Beyond Innocence

Chapter 5

Chapter 5The next day, Detective Inspector Taylor was discussing the case with his colleague, Detective Sergeant Jim West. Both men agreed they were getting close. “Look Jim,” said the inspector, “the crux to both cases is the Wilson girl. If we can find her body then we’re in with more than a good chance. Thompson has admitted to having s*x with the girl and with any luck when we find her, we may get a good DNA profile result that will be enough to convict him. We now know that we have no DNA in the Clarkson case so we have to discover if the watch belonged to her and if possible, who gave it to her assuming that she didn’t buy it herself. At this stage I can’t see that we’ll trace her last client and, even if we did, that doesn’t necessarily prove he paid her for s*x and then killed her. My guess is that, if we can trace the watch to Clarkson, then we can have a go at arresting Thompson and making it stick. Once that happens, who knows, he might decide to cough on the Wilson case which would give us all a break so let’s just see what we’ve got so far.”

1. Thompson argued with his girlfriend who then disappears

2. Thompson lives four to five-hundred yards from the spot where Clarkson’s body is found.

3. Thompson admits he walks his dog daily by the very same spot.

4. Thompson admits he used to take his girlfriend in the woods in very close proximity to that self same spot.

5. Thompson finds a watch some twenty yards or less from the ditch where Clarkson’s body is lying.

6. Thompson hands in this very expensive watch at his local nick.

7. Enquiries have revealed that Thompson drinks in the Roundhead pub on occasions and he is known to be quite a loner.

8. Thompson keeps visiting Bromborough nick and asking about the Wilson girl.“Quite honestly, Jim,” he continued, “although it’s all supposition and circumstantial, I think it’s almost too much.”

“I agree, Peter,” said Sergeant West, “and I really do believe we have the right man in the frame. I also think we should get Thompson and the Wilson girl’s parents on TV to do a national appeal for her to come home or at least get in touch. Then, because we are only talking about the watch at the moment, why don’t we see if we can get the BBC to squeeze it in on the next Crime Watch programme to see whether or not anybody can identify it as belonging to Clarkson. Regarding DNA on Clarkson or, in this case, the lack of Thompson’s, maybe Thompson knew she was on the game and he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, have s*x with her. Perhaps he let her give him a hand or a blow job, after which, he kills her. So for us the answer is simple. We don’t talk about DNA. In other words we don’t introduce it and we just go for the circumstantial evidence. Again look at it like this, this guy Thompson’s an out-and-out nutter, a frigging psychopath, who’s been trying to make fools of us. He takes the Mickey out of us by pretending to be so concerned about his girlfriend’s disappearance and all the time he’s laughing bags at us because, without a body, there is no charge. Now we’re supposed to be chasing him but, all of a sudden, he realises that we aren’t and why? I’ll tell you why boss, because we haven’t got a bloody body. So he decides – balls to this, I’m not getting any kicks out of this so I had better give them one and then they’ll have something to get their teeth into. Result, two weeks later he kills again. Dumps the poor girl’s nearly naked body in a ditch, lifts up the top of her blouse, to show off her t**s and then, after this in another show of bravado, he brings in a watch to us that he claims to have found about twenty or thirty yards away from the body. Really, Peter, I can honestly imagine him, in fact, I can almost see him now walking all over the scene, gawping at the body every day and in all probability, he’s playing with himself each time he passes by.

Whilst listening to his colleague, the inspector pulled out a brown manila envelope from his brief case and immediately his colleague had finished he passed it to him saying,” just have a look at that report from Professor Love. It’s a murder suspect profile report I think you will find it quite interesting. Jim West opened the envelope and began to read;

From the details given it is my opinion that the person who committed this crime is a local man or, if not, he is certainly very familiar with the area. I say this after noting your remarks concerning the location of the deceased woman. If this is his first victim, then I would not be at all surprised if he kills again. I say this because of the fact that it has all the hallmarks of a killing of hate or lust and, in both instances, his desire has to be satisfied hence his choice of victim a prostitute or a stranger to him. I expect this person to be a loner, a person who does not make friends very easily or finds it difficult to enter into relationships with persons of either s*x. Similarly, he will have had a difficult childhood although, to those persons closest to him, this might not be so apparent e.g.; difficulties perhaps with a step-parent of either s*x or, quite possibly, a drunken parent. I think you will find that he is probably in regular employment and that he works in an office environment rather than holding a manual occupation.

Finally just to recap, if this is not his first killing then he will have killed by strangulation using tights before and, whether this is his first murder or not, he will kill again. His positioning of the corpse in an open place with no attempt to hide it leads me to this belief. During your investigation you should search thoroughly for trophies collected from his victims but, because he is playing some form of game with you, this could well be something very simple such as a clipping of pubic hair or something equally innocuous to the human eye. In any event it is possible that his killing is sparked by something in his past life such as his mother doing something that his father took exception to and, as a result, the mother, or the pair of them, end up with a beating. Maybe the mother wore the wrong colour dress one day and this type of behaviour was the result.

Should this be the case, I expect our murderer to carry on playing his game until you succeed in apprehending him because, to him, this is a game and he wants you to catch him. When you do apprehend him you will find that he will make subtle movements to tell himself that he is in control of the interview. This may take the form of him wrapping his arms around his body in order to comfort himself. Alternatively, he may place his hands behind his head and look at the ceiling. Whilst doing this, or indeed something similar, he will be more than aware of exactly what is going on even to the extent of following your examination and answering your questions. Therefore it is essential that, if anything such as this occurs, then you should bring the meeting to a close even if it is just for a minute or two as this will break his thoughts and his attempt at controlling matters. It is essential that you remember that your murderer will at some time want to confess but this will only be at a time and place of his own choosing.

Yours faithfully,

(Signed) Professor B. G. Love.

Jim West put down the report after reading it and looked across the desk at his boss before saying, “Well Peter it looks very much to me that Professor Love has got it spot on and that his report confirms that Harry Thompson is our number one prime suspect.”

Peter Taylor agreed with his man adding, “That’s exactly what I thought but we still have to nail the bastard first so, in the meantime, we will have to stick very closely indeed to Mr. Harry Thompson.”

The following week Harry Thompson, together with Diane’s parents appeared in an emotional T V appeal for her to return home or to at least get in touch. Opinion on Harry Thompson’s performance was at best divided, as most people on the police team thought that he had killed the girl. Mrs. Wilson broke down completely long before the end and, somehow, the whole thing seemed quite unreal.

Sadly no new leads came from the appeal and it came to the evening of the Crime Watch Programme.

The clip began with the announcer, Glenda Johnson, holding up a watch and saying to the audience viewing at home, “Does this watch look familiar? Did you buy it for someone special? Or, was it was purchased for a special occasion? Did you lose it recently and, if so, where and when did you last wear it? Could it have been on a visit to Eastham Country Park on the Wirral?” At this point a photograph of Angela Clarkson appeared on the screen together with the voice of the announcer saying, “This is a picture of Angela Clarkson. Her near naked body was found in a ditch in Eastham Country Park a few days ago. Did you see her in the vicinity with anybody? And, if you did see her, was she wearing a watch like this? As usual, all enquiries will be treated in strictest confidence and you can contact the police by telephoning any of the following numbers.”

At the end of the evening when the update was featured, the police admitted that apart from a railway guard who reported that he thought he had seen a similar person to Angela Clarkson board his train at Bromborough Rake Station some time after ten thirty one evening, there had been a poor response to the appeal. Inspector Taylor made arrangements to interview the guard and, although the guard was quite sure that it was Angela Clarkson, he couldn’t offer any further information. Later, the murder team thought that they might get a breakthrough when they contacted the English agents of the watchmaker who quickly established that fifty two of the same watches had been sold nationwide. In all instances, except six, completed guarantee cards had been received and, as each card gave details of the purchasers, they were all quickly traced and eliminated from the investigation. The six outstanding had been exported abroad and these persons were traced through the VAT refund scheme.