CHAPTER 53
“All rise!”

Finally, our day had come. All the research on the home hadn’t stopped, for I had what Alun was calling my minions still digging away, but this day was for me and Charlie. Get this out of the way, and we’d have Tiff’s to follow. We were quite a crew, almost all of the team, including Sammy, with Deb, a girl she introduced as Kimberley, and PC Welby. The tension in the three from the house was clear, and I could see how involved Paul Welby was in his work. Another one of our sort of copper.

I wasn’t sure how the hell it worked, but His Honour was once again Meredith. I can only assume that the cases, the multiple rapes, were being treated as continuations of the first one, offences being taken into account, in effect. Either way, while I had no doubts about Meredith’s ability to steer a clear and balanced path, he was already aware of the nature of the person in the dock.

In swept our judge, as blank-faced as ever, and the charges were duly presented for Evans’ delectation and response. There was a litany of names and dates.

“…the rape of…”
“…infliction of grievous bodily harm to…”
“…abduction of…”
“…threat to kill…”

Eleanor Mair Askew.
Jasmine Skye Lenihan.
Paula Amanda Cairns
Charlton Dilwyn Surtees, known as Charlotte.

All were met with a snarl of “Not guilty”.

Laying the extra three charges before Ashley Evans had been an anti-climax, as his solicitor had clearly managed to get through to him, and as Blake had read them, and OI had smiled, the bastard had simply glowered and gone no comment in response. Disclosure had been simple, for once, as the events were so long ago there was little evidence apart from memory. It seemed I had been remarkably lucky in Janice Jeffries.

“Ms Askew, I must apologise, but it will be necessary to go over some very unpleasant events”

“I know that. About time I got this out of my system, and him done”

“Thank you for your help in this matter. Can you tell us if you recognise the man in the dock?”

“Yes, I can. He’s the bastard who knocked two of my teeth out when I was fourteen”

“I would like to take you back over that incident, if I may…”

So it went, each woman finishing up with their own version of “and he said it was the best way to get all the spoodge out”

All the defence could do in each case was to try and attack the quality of their memories, their ability to recall and, of course, the reason they had never brought charges. In a way, it was hilarious, because after Eleanor had been the first to describe a little bit of community policing by two of Dyfed-Powys; finest, the defence really was showing how well he knew he, or rather his client, was stuffed. He did try, though.

“Ms Cairns, what is your occupation?”

“On the game, isn’t it?”

“For the benefit of this Court, and the ladies and gentlemen of the jury, could you be more specific?”

“I’m a tom. A whore. A prostitute. OK?”

“Were you working the night you met the defendant?”

“Working? You mean looking for trade? It was two days after my seventeenth birthday! I was on my way to a fucking clarinet lesson!”

Meredith was quick to stop the momentum building on that one.

“Please, Ms Cairns, and yes, I understand the stress you will be feeling. In order to limit such stress…”

He had given a very direct stare to the Defence at that.

“…and avoid distressing questions that may be reminiscent of the unpleasant way rape trials were accustomed to proceed…”

Another Look.

“…could you please confirm, for the jury, and myself, what your occupation was at the time?”

I felt like kissing him at that, for it left me so much happier at how Charlie might be treated. Paula looked at Meredith, and all but collapsed.

“What was I doing? I was in sixth form college, at Howell’s!”

Oh dear god. One of the seriously good independent schools in Cardiff, known more for turning out future high-fliers rather than heroin-addicted prostitutes. Oh shit. Meredith stayed with her, though.

“Once more, and for the benefit of the jury, and so as to CLOSE this line of questioning, and please take the question as I intend it to be taken: would it be fair to say that you were merely a school student at the time and not involved in sex work?”

She nodded, tears flowing.

“Thank you, Ms Cairns. May I take that as a yes?”

“Yes”

“learned Counsel has, I would suggest, had a full answer to his question, and will now pay heed as to the vulnerability of the witness, who is not on trial in these proceedings”

“I am grateful to Your Honour. Er, no further questions for this witness”

Paula stepped down, and Candice was straight out of the court along with Deb’s Community PC, and I had a mad mental blip of ‘Hey, Paul, hey, hey Paula’ before I slapped the Police, Professional buttons.

“Call Charlton Dilwyn Surtees”

I reached across for Deb’s hand, and found that Blake had mine, as Jon squeezed my shoulder from the row of seats behind. He was clearly a quick learner. Charlie was looking as demure as possible in a neat skirt and blouse, blazer over the top and flat shoes, rather than her accustomed PJs.

“Please take the book and read out the words on the card”

“Please state your name and address”

“Charlotte Diane Surtees. Don’t want to give my address”

Our man was on his feet, explaining how she was in a refuge, a place of safety, sixty-seven other terms that all meant “No, not saying where you can find me”

I looked over at Deb, and she read my mind, whispering “Take it as a compliment, girl. She might change her mind before she can make it official”

Our man was teasing her out.

“You are listed as Charlton Dilwyn. Could I please ask, for the benefit of the jury, that you explain the change? In your own words?”

I could see she wanted to sniff, but the coaching I had given her seemed to have taken. Look AWAY from the lawyer for the answer, which goes to the jury. Look back for the next question, and once again answer to the twelve good people and true.

“Well, I’m a trans girl, yeah? Seeing the gender clinic down to Exeter for now, till they open one in Cardiff…”

I watched another lesson surface: keep it short.

“Yeah, officially a boy, but they got that wrong, so it’s being sorted”

“So, while your name remains officially Charlton, until you are of an age to change it, your preferred form of address is Charlotte. Is that a fair summary, Ms Surtees?”

I could have kissed him as well. Just one little title, and he lifted her up. She actually smiled.

“Yeah. I usually go by Charlie. You can call me that if you want”

Meredith looked up from his notes.

“I am grateful to the witness for her explanation. For the benefit of these proceedings, and for the record, this witness will be referred to as Charlotte Diane Surtees”

I passed Deb a tissue.

Once again, our man danced his witness through the date and time. And made sure her thirteen years of age were dangled before the jury.

“Why were you out at that time of night, Charlie?”

“It was a chance I didn’t get that often. Mam and Dad were away, and I had a stash, yeah? Clothes? For me, not for the boy they said I was?”

“So you took the opportunity to dress appropriately, as you saw it?”

“Not as I saw it, as it should have been all the time!”

Calm, girl.

“I understand. Why go outside?”

“Oh, it’s like it makes it more real. Makes you feel like you’re normal, makes you…”

She hesitated, just for a moment, head down, and then looked straight at the jury.

“Makes you feel real. Gives you hope that one day, that will be the way you always are”

“thank you once more, Charlie. Now, what happened that evening?”

“Big car, big man. Stopped to ask for directions, I thought…”

I knew every moment of the rest of her testimony, partly from how I had worked through it from her statement but also because it mirrored my own rape so well.

“Then he hit me really hard, and I see stars, and he’s pissing on me, talking about getting the spoodge out. Next thing I know, I’m in some bushes, and there’s a man with his dog, and an ambulance and hospital”

“Was there any police involvement?”

“Oh, yeah! Two coppers come round, Evans and Pritchard they said their names were…”

I was watching the jury then, as those names hit them for the fourth time, and despite Meredith’s stoneface, I knew full well that he remembered those names from my own trial.

“Could you identify the man who raped you, Charlie?”

“Yeah! He’s that cunt in the dock!”

She waved her hands.

“Sorry, sir, Your Honour. Just, it’s taken me years to find the courage, yeah? Bit emotional?”

Our man looked at the judge, who nodded slightly.

“Thank you for your assistance, Your Honour. May it be noted that the witness has identified the defendant Ashley Aaron Evans as her assailant. Charlie: what then happened?”

“Mam and Dad kicked me out, isn’t it? Nasty little queer. Ended up sleeping rough. I…”

The usher had a box of tissues, and then a glass of water.

“Spent a while with no money, and then… Someone showed me how you could… Sorry. Got to make a joke out of it, only way. You can eat as long as you’re willing to eat, yeah? Suck someone’s cock, get enough for a couple of days. Sorry to be blunt. And then I did something stupid”

“Which was?”

“Local club. Thought I’d get in, no charge for girls, yeah? See if I could get warm, get pissed a bit before I had to suck another pissy cock, and at the same time it was somewhere I might find one…”

She looked over to is, eyes pleading, before remembering my coaching and turning back to the jury.

“I was hungry, yeah? Hungry and cold, and there was a man there, and he seemed nicer than the others, even though he had a wonky eye. Said he had a flat I could stay in”

“Can you remember his name?”

“Yeah. Joe. Joe Evans”

Meredith looked up sharply at that one, and I thought for a second he might intervene, but he seemed to have his own version of my ‘Police, Professional’ button, and was pressing it firmly.

“So, I went back to his place, and he had a separate bedroom, and food, and it was warm, and it was dry… and then on the second night, I hear a voice, and I recognise it, and I sneak a look down the stairs, and it’s that cunt---sorry, sorry. Just, well, not good. It’s the copper from the hospital, one of them. Pritchard, yeah? And he’s coming up the stairs, and he’s already bloody UNZIPPING, so I went out the window, god knows how I didn’t break anything, and I ran like---I ran as fast as I could, and I hid, yeah? I was lucky, though. Met someone, and they knew Kimberley, yeah, up there?”

She pointed at us, and the other girl waved back.

“Yeah, and Kim knew Nana, who runs the house and… sorry. Do I need to say any more stuff? I don’t know if I can”

I wanted to jump the rail to hug her, but it had to be done, and by her, and thank fuck the duty barrister was dancing to his minimal fee rather than his client’s wishes. Being slapped down by Meredith was very clearly not on his list of desirable outcomes. I suspected, knowing Evans, that the barrister didn’t actually give a shit about his client. I gave myself a silent warning to prepare for an appeal on that basis, but he was utterly and completely damned.

Meredith summed up, the jury retired, and I followed Nana as she went to comfort her child. Before I left the public gallery, I made sure to smile at Ashley Aaron Evans, and made equally sure that he saw.