50That's why he got drunk.
00:46:52She did it again.
00:46:55Were you able to question her further about this?
00:46:58No.
00:46:59No.
00:47:00A taxi arrived.
00:47:01She ran out of the house.
00:47:02At what point, then, did she refute the information that Tim Wilkinson gave you?
00:47:07That was later in the evening.
00:47:10Tim didn't tell me that Nancy had asked Joe up to the staff flat until after I came back from the hospital.
00:47:18After Joe had died.
00:47:21I phoned the Barden straight away, but Nancy refused to talk to me.
00:47:27It was Mrs. Barden on the telephone.
00:47:30I told her what Tim had said and asked her to try and persuade Nancy to come to the phone.
00:47:38But it was Mrs. Barden who came back to the phone.
00:47:42She said...
00:47:44Nancy said...
00:47:46It wasn't true.
00:47:48Tim had invented it.
00:47:50She wouldn't discuss it with you at all.
00:47:55No.
00:48:00Thank you, Mr. Buckland.
00:48:02Does your lordship have any questions?
00:48:04No, thank you, Mr. Buckland.
00:48:07That concludes the case of the prosecution, my lord.
00:48:20The case of the Queen against Church will be concluded tomorrow in the Crown Court.
00:48:38The trial of Nancy Church enters its third day in the Crown Court.
00:48:52Assistant warden of a hostel for the rehabilitation of ex-alcoholics, Miss Church is accused of murdering Joseph Plowman, one of the residents.
00:49:00The defence claim that Plowman was drunk, had burst into the kitchen and attacked her and that the stabbing had occurred by accident as she tried to defend herself.
00:49:08Prosecution maintains that Plowman had not been drinking and that the stabbing was intentional.
00:49:14Miss Church, on the night of October the 20th, at approximately 1.20am, were you in the kitchen of the staff flat at the Ballet House hostel?
00:49:28Yes, I couldn't sleep. I was getting myself some hot milk.
00:49:44Will you tell the court what happened, please?
00:49:47Well, suddenly the door opened and Joe Plowman came in.
00:49:51You had not then opened the door of the kitchen and called to him, asking him to come up?
00:49:55No, I had not.
00:49:56Well, as you know, Timothy Wilkinson has testified that he heard you do this.
00:50:00Yes, I'm afraid he was lying.
00:50:04Why would he do that, Miss Church?
00:50:06Well, Tim was extremely fond of Joe and he didn't like me.
00:50:09It would be very hard for him to accept what really happened.
00:50:12Do you know why he didn't like you?
00:50:14Yes.
00:50:15Tim left the hostel after his first year, supposedly recovered,
00:50:19and he found he couldn't carry on successfully outside the community and he wanted to come back.
00:50:25Well, I was opposed to his returning.
00:50:28Valley House isn't supposed to provide long-term shelter and I thought it would make a bad precedent.
00:50:33I see.
00:50:34So Plowman, as you say, came into the kitchen unasked.
00:50:37What was his condition?
00:50:39Well, he was very drunk.
00:50:41And what did he do?
00:50:43He pulled a bottle of whiskey out of his pocket and he asked me to have a drink with him.
00:50:48You refused?
00:50:49Yes, of course.
00:50:51I made him some coffee but he wouldn't drink it.
00:50:54He had some more of the whiskey and he sat down at the table and he started to cry.
00:51:00I told him we must go to bed but he said he had to talk to me.
00:51:07He was very incoherent.
00:51:09He could hardly articulate but I gathered that that evening his wife had told him that she'd changed her mind.
00:51:16She didn't want him back.
00:51:18Well, after a while he seemed to get a bit calmer so I said I'd get him something to take before he went to bed.
00:51:26Then...
00:51:32Please go on, Miss Church.
00:51:35Well, I had my back to him.
00:51:38I was going to the medicine cupboard.
00:51:41Suddenly he got up, knocked over the chair and grabbed me by the shoulders.
00:51:46He pulled me around to face him and pushed me back against the wall.
00:51:51I was very frightened.
00:51:53I didn't know what to do.
00:51:55Then he started to say obscene things about women and he...
00:52:01He pushed his knee between my legs and...
00:52:05Well, that made him lose his balance and he fell.
00:52:09I made for the door, I...
00:52:12But he grabbed hold of me and he tried to pull himself up.
00:52:16I was holding on to the sink trying to pull myself away and...
00:52:22And I saw the bread knife on the training board and I just grabbed it.
00:52:28Well, I managed to turn round to push him away and I showed him the knife and I said,
00:52:34He keep back, don't touch me and...
00:52:36Then just for a second, he...
00:52:38He just stared.
00:52:40And...
00:52:42His face was unrecognizable.
00:52:44He lunged at me so fast that...
00:52:48The bread knife went straight into his stomach.
00:52:54Can you tell us what happened after that, Miss Church?
00:52:57No, I...
00:52:58I can't.
00:52:59I...
00:53:00I've tried but I...
00:53:01I've no recollection of anything that happened until I woke up the next morning.
00:53:04And when you did wake up?
00:53:06I...
00:53:07I just felt ill and I started to cry and I didn't know why I was crying and...
00:53:11Then I remembered.
00:53:13Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was Joe's face.
00:53:17Well, it was about seven in the morning but...
00:53:21I telephoned Dan Bard and I had to get away.
00:53:24I...
00:53:25I...
00:53:26I had to leave the house.
00:53:27I couldn't take it in.
00:53:28It had really happened.
00:53:30Yes, of course.
00:53:31That's very understandable.
00:53:32Yes, but it had happened.
00:53:33It had.
00:53:34Nothing can change that.
00:53:36Now, try not to distress yourself too much, Miss Church.
00:53:39Now, it has been mentioned several times that it was thought by some people that you had
00:53:43a somehow special relationship with Joseph Plowman.
00:53:47When Edward Buckland has told us that he was afraid that you had failed fully to confront
00:53:51your feelings about Plowman.
00:53:52Can you...
00:53:53Yes, yes, that's true.
00:53:56Ted was right.
00:53:59I beg your pardon?
00:54:01I...
00:54:02It's true.
00:54:03I...
00:54:04I couldn't confront my real feelings about Joe.
00:54:07I...
00:54:08I couldn't admit it to myself.
00:54:10Admit what, Miss Church?
00:54:14How much I disliked him.
00:54:19You disliked Plowman, Miss Church?
00:54:22Well, not in the beginning.
00:54:25When he first came to the hostel, I liked him and I respected him.
00:54:29I was sure I could help him, but...
00:54:32Well, after he had his first slip and he came into my bedroom and...
00:54:37and tried...
00:54:41Tried to rape you?
00:54:42Yes.
00:54:43That was in September 1973?
00:54:45Yes.
00:54:46Well, after that, I began to feel a very strong...
00:54:50well, physical revulsion for him.
00:54:52Well, wasn't that a most natural reaction from any woman in that situation?
00:54:56Well, yes, but what was unnatural was that I couldn't admit my feelings, not even to myself.
00:55:03It was a question of pride. I can see that now.
00:55:07Pride, Miss Church?
00:55:08Yes, pride in my work.
00:55:12Joe had had a relapse.
00:55:13Now, the trained technician in me knows that...
00:55:15that alcoholism is a relapsing disorder.
00:55:18But... but the pain that I'd felt as a... as a person...
00:55:21that the...
00:55:23the sense of...
00:55:25violation.
00:55:27But all these things, I repressed.
00:55:28I pretended they weren't there.
00:55:31See, I didn't realise it at the time, but after that, I...
00:55:34I overcompensated with Joe.
00:55:36I was too kind to him, too sympathetic.
00:55:40And in this way, I...
00:55:42I could avoid coming to terms with these negative feelings.
00:55:47That's not an excuse.
00:55:49I...
00:55:50I blame myself for what happened.
00:55:51Now, don't you think that you're being too hard on yourself, Miss Church?
00:55:54No.
00:55:55See, I...
00:55:56I...
00:55:57I think he...
00:55:58he realised it that evening, you see.
00:55:59I think he...
00:56:01when he...
00:56:02touched me, he felt it.
00:56:04I...
00:56:05I think that's what made him suddenly so violent.
00:56:07Enthrawling though this may be, Mr. Honeycomb,
00:56:09it strikes me as becoming more and more theoretical.
00:56:12Might we return to matters of a more concrete nature?
00:56:15Of course, my lord.
00:56:16Er...
00:56:17Miss Church,
00:56:18on that night in September 1973,
00:56:20when Ploughman tried to rape you,
00:56:22is it possible that you could have mistaken his intentions?
00:56:25No.
00:56:28He dragged me out of bed,
00:56:29he tried to tear my night clothes off me.
00:56:33No, I was not mistaken.
00:56:36Thank you, Miss Church.
00:56:38I've no further questions.
00:56:46Mr. Church,
00:56:47you deny that you asked Joseph Ploughman to come up to your...
00:56:50staff flat on the night of October the 20th?
00:56:52Yes, I do.
00:56:54Although,
00:56:55Timothy Wilkinson has stated on oath in this court
00:56:58that that is what he heard you do.
00:57:01Now, my learned friend has used the words,
00:57:03reduced intelligence and inadequate personality
00:57:06in referring to Mr. Wilkinson.
00:57:09Do you think that is accurate?
00:57:11Yes, I think that's true.
00:57:13And yet, you would have us believe that this man
00:57:15had the wit to invent a piece of evidence
00:57:17that would exonerate his friend and incriminate you.
00:57:21All I can tell you is that he was lying.
00:57:22I did not ask Joe to come up to the flat.
00:57:25Well, of course, it would greatly undermine your story
00:57:27if you were to admit that you had.
00:57:30Now, to pass on to your, er...
00:57:33interesting exercise in self-accusation.
00:57:35These negative feelings of yours.
00:57:37Now, you say you blame yourself.
00:57:40But, er...
00:57:41on the morning after you'd stabbed Joseph Ploughman,
00:57:45his wife Celia,
00:57:47whom you so vituperately accused to Edward Buckland.
00:57:51That bloody woman you called her the bitch.
00:57:53I'm sorry I spoke like that.
00:57:56I was...
00:57:58still in a state of shock.
00:58:00As you were the night before.
00:58:02Now, Miss Dorothy Newton has told us
00:58:04that you stood holding the knife
00:58:05while your victim lay bleeding on the floor.
00:58:07Now, my lord, I object most strongly
00:58:08to the use of the word victim.
00:58:09Well, I'll rephrase the question.
00:58:12While Joseph Ploughman lay bleeding on the floor,
00:58:15you stood there repeating the word bastard
00:58:19over and over again.
00:58:21I didn't know what I was doing or saying.
00:58:24I...
00:58:25I've already told you that I don't remember anything after...
00:58:30After you stabbed him?
00:58:33After the accident.
00:58:36Now, Mrs Ploughman has told us
00:58:38that she and her husband
00:58:39spent a happy evening together.
00:58:42The night he was stabbed.
00:58:44They were looking forward to his
00:58:45coming home for good the next day.
00:58:48Well, of course she would say that.
00:58:49She wouldn't want to admit being responsible.
00:58:52So, no one is to be responsible
00:58:54for this tragic death
00:58:56except Joseph Ploughman himself.
00:58:58Well, unfortunately, he's not here to tell us
00:59:00what really happened in the staff kitchen that night.
00:59:02I've already told you everything that happened.
00:59:05Indeed you have, Miss Church.
00:59:07You would have us believe
00:59:08that during a totally unexpected
00:59:10and violent physical struggle
00:59:12your mind retains such clarity,
00:59:14such a keen observation
00:59:16for the exact sequence of events.
00:59:18Naturally, I went over it all afterwards.
00:59:20I...
00:59:22couldn't get it out of my mind.
00:59:24Naturally.
00:59:26Does Newton testify that you've got blood
00:59:28on your coat and your skirt?
00:59:30Tell me, how is it that it
00:59:31one o'clock in the morning
00:59:33you were wearing outdoor clothes?
00:59:36Well, it...
00:59:38I've already said I couldn't sleep.
00:59:39I got up and had a bath.
00:59:40I was...
00:59:42going for a walk.
00:59:44A walk?
00:59:45One o'clock in the morning?
00:59:47Well, yes, why not?
00:59:48I needed fresh air.
00:59:51You had been ill that day.
00:59:53Well, nothing serious.
00:59:54I was just overtired and I...
00:59:56developed a fairly severe headache
00:59:58in the afternoon.
00:59:59And so severe that you were obliged
01:00:00to go out to the late Sunday chemist.
01:00:03Surely someone in the hostel
01:00:04could have gone to the chemist for you
01:00:05as you were feeling ill.
01:00:07I didn't want to bother anyone.
01:00:08Or perhaps you didn't want them to know
01:00:09where you were going.
01:00:11You went and bought a bottle of whiskey, didn't you?
01:00:12No!
01:00:14A half-empty bottle was found in the staff kitchen.
01:00:16You had been sitting there alone the whole night,
01:00:19drinking, hadn't you?
01:00:20No, I did not.
01:00:21You were drinking because you were depressed
01:00:23that Joseph Plowman was leaving.
01:00:25You'd never see him again.
01:00:27You had to see him, didn't you?
01:00:28To tell him your feelings.
01:00:30I've already described what my feelings were for Joe.
01:00:33Was it revulsion that you felt for Joseph Plowman?
01:00:36Or was it quite the reverse?
01:00:38Desire.
01:00:39Sexual desire.
01:00:41You're mad.
01:00:42Sorry, but that's simply ludicrous.
01:00:47Is it?
01:00:49Now, you've said that your initial feelings for him
01:00:51were affection, respect, concern, etc.
01:00:54But after that night in September 1973,
01:00:59when he blundered unhappily into your room,
01:01:02desperately looking for someone to talk to,
01:01:04your feelings changed.
01:01:06I've already said that they did.
01:01:08You killed a man,
01:01:09and afterwards you tried to convince yourself
01:01:11that for a year you'd felt aversion and fear towards him.
01:01:15Whereas had he unwittingly aroused in you
01:01:19that September night,
01:01:21a passion.
01:01:22A sexual passion.
01:01:24A passion that eventually caused his death.
01:01:27All that I felt that night was disgust.
01:01:29Well, you were the one that claimed his actions were sexual.
01:01:32Attempted rape, Miss Church,
01:01:34by a man who was so drunk
01:01:35he passed out moments after entering your room.
01:01:38Are you saying it was all imagination on my part?
01:01:40Is that what you're saying?
01:01:41No, perhaps not imagination so much as misinterpretation.
01:01:46But your version of the events of October the 20th,
01:01:51they are not misinterpretation.
01:01:54They are pure invention.
01:01:56It is what happened.
01:01:57I suggest that after Joseph Plowman came into the staff kitchen at your request,
01:02:03you confessed your feelings to him.
01:02:05Your desire.
01:02:06The whisky had given you courage.
01:02:07I did not drink.
01:02:08You put your arms round him and he pushed you away.
01:02:11No.
01:02:12That's a lie.
01:02:13Oh?
01:02:14Isn't that what you said to the policewoman who questioned you?
01:02:17How dare he?
01:02:18He pushed me away.
01:02:19No.
01:02:20Sergeant Hughes has told us that she cannot be absolutely certain as to the words used at that time.
01:02:25Miss Church had taken three sleeping tablets and was in a state of severe shock.
01:02:29I think Mr. O'Connor is entitled to ask her what she said to the policewoman.
01:02:35As your lordship pleases.
01:02:43Well Miss Church,
01:02:45what in his excruciating embarrassment did he do?
01:02:51Did he make a joke?
01:02:53Did he laugh at you, Miss Church?
01:02:56No.
01:02:58You're making all this up.
01:03:01I am merely trying to find an explanation which fits the facts.
01:03:06And the explanation is that he rebuffed you.
01:03:09He rejected you.
01:03:11And in your fury and humiliation,
01:03:14you picked up that knife and you stabbed him.
01:03:17No.
01:03:18That is what happened.
01:03:19No.
01:03:20But you did threaten him with a lethal weapon.
01:03:23Well yes, I was terrified.
01:03:24I thought he was going to kill me.
01:03:25Oh, so picking up the knife from the table was an involuntary act.
01:03:28Yes, I was in a state of panic.
01:03:29I saw the knife on the table and I...
01:03:32No, the knife was not on the table.
01:03:34The knife was in the sink.
01:03:37Of course.
01:03:38I beg your pardon.
01:03:40I saw the knife...
01:03:42on the draining board.
01:03:45Yes, on the draining board.
01:03:47That's what I meant.
01:03:48Is it?
01:03:49Is it, Miss Church?
01:03:55Well...
01:03:57I think I need not waste time on prosecuting counsel's little stratagems, Miss Church.
01:04:02Nor need I trouble you in relation to his somewhat lurid reconstruction of events.
01:04:08However, his tortuous efforts to persuade us that we are here involved in some sort of cream passionnelle
01:04:15rest upon one factor which I should like to clear up.
01:04:20Are you in the habit of drinking alcohol, Miss Church?
01:04:24No.
01:04:25Alcohol disagrees with my digestion.
01:04:26I never touch it at all.
01:04:27No.
01:04:28Alcohol disagrees with my digestion.
01:04:29I never touch it at all.
01:04:30I never touch it at all.
01:04:40Dr. Barden, you are consultant psychiatrist to the alcoholic unit at Breakington Hospital.
01:04:45Yes.
01:04:46How long have you known Miss Nancy Church?
01:04:48About 20 years.
01:04:50She is a great personal friend.
01:04:51And I believe you have been professional colleagues.
01:04:53Yes.
01:04:54The first time was in the late 1950s.
01:04:57She was organizing secretary to an alcoholics recovery project in Bermondsey and I was an advisor to the project.
01:05:05Then in 1968 she accepted a post at the Breakington as a member of my staff.
01:05:11She was a qualified social worker by then.
01:05:12She used to assist in the group therapy work and in the follow-up after care of the unit.
01:05:18And what is your opinion of her professional capacities, Dr. Barden?
01:05:22I admire them very much indeed.
01:05:24I recommended her to Mr. Buckland as his assistant at Valley House because I knew how eminently suitable she'd be for residential work.
01:05:33I was very sorry to lose her from the unit.
01:05:35But you've kept in touch with her since then?
01:05:37Oh, yes. She's a frequent visitor to our house.
01:05:39She sometimes spends her spare weekends with us.
01:05:42Yes.
01:05:43Dr. Barden, from what you know of her personally, would it be in character for her to have stabbed Joseph Plowman deliberately?
01:05:51No, I would find that impossible to believe.
01:05:54She's not in any way an aggressive personality.
01:05:58It was a most unfortunate accident and totally unnecessary.
01:06:02Unnecessary?
01:06:04Well, Plowman should not have been kept on at the hostel.
01:06:06Had I not been out of the country, I'd certainly have recommended his removal after that first incident.
01:06:11What, because of the possibility of his doing it again?
01:06:14It was a risk that should not have been taken.
01:06:16I understand Nancy was very stubborn about his staying on, which was generous but misguided of her.
01:06:22Mr. Buckland should not have allowed it.
01:06:27Unfortunately, I hadn't heard about his first attack on Nancy until after this second appalling accident.
01:06:33Would you say that Mr. Buckland's professional judgment was at fault?
01:06:36I think he was somewhat over-optimistic, yes.
01:06:41It's a pitfall we all have to avoid.
01:06:44There are a lot of disappointments in our work and one tends perhaps to over-invest emotionally in the successes.
01:06:50So much so in Mr. Buckland's case that he seems to find it difficult to believe that Plowman was drunk on the night of the incident.
01:06:57Yes, I know that.
01:06:58I'm afraid it's made it impossible for us to discuss the matter at all.
01:07:02Yes, Mr. Honeycomb.
01:07:05Now, Dr. Barden, how did you meet Miss Church?
01:07:09She came to me as a patient.
01:07:10I had a private psychiatric practice in those days.
01:07:14This was before I began specialising in the treatment and study of alcoholism.
01:07:19She'd had a breakdown from over-work.
01:07:22She was only in treatment for a few months.
01:07:24And since then you would judge her to be an emotionally stable person?
01:07:28Certainly, in my experience of her, eminently so.
01:07:31I think the breakdown was the making of her.
01:07:33It's all from the case.
01:07:35Thank you, Dr. Barden. I have no further questions.
01:07:41Dr. Barden, you mentioned that you'd been out of the country.
01:07:45Yes, for about 14 months.
01:07:47I was lecturing in California.
01:07:48I only got back at the beginning of October.
01:07:51So, in fact, you'd had very little opportunity for observing Plowman as a resident at Valley House Hostel.
01:07:57Yes, he was only there a couple of weeks before I left.
01:08:00Now, you've told us, Dr. Barden, that you refrained from discussing Plowman's death with Edward Buckland.
01:08:04Yes, our only conversation about it ended in deadlock, I'm sorry to say.
01:08:10Why?
01:08:12His belief in Plowman led him to doubt Miss Church's word, which I do not.
01:08:18Would it be correct to say, then, that your only informant was Miss Church herself?
01:08:23Yes, that's quite right.
01:08:25Had she talked to you about Plowman before his death?
01:08:28No, she hadn't. I'd only been back about a fortnight.
01:08:31Had you seen her during that fortnight?
01:08:32Yes, she spent a weekend with us in the country.
01:08:35Did you have any conversation with her that weekend about her work at the hostel?
01:08:39Oh, yes, she always likes to discuss her work with me.
01:08:42She said nothing about Plowman?
01:08:44No.
01:08:45Not even about his alleged attack on her in September 1973?
01:08:48No. I suspect she knew that I'd be angry with her for insisting that Plowman be kept on at the hostel.
01:08:55Well, for whatever reason, she withheld the information from you.
01:08:58Did she at that time mention the feelings of dislike and revulsion she claims to have felt for Plowman?
01:09:05I told you we didn't talk about him at all.
01:09:08I wasn't aware of any of this until after the accident.
01:09:11Doesn't it seem curious to you, Dr. Barden, that she never sought advice from you, her trusted friend, her one-time therapist?
01:09:20She had not spoken of Plowman to you at all, not until after his death.
01:09:25Perhaps it was because she knew that you of all people would have guessed that since the so-called rape attempt that she had developed a strong sexual passion for him.
01:09:35No, I think that's not possible.
01:09:39Dr. Barden, in your experience of Nancy Church, have you ever known her under stress commit any sudden violent or destructive action?
01:09:48No, I haven't. That is, yes, once, but that was at the onset of her breakdown over 20 years ago.
01:09:56It can't be considered in any way characteristic.
01:09:58What did she do?
01:10:00She broke up a good deal of equipment in the laboratory.
01:10:03She put her fist through one of the windows and tried to cut her wrists on the broken edges of the glass.
01:10:08Did she?
01:10:10Thank you, Dr. Barden.
01:10:13Dr. Barden, as you said, this incident took place a very long time ago, when my client was in a state of temporary unbalance.
01:10:21You then treated her and you say she made a full recovery?
01:10:25Yes, absolutely.
01:10:27Yes, and have you ever, in the subsequent 20 years of close friendship with her, evidenced any violent behaviour on her part?
01:10:36No, I'm convinced that period was a unique one.
01:10:39In my opinion, it was an inevitable cathartic episode due to frustration with her work and extreme fatigue.
01:10:46Speaking professionally, I'd not make a prognosis that included a repetition of behaviour that sort.
01:10:51I see. One last question, Dr. Barden.
01:10:55Miss Church has told us that she does not drink. Can you vouch for this?
01:11:00I've never known her touch alcohol.
01:11:02Thank you, Dr. Barden.
01:11:03Members of the jury, the crime of murder is committed when one person brings about the death of another either intentionally or at least having intended to cause the victim really serious harm.
01:11:17That Ploughman died of a stab wound caused by a knife held by the accused is not disputed.
01:11:25The defence claims that Ploughman attacked Nancy Church.
01:11:29She held out a knife to warn him to keep away.
01:11:32He had run onto the knife and his death was therefore accidental.
01:11:36Unless you are sure that Ploughman's death was caused by the deliberate act of the accused, you must acquit her.
01:11:46Will you now retire and consider your verdict?
01:11:52Members of the jury, will your foreman please stand?
01:11:55Just answer this question, yes or no.
01:11:58Have you reached a verdict on which you're all agreed?
01:12:00Yes.
01:12:01Do you find the defendant, Nancy Church, guilty or not guilty on the charge of murder?
01:12:05Not guilty.
01:12:31None.
01:12:51You're right.
01:12:54ού
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