CHAPTER 13
Sedgewick led the way out of the Court.

“There’s quite a nice place a little walk away. Far enough from the Court for us to avoid the usual idiots, and it has outdoor seating we can use”

Across a couple of car parks we went, to an odd building with a wave-shaped roof, a cluster of tables outside, and fortunately trade was light pre-lunch. We gathered hot or cold drinks and sandwiches, cakes, etc, and started our attempt at a wash-up. It didn’t work, because more than one of us was in tears. Karen was cuddled up to her husband, who was still holding Stevie’s hand without the slightest hint of embarrassment, Emily maintaining a similar grip on Stevie’s other one. The older man, Roger, handed me a business card.

“Darling, perhaps somewhat presumptuous of an old queen, but I was always forward. I feel we should keep in touch; even if you are Welsh”

That got me laughing, which had clearly been his intention, much as the judge had hinted.

“What you got against Wales, then?”

He laughed, face crinkling up in interesting ways.

“Absolutely nothing, young lady! My darling boy spent rather a lot of our time up there, cottaging”

Jon snorted half his coffee up.

“You bloody what?”

Roger grinned again, an obvious joke sailing right past my head, and Jon wiped his face before telling me he would explain it later. The older man continued.

“My dear husband and I are… were… climbers, as is young Steven. We would take a cottage somewhere like Beddgelert and explore the crags”

“Oh! My Dad used to take me up there a lot! Quite the hillwalker, my Dad. Never really did the ropes thing”

“Well, Ada, Steven’s grandmother, lived in the Lake District, which is how we met the dear boy and his darling wife, plus all these others. There are some here you do not yet know. That is my cousin Tessa and her lovely husband Wyn; Steven’s Brother Iain and his wife Hildi; darling Sidney and his sweet Viking Per; Tom, such a waste, married to Sally there”

“Waste?”

“Yes, indeed. We had SUCH plans for him when Brian brought him on board, but that hussy stole him away”

I laughed, remembering Chris accusing me of much the same thing over Blake, but something Sedgewick had mentioned surfaced in my mind, which never seemed to stop looking for associations. A shooting.

“Is he, um, Stevie’s minder?”

“Yes, my love. And an excellent one at that”

Now I was looking, I could see much of the same poise I always saw in Rhys and Rob. In Blake as well, to be honest, and that thought cut. This was one of the hardest days I had ever had, as hard in its own way as the night we had taken out the Evans gang. I really missed Blake just then. Roger took my hand.

“Missing your family, Diane? What do you have?”

“Oh, just me and my man, at the moment. Hoping, though”

Jon made a surprised noise, and I warned him to silence.

“Not for the team, just yet, Jonny boy. Today, though, looking round at all this lot, well, it shows me that Blake and I have made the right choice. It IS a good world to bring children into, after all”

Roger twinkled again.

“And as we look around us, we also realise how many birthdays we are compelled to remember and observe. Now, what delights do you have for us when we resume?”

I waved Deb over and she brought her chair across with her, as the rest of us shuffled ours to make room. Her voice was low, but she was straight to the point with the old man.

“That Tessa is on my bus, isn’t she? You don’t need to answer; my transdar is as good as Jon here’s gaydar. She happy?”

Roger smiled.

“Very, now”

“OK, subject closed. Yes, Di?”

“Are you up to this, love?”

“Absolutely, girl. I mean, how could I not be, after what that bloke over there just put himself through?”

“Well, Cooper’s given us a plea, and with Ben and Brian’s statements, the court should have enough to work on. I don’t want you hurt, love”

She shook her head sharply.

“Not at all, Di. Been hurt, haven’t I? This is requital, getting back at him, showing the world what a piece of vermin he is. No; I do it, and do it today”

“Then there is something you will need to know, and as he’s coughed to everything, I can now tell you”

“And?”

“No easy way, love, so: he says you were both in love and looking to run away together”

She sat silently, emotions working themselves out on her face.

“Diane, how the hell did you sit through that without screaming at him?”

“Delegation, love. I let Jon do the interview”

While I had nearly lacerated my palms with my nails as my fists had clenched under the table. Deb turned to my boy.

“Well done, my sweet man. She’s got a good eye, this woman, she can spot good blokes a mile off”

I had to lighten the mood, though.

“I’m not shagging this one, though!”

Both men threw their hands up with pantomime shrieks of disgust, and the mood did indeed lift. Sedgewick had been keeping an eye on his watch, and got us moving, which led to a new problem. The first indication was the flashing from any number of cameras.

Sedgewick took my arm as we bustled past the assembled parasites.

“Someone’s tipped them off about Brian. I’ve been sorting a prepared statement thing for afterwards. Follow my lead, if you don’t mind, but first let’s get this bit over with”

Courtroom, sit, stand, sit again. It was getting very familiar, and as I scanned the jury benches to count how many had decided to accept His Honour’s invitation, I realised it was all of them. Cheaper than paying to see a film, I supposed.

Cooper was brought in again, once more to the glares of almost everyone there, including the jury, and this time it was Deb in the Box.

“I would like to thank some people here present for this opportunity, Your Honour. May I?”

“Certainly, Ms Wells”

“Thank you”

She looked down at her own notes and began to read, eyes downcast.

“There are two police officers here, Diane Sutton and Jon Philips, both Detective Constables. It is not the highest of ranks, but it is only because of their honesty and dedication that I stand here, along with Ben and Brian over there. It is not just an opportunity to tell the world what that man in the dock did to me, along with his accomplices. It is a chance for me to wash myself clean, as best I can, of those acts, and such chances come rarely, if at all. It is Diane’s strength in particular, her strength as another victim of rape, that has given me my own fortitude and allowed me to do this, and after the incredible courage of Brian Dennahy’s testimony, well, Diane offered me the chance to avoid this because she cares more about harm to me than she does about seeing that man over there sent down, and that is how things should be.

“I will speak, though. I feel almost like Martin Luther: here I stand, I can do no other. So, let me begin”

I knew the story, of course, knew it by heart, and as she worked through it I held back my tears by watching those around me. Lots of hugs, packs of tissues everywhere, one bastard head down in the Dock as my brave friend detailed rape, creak of floorboards, running from Shrewsbury station, and food from dustbins before the lighter, happier conclusion with her new family, and the work she was now doing in Cardiff.

“That is the one good thing to come out of what he did, Your Honour, that I get to help others. I get to see others recover their own strength, rebuild their lives. I meet people who heal, and as they heal, in turn they help others to do so. That will never diminish the pain he inflicted on me, of course, him and all the others he and the other scum damaged and defiled, and by pain I do not just mean the physical damage that necessitated such a series of surgical operations to repair.

“I am single, Your Honour. I will remain so. One thing that man and his friends did to me was to destroy my ability to love as a lover. I can, and do, love others. I love that woman sitting over there, for example, yes, you, Diane Sutton. I love many of my charges. I simply cannot be IN love. That is what Cooper has done to me. Imagine my disgust when I found out that he claimed we were in love and planning to elope from Mersey View”

Cooper screamed then, his voice raw with emotion.

“I LOVED YOU! I REALLY DID! I STILL DO!”

Deb’s hands clenched, her bundle of notes crumpling, some dropping to the floor of the Court, her face turning slowly red, before she turned, finally, to look at Cooper.

“LOVE? FUCKING LOVE? FUCK OFF AND DIE SLOWLY YOU BASTARD!”

There was a loud bang from the Bench, and we all jerked. The judge was holding up his left hand.

“Order, please! Ms Wells, I understand your emotions are heightened. Cooper, another such outburst will see you removed. I must admit that I am becoming heartily sickened by this evidence, and that does not mean that I wish to disregard it. This confirms beyond all doubt the foulness of the crimes committed by the defendant. Does Counsel have anything else to deliver to this Court?”

“No, Your Honour, that is all of the statements we hold”

“Thank you. Does Learned Counsel for Cooper have any mitigation they wish to offer?”

“I would humbly request that consideration be given to the Defendant’s advanced age, Your Honour”

“Very well. I have, naturally, already viewed all necessary reports on the Defendant, and am therefore able to close this matter today. Detective Constable Sutton? Philips?”

I stood, pulling Jon up with me.

“Your Honour?”

“Is this matter now closed?”

“No, Your Honour. We are pursuing further enquiries”

“Of a similar nature?”

“Um, yes, Your Honour. Of the same kind”

“I ask this question, Detective Constable, in honest curiosity, given Cooper’s current situation. What is the purpose of the enquiries?”

I shrugged, which wasn’t really the done thing before a Crown Court judge.

“Hopefully, Your Honour, to bring other people some peace”

“Thank you, DC Sutton. That is an answer that does you and your employers great credit, and may it be successful. Cooper, stand!”

The two security lads ended up supporting the broken old man as he rose to receive his reward.

“Cooper, I have read the reports submitted to me concerning your previous convictions, which are as foul as those matters you have admitted today. I do not intend to use any more than I absolutely need to of the time of the good people gathered here today, in which I do not include yourself. Accordingly, for each of what I must regard as subsidiary offence, those of assault, bodily harm and false imprisonment, you are sentenced to terms of three years’ imprisonment, those terms to be served consecutively. That leaves us, in essence, with your multiple offences of rape.

“Learned Counsel has offered mitigation in re your age. I am taking age into account, but it will not be yours. I look around this Court once again, and I do indeed see good people, and true, and they clearly love and cherish one another, and at the same time I recall the eloquent, in all ways, testimony of Ms Wells.

“You are a parasite, Cooper, someone who stole childhood from so many innocent souls. That is a crime beyond any forgiving, so I will not discuss such a concept. Incarceration has a number of purposes, one of which is rehabilitation, and from your outburst I suspect that such is not possible in your case. There is another purpose to it, besides deterrence, and that is the protection of society, and that purpose is what determines my decision today.

“For the multiple rapes of Arthur Henry Bowles, life imprisonment. For those of Benjamin Nicol-Clements, life imprisonment. For those of Deborah Wells, life imprisonment. For those of Brian Dennahy. Life imprisonment. Those sentences to be served without minimum term in the anticipation that you will never return to a life of freedom. My intention is that life will indeed mean life in your case. If you have anything to say, make it brief. No? Take him down”

The turd was all but carried from the dock, the judge sighing in obvious relief before lifting his head once more.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this Court, and myself personally, thank you for your courage and honesty. We are done”

We all trooped out in little knots of conversation to the front of the building, where the flashing started once more. Brian actually had a coach waiting for him and his family, which Deb and the other two also boarded at Roger’s urging, and as he dashed off he shouted “Contact his agent!” before leaving three of us to face the mob.

The questions were rapid-fire, and Sedgewick just stood quietly until they ran down and out of steam.

“Are you ready now? I am Andrew Sedgewick of Cheshire Constabulary, and I have a statement for you. I will answer reasonable questions, but our time here is limited.

“Today sees the culmination of a long investigative process in which we have been aided by the Serious Crime Review Unit of South Wales Police Heddlu De Cymru, Cumbria Police and West Yorkshire Police. These enquiries have now led to the conviction of Charles Cooper for the rapes of a number of individuals, some of whom have waived their rights to anonymity. You will be aware that Cooper was already serving a life sentence for similar offences committed in Cumbria. I will not encroach on the privacy of the courageous people who have ensured that justice has now been delivered in this matter, but I will say that further enquiries continue. Thank you”

“Is it true that Brian Dennahy was a victim?”

“What about Arthur Bowles?”

A police car drew up just beyond the throng, and Sedgewick took us both by the elbow and led the way as cameras flashed and bloody stupid questions were yelled in our ears. He shoved us into the back seat and grabbed the front one, turning to ask over his shoulder, “Where’s yours?”

I pointed it out on the other side of the car park, and the uniformed lad drove us over. Sedgewick looked drained.

“Get in and get off, sharpish. You in tomorrow?”

I nodded, and he smiled.

“I’ll give Bevan a ring, then. Do a proper wash-up as a dial-in. That work for you?”

“Absolutely fine”

“OK, then. Off you go, and thank you. Bloody well done—talk properly tomorrow, but get out before the paps get you”

“I hope Brian has a good agent!”

Sedgewick grinned, far more in keeping with how he had been on other occasions.

“Trust me, he’ll already have sold an exclusive! And tell Deb to get her own brief rolling: there’s a serious lawsuit coming against the council”

We stumbled out to our own car, and just before the marked one left, Sedgewick called over to us.

“Oh, and can you find out if that pastry chef of Deb’s does delivery?”