Murder Under Surveillance: They think it's all over. It is now by JJ Sullivan

Author:JJ Sullivan [Sullivan, JJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mandrill Press
Published: 2022-12-29T00:00:00+00:00

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Birdie Bismo had been offered the duty solicitor, but said he had made his own arrangements and would answer no questions until his lawyer arrived from London. Two days earlier, DI Devi would have been surprised at that but now she knew that Birdie had far more money than they had ever suspected. When the lawyer reached Leicester, she asked – as was usual – to be briefed on the details of the case and – as was also usual – was told just enough to justify the arrest of her client. Her smile indicated she knew she wasn’t getting the full story, she never expected to get the full story, but she had confidence in her own ability. And there was just a hint in that smile that she knew something else. Something the interviewers didn’t. She conferred in private with Birdie for ten minutes and then said they were ready for the interview to begin. Susanna sat in an upstairs room, hunched over a monitor with Shefali Devi and Shefali’s senior investigating officer, to watch as it unfolded.

All four people in the room spoke their names for the recording device and then one of the two specialist interviewers reminded Birdie that he had already been cautioned and now repeated the caution. Then she laid out three transparent evidence bags, each containing a set of statements from a different bank. ‘Mr Bismanum, do you recognise these?’

‘No comment.’

That was no problem to the interviewer. Although no comment interviews usually began with the lawyer reading a prepared statement and then saying his client would answer no questions, and that had not happened this time, the interviewer’s job was not necessarily to obtain information. That had become increasingly difficult as habitual criminals learned more about the working of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. What the interviewer aimed to do was to offer the suspect the chance to answer a question so that, if he gave different information later in court, the jury’s attention could be drawn to the discrepancy. Juries don’t trust people who change their story. ‘Can you tell us who deposited this money into bank accounts in your name?’

‘No comment.’

‘And what was the money deposited for? What goods or services had you delivered or rendered to justify being paid more in one quarter than the average wage earner in this country earns in ten years?’

‘No comment.’

‘Who shot you, Mr Bismanum?’

‘No comment.’

‘Do you know the identity of the person who shot you?’

‘No comment.’

The second specialist interviewer put on the table a new transparent evidence bag containing a list of names, each with a date, a sum of money and a text annotation beside it. ‘Mr Bismanum, could you please confirm that the handwriting on this list is yours?’

‘No comment.’

‘And could you tell us what these transactions represent?’

‘No comment.’

‘Let’s take this first one at the top. It says, Charlie Madeski. Is that the Charlie Madeski who plays in the third tier of English football?’

‘No comment.’

‘The date beside that name is 3rd of April last year.

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