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Bodies of Evidence - Chapter 8 |
| Written by Philip Neale | |
| Saturday, 24 May 2008 | |
 It was almost six o’clock when Dennis Marks arrived at the forensic laboratory, and George Groves was writing up his notes following on from the autopsy of Miles Thomas. The young man’s parents had been informed of the situation and had arranged to travel to Reading the following day to officially identify the body, but neither Marks nor Groves had any doubt as to the identity of the corpse now safely stored in the mortuary. The pathologist looked up from his desk as Marks entered the room and waved him towards the coffee percolator. “Well, he was killed by a single blow to the back of the head, but it may not have been what the assailant had intended. There were significant other injuries to Thomas’ body which lead me to believe that this was some sort of punishment beating which went wrong.” “What?” Marks had paused in the midst of pouring out coffee, now looking at Groves in some disbelief. “Look here” They went over to a table where a number of photographs had been laid out. “Both kneecaps had been smashed, probably by the wooden weapon I mentioned to you at the flats, but the injury to the head is not consistent with a premeditated blow to that area. It’s almost as if Thomas was turning away when it landed.” “Would one person have been able to inflict all of the injuries alone?” Marks was struggling to come to grips with the reasoning. “If that person were intimidating enough to get him up to the roof, then yes particularly when you bear in mind that the blood we found in the flat belonged to Miles Thomas. The nose itself was broken, hence the bleeding on to the carpet, and the kneecapping would have come as a surprise as Thomas would have been expecting more of the same once they were alone. The angle of attack suggested by the injury leads me to believe that Miles was turning away from whoever hit him as he was crouched on the floor.” “So this wasn’t an execution as we initially thought.” “No, I don’t think so, although that’s your department. However, I can tell you that the weapon you’re looking for is neither a cricket nor baseball bat as looked likely at the start. We pieced together all of the broken bits in the flat, and we’re a table leg missing.” He showed Marks the reassembled furniture broken in what they assumed was a struggle, and sure enough only three of the four legs of a coffee table had been recovered. The missing item was approximately two feet long, slightly oval in shape with a taper towards one end. Finding that would go a long way towards tracking down whoever had used it to kill Miles Thomas. “We’ve compared the injuries to the body to one of the remaining legs, and they appear to match. Find me the weapon and I’ll see what I can get from it.” As he left the lab, Marks wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. They had the likely murder weapon, he was going to press for a murder charge despite what George had said, but where on earth was he going to start looking for it? The manpower required for an exhaustive search would be costly and all senior staff had been apprised of the need for remaining within their budgets. He rang Peter Spencer to make sure that he had not yet gone home and told him to muster enough of the uniformed officers to mount a search of the area immediately surround the flats for the missing table leg. When he arrived at the scene a little later, it was to find an ambulance and George Groves already in attendance. “What are you doing here, George?” “Another body Dennis, what are trying to do to me?” In their search of the area immediately surrounding the flats, one of the uniformed PCs had come across the body of Roger Preston. He had been clubbed to death and had been there for a while. Groves’ initial estimate was two to three hours with death caused by a blunt instrument, possibly the same one as was used on Miles Thomas. No sooner had he related this information to Marks, than a call went up from the back of the alley in which Preston had been found. In amongst the rubbish in a skip, and buried just below the surface was the missing table leg from Flat 7. It bore traces of blood and in the middle of one of the stains was a clear imprint of a finger or thumb. Groves bagged it immediately before anyone else could get their hands on it. Marks grinned from ear to ear – this was the case-breaker that they had been hoping for and Groves shook his head in dismay, there would be no going home until Dennis had a positive identification from it. There was no doubt as to the owner of the fingerprint once Groves had finished his examinations. Marks believed that Giorgio Gasparini had killed Robert Preston, presumably as a result of his inadvisable conversations at the Holly Bush which were overheard by Spencer’s snout. How he had come about that information was yet to be discovered, but the priority now was to find the man and quickly before he disappeared permanently. Peter Spencer stepped in at this point. “Boss, this didn’t seem important at the time, but I picked this up from a notepad in Carlton-Smythe’s flat whilst you were questioning him.” It was a blank piece of paper, but when George Groves examined it closely there were the clear indentations of a message left from the original top sheet. Dusting it at the lab later with a dry ink powder the text became readable, and it was clear that it was an anonymous message to the police linking Gasparini to Harold Martins, Reading businessman and local councillor. It also gave details of Gasparini’s visit to Thomas, the trip to the roof, and the time he left the premises. The case was now taking an altogether different and more serious direction, and Marks would need to obtain warrants to search both the home and the business premises of this new suspect. For the moment the area was sealed off and all contact with the press or media forbidden whilst he and Spencer made urgent calls to higher authority. The timing of the raids on both premises was simultaneous to prevent the loss of any evidence, and Harold Martins was arrested on suspicion of drug dealing and murder. Without Gasparini however, Marks knew that the murder charge would not stick, and a nationwide alert had been issued, with all ports and airports being sealed off. The inspector had received his share of lucky breaks in the past, and another one came along just at the right time. Gasparini had left Berkshire after a meeting with Martins following the ‘disciplining’ of Miles Thomas, but was picked up by South Yorkshire police whilst speeding past the Woodall services on the M1. One of the motorway officers was quick enough to spot his resemblance to the bulletin issued by the Thames Valley force and, detaining the Italian for questioning, transported him to headquarters in Sheffield from whence a message was relayed to Marks in Reading. He was transferred to the Thames Valley area immediately, and by evening was sitting opposite the DI in Interview Room 3 at the central police station. With Peter Spencer and the duty solicitor in attendance, Marks came straight to the point. Giorgio Gasparini had been identified as resembling a man leaving the flats on Wolseley Street where the now deceased Miles Thomas lived. Further, they had his prints on a weapon used to kill Thomas. The same weapon had been discovered in a skip at the back of an alley where Roger Preston, another tenant of the same flats, had been found dead. His injuries were consistent with this weapon and he was known to have been talking in a local pub about the identity of Thomas’ killer. Marks told the now pale and nervous ‘enforcer’ that there was enough evidence before him to ensure a lengthy gaol sentence. However, should Gasparini choose to assist with police enquiries which were taking another direction, it was more than possible that a word in the appropriate quarters could ease the situation for him. “I didn’t kill Thomas. He was still alive when I left the roof. I’ll admit to hitting him with the table leg but that’s all. You can’t prove that I did anything to this Roger Preston and I don’t know how the leg got into the alley, because I threw it down on the roof when I came down. I’m being set up.” Gasparini’s denials were nothing more than Marks expected at this stage, but the detective had to admit that without some corroborating facts, they would have a hard time convicting him for Preston’s killing. If they could persuade Carlton-Smythe to formally identify Giorgio as the man coming down the stairs from the roof, that part of the case would be more or less airtight. He decided to try a bluff, and told the Italian that they had an eye witness placing him at the scene at the time when forensics now say Thomas had died. His denials would be irrelevant in the light of this and sentencing would be a formality. Gasparini looked at his solicitor for help – the man shook his head. There was only one way out. “If I tell you who is behind all this, what will it get me?” This was the case breaking statement, and Marks nodded to Peter Spencer. The double act was about to kick in again and keeping Gasparini off balance would be a key tactic in tightening the noose around those ultimately responsible for the deaths of Thomas and Preston. “Let’s start with what you have to offer, and then we will see what can be done as regards your case. If Thomas really was still alive when you left him, the charge may be reduced to manslaughter” Copyright 2008 Philip Neale |
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