49
Wednesday 23 December 2009
Brian arrived at Pret at 7.20am! Although he had left a good deal of
time because of the inclement weather, the trains were running virtually
normally, although they were practically empty.
In Pret, he asked an assistant behind the counter to
turn the raucous music down, which she did.
There were four other cases in Court 4 that day. At 09:50, DC Godfrey entered court and Forster arrived five minutes later. But there was no
sign of Bell. He had been late to Court on
every single occasion during this trial.
Eventually, all were present and Forster asked Loraine-Smith a critical question: “Is the Lambeth incident
– the masturbation in the theatre – in the PLJ for the jury? They
either get the PLJ in its entirety or they do not.”
Judge: That entry re Lambeth would prejudice the defendant’s case.
Forster and Bell make a show of looking through Brian’s PLJ,
while Godfrey,
who has numerous files in front of her, sits doing nothing.
Forster: Leave out the Employment Tribunal and the 19 January 2008. I’ll get it all
hole-punched.
Bell: The Lambeth bit must come
out.
Forster: It’s impossible to work out.
If I wanted to take a hard line, I’d say the defendant put it in on purpose.
DC Godfrey sat throughout this exercise doodling on a
legal pad in front of her. Bell continued to sort out extracts from the PLJ – reading out certain dates.
This was yet another sleight of hand. The entries in Brian’s personal
learning journal about Lambeth Council contained information about his exposing
child grooming in a pupil referral unit that he managed. (Authors’ note: A full account of this can be found in the
book from Hillsborough to Lambeth by Brian Pead and Michael Bird, Invenire Press, 2012. The book was banned
by Justice Michael Tugendhat on 1 February 2013, along with the website
<lambethchildabuseandcoverup.com>. On 16 July 2013, Caroline Addy,
counsel for Lambeth, asked for a permanent gagging order on Brian Pead.)
Judge: I am concerned that some matters were private for the defendant
and other people. I will have to
direct the jury about the PLJ.
At 10:17am the jury entered Court 4.
Judge: I said you could have the PLJ but it concerns me. The defendant has written
private information about other people. It seems to me that the original pages
can be seen by the jury, but not the entire document because of confidentiality
issues.
Yet another sleight of hand. In order to convince a jury that there would
be missing pages from the PLJ, the judge tries to claim
that this is because of issues with confidentiality. It was nothing of the
sort. The prosecution, defence counsel and
the judge all knew that the pages Brian had written about the unlawful
seizure of Geoffrey Bacon’s computer were critical
pages, just as were the pages he had written about telling the ‘girl’ to fuck
off in front of Geoffrey Bacon. It was never mentioned in Court that Geoffrey Bacon was
present when Brian typed: “You are a fake – fuck off!”
Furthermore, Brian had written about child abuse in Lambeth and that
had been removed in another unlawful move in a farcical trial.
It is our considered opinion, based on incontrovertible evidence (the
provenance of which is not in any doubt) that there was connivance between the
prosecutor, the defence and the judge to ensure that certain pages would not be
included in the PLJ shown to the jury because, with them included
in the document, there was irrefutable evidence of Brian’s innocence.
At 10:22am Brian went to the canteen on the first floor. We are
grateful to Brian for permission to reproduce extracts from his personal court
diary. We think it makes for profound reading and provides yet another insight
into the mind of a man with a passion for detail and for justice:
“…How do I feel?
I feel nervous.
Scared. I believe it’s because I feel I have no control over the process. At
this point, I’ve done all I can and it’s now in the hands of others. That’s a
feeling I hate, because other people, 12 others, who have fought through rain
and snow and ice to attend every day for 8 working days, are going to pronounce
2 judgments on me, yet I firmly believe that all of the facts have not been
heard in both my cases.
I did not sleep
well last night, even though I ‘tried’ to relax. I woke around midnight and
struggled thereafter to sleep. I cried for my lost daughter – how can it be
that she failed to support me at this critical time in my life? Of course I
will have made mistakes with her – as all parents do – but hardly to warrant
her deserting me in my hour of need. Did she hate me that much? Was my parenting
that bad?
And I cried for
Emily and Lauren and little Joe. I miss them all so much. I wish Sorrel had
brought them with her to my trial – I need my family around me, but they are
nowhere to be seen thanks, no doubt, to the police disinformation and to social
services, the SS.
I felt that I let
little Brian down. Dominic Bell advised me not to confuse the jury with info
about my own CSA, so – on his advice – I did not mention little Brian 50 years
ago. But I should have mentioned it!
AdultBrian feels
that he’s let down ChildBrian. Why do I feel this?
10:30am
Principally,
because for the past 18 months, I have been acutely aware that the charges have
emanated from little Brian’s abuse.
That abuse was the
trigger for whatever happened in my life thereafter. That abuse has led me into
court half a century later.
I have been feeling
that I’ve let little Brian down, but I have just had a realisation that perhaps
the universe’s plan was for me to feel all the guilt and shame again personally
(after my two arrests) and then expiate that guilt and shame in public with two
verdicts going my way. I do hope so.
10:35am
I am nervous
though. I have tried all week to feel how the jury is going; how they’re
feeling towards me. But it’s incredibly difficult.
Staying with this
AdultBrian letting down ChildBrian feeling, I’m feeling perhaps I may be wrong.
Intellectually, I think I let him down, but emotionally I
believe I kept my composure under the most intense pressure and gave a
reasonable and honest account of myself and my life.
Intellectually, I
may have let ChildBrian down by not remembering every last detail that I feel
aggrieved that the jury haven’t heard, but emotionally I kept composed. Forster tried to unsettle me several times, of course.
Kirsty said that
when she looked through the glass door into Court 4, that I looked relaxed,
putting on my glasses, taking them off etc.
Truth is, I did
feel relaxed most of the time. If you speak from the heart, from a truthful place,
how can you not feel relaxed?
10:44am
And now I’m
starting to feel that AdultBrian did not – after all – let ChildBrian down 50
years later. Maybe, I actually did a good job after all. Perhaps I should stop
beating my Adult self up and start acknowledging the role I took on the stand.
The judge said
something about not accepting a verdict between 1 and 2pm, so presumably I can
leave the court then but I have to stay in court at all other times.
Julia Godfrey looked pissed off today – almost bored,
resigned.
10:48am
Three guys have
just walked into the canteen and sat down and are discussing their case. They
don’t look like police.
I wish I had
someone with me today. John told me last night that he won’t come today because
he’s so tired. I fully understand.
I’ve just texted
Kirsty and she’s working from home today. Pity.
Michael is, of
course, busy at home with his kids etc.
However, perhaps
this is something I need to face alone, for ChildBrian’s sake. Perhaps this is
what the universe has decreed – that ChildBrian should face all that crap (the
allegations) and face his verdicts alone.
ChildBrian was
alone in his bed that night.
ChildBrian is not
alone today, actually. Today, he has AdultBrian with him.
11:40am
Been doing crosswords
and sodoku to keep my mind off the subject.
Still lots of nerves bubbling away under the surface.
12:03pm
Still doing
sodokus.
12:15pm
Sodokus.
Jury still out.
12.35pm
Just finished all
three sodokus in The Independent. I think they labelled the ‘Advanced’ one in
error because I raced through it.
Received a text
from John, wishing me luck.
12:40pm
I went for a pee.
I noted that my
nervousness is NOT my nervousness. It’s projection from others. I am innocent
of all charges and my authentic self is relaxed.
12:48pm
I texted the above
to Michael.
I don’t know if the
judge will call the jury back in before lunch, or ask them back in straight
after lunch to see if they have reached a verdict.
12:55pm
I went back to
Court 4, where I was told to remain in the building even during lunch!
1:00pm
I went back to the
canteen. Sausage, bacon, beans and tea cost £3.55! I could eat for two days on
that!
2:00pm
I went to Court 4 –
lots of personnel outside on another case.
2:02pm
I returned to the
restaurant. An argument between a male and female worker in back kitchen.
“Janet, I need you please,” I heard.
2:04pm
Called back into
Court 4.
[The tall, bearded
journalist enters Court 4. Talking to the police. New Serco guard in the box
alongside me.]
2:15pm
Some confusion.
Forster is apparently on his feet in another court.
DB went out; said
he’d meet me in 10 minutes.
I wait outside court.
2:17pm
all back into Court.
Forster in; Bell in.
Other personnel for next
case all in place.
Forster reading notes on next case…”
At 2:20pm, the jury returned. The foreman of the jury said that no
verdict had been reached on either Count. At this point Loraine-Smith said that he would accept at least a 10:2 majority
verdict.
At 2:22pm, outside Court 4, Bell explained to Brian that if there is no
decision today, the jury cannot return tomorrow because the Court is closed and
there is no security. “In this event, the judge would discharge the jury and
there would have to be a re-trial.”
Back to Brian’s personal court diary:
“…DB had said in
Court it would have to be up to the CPS to decide whether they would press charges
again.
DB said he’d meet
me here in the canteen later and left.
2:30-2:35pm
I sent updates on
the above to Michael, Kirsty, John and Geoff.
2:37
Geoff texted me. A
good friend.
2:38 – 3:00pm
Kirsty called me
and chatted. What a fantastic person she is.
3:00pm
Client ‘Donna’, 26, texted me and asked for
a session at 3pm tomorrow.
3:04
John Callow texted with the view that “it’s all going as
expected.”
3:10
It seems that all
the canteen staff have gone home.
There is calm, quiet
and peace in the canteen as I read the paper.
My only fear now is
that the jury have been rushed.
3:15
Forster and Bell are in new courts doing their thing for other
people like me. How many of them are innocent, too?
I recognise that I
am just a cog – just a name, just another client. Truth, reality, justice etc
don’t appear to count here, but it’s a Kafka-esque process that I find myself
involved in.
3:25
Been for a pee.
A guard took some
food out – for my jury?
It’s
getting close to 4pm. Obviously I’m nervous, but I stood facing the Thames just
now and asked the Universe, Mother and Bob for help.
3:36
Called to Court 4…”
Bob referred, of
course, to Brian’s brother – Robert – who died in 1972 after his skull was
fractured on board a Lowestoft trawler. The tragic death of his brother, at
the age of 21, had led to Brian’s first piece of investigation when he went
undercover to work on board a trawler himself in order to investigate his
brother’s accident.
His mother had died
in 1997 and the Oregonian lawyer who created her will, David Barber, was then
struck off for financial mismanagement and corrupt practices. Brian felt that
it was no coincidence that these people and these thoughts were flooding
through his mind as he began to walk back to Court 4.
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