The Whole Truth

CB: No, because there was evidence of sexual assault. No semen present, but extensive bruising in the thigh and genital area, and a pubic hair that I strongly suspect isn’t one of hers.

GQ: Shit.

CB: And for the record, no signs of a ligature, either on the wrists or elsewhere.

[muffled noises in the background]

Right. I think that’s everything. I’ll finish the formalities and email everything over. BTP will be handing this one off to you. It’s a Thames Valley case now.

* * *

When Everett gets back to the office Quinn comes over to her at once. She only has to look at him to know something’s wrong.

‘What?’ she says, her heart stumbling. ‘What is it?’

‘Colin Boddie just sent me this.’

He holds out his phone. She doesn’t want it to be true but there’s no mistaking the picture – the hair, the face –

‘It’s her, isn’t it?’

Everett swallows. ‘Yes,’ she says, her voice catching. ‘It’s her.’

* * *

When Quinn puts his head round Fawley’s door the DI is standing by the window, looking down at the street. Quinn can’t remember the last time he saw him doing that.

He clears his throat. ‘Sorry to bother you, but I’ve just had a call from Colin Boddie. There was a fatality found on the railway line at Walton Well last night. First responders thought it was a suicide but turns out she was suffocated.’

No reply. Fawley’s so still Quinn wonders if he even heard him.

‘Boss?’

The DI starts a little and turns round. ‘Sorry – what did you say?’

‘There was a fatality last night, on the railway line. Looked like suicide, but the PM says otherwise.’

Fawley frowns. ‘They’re sure?’

Quinn nods. ‘And there’s evidence of prior sexual assault.’

Fawley takes a breath. ‘Do we have an ID?’

‘That’s just it. We were already looking for her. That woman who was reported missing this morning? Boddie sent over a picture. We’ll need someone to do a formal identification but it’s definitely her.’

‘Right,’ says Fawley, brisker now. ‘What’s her name?’

* * *

PC Webster’s day is looking up. What started as a routine housesitting job has turned into a full-on crime scene supervision. He’s got CSI on-site already, a couple of squad cars out the front and a Sky News van just pulling up a few yards down the street. At this rate he’ll be getting on the telly. He drags his phone out of his pocket and surreptitiously texts his mum. No harm in being prepared.

Inside the flat, Clive Conway is working his way through the sitting room. He’s bagged up the handbag and taken prints from the door handles and obvious flat surfaces. When Nina Mukerjee appears in the doorway ten minutes later he’s on his hands and knees taking carpet samples.

‘Any luck?’ she says.

‘Nothing obvious. I’ve retrieved a few hairs from the sofa, but they could just as easily be the victim’s. Someone’s worked pretty hard to make it look like there’s nothing to see here.’

‘CID say she definitely let a man in last night.’

Conway glances up. ‘Doesn’t mean this is the crime scene. He could easily have taken her somewhere else. Specially if she knew him.’

‘True, but he was in here, though, wasn’t he? Even if only for a few minutes. There’ll be touch DNA somewhere, however careful he was.’

‘Oh, he was careful, all right,’ says Conway grimly.

Nina looks around. ‘I’ve finished in the bedroom, so if you need a hand –’

‘I’m nearly done here, but you could tackle the hoover bag. Can’t see him going to all this trouble and not bothering to run a vac round.’

* * *

[ARCHIVE OF SPEECH BY CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT MICHAEL OSWALD, THAMES VALLEY POLICE, 7 SEPT 1998]

[JOCELYN]

That’s Chief Superintendent Michael Oswald, addressing a press conference on Monday September 7th 1998. The previous Friday night, the Roadside Rapist had attacked a third young woman.

The rape of Erin Pope in January that year had been followed, almost exactly two months later, by an equally savage assault in Botley, to the west of Oxford.

And now, the same predator had struck again.

I’m Jocelyn Naismith, and I’m the co-founder of The Whole Truth, a not-for-profit organization that campaigns to overturn miscarriages of justice. This is Righting the Wrongs, series 3: The Roadside Rapist Redeemed? Chapter three: Predator

[THEME SONG – AARON NEVILLE COVER VERSION OF ‘I SHALL BE RELEASED’]

[JOCELYN]

The rapist’s second victim, 19-year-old biology student Jodie Hewitt, had been so badly beaten she had to spend ten days in hospital. Jodie was in her second year at Wykeham College at the time, and in the weeks after her rape, rumours had begun to circulate that a serial sex assailant was operating in the city. People started to panic, there were calls for more police on the streets at night.