- 23/06/2025
Frederick Muir (Terence Rigby) is alleged to have insulted to publicly insult one of his employees, a black man called Tunde Williams and is now accused of making a speech in a public place with the intention of inciting racial hatred. Frances de la Tour and John Barron star. Watch out for an appearance from Jack Haig, best known for his role as Monsieur Leclerc in "Allo Allo".
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TVTranscript
00:00:00THE END
00:00:26Put up Frederick Muir.
00:00:30is your name frederick muir it is frederick muir do you stand charged on indictment with incitement
00:00:53to race hatred contrary to section six of the race relations act of 1965 the particulars of this
00:00:59offense being that you frederick muir on the 15th day of october 1975 at fullchester with intent to
00:01:05stir up hatred against a section of the public in great britain distinguished by color and did use
00:01:10in a public place namely the outdoor cafe fullows park fullchester words which were abusive and
00:01:15insulting being words likely to stir up hatred against the said section of the public that you
00:01:21said let me make my intentions clear we must rid ourselves of all inferior races all coloreds must
00:01:27leave this country i am advocating force they must be forced to leave and for any who resist we'll
00:01:33have extermination camps we'll turn their corpses into fertilizer let's have no more illusions the
00:01:39only way we'll achieve racial peace is by eliminating them completely to this indictment do you plead
00:01:44guilty or not guilty not guilty usher will you bring forward the jury in waiting please
00:01:50jurors who have not been impaneled may be released members of the jury are you all sworn yes sir members
00:02:13of the jury the defendant frederick muir stands charged on indictment with incitement to race hatred
00:02:19may it please you my lord members of the jury i appear in this case of the prosecution and the
00:02:25defendant is represented by my learned friend mrs ann scofield i've just heard members of the jury
00:02:31that the charge against frederick muir is incitement to race hatred this as defined by parliament is the
00:02:39intentional use of words in a public place which are abusive and insulting and likely to stir up hatred
00:02:46against the section of the public in great britain as distinguished by color now this is the nature of
00:02:51the charge against frederick muir tundee williams will you take this book in your right hand and read
00:02:56aloud the words on the card i swear by almighty god that the evidence i shall give shall be the truth the
00:03:04the whole truth and nothing but the truth is your full name tundee williams and you live at 189 church
00:03:14road west forchester yes sir mr williams i believe that you were born in nigeria and came to this
00:03:19country four years ago that's correct now whilst in nigeria you studied at the university of nigeria
00:03:26in ibarden and qualified as an architect that's right were you until the 15th of october 1975
00:03:33employed as a kitchen porter at the outdoor cafe willows park yes sir now on the afternoon
00:03:41of wednesday october the 15th last year were you collecting dirty cups and saucers from the tables in
00:03:46the cafe i was sir will you please tell us what happened well it was around three o'clock in the
00:03:52afternoon i suppose and i was getting on with my job when i accidentally stepped into a pool of tea
00:04:00on the ground and zap i lost my balance suddenly everything was messed up on the ground and i was
00:04:06clinging on to a table then the next instant the owner muir comes rushing out from the kitchen at me
00:04:15he's shouting you're fired get out of here i tried to protest but he wouldn't let me speak i mean i
00:04:22couldn't get a word in man he's ranting and shrieking and then launches himself out on this speech i mean
00:04:30he really pulls out the soapbox i believe that you made some notes of what the accused said to you
00:04:34didn't you oh yes i realized everything would depend on getting down what he said uh as soon as
00:04:39possible just a minute how soon after the event was that uh 15 minutes your honor oh very well you
00:04:46may use the members of the jury i should explain a witness is allowed to refresh his memory from
00:04:50notes he has made provided the notes were made during or shortly after the event to which they
00:04:55relate yes mr simpson yes mr williams what did muir say he said the following
00:05:00i'm firing this man because he's he's colored it's his color that makes him careless dirty rude lazy and
00:05:11always late color is behind all his bad habits this man behaves badly because he's black
00:05:19he's a member of a race which is inherently incapable of performing the simplest intelligent action
00:05:26as you've just observed this particular specimen can't even collect cups from a table
00:05:33and let me tell you something else about him he claims to be an architect yes him this sniveling
00:05:40baboon an architect this turd but of course they'll say anything they have no idea what words mean
00:05:48he doesn't know what an architect is i mean how could he there's no such thing where he comes from
00:05:54there they just scratch a hole in the mud and crouch down in their own crap can you imagine this brute
00:06:01designing concert halls of course not it's obscene all it's fit for is washing dishes and cleaning lavatories
00:06:09they're only fit for the simplest menial tasks they're only fit to do the jobs whites don't want to do
00:06:16let's face it that's why we allowed them here in the first place to do all the dirty work the native
00:06:21british didn't want to do so we brought in the chimps the colors of course they are discriminated against
00:06:28they deserve to be they are discriminated against because they are inferior you can pass as many
00:06:35anti-discrimination laws as you like but they won't make them our equals and now we don't need them
00:06:41anymore as unemployment rises we shall need every job for ourselves let me make my intentions clear
00:06:49we must read ourselves of all inferior races all colors must leave this country i'm advocating force
00:06:58they must be forced to leave and for any who resist will have extermination camps will turn their corpses
00:07:07into fertilizer let's have no illusions the only way we'll achieve racial peace is by eliminating them
00:07:17completely now those are the actual words he used yes sir mr williams you really managed to remember
00:07:24all that ten minutes after mr muir finished speaking yes sir well yeah where was muir standing when he
00:07:33made his speech oh he was more or less in the center of the cafe a few feet from where i was standing and
00:07:38where i dropped the tray there were people sitting all around us and muir spoke loud enough for them all to
00:07:43hear oh he spoke to them he kept turning you know one way and then another and then you take a few
00:07:50steps this way and a few that way i mean he was performing he was speaking to an audience and what
00:07:56was his his manner his mode of delivery violent ranting jabbing his arms around raging but under control oh yeah
00:08:09i mean this was a blast furnace baby not a volcano i mean this man knew what he was at this man was
00:08:15singing hatred and what happened when he'd finished oh he turned on his heel and went back to the kitchen
00:08:21and what did you do oh i realized muir had made a racial speech and broken the law so i
00:08:27asked for witnesses and several people came forward oh yeah no trouble and all in agreement about what
00:08:32had happened oh yeah they'd all heard what i heard so i told them to write it down there and then
00:08:37thank you mr williams ah mr williams you came to this country four years ago yes madam everything
00:08:45gone well has it yeah sure you qualified as an architect in nigeria yes madam did you practice
00:08:52architecture in nigeria yes madam for how long oh quite a time what does that mean quite a time well you
00:08:59know reasonable period by a reasonable period you mean eight months well you know that is the actual
00:09:06period you practiced for isn't it yeah all right but what does that matter you were laid off couldn't
00:09:12get another job oh no man i quit there aren't that many opportunities for young architects in nigeria
00:09:19are there and that is why you came to britain is it not oh no man i didn't look i didn't want to be
00:09:24an architect then why did you decide to come to this country well i had spent enough time in an
00:09:30architect's office to say it wasn't for me or not yet i didn't want to get tied down i wanted to see
00:09:35something of the world then you didn't come here hoping for better opportunities as an architect
00:09:40oh no man i just came to dig the scene that's all then why was your first action on arrival to
00:09:47contact the architectural firm of bing nickerson and partners oh i was looking for a job for two or
00:09:53three weeks until i found something more creative more creative yeah but you didn't get a job with
00:10:00bing nickerson did you no then what did you do wash dishes until something more creative came up
00:10:09yeah which was the nirvana corset factory in tooting oh look man i never said that was what i was looking
00:10:15for it wasn't oh come on oh you didn't feel liberated designing corsets i didn't design corsets are you
00:10:24sure of course i'm sure not even one no or perhaps i should say a pair how would i know then what did
00:10:29you do at the nirvana corset factory swept floors whilst you waited for something more creative
00:10:39yeah and what was your next job
00:10:44i don't remember might it have been on the london underground ah it might have been yes it was
00:10:50you operated a lift on the london underground then you emptied dustbins for the lambeth borough council
00:10:56then you dug ditches for a construction company and then you took old people to the toilet in a
00:11:01terminal ward so i moved around yes you did indeed well so what did you enjoy saying mind the gates
00:11:11it was a job did you find emptying dustbins creative i didn't have to did you find digging
00:11:16ditches satisfying it was okay did you find complete fulfillment wiping old people's bottoms
00:11:22in a geriatric ward ah look man i just did whatever came up it seems a curious career for a graduate from
00:11:28the university of nigeria well i'm not on a bourgeois trip an honors graduate too so what indeed the top of
00:11:38your year so what does that mean you know if i couldn't practice my profession and have to wipe old
00:11:45people's bottoms instead i think that would make me very angry oh well that's you yes it is but if
00:11:51i suspected that the reason i couldn't practice my profession was because of the color of my skin
00:11:56that would make me even angrier that's your problem man no it's not my problem mr williams i do practice
00:12:02my profession and the color of my skin is no hindrance i suggest it's your problem it's not my problem i
00:12:08suggest it's very much your problem i suggest that when you were unable to practice architecture
00:12:13in nigeria you came to britain in the hope that you could practice here but when you arrived you
00:12:18found there were very few opportunities and you had to do a succession of menial jobs which you found
00:12:24degrading no and you blamed racial discrimination for your plight and became surly and uncooperative this
00:12:32is nonsense that is why you've had so many jobs you were continually being fired weren't you i wasn't
00:12:40well you were fired from the london underground for snapping at passengers and closing the gates
00:12:45before most of them could get into the lift i left of my own accord you were dismissed from the lambeth
00:12:51borough council for disposing of housewives washing lines as well as the contents of their dustbins that's
00:12:57not true i left because i wanted to and you were sacked from the construction company for bearing the
00:13:03foreman's crash helmet under a pile of clay that's a lie his helmet fell into a hole by accident i wasn't
00:13:09even there but i got blamed and you were given notice from the geriatric hospital because humorous that you
00:13:16are whilst ministering to the bottom of an old man of 87 you've substituted for a toilet roll a piece of
00:13:23sandpaper and that never happened i left the hospital of my own free will you were fired just as you
00:13:29were fired by all the other employers and just as you were fired from the outdoor cafe you behaved in
00:13:35the cafe in the way that you have always behaved this is all nonsense let us take three specific examples
00:13:42of that behavior shall we first of all on the morning of tuesday october the 7th at 8 30 a.m did mr muir
00:13:51ask you to clean the hot plate yes then why didn't you do it well i tried i scrubbed for half an
00:13:58hour but i couldn't get it clean it was covered in hard burnt egg so mr muir had to clean it himself
00:14:04it took him five minutes oh sure it was easy for him he used some special stuff magic perhaps oh no
00:14:10man some special powder he keeps locked up in his cupboard in his office i suggest he used ordinary
00:14:15hercules hercules oh hercules my lord an ordinary cleaner seen advertised on the television almost
00:14:21every evening hercules hercules shifts the dirt with the greatest of ease let's get on now this
00:14:29cleaner is the cleaner you should have used if you hadn't refused to do what you were being paid to do
00:14:35let's move on to the morning of friday the 10th of october when you were 43 minutes late
00:14:41i wasn't 43 minutes late in fact i was five minutes early well how is it nobody saw you
00:14:46i was in the lavatories for 43 minutes i was cleaning them well nobody heard you they wouldn't
00:14:53through the door mr muir will testify that he went to the lavatories in that 43 minute period and he
00:14:58didn't see you he didn't go in nobody did i suggest you were late and that you were late every morning
00:15:03i wasn't i suggest that you were not in the lavatories that morning but on the morning of the following
00:15:08wednesday you most certainly were yes i'm talking about the morning of the 15th of october at
00:15:14approximately 11 a.m when mr muir caught you coming out of the lavatories i don't know what you mean by
00:15:20caught i wasn't trying to hide anything didn't mr muir catch you not washing your hands how could he
00:15:25catch me not doing something am i not right in saying that the wash basin the sink used for washing
00:15:30hands is not in the lavatories but in an alcove off one corner of the kitchen yes which means that on
00:15:36coming through the lavatory door one would have to make a right angle turn to get to the wash basins
00:15:42and that you were halfway across the room before mr muir stopped you and asked you why you weren't
00:15:48going to wash your hands i wasn't he was standing right behind the lavatory door when i came out
00:15:53waiting to pass on me i didn't have a chance to turn i suggest this wasn't the first time mr muir had
00:15:59to correct you for your lack of hygiene in the kitchen area what he calls your dirty habits the dirty
00:16:06habits were inside his head he warned you this was the last straw didn't he no he bullied as usual
00:16:11which is why he dismissed you when you dropped the tray later that afternoon it was an excuse
00:16:16it was the culmination of more than two weeks appalling behavior from you wasn't it
00:16:20nonsense engendered by your resentment of being black no no i suggest that mr muir and not you is the victim
00:16:28of racial hatred that's crazy and that's far from trying to incite racial hatred my client is trying to
00:16:34avoid it that's perverted and that it is you not he who is trying to incite racial hatred
00:16:52mr williams before you left nigeria you had a secure job as an architect completely secure well
00:17:08paid and with good prospects of promotion extremely good prospects and you left this post of your own
00:17:14court i did sir and what did you expect to do here manual work dirty jobs with this it didn't worry you
00:17:22oh no sir there's no indignity in working with your hands and getting them dirty and when you're doing
00:17:28this kind of jobs you're working alongside the real people of the country i mean the people you really
00:17:33want to find out about yes well let's let's look at the three specific incidents brought out by my
00:17:39learned friend what about the hot plate i really did try to clean it for half an hour but i only had
00:17:48hercules and i couldn't make an impression thank you now the occasion when you're supposed to have been
00:17:5443 minutes late what time did you arrive five to eight i was early yes now was anyone else there when
00:18:02you arrived yes muir in his office but but he didn't see you no he couldn't see me well why didn't
00:18:07you speak to him oh i could do without being yelled at at that time of the morning so i got on quietly
00:18:13with cleaning the lavatories why did that take 43 minutes well there are two cubicles and everything
00:18:19had to be scrubbed muir demanded that the laughs be immaculate a single speck and i'd have heard him
00:18:26swooping on me again let's pass on to the morning of the 15th when you were accused of not washing your
00:18:33hands yeah he was right behind the door i almost bumped into him i didn't have a time to turn towards
00:18:39the wash basin but if he hadn't been there what would you have done oh turned straight to the wash
00:18:44basin and scrubbed my hands so how did muir's treatment of you make you feel on edge nervous
00:18:53was there any connection between that and the fact that you dropped the tray later on that afternoon oh yes
00:18:58sir he caused that himself i mean i could feel him spying on me from the kitchen ready to pounce
00:19:04oh it made me jittery i mean normally i would never lost my balance so easily
00:19:10i was being persecuted because of my color thank you mr williams
00:19:19jessica finch will you take the book in your right hand and read aloud the words on this card
00:19:24i swear by almighty god that the evidence i shall give should be the truth the old truth and nothing
00:19:30but the truth
00:19:37your full name is jessica finch yes and you live at 19 macefield road for chester yes
00:19:44now on the afternoon of october the 15th you were having a cup of tea at the outdoor cafe willows park
00:19:49yes sir will you please tell us what happened well it was about three o'clock and i was sitting
00:19:55there drinking me cup of tea and minding me own business and i suddenly heard this crash i looked
00:20:01up and i saw that mr williams had dropped his tray and then this other bloke come rushing out with a
00:20:06white overall on you mean frederick mill yes my lord thank you my lord what did muir do well he shouted
00:20:14out of mr williams that he was fired and then he sort of started giving a speech like to the old cafe
00:20:21can you remember what he said yes sir oh is it all right if i use me notes what you got notes too
00:20:27yes me lord oh very unusual since the accused's precise words are of such importance your lordship
00:20:33may think it extremely commendable of her to have gone to such a length yes yes yes mr simpson i i'm
00:20:38not objecting i'm merely surprised that's all how long after mr mill's speech did you make these notes
00:20:44oh about a quarter of an hour oh well very well you may use them
00:20:53let me make my intentions clear we must rid ourselves of the inferior races all colors must
00:21:01leave this country i'm advocating they be forced to leave and for any who resist there'll be extermination
00:21:10camps we'll make their corpses into fertilizer let's have no illusions the only way we'll have
00:21:18racial peace is by completely eliminating them now those are your own notes based on your own memory
00:21:24yes sir you didn't uh collaborate with anyone on them oh no sir and muir addressed those words to the
00:21:30whole cafe yeah he kept sort of turning round well he looked straight at me a couple of times
00:21:35frightened the life out of me yes i'm not surprised thank you very much mrs finch i suggest you did
00:21:41not make your notes independently shortly after mr muir's speech at all the truth is isn't it that you're
00:21:48in collusion with other prosecution witnesses and that your so-called notes were dictated to you no no
00:21:54that's not true at all
00:22:08the cases in fullchester crown court are fictitious but the jury is comprised of members of the general
00:22:25public the queen against muir will be resumed tomorrow in the crown court
00:22:38and
00:22:41and
00:22:42and
00:22:43and
00:22:44and
00:22:46and
00:22:54and
00:22:56and
00:22:57Frederick Muir is alleged to have publicly insulted one of his employees, a black man
00:23:25called Tundee Williams and is now accused of making a speech in a public place with the
00:23:29intention of inciting racial hatred. Jessica Finch, who has given evidence against him, is about
00:23:35to be cross-examined. Mrs Finch, how many people live in your house? Oh, five, I suppose. Five? And who are they?
00:23:44Well, there's me and my daughter and three lodgers. And what nationality are the lodgers?
00:23:49Commonwealth. Commonwealth. Australia? No. Canada? No. New Zealand? No. Isle of Man? No. In fact, they're
00:24:02Africans, aren't they? Yes. And one of them is a friend of Tundee Williams? Well, I don't know that
00:24:07he was exact... Mrs Finch, one of your lodgers called Rodney Spanier is a friend of Tundee Williams,
00:24:12isn't he? Well, I don't know that he's a friend. Well, he certainly knows him. Yes. And through your
00:24:18lodger, Rodney Spanier, you knew Tundee Williams before the incident in the cafe, didn't you?
00:24:24I didn't know him. Well, you were good friends. We weren't. We just met once in passing when
00:24:30one day when he came to see Rodney. It was in the hall. I was going out and he was coming
00:24:34in and we just said hello and that's all there was to it. Then why did you speak to him when
00:24:38you arrived at the outdoor cafe and saw him collecting cups? Well, I just recognised him and said
00:24:43hello. Then why did he reply hello, Jesse? Did he say that? Are you denying it? Well,
00:24:50I don't know. I suppose he might have. I mean, it was all so casual. Hello, Jesse sounds rather
00:24:54intimate, doesn't it? Oh, yeah, but that's what they do, you see. They get on first names
00:24:59straight away. It's just the way they are. Oh, is it indeed? Well, I've met many coloured
00:25:05people and they've never addressed me by my first name. Well, I'm not surprised.
00:25:09Mrs Finch. No, I suggest Williams called out hello, Jesse because he was intimate with
00:25:15you. He was not intimate with me. Indeed, you are and have been intimate with a number
00:25:19of coloured men. We were not intimate. I suggest you are. Not intimate. I've got lots
00:25:25of coloured women friends as well. You have a special sympathy for coloured people, have
00:25:30you not? Oh, well, yes, I suppose I have. Why shouldn't I? Anyway, somebody's got to look
00:25:35after them, but I wouldn't stick up for a coloured person if they was in the wrong.
00:25:39I suggest that the opposite is the case, that you knew Tundee Williams intimately and that
00:25:43you have colluded with him to produce these lies today. I suggest that you never heard any
00:25:48of the things you claim to have heard. No, no, that is not true at all.
00:25:55Mr Mark Isham, on the afternoon of October the 15th, were you in the outdoor cafe Willows
00:26:00Park? Yes, sir. I was, I was having a salad when the, when the row broke out. You're talking
00:26:07about Williams and Muir? Yes, sir. Can you remember what Muir said? Well, I've made some
00:26:15notes. No. You also made notes? Well, yes, your honour. Mr Simpson, are we sure that this
00:26:23incident didn't take place at a Writers' Congress? Well, my best information is, my lord, that
00:26:28it did indeed take place at a cafe. Well, perhaps after this case, it'll become known
00:26:32as the Cafe Royal of the Fulchester Literature. Eh, eh, eh, Mrs Schofield, eh? Your honour?
00:26:38Yes, what is it? Excuse me, sir, but does all this mean that I can't read me notes? No,
00:26:43Mr Isham, it doesn't, provided they were made shortly after the incident. Oh, they were,
00:26:47sir, yes, 10 to 15 minutes afterwards. Very well, then. You may read from them. Thank you,
00:26:52sir. Eh, eh, he said, eh, I'm going to make me intentions clear. We must get rid of all
00:27:00inferior races. All coloured people must leave the country. I'm advocating we force them to
00:27:08leave, and for those that resist, we'll have exterminating camps. Their bodies we will turn
00:27:16into fertilisers. Don't have any illusions. The only way we shall ever get racial peace will
00:27:24be by getting rid of them completely. Now, you wrote that down from memory, and you didn't
00:27:30consult anybody else? Eh, no, sir. This is my own record of what I actually heard. And who
00:27:36did Muir say it to? Well, the whole place. Er, 20 or more people, I suppose. And what was
00:27:42Muir's manner like as he spoke? Well, he was like a mad thing, sir. Ranting. Just like
00:27:48Hitler. Thank you, Mr Isham. Mr Isham, are you sure you heard Mr Muir say these things?
00:27:55Oh, yes, ma'am. When he was speaking, was he facing you all the time? No, ma'am. No,
00:28:01sometimes he was that way, and sometimes he was the other way. He was walking up and down,
00:28:06like a man does when he's making a speech. So a lot of the time he had his back to you?
00:28:10Well, yes, I suppose so, yes. Mr Isham, I'm going to try a little test. I'm going to turn
00:28:15my back for you, and I'm going to say something. And when I've done, sir, I'm going to ask you
00:28:20what I said. All right? Yes, all right. I believe that Adolf Hitler was the most glorious statesman
00:28:28of the 1930s. He wasn't interested in war, and indeed he did everything he could to stop
00:28:33it. But unfortunately, he was opposed by some of the worst men who ever lived. Now, Mr Isham,
00:28:40did you hear that? Yes, ma'am. Good. What did I say?
00:28:46What, just then? Yes. Well, you were saying about Hitler that he was the most odious statesman
00:28:53of the 30s. Yes, and what else? Well, you also said he was only interested in war, and we should
00:29:01do everything we could to stop him. But it was hopeless, because he was the worst man that ever
00:29:06lived. I see. And what do you think of these sentiments?
00:29:10About what you said? Yes.
00:29:12Well, I agree, ma'am. Agree completely. I couldn't agree more. I fought against Hitler,
00:29:18miss, and hated everything he stood for.
00:29:20And Mr Muir's speech reminded you of Hitler?
00:29:23Well, yes, it did. I mean, Hitler was against the Jews, and this man's down on the coloreds. It's the
00:29:32same thing, isn't it? Which is why you wanted to testify against Mr Muir.
00:29:37Well, yes. I mean, I fought against Hitler, and I'll fight against him.
00:29:41You'll fight racialism?
00:29:43Wherever I find it, miss. I mean, I'm not a young man anymore, but I'll do what I can.
00:29:49Well, that's a very commendable attitude.
00:29:52Thank you, ma'am.
00:29:53As long as you're quite sure that it is racialism that's confronting you, before you take up
00:29:57arms against it.
00:30:00I'm sorry, Your Honour. I don't quite follow that.
00:30:04Mr Isham, when I turned my back for you just now, I said exactly the opposite of what you
00:30:08heard.
00:30:11Well, I don't believe it.
00:30:12I said, and I'll repeat, I believe that Adolf Hitler was the most glorious statesman of
00:30:18the 1930s. He wasn't interested in war, and indeed, he did everything he could to stop
00:30:24it. But unfortunately, he was opposed by some of the worst men who ever lived.
00:30:30Well, I'm sorry, miss, but I just don't believe it.
00:30:33Well, I deliberately said it as loud as possible. Everyone else in the court heard me say it.
00:30:37Look around. Do you see anybody disagreeing?
00:30:40Well, no. No. What I mean is that if that's what you said, well, it's a lot of rubbish, isn't
00:30:47it? Yes, of course it's rubbish, Mr Isham. And it's precisely because it's rubbish that
00:30:51you didn't hear me say it. You heard what you expected me to say, and you were greatly
00:30:56helped in this by your bad hearing.
00:30:58Well, it's not all that bad.
00:31:01When you can't see the face or read the lips, you have difficulty, don't you?
00:31:05Well, I'm not deaf, if that's what you mean.
00:31:07I suggest that all you hear is a kind of blur. If you think you know the tune, you think
00:31:13you know the words.
00:31:14Well, now, just...
00:31:14And I suggest this is exactly what happened at Willows Park. Because Mr Muir dismissed Mr
00:31:21Williams and proceeded to talk about race, you assumed he was a racialist. You couldn't
00:31:26see Mr Muir's lips because most of the time he was turned away from you.
00:31:30Well, it wasn't like that at all, madam.
00:31:33Mr Isham, when Muir was speaking to you, how much of the time did he have his back to
00:31:45you?
00:31:46Well, I should say about half the time, sir.
00:31:48Ah, so half the time you could read his lips?
00:31:51Oh, yes, easily, easily.
00:31:53Was Muir ever sighed on to you?
00:31:57Well, yes, about a quarter of the time, I suppose.
00:32:00And could you read his lips then?
00:32:02Yes, sir. Without any trouble at all.
00:32:06So, for three quarters of the time, you could read his lips?
00:32:11Yes, sir. That is correct.
00:32:13So, even if there is anything in my learned friend's ingenious theory about hearing, it
00:32:18doesn't apply in this case. Because, in fact, you could read Muir's lips for by far the greater
00:32:23part of his speech.
00:32:25Yes, sir. That is absolutely true.
00:32:28Thank you, Mr Isham.
00:32:28Mrs. Kilner, how long had you worked at the outdoor cafe when the tray-dropping incident
00:32:35occurred?
00:32:36Nearly 11 months.
00:32:38And during that period, were any other coloured people, apart from Mr. Williams, employed there?
00:32:42None.
00:32:43And yet, Mrs. Kilner, normally so many coloured people are employed in catering.
00:32:48They often can't get anybody else. I mean, a lot of local folk aren't prepared to do it. A lot of these
00:32:54places would come to a standstill if it wasn't for coloured people.
00:32:57Well, then, is it not indeed remarkable that in nearly a year, Mr. Muir didn't employ a solitary
00:33:04coloured person?
00:33:05Yes. I've never known it anywhere else.
00:33:07Why do you think that was?
00:33:09Muir can't stand blacks.
00:33:10Then why did he employ Williams?
00:33:12Well, it was an emergency, you see. The other fella had gone and Muir didn't have time to
00:33:16be choosy.
00:33:19Yes. I see. Yeah.
00:33:22How did Muir treat Williams?
00:33:25Always pestering and criticising him. Finding fault with everything he did. Always making nasty
00:33:31cracks about race.
00:33:33Let's consider a specific instance. The morning of October the 7th. Now, can you tell us what
00:33:39happened? Yes. Well, I was getting the counter ready, so I was in and out the kitchen all
00:33:43the time getting stuff. At about our past day, I see Tundi trying to clean the hot plate.
00:33:49Well, each time I went back into the kitchen, he was still at it, scouring away. I said,
00:33:53Oh, Tundi, you know I've got a job on there. He was at it a good half hour.
00:33:57But with no success?
00:33:59No, the hot plate was coated with congealed egg, and Tundi didn't have the right stuff
00:34:03to get it off.
00:34:04Then what happened?
00:34:05Well, I was at the counter when I heard this yell. So I went into the kitchen. There's Muir
00:34:10blowing his top at Tundi. You stupid shit skin, he shouted.
00:34:15Shit skin?
00:34:16Oh, yes. He often calls him that.
00:34:18That's a charming neologism. Please continue.
00:34:22Yes. Well, as I was saying, there was Muir really giving Tundi a bad time. He says,
00:34:29You lazy gorilla, I told you to clean that hot plate, and instead of that, you've been
00:34:33out in the park again, swinging about in them trees.
00:34:36Did Williams tell Muir that he'd been trying to clean the hot plate for over half an hour?
00:34:39Oh, yes. But Muir said he was lying, and he'd prove it by getting the stuff off himself
00:34:44in less than five minutes. So he goes into his office, and he comes out with some stuff
00:34:50in a plain can. That's true. He did get it off in less than five minutes, but only because
00:34:56he'd used something real tough he hadn't let Tundi use.
00:34:59You don't know what this stuff was, do you?
00:35:02No.
00:35:03What did Muir do when he'd finished?
00:35:05Took the stuff back into his office. Me and Tundi followed him to the doorway to see
00:35:11where he put it.
00:35:11And where did he put it?
00:35:12He locked it away in a cupboard.
00:35:15Thank you, Mrs. Kilner.
00:35:16Mrs. Kilner, you no longer work at the outdoor cafe, do you?
00:35:21No.
00:35:23In fact, you were dismissed in early November.
00:35:26Yes.
00:35:27Because Mr. Muir caught you stealing food?
00:35:30I never stole any food.
00:35:33Just had a few old scraps in me bag. Leftovers. Stuff that'd been chucked out anyway.
00:35:39I suggest that the opposite is the case. I suggest that what you had in your bag were neither
00:35:43scraps nor were they about to be thrown away. I suggest that what you had in your bag were
00:35:48thirteen sausage rolls, two and a half loaves, a whole sesame cake, a knuckle of ham, a
00:35:55whortleberry compote and a turnip.
00:35:58I never stole a crumb.
00:36:00Tell me, why did you only offer yourself as a witness for the prosecution after you'd been
00:36:05sacked?
00:36:06I couldn't before.
00:36:07I suggest it was because before you were sacked you had no motive.
00:36:11No.
00:36:12I suggest that everything you've said in this courtroom is a malicious lie, deliberately
00:36:17concocted as an act of revenge to hurt my client.
00:36:21I haven't told a single lie.
00:36:25Tell me, Mrs. Kilner, why did you wait until after you'd been dismissed before you volunteered
00:36:30to testify for the prosecution?
00:36:32I was scared for me job.
00:36:35Thank you, Mrs. Kilner.
00:36:36Yes, thank you.
00:36:37That is the case for the prosecution, my lord.
00:36:41Thank you, Mr. Simpson.
00:36:42Now then, Mrs. Schofield, would you like to open the defence case now?
00:36:48Or shall we adjourn early and you can start after lunch, eh?
00:36:51I'm quite happy to start now, my lord.
00:36:54I call the defendant, Frederick Muir.
00:36:56Is your full name Frederick Muir?
00:37:13It is.
00:37:14And you live at 54 Bydebeck Avenue, Ellington?
00:37:17I do.
00:37:18And you're the owner of the outdoor cafe Willows Park?
00:37:21I am.
00:37:22And how long have you owned these premises?
00:37:25Six years.
00:37:26And how many staff do you employ?
00:37:28A cook, a counterhand and a kitchen porter.
00:37:33Now, on Monday, September the 29th, you needed to replace the kitchen porter.
00:37:38I did.
00:37:39The previous one, John, had collapsed with an appendicitis at the weekend.
00:37:44Was there any great urgency to replace John?
00:37:46No, of course I wanted to employ somebody as soon as I could, but we could manage until then.
00:37:51So it wasn't a question of grabbing the first person who came from the labour exchange?
00:37:55No, I wanted only to employ somebody who could do the job.
00:37:59And when Williams arrived, you thought he was suitable?
00:38:02Perfectly suitable.
00:38:03His colour didn't bother you?
00:38:05Not at all.
00:38:06And you have employed other coloured people before?
00:38:08Many times.
00:38:09And how have you got on with them?
00:38:11Very well.
00:38:12I'd never had the slightest trouble.
00:38:14But you heard a prosecution witness, Mrs. Melody Kilner, say that you hadn't employed a single coloured person for nearly a year.
00:38:22That's easily explained.
00:38:24What Melody Kilner omitted to mention was the fact that I had not needed to employ anybody from her arrival to John's appendicitis.
00:38:33The fact that my stable little team of three were all white was purely coincidence.
00:38:38The kitchen porter before John was a Pakistani, and he had left before Melody Kilner arrived.
00:38:45So you are in no way prejudiced against employing coloured people?
00:38:48Not at all.
00:38:49And you agreed to take Williams on?
00:38:51Yes, I told him he could start at eight o'clock the next morning.
00:38:54Now, once he started working in the cafe, what was his behaviour like?
00:39:00A general attitude of sullen belligerence.
00:39:03He either didn't carry out his duties at all, or he did them with a sluggish carelessness.
00:39:09Every time I asked him to do something, he responded...
00:39:12He responded, well, as if I'd insulted him.
00:39:16And did you harass him?
00:39:17Never.
00:39:18By being so antagonistic, he harassed me.
00:39:21Did you abuse him because of his colour?
00:39:23Well, I never mentioned his colour until the afternoon that I fired him.
00:39:29Yes.
00:39:30Now, after he'd been with you a week, you asked him to clean the hot plate.
00:39:34Yes, we'd had a large party of schoolchildren in the day before, and it was covered in congealed egg.
00:39:40Was it a difficult job to get it off?
00:39:41Go to heavens, Noah.
00:39:43A bit of elbow grease, and it would have been perfect within five minutes.
00:39:47Do you think Williams tried to clean it?
00:39:49No.
00:39:49Well, when I returned to the kitchen, after over half an hour, the hot plate was exactly
00:39:56as I'd left it.
00:39:57He pretended that he'd had a go, but that he hadn't got the right sort of cleanser.
00:40:01Oh, yes, this cleanser.
00:40:04And what did you use on the hot plate?
00:40:06Oh, exactly what Williams should have used.
00:40:08Ordinary Hercules, which I took from the open shelf in the kitchen, where it is always kept.
00:40:13What about the locked cupboard in your office?
00:40:16Sheer fabrication.
00:40:18Now, let's move to the following Friday, October the 10th, when you say Williams was 43 minutes
00:40:26late.
00:40:27Yes.
00:40:29And are you sure that he wasn't in the lavatories?
00:40:33Absolutely sure.
00:40:34Why?
00:40:35Because I went to the lavatory twice in that 43 minutes, the first time at about 5 past 8,
00:40:41and then again at around 8.30.
00:40:44I see.
00:40:45Let's move to the morning of the 15th of October, when Williams alleges that you were waiting
00:40:50for him outside the lavatories, ready to pounce on him.
00:40:53Is this true?
00:40:54Not at all.
00:40:55I was a long way from the door, with my back to it at a table, slicing beetroot.
00:41:02I didn't see Williams until he was passing.
00:41:04Up till then, I hadn't even registered that he'd been to the lavatory.
00:41:07But when I saw he was halfway across the room, I suddenly realised that he'd no intention
00:41:11of washing his hands.
00:41:13Well, that was the last straw, and I warned him, one more slip and he would be out.
00:41:17Which is what occurred the following afternoon?
00:41:20Yes.
00:41:21What exactly happened?
00:41:22It was about three o'clock.
00:41:26I was in the kitchen, making some trifles, when I heard a loud crash outside in the cafe.
00:41:32I went out, and I saw that Williams had dropped a whole tray full of crockery.
00:41:38He was standing there with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.
00:41:41Well, that was it.
00:41:42I was furious.
00:41:42I'd had enough.
00:41:43I went across to him, and I told him that he was fired.
00:41:46I don't deny I shouted.
00:41:48I was very angry.
00:41:52Well, he started to accuse me of getting at him because of his colour.
00:41:56He said I wouldn't dare treat a white man the way I treated him.
00:42:00He made these accusations in a loud voice so that everybody could hear.
00:42:03I was being accused of racial discrimination in public, and so I had to defend myself.
00:42:08Quite prepared to agree that what I said was a sort of public speech, but it had nothing
00:42:16to do with inciting racial hatred.
00:42:19I would like to read what I said from the notes I made just after I finished, when I
00:42:24realised that Williams was talking of taking action against me and asking people to write
00:42:28down what they had heard.
00:42:29How long after the event did you make these notes?
00:42:33Some 10 to 15 minutes.
00:42:35And they are an accurate reflection of what you've said?
00:42:38I am the secretary of the Fulchester Photographic Society, and I'm often called upon to make
00:42:43notes shortly after meetings, notes which are considered accurate by the other members,
00:42:50so I've had a training in remembering what has been said.
00:42:54Very good.
00:42:54Please read the notes that you made of your speech in the cafe.
00:43:01I'm not firing this man because he's coloured.
00:43:05I'm firing him because he's careless, rude, dirty, lazy, and always late.
00:43:12He didn't inherit his bad behaviour.
00:43:15He behaves badly because he's personally full of resentment against the white race.
00:43:19He thinks the white world owes him a living.
00:43:21He's got a complex about it.
00:43:24It's a pity, and I feel sorry for him, but what can I do about it?
00:43:29I've got a psychiatrist.
00:43:30My job's running this cafe, and it has to be run efficiently.
00:43:35Now, let me tell you something about this man who's accused me of racial prejudice.
00:43:40He's a qualified architect, but he couldn't get work in his own country, so he came over
00:43:45here.
00:43:46He thought this was the land of opportunity, but he hadn't been here long before he realised
00:43:52that there was to be no design in concert halls for him, only the inferior work, cleaning
00:43:57lavatories and washing up.
00:43:59Now, this has nothing to do with coloureds being inferior.
00:44:05Now, they most certainly aren't inferior, and they aren't discriminated against because
00:44:10they're inferior.
00:44:11They are discriminated against because they are strangers.
00:44:16You can pass as many anti-discrimination laws as you like, but you'll never stop it.
00:44:21Now, with unemployment rising, whites are going to start taking jobs they wouldn't have looked
00:44:26at a few years ago, the sort of jobs coloureds are doing.
00:44:30I don't approve of this.
00:44:32I don't approve of it at all.
00:44:34I don't like it, but I'm telling it as it is, looking facts in the face.
00:44:39And that's what coloured people should start doing.
00:44:42Each and every one of them should start thinking seriously about going back to their own country.
00:44:46Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating force, I'm not saying coloured people should
00:44:56be forced to leave this country, certainly not.
00:44:58Nothing could be further from my intentions.
00:45:01I know only too well that that sort of talk can lead to extermination camps and human corpses
00:45:05being turned into fertiliser.
00:45:07I'm not saying that at all.
00:45:10I'm not suggesting that at all.
00:45:11What I am suggesting is a purely voluntary reappraisal on the part of coloured people in this country.
00:45:21If they want to stay here, I say good luck to them.
00:45:24I don't want them to leave.
00:45:26As far as I'm concerned, they can stay forever.
00:45:31But if we're going to talk seriously about interracial harmony, they mustn't have any illusions.
00:45:37They mustn't expect more than they're likely to get.
00:45:42They mustn't expect much.
00:45:48Then they won't become resentful.
00:45:50Then they won't take out that resentment on the British.
00:45:53And so I say to this man and to every coloured person in this country,
00:45:57if you feel unhappy here, take all your energies and your skills,
00:46:02take all your finer feelings,
00:46:04take them back to the country which generated them
00:46:07and use them properly.
00:46:12Properly both for the fulfilment of yourself
00:46:15and for the fulfilment of your people.
00:46:19Thank you, Mr Muir.
00:46:20It is clear from what you've read that the words in the indictment
00:46:23are a corruption of what you said.
00:46:25Oh, yes.
00:46:27Deliberate distortion.
00:46:28Indeed, your actual words meant exactly the opposite of what you are alleged to have said.
00:46:32Yes, completely.
00:46:35Mr Muir, what was your intention in making this speech?
00:46:39To diminish interracial tension
00:46:42and to promote interracial harmony.
00:46:46The cases in Fulchester Crown Court are fictitious,
00:47:06but the jury is comprised of members of the general public.
00:47:09The Queen against Muir will be concluded tomorrow in the Crown Court.
00:47:12Thank you very much.
00:47:24Frederick Muir is alleged to have publicly insulted one of his employees, a black man
00:47:53called Tunday Williams and is now accused of making a speech in a public place with the
00:47:57intention of inciting racial hatred. Frederick Muir has given evidence and is about to be
00:48:02cross-examined.
00:48:04Mr. Muir, Mr. Williams applied for the job on a Monday morning.
00:48:10Yes.
00:48:11And yet you didn't let him start until Tuesday morning.
00:48:16He arrived at about lunchtime on the Monday. There was no point in him working half a day.
00:48:21I suggest that the reason that you didn't set him on immediately is that you wanted to
00:48:25try and find someone else, someone white, before you accepted Mr. Williams.
00:48:29I never made any attempt to find anyone else.
00:48:31What about the phone calls you made?
00:48:33What phone calls?
00:48:34To the labour exchange, to your friends in other cafes.
00:48:37I never made any phone calls.
00:48:39None at all?
00:48:40Well, not about employees.
00:48:42You just said none at all.
00:48:45I'm sick of speech.
00:48:46A very convenient euphemism.
00:48:50Now, about the morning when Williams is supposed to have been 43 minutes late.
00:48:56Yes.
00:48:56You claim that you went into the lavatories twice during the time he said he was cleaning them.
00:49:00Yes, I did.
00:49:01I suggest that you never went into the lavatories.
00:49:03I did.
00:49:04Because you didn't need to.
00:49:06I certainly did.
00:49:08I'd eaten some sausages the evening before.
00:49:11I'm suggesting that you use the private lavatory which opens off your office.
00:49:16The so-called private lavatory happened to be out of order on the day in question.
00:49:21In fact, it had been out of order for several days.
00:49:24I suggest that there was nothing wrong with it.
00:49:26There was.
00:49:27It was blocked.
00:49:29Blocked?
00:49:29Yes.
00:49:30Blocked.
00:49:31Somebody had stuffed bread rolls round the S-Bend.
00:49:35You expect us to believe that?
00:49:37Now, who would do a thing like that?
00:49:39I have a very shrewd suspicion.
00:49:41Well, if the lavatory was blocked, did you call a plumber?
00:49:46No, I didn't.
00:49:47Oh, I see.
00:49:48So there's no corroboration of your evidence of this blockage?
00:49:51Everybody in the kitchen knew of it.
00:49:53Mr. Williams and Mrs. Kilner never mentioned it.
00:49:55Well, of course not.
00:49:56It wouldn't fit their version of things, would it?
00:49:58Indeed, Williams in particular knows all about it.
00:50:01Why should he know all about it?
00:50:03Because I think he blocked it.
00:50:05And even if he didn't block it, he certainly knew that it was blocked because I asked him
00:50:09to unblock it.
00:50:11All he did was to pull the chain twice and flood water all over the closet, saturating
00:50:15in the process several piles of old invoices which I keep there.
00:50:19Let's move on.
00:50:21Now, you claim that after you'd fired Williams, he accused you of racial prejudice in front
00:50:27of all the customers in the cafe and that therefore you had to make a speech to defend
00:50:31yourself.
00:50:32That is exactly what happened.
00:50:33I suggest you never gave him the chance to speak.
00:50:35I gave him every chance.
00:50:37And that you merely used his accident with the tray as an excuse to peddle your racial
00:50:41theories in a public place.
00:50:43I don't have any racial theories.
00:50:45I suggest that you most certainly do and that this was by no means the first time you had
00:50:49aired them.
00:50:50Even on your own admission, you made a speech, and a very practiced one at that.
00:50:53I'm quite used to making speeches.
00:50:55I've never pretended otherwise.
00:50:57Yes, indeed.
00:50:58You've trotted out your racial prejudices to groups of people on many occasions, haven't you?
00:51:02I haven't given speeches on race.
00:51:06I've given talks to the Photographic Society about the use of filters.
00:51:10I've given speeches to the Rotary Club.
00:51:14I am a Rotarian on local commercial matters.
00:51:18Ah.
00:51:19You make it all sound very innocent.
00:51:22Just cosy little chats about flower arrangement.
00:51:25Now, if you'd never spoken about race before, why did you suddenly decide to give a speech
00:51:30about it on October the 15th?
00:51:32I had been thinking about it for a long time.
00:51:35Thinking about it?
00:51:37Perhaps obsessed would be a better word.
00:51:38No, thinking.
00:51:39I read my newspaper.
00:51:40I watch television.
00:51:41I try and take an intelligent and concerned interest in a world about us.
00:51:46I didn't plan to make a speech the afternoon I fired Williams, but when he started to attack
00:51:50me in public, I decided it was time I spelt out a few things.
00:51:54Yes, indeed.
00:51:55As, for instance, that coloured people are inferior and should be exterminated.
00:52:00I never said that.
00:52:02I suggest you did.
00:52:03And it wasn't the first time.
00:52:05What do you mean?
00:52:06Do you remember David Stone?
00:52:09Oh, why bring him into this?
00:52:12Do you remember him?
00:52:13Of course I do.
00:52:15Mr Stone is Jewish.
00:52:17Yes, he is.
00:52:18What about it?
00:52:19He was a member of your Photographic Society.
00:52:21It's not my Photographic Society.
00:52:23You forced him to resign.
00:52:24I did not.
00:52:25He was asked to leave by all the members.
00:52:27On your suggestion.
00:52:28Only because I found out what he was up to.
00:52:30Only because you were the one who was anti-Semitic.
00:52:32I caught him in the darkroom with a young woman.
00:52:35You caught him in the darkroom developing film.
00:52:37Oh, yes.
00:52:38With his trousers off.
00:52:39Fully clothed.
00:52:40And a young girl completely naked.
00:52:42With his niece, who was helping him with his prints.
00:52:45With his fingerprints, maybe.
00:52:47He had his hands all over her.
00:52:48Nothing of the sort.
00:52:51You wanted to use the darkroom, and he was there.
00:52:54You couldn't stand the idea of a Jew getting in your way, so you manufactured a little scandal.
00:53:00At the next meeting of the Society, you spoke eloquently about the iniquities of the Jewish race.
00:53:05I said the reason Mr. Stone should go had nothing to do with his being Jewish.
00:53:09Jews, Cullards, David Stone, Tunde Williams.
00:53:13I submit that you are obsessed by race, and that you have a racial mania which extends into every area of your existence.
00:53:20That is not true.
00:53:22Brian Geddes, on the afternoon in question, you were sitting in the outdoor cafe Willows Park having a snack.
00:53:29A cup of coffee and two Eccles cakes.
00:53:31Precisely.
00:53:32Will you please describe what happened?
00:53:34Well, I was sitting there, sipping me coffee, and this coloured bloke collecting cups attracted my attention.
00:53:44I mean, he seemed so careless about the way he plunked them on the tray.
00:53:50He didn't seem bothered at all about what he was doing.
00:53:54He kept smiling and winking at a young woman at one of the tables.
00:54:01That's why he dropped his tray.
00:54:03He wasn't looking where he was going.
00:54:06After it had happened, he didn't seem the slightest bit upset, seemed amused.
00:54:13Then Mr. Muir walked out and told him he was fired.
00:54:17Well, Williams objected to that, started saying Muir was a racist.
00:54:22Mr. Muir listened a while, then in a firm voice, he explained to the people there like what his real views were.
00:54:30There was no hint of racial prejudice in his remarks?
00:54:32Oh no, none at all.
00:54:33He was explaining the reasons he was sacking Williams was nothing to do with race.
00:54:38Why did you decide to appear in this case as a witness for the defendant?
00:54:42Because after Mr. Muir went back inside the kitchen, Williams started rounding up people to attack him.
00:54:49So I thought somebody ought to be prepared to tell the truth.
00:54:52The truth is what you've told the court just now?
00:54:54Yeah, completely.
00:54:56Thank you, Mr. Geddes.
00:54:59Mr. Geddes.
00:55:04Have you ever heard of an organisation called the British Purity League?
00:55:15Yeah.
00:55:17I think I've heard of it.
00:55:19Where have you heard of it?
00:55:21Well, you know, newspapers and that. Long time ago.
00:55:29You've only read about it.
00:55:32Yeah, really.
00:55:34What do you mean by, yes, really?
00:55:41Well, I only mean I might have heard somebody mention it sometime.
00:55:47Oh, you might have heard it mentioned.
00:55:49Yeah.
00:55:50I suppose I could have.
00:55:51What, erm, in a conversation?
00:55:54Sort of, yeah.
00:55:57Sort of?
00:55:59Well, you know, it might have been more like somebody saying a few words.
00:56:08Oh, making a speech?
00:56:10Yeah, I could have been.
00:56:12Well, a member of the organisation.
00:56:17I don't know.
00:56:18Well, where did you hear this speaker?
00:56:24I think it was somewhere out Elmsley Way.
00:56:28On the street?
00:56:31Well, no. Not exactly.
00:56:33Well, was it a yard or two off to one side?
00:56:37Something like that, yeah.
00:56:39Oh, but not exactly.
00:56:41Well, well, not exactly.
00:56:43Well, how did it differ?
00:56:44Well, it was a bit more, er, exclusive.
00:56:48But in the open air?
00:56:50No.
00:56:51Not really.
00:56:52Oh, indoors?
00:56:54Yeah.
00:56:56So this speaker was speaking inside a building?
00:56:59Yes.
00:57:00I should say so.
00:57:01And you were passing and you heard him?
00:57:02Yeah.
00:57:03And you continued on your way?
00:57:05No.
00:57:07No.
00:57:08Yeah, in a manner of speaking.
00:57:12You, er, you decided to enter the building.
00:57:17What?
00:57:18I don't know about I decided.
00:57:19No, but you did enter.
00:57:21Yeah, I suppose so.
00:57:24Had you just stumbled on the place?
00:57:26Yeah.
00:57:28You didn't decide to go there deliberately?
00:57:31I wouldn't put it that way.
00:57:33Well, did you know beforehand that a meeting was being held in that building that evening?
00:57:39I suppose I might have heard something somewhere.
00:57:43Well, perhaps, er, perhaps you'd been told.
00:57:47Yeah, perhaps it had been mentioned.
00:57:50Perhaps you'd been invited.
00:57:52Well, perhaps somebody said I could go with them.
00:57:54Perhaps you accepted.
00:57:56Yeah, perhaps I did.
00:57:57So you went to the meeting?
00:57:59Yeah, I suppose so.
00:58:01And listened to the speaker?
00:58:02Yeah.
00:58:03Then what did you do?
00:58:06Well, I went home.
00:58:07And that was that?
00:58:08Yeah.
00:58:10You, er...
00:58:12You didn't, er, stay on at all?
00:58:16Maybe.
00:58:18For a minute.
00:58:19And what happened in that minute?
00:58:22I suppose I exchanged a few words, you know.
00:58:25Who with?
00:58:28Just other people there.
00:58:30Members of the organisation?
00:58:32I suppose they could have been.
00:58:34What did you talk about?
00:58:36This and that.
00:58:38You joining the organisation?
00:58:41Perhaps passing?
00:58:44It was suggested.
00:58:45Yeah, it might have been.
00:58:46And you accepted the suggestion?
00:58:49Yeah, I suppose so.
00:58:51General sort of way.
00:58:53So you, er, signed a form?
00:58:56Paid a subscription?
00:58:58Yeah.
00:58:59I suppose I could have.
00:59:01You became a member?
00:59:03In a way.
00:59:05And, er, you began attending meetings?
00:59:08And then?
00:59:09What, regularly? Once a week?
00:59:11I popped in if I had nothing else to do.
00:59:12As time went by, you took on a more active role.
00:59:15I did a few little odd jobs.
00:59:18Like becoming a member of the Fulchester Branch Committee?
00:59:21It was nothing much.
00:59:22Then its chairman?
00:59:24Just until somebody else did it.
00:59:26Then a member of the National Directorate?
00:59:28Only briefly.
00:59:29You were one of the leaders of the British Purity League.
00:59:32An organisation dedicated to, and here I quote from a manifesto.
00:59:36The purification of the white race in the islands of Britain.
00:59:40By means of removal or extermination of all individuals contaminated by colour.
00:59:47I don't know about that. It was all a long time ago.
00:59:50I was only on the director at a short while, and then I resigned.
00:59:53Resigned?
00:59:55Yeah.
00:59:56I disagree with their policies.
00:59:58Oh, they were too extreme?
00:59:59Yeah.
01:00:00Or not extreme enough?
01:00:02Eh?
01:00:03I suggest that you were expelled because even your rabid racialist fellow members found your ideas too ferocious.
01:00:08No.
01:00:09You were expelled for extremism.
01:00:10I wasn't a racist at all.
01:00:11You wanted to eradicate by mass extermination not only all traces of colour, but all traces of the Welsh, the Scots and the Irish.
01:00:19I never did.
01:00:20You advocated the reconquest of Africa and the West Indies, so that the coloured population could be farmed for food.
01:00:27You went even to the right of Himmler.
01:00:30You advocated institutionalised cannibalism.
01:00:33This is barmy. I resigned because they were racists.
01:00:36I left the league years ago and I've never been a member of anything like it since.
01:00:41Only because you daren't.
01:00:43A few months after you were expelled, several prominent members got stiff jail sentences.
01:00:48You've never been openly active since because you fear that the same might happen to you.
01:00:51No.
01:00:52But, when you heard Muir saying publicly the sort of things that you no longer dare say yourself, you decided to cover up for him.
01:01:00You are a rabid racist and you're merely protecting one of your own kind.
01:01:04No.
01:01:05Mr Geddes, how old were you when you joined the British Purity League?
01:01:12Nineteen.
01:01:14And why did you join?
01:01:16A mate had joined.
01:01:18They had socials. I thought I might meet some birds.
01:01:21So you had no idea what it stood for?
01:01:23No. At that age you go to dances anywhere.
01:01:27Labour Club, Churchill, you don't think about what's behind them.
01:01:30And what about the speeches and so on?
01:01:32I never took them in. I'd be daydreaming somewhere else.
01:01:37Then how did you come to hold the various positions in the organisation?
01:01:40Oh, they had so few members, everybody had to go on the committee.
01:01:45They put me on without asking me.
01:01:47They never took any notice of me at meetings. I used to doze off.
01:01:50What were the numbers involved?
01:01:52Well, at the Forchester branch, about ten. Maybe fifteen at a boom time. Very few.
01:02:00And in the league as a whole?
01:02:02What, nationwide?
01:02:03Yes.
01:02:04Oh, I don't know. A couple of hundred. No more.
01:02:07So the whole thing was on a very small scale.
01:02:09It was a joke.
01:02:11How did you get onto the directorate?
01:02:13Nobody else in Forchester was free to attend the meetings in London.
01:02:18So, Joe Soap had to do it.
01:02:20I only attended two meetings.
01:02:22But at those two meetings, you realised what the organisation stood for.
01:02:25Yeah, I dared not listen.
01:02:27I mean, I was supposed to report back to Forchester.
01:02:30Soon as I realised, I resigned completely.
01:02:33And when was that?
01:02:35Fifteen years ago.
01:02:37And how long were you a member?
01:02:39Four months.
01:02:41And how do you think of it now?
01:02:44Folly of youth.
01:02:45Mr Geddes, why were you so reluctant to tell my learned friend about it?
01:02:52I thought it might cast doubt on me testimony.
01:02:55I thought the prosecution would try to blow it up into something it never was.
01:03:00I realise now I've made a mistake.
01:03:03And you are a man quite prepared to admit mistakes.
01:03:05Yeah, I am.
01:03:07But you don't feel mistaken about Mr Muir's innocence.
01:03:09In no way. I've told the truth.
01:03:11Florence Middlewood, you were the cook at the outdoor cafe Willows Park.
01:03:18Yes, I was.
01:03:19How long ago was that?
01:03:21Two years ago.
01:03:22And how long did you work there?
01:03:23Ten months.
01:03:24Why did you leave?
01:03:26Well, I had to go back to Barbados for a while to look after my mother.
01:03:30You didn't leave because of any trouble with Mr Muir?
01:03:32Oh no, I never had any trouble with him.
01:03:35There was no hint of racial prejudice?
01:03:37None at all.
01:03:38He's one of the best people I ever worked for.
01:03:41He treated me with true respect like one human being to another.
01:03:45Yes, indeed. You have a great respect for him.
01:03:47Yes, I have.
01:03:49In fact, I believe you feel more for him than that.
01:03:51That's right. I am in love with him.
01:03:53And you live with him?
01:03:54Yes, I do.
01:03:55And you've lived with him since your return from Barbados?
01:03:58Yes, I have.
01:03:59In the light of that, Miss Middlewood, what do you think of the charge against him?
01:04:03It's incredible.
01:04:05Now, he's the most tolerant, unhumane person I ever met.
01:04:09How could I live with him and love him if he was capable of doing the things he's accused of?
01:04:14Well, Mr. Simpson, do you wish to cross-examine?
01:04:26My lord, this has taken me completely by surprise.
01:04:28Oh, yes.
01:04:30I wonder if we might have a brief adjournment while I make some inquiries, but perhaps about half an hour.
01:04:35Oh, very well. We'll adjourn until two o'clock.
01:04:38Miss Middlewood, you've lived with Frederick Muir for nearly two years.
01:04:52Yes.
01:04:54And you say you are in love with him?
01:04:56Yes, I am.
01:04:57And what is his attitude towards you?
01:05:00He loves me.
01:05:01Why do you think that is?
01:05:03How can I answer that?
01:05:04Please try.
01:05:05Well, he loves me as a woman, as a person.
01:05:09His attitude towards you has nothing to do with your colour.
01:05:12No, how could it have? My colour is irrelevant.
01:05:15Do you think he'd feel the same way about you if you were white?
01:05:18Of course he would.
01:05:20I suggest that your relationship with Muir is based entirely on colour.
01:05:25That's rubbish.
01:05:26And that, in fact, without your colour, there would be no relationship at all.
01:05:31You don't know what you're talking about.
01:05:33You've lived with him for two years?
01:05:34Yes.
01:05:35Yes.
01:05:36And yet you're not married?
01:05:37That's not important.
01:05:39Wouldn't you like to marry him?
01:05:40Well, maybe.
01:05:42Has he ever asked you?
01:05:43It hasn't arisen.
01:05:45He doesn't want to marry you?
01:05:46He might do.
01:05:48Well, why do you think that he's never asked you?
01:05:51Well, I mean, in these days, it don't really matter.
01:05:53Yeah.
01:05:54Isn't it the case that he doesn't want to marry you because he looks down upon you?
01:05:59And that, to Muir, you are a kind of black chattel, a slave he enjoys humiliating?
01:06:04No.
01:06:05And don't you enjoy being humiliated by him?
01:06:08No, I don't.
01:06:10Has he not said to you that he enjoys being degraded by having sexual contact with you?
01:06:16Oh, no.
01:06:17And have you not said that you enjoy degrading him?
01:06:20What you're saying is so fantastic.
01:06:23Miss Middlewood, I fear that allegations like these are often made in a case like this.
01:06:28Well, it's fantastic as far as my private life is concerned.
01:06:31My lord, I really must object.
01:06:33Yes, Mrs. Scofield?
01:06:34I cannot see that any of this has any bearing on the case.
01:06:36Well, it certainly is a rather sensitive area.
01:06:39Is it warranted, Mr. Simpson?
01:06:42My lord, we've been asked to believe that this witness has a relationship with the defendant
01:06:47which proves that he could not possibly have committed the crime with which he is charged.
01:06:51Yeah.
01:06:52It is only right, therefore, that I should have the opportunity of questioning
01:06:55whether that relationship is all that it has been made to appear.
01:06:57And I can only do this if I am allowed to probe the more intimate aspects of this relationship.
01:07:03Yes.
01:07:05Yes, I suppose that is correct.
01:07:06Mrs. Scofield, I think Mr. Simpson must be allowed to proceed.
01:07:10As your lordship pleases.
01:07:13Thank you, my lord.
01:07:16Miss Middlewood, does Mr. Muir ever beat you?
01:07:20No.
01:07:21I must remind you that you are on oath.
01:07:24Well.
01:07:25Does Mr. Muir ever beat you?
01:07:29Well.
01:07:31But it's not like you think.
01:07:33Different people make love in different ways.
01:07:35It's true that you and Mr. Muir never appear in public together, isn't it?
01:07:38We do, sometimes.
01:07:39I suggest that you never do.
01:07:41Why should we?
01:07:42Why shouldn't you?
01:07:44I suggest it's because he's ashamed to be seen with you.
01:07:47Oh, no.
01:07:48No, it isn't.
01:07:49Miss Middlewood,
01:07:50Isn't it true that the only people who are allowed to see you and he together are a few close male friends of his that come to the house?
01:07:58Well, maybe.
01:07:59And that when they come, he makes you do things.
01:08:02What things?
01:08:03For instance, crawling about on all fours with no clothes on.
01:08:09This is too much.
01:08:10My lord, this really goes beyond all bounds. I must object.
01:08:13My lord.
01:08:14I don't enjoy this, but if you'll allow the witness to answer this one question, I will take it no further.
01:08:18Very well.
01:08:21Please answer the question.
01:08:23Do I have to?
01:08:25Yes.
01:08:27Thank you, my lord.
01:08:30I must ask you again.
01:08:32Have you ever crawled about on all fours with no clothes on in the presence of Mr. Muir's friends?
01:08:38Miss Middlewood, you must answer the question, but you need only say yes or no, and that will be an end of the matter.
01:08:53No.
01:08:55And so, members of the jury, you must remember that it is for you and you alone to decide the innocence or guilt of the accused Frederick Muir.
01:09:05Now, you have had the opportunity of hearing the various witnesses give their evidence with and without notes in the witness box.
01:09:15And it is for you to decide which of those witnesses were giving truthful versions of what happened on that momentous day at the outdoor cafe.
01:09:25Remember, the prosecution must prove to your entire satisfaction.
01:09:31Firstly, that the accused used the words alleged.
01:09:36Secondly, that the words were abusive, threatening, insulting and likely to stir up race hatred.
01:09:43And thirdly, that the accused intended to stir up race hatred.
01:09:50So now, will you please retire, elect a foreman to speak for you on your return and consider your verdict.
01:09:55Foreman, I want you to answer the question I'm about to put to you, simply yes or no.
01:10:06Members of the jury, have you reached a verdict on which you're all agreed?
01:10:10Yes.
01:10:11Do you find the defendant, Frederick Muir, guilty or not guilty on the charge of inciting racial hatred in a public place?
01:10:18Not guilty.
01:10:20Very well. Muir, you are discharged.
01:10:23Now, Mrs. Schofield, in case you're thinking of making an application for payment of your client's costs,
01:10:29let me tell you that I have formed a very strong view on that matter.
01:10:33Your client brought this prosecution on himself.
01:10:35Frankly, I am surprised at the jury's verdict, and your client may consider himself a lucky man to have been acquitted.
01:10:41Iniquity.
01:10:42Watch down.
01:10:43That's all.
01:10:44That's all.
01:10:47That's all.
01:10:48That's all.
01:10:50My friend, I've seen this.
01:10:53That's all.
01:10:56That's all.
01:10:59That's all.
01:11:03That's all.
01:11:05That's all.
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