Original subtitles

The gatherings were supposed to be prayer evenings.

There was a woman that drove us back.

I think she was his wife or girlfriend.

She remembers a blue Golf convertible. What car did you drive?

Maybe they were all at one of these parties

and maybe all three involved in his murder.

I don't think I'm good for you any more, Maz.

- I didn't kill that man. - I'm gonna call Janet now

- and ask for her help. - 'Hi, I'm Martin.

You had sex with my wife 20 years ago.

Wondered if we could chat.'

Oh, no. No.

I'm pretty certain she was at the party. I recognise her.

Men took her places and used her.

- Did David Walker do something to you here, Sara? - No.

What you said earlier about nothing quite fitting --

If I'm right, there are gonna be more bodies.

♪ All we do is hide away

♪ All we do is, all we do is

♪ Hide away

♪ All we do is lie in wait

♪ All we do is, all we do is

♪ Lie in wait

♪ I've been upside down

♪ I don't wanna be the right way round

♪ Can't find paradise on the ground ♪

So...

what did he tell you, my dad?

Enough for me to know if you... never wanna talk about this again,

and that's fine.

Or if you wanna talk about it every day for the rest of your life,

that's fine, too.

- I'm doing it properly. - I know. I see you are.

He was just very shocked when I introduced myself.

And scared.

He was babbling and...

kept repeating that it... didn't mean anything.

He kept on apologising.

But I wasn't interested in apologies.

I didn't want contrition. What I wanted was...

.. to understand.

And the only person who could help me do that...

.. was dead.

Does it ever cross your mind, Cath,

that we've a very limited pot of money?

And if we spend too much on an incredibly expensive

and time-consuming investigation into 40-year-old abuse,

then we've got nothing to spend on a child that got abused last week.

Yes, of course.

And?

Would you like to come through?

And in terms of the bigger investigation,

the murder investigation, where are you with that?

Don't know.

They questioned me again yesterday, but I have a watertight alibi.

And this was that you were sectioned in the Maudsley?

26 years ago, yes.

And for what it's worth, I did not kill David Walker.

OK.

Well, I just hope I have all the facts now.

- I just need to consider how best to proceed. - Yeah, of course.

- How long do you think it will be? - I don't know!

I've never had to deal with anything remotely like this.

Sorry for snapping, but I'm... I'm cross and disappointed.

And Flo?

- Erm... Simon, could you pick her up from school today? - Yeah.

OK, thank you. And Colin, until I decide what to do,

I need you to find somewhere else to stay, please.

Sure, sure.

And if the investigation goes away, then maybe we can get through this.

If it drags on, if, God forbid,

you were charged and it went to trial...

we could obviously never let you parent Flo.

You'd either have to move our permanently

and... we'd have to consider Simon as a single parent,

or if you both felt you couldn't do that,

then we'd have to take her back.

You know I would actually get the boy's DNA tested

if I thought it would help you, but I know you know it's nonsense.

You just wanted him gone,

like me and Mum,

so that he couldn't ask you any more questions you didn't want to answer.

But Mum and I are not going anywhere.

I'm sorry.

Anyway, come on. Do you want another cup of tea?

So, for over two weeks now, we've all wrestled with this case.

Following one... dead end after another.

With the final nail in the coffin

of the idea of Sara Mahmoud's possible guilt... coming last night

when her husband turned up out of the blue with this.

Evidence she was in Italy at the time of Walker's death,

which er.. was a blow

because we know that Sara knew Walker.

And I reckon if we hunted hard enough,

we could conclusively place her at a gathering Walker was at.

Given also we know what Walker liked to do to young girls,

when he turns up at her flat as a client eight years later,

she has the perfect motive for a revenge murder.

Except the alibi is good.

More than good. It's watertight.

There's no way she could have killed him.

Question is...

is it too good?

What, you think it's faked somehow?

No. I think it's real.

But what it feels like to me

is a bunch of information collected by a woman

who knew she'd NEED an alibi.

Which would mean...

.. she'd have had to know that Walker was going to die.

Yes.

OK, here goes.

And erm...

.. stop me when it gets too mental.

So, we have three suspects

who actually all have dysfunction consistent with abusive childhoods.

Er... drink issues, mental health issues, relationship issues.

We have three people who, for my money,

just tried too hard to look like they didn't know each other.

And then we have an idea.

That Sara Mahmoud was abused by David Walker,

but that Colin and Marion

were abused by people we've not yet identified.

And that, at some point in early 1990,

after Sara realises a client is the same man who'd raped her

at a gathering eight years before,

three of them... already, I believe, known to each other somehow,

came together and hatched a plan...

to murder all three of their abusers.

Now, they knew if they murdered their own abuser,

there'd almost certainly be an easily traceable link back to them.

So they agreed to kill each other's.

Sorry, Gov, if I'm being dim here,

but erm... if you've created the perfect alibi,

why did Sara wait two weeks before she gave it to us?

Cos offering it up immediately could also arouse suspicion.

How much more credible for her husband to find it.

And you think Walker was the first victim?

I think him turning up as a punter at Sara's flat

- was what kicked it all off. - And he was killed by...?

- Has to be Marion. Isn't it? - I think so.

Osborne was in the Maudsley, Sara was in Italy.

And Walker's body was found less than eight miles

from Marion's parents' house.

So, why did Osborne spend so much time with Walker, then?

I think he was trying to confirm that Walker was who Sara thought.

So that has to mean Tara would have had to kill... Colin Osborne's abuser

and Osborne Marian's.

Yes.

And if we're right...

.. to prove this theory, we'd need to find three things.

We'd need to find... evidence of that historic connection,

we'd need to find evidence of who those other abusers might have been.

And we'd need to find two more bodies.

It won't be forever. It's fine.

Give her a big kiss from me.

Tell her I love her and I'll be back very soon.

Murray and Jake, we need to find out

where our three suspects might have met.

We know that two of them weren't even in London till 1985,

so we're looking at a meeting

that happened somewhere between then and 1990.

Where might have that occurred?

Was it through a job, party, flat share, group counselling?

I dunno. Think laterally. We'll be focusing on the suspects' families.

DCI Stuart will go to Glasgow to talk to Colin Osborne's father,

Fran will visit Sara Mahmoud's husband,

- I'll visit Marion Kelsey's sister. - We don't think they'll know a lot

about what's been going on the last few weeks,

and if our suspects were abused,

their families are our most likely source of information.

And how much do we actually tell them?

We stop short of actually lying,

but not by much, or we'll get nothing.

We don't need these interviews to be admissible.

Right now, we just need to know that we're on the right lines.

So no appointments, no warnings we're coming.

We need to catch them on the back foot.

- You don't need to say anything. - Look, I...

I just hope this doesn't affect our work or our friendship.

It won't. It hasn't, all right? I promise.

Now piss off.

They're trying to trace more of the victims of the activities

inside this Brentford house, and if they do,

they think they could support the allegation you were present

on at least one occasion.

You're gonna be suspended from all duties

whilst a full investigation takes place.

I have to ask...

.. if you did know what he was doing,

how could you have not said anything?

It sounds so inadequate, doesn't it...

.. when you hear it on the news?

People saying they were different times.

But they were.

There were times when a rock star could... go on telly

and be interviewed about his underage girlfriend

and no-one got arrested.

We all just... shrugged it off.

We thought it was sort of... cheeky and amusing.

We all bought into that, until we didn't.

So that time, I followed him.

And it was just the once.

He told me she was 16.

And willing.

And he begged me to forgive him.

And I wanted to.

Both...

forgive him and believe him.

Because otherwise, it was the end of our marriage...

.. and everything we'd built up together.

And so I did.

And for that...

.. I am truly ashamed.

Well, Colin was a lively lad, you know, when he was a little boy.

He was full of mischief and fun.

And then when he was about...

.. nine...

he just slowly started to change.

Became quieter, you know, more introverted.

Staying in his room more, not seeing his pals so much.

And his... schoolwork suffered

and he stopped being affectionate. Got angry at the slightest thing

and erm... he just...

.. became a different child.

And I presume you asked him what was wrong?

Over and over, for years.

He would always just say, 'Nothing. I'm fine.'

So in the end, we just thought, 'Well, that's how he is.'

That's how he was.

That er...

children change.

And what you're talking about -- sexual abuse --

wasn't something that you considered back in the '70s.

It wasn't one of the options for why a child isn't themselves.

But if we consider it as a possibility now...

.. do you have any idea where something like that

could have happened to Colin?

Were there ever any issues in his primary school?

No, I never heard of anything like that there.

Any friends or family?

No.

Was he a member of a church or...

.. a football team or scout group or...?

Mr Osborne.

There was one bloke, a pal from work, Len Paxton.

He ran the local platoon of... Club Rangers.

I don't know why she seems to hate me or hate our mum.

Like I said, she's troubled.

- Was it always like that? - Absolutely not, no.

We adored each other when we were growing up.

Do you remember when it changed? Was it overnight or...?

No, I remember exactly when it changed.

I was 14

and Marion was 11

and we'd moved to Cork.

Our dad had got a job as a lecturer there.

You know, we had a great house, a lovely garden.

We even got our own rooms for the first time.

But Marion just... seemed to hate it.

Overnight, she became... distant, sullen, aggressive.

- Towards you? - Towards me, towards our mum,

- at school, everyone. - Including your dad?

Actually, no, not Dad.

But then, him and Marion were always stupidly close.

So, no, dad was the only one who escaped her ire.

When did your dad pass away?

1991.

- How old was he? - 57.

That sounds pretty young. Was he ill?

- Why do you ask? - Just trying to fill in the gaps.

Well, no, he wasn't ill. Well, not physically, anyway.

He erm... took his own life.

I'm sorry to hear that.

Do you mind if I ask how?

He hanged himself.

Highgate woods.

So did he have a history of depression or mental illness or...?

What are you suggesting?

Did he?

No.

Right.

Do you know if your mum's at home?

Paxton? Don't recall the name Paxton.

Before my time, probably.

Really?

- Sorry? - Well, it's just erm...

Well, I found him with a simple Google search so...

What are you asking me about him for, then?

Because I wanna know what happened to him after he left prison in 1988

for assaulting two boys from a platoon in Dumfries.

Look, this is all ancient history.

Do you know, I am getting... really pissed off with that expression

because it's just not. The sort of things people like Len Paxton did

are still affecting people today, catastrophically.

It... fucks up whole lives, OK?

So unless you want me to come back tonight

when all the parents are here,

I'd start trying a little harder to remember, if I were you.

He's dead.

When?

'92.

How?

He topped himself, everyone reckoned.

- Reckoned? - He had this little yacht

he used to take some of the lads out on.

It was found a few days after he went missing,

drifting in open water off Greenock harbour.

They never found his body.

Although I'm not sure anyone looked too hard.

It's changed. We've changed.

People like him don't slip through the nets any more.

Well, I really hope so.

But they were saying that 30 years ago, and 20 and ten,

and I just... fucking pray that they won't be saying it 20 years from now

about today.

Her father told me what he'd found out

- in the months after she ran away. - This was while she was still 13?

Them being taken to parties organised by men like Walker

and raped.

Did he... not report this?

Did he not go to the police?

Yes. Apparently your lot told him you couldn't do anything

because it had been her choice to become a child prostitute --

a phrase it should be fucking illegal to even use.

Jesus.

You knew.

No.

She told you. You knew!

I did not know!

She was always making things up, Elise, exaggerating everything.

Your father would never have done the things --

How old was she when she told you?

You tell me now or I swear I'll...!

Elise.

- 12. - Oh, my...!

And you decided not to believe her

because, what, you didn't wanna lose the house

or the research trips abroad? Or because what?!

You're a evil fucking witch!

We... we have wondered all our lives why she is so angry.

I need you to tell me exactly what Marion told you.

Please.

- What sort of a mother does that? - I'm struggling to be charitable.

Well, Osborne's dad clearly had no idea.

Nor did Marion's sister. I guess we've lost our element of surprise.

- Pretty sure all three will know the questions we've been asking. - Yeah.

Which is why I wanna get in front of Colin and Marion today

- while they're still on the back foot. - And ask them what?

'Where they were when own abusers died.'

Because if we're right, they'll have absolutely watertight alibis.

Which both proves the theory and sort of screws us, evidentially.

What have we got from Murray?

So, he's spent all day trawling NHS records.

Turns out that at various points in '87 and early 1988,

both Colin and Sara were under the care

of the Ealing Hospital psychiatric unit.

- As inpatients? - Yeah. - 'What about Marion?'

'We haven't located her records yet. But here's a thing.

Before she lived at her Smoke Lane flat,

from early '86 to late '87, she lived in a flat in South Ealing.

So that's the link. They met in Ealing psychiatric unit.

Well, it's gonna be hard to prove, but it's got to be a possibility.

Yeah.

You track down Colin, I'll speak to Marion.

Thanks, Sunny.

'The train now approaching platform four will not stop here.'

'Stand back from the edge of platform four.'

'The next train is not scheduled to stop.'

Jason!

How are you doing?

Fancy a cuppa?

Look... I know it's really annoying

when people give you trite bits of advice on how to be happy,

but... you don't have to be defined by your past.

I had a horrible relationship split a couple of years ago,

then my mum died, and then my cat.

And I was really struggling, and then I met this bloke

and I thought, 'God, he's nice. He's not like other blokes.

I'd love to get to know him better.'

And it showed me that there was possibility ahead.

- Do you see? - Yeah.

Life goes on, Jase.

Right, yeah, well, thanks for that. And good luck with the bloke.

Jase, the bloke's you.

- What? - It's you.

I like you.

- Really? - Don't act so surprised.

It's just erm...

.. no-one's ever said that to me.

So what I wanted to say was,

shall we get that date in the diary?

Marion, please don't go out now.

I'm fine, honestly. Please don't say anything to Tony just yet

cos I need to speak to him myself. OK? Back in a couple of hours.

- I love you. - I love you, too.

And I am so, so sorry.

- Sunny. - Gov, Colin's not at his house.

His husband said he'd moved out for a bit

and was staying at a Holiday Inn, but he's not there either.

- 'Right.' - Are you at Marion's yet?

Er... no, no, not yet.

I'll call you.

They have no proof of anything, Marion, and they never will have.

But they know.

But knowing something and proving it in court

are two very different things.

Yeah, they are...

.. very different.

Marion.

Where are you running to? It's over.

So I wanna speak to my husband now, OK?

Now I want to explain.

Well, I was in Goa when Paxton went missing.

I have hotel and flight receipts. I can prove I wasn't here.

I'm sure. And when Marion's father died,

can you prove you weren't in Highgate woods?

And did you meet them both in Ealing psychiatric unit

or... just Sara?

I've read er...

people... who've been abused

can always recognise other victims.

Something in the way they carry themselves.

Was it that...

.. that drew you to each other?

So I guess now you...

.. pull what you have together

and...

present it to the CPS

and... they may go for it

and you may be able to charge us.

But before you do, maybe I could just give you some other facts.

Please do.

So...

.. he used to come round to our house on Sunday nights... mainly,

for a roast dinner

and he'd always find time to play with me.

He'd pretend to be a horse

and I'd climb on his back and he'd buck and twist and turn,

and I was a cowboy at a bucking bronco contest,

and I fucking loved him. And when my dad found out

that he ran the local Club Rangers platoon

and suggested that I join, I could not be happier.

And for six months, it was the best time of my life.

We played football and kicked the can and made fires in the woods

and bows and arrows.

It was...

Enid Blyton for real.

The first time it happened was when we went camping for the weekend.

My tent was an old army one of my grandad's

and when we started to put it up, he said it wouldn't be any good

because it wasn't waterproof anymore and it was gonna rain.

But that was OK, he said, because he had room in his tent.

That night, he only gave me a massage

to help with the day's hike.

The next night, he touched me and asked me to touch him.

It didn't rain that night either.

I've spent a lifetime talking to you about the shame and...

.. guilt

and how I thought I must have actually wanted him to do it

because sometimes I got an erection.

And how I couldn't tell mum and dad because he was their friend

and I didn't wanna upset them or embarrass anyone.

And how I couldn't tell anyone else

because he said I'd be sent away if I did.

But I do still ask myself every single day,

'Why didn't I tell someone?'

Then over the next...

.. six months,

on visits to our house when my parents were out...

.. he did... he did things...

.. which actually physically damaged me for life.

Because a 48-year-old man

is not meant to put himself inside a nine-year-old boy.

But much worse than the physical damage

is the damage he did to me as a person.

Because that first time, he changed me instantly and forever.

The drinking, the... rage,

the suicide attempts, the fighting, the manic working,

the...

endless, exhausting, visceral rage

that I feel every day of my life,

that I feel right at this moment, having to explain this to you.

That is all because of him.

So you might put me in prison,

but let me tell you this.

You can't judge me unless you've had it done to you.

I won't ever, ever let anyone judge me for what I did.

And... and just so as you know, what happened to Sara and Marion

was much worse.

Hiya.

You OK?

I need to tell you something.

For a while, I wondered if he only took the job in Cork

because of the house,

which meant that Elise and I had our own rooms finally.

First time, my mum was just downstairs.

She was watching the Onedin Line -- I... could hear the theme music.

And he came in when my lights were out

and he knelt by my bedside

and he said that I was growing up now,

becoming a young woman,

and that soon I'd have boyfriends

and he wanted me to be prepared for that.

He wanted to help me, so I knew how to enjoy it.

And then he put his hand under the covers and...

.. he did what a boyfriend might do.

And he did that pretty much... every Saturday night

when he was home, for about a year.

And then one day, when I was having my tea...

I finally told my mum... that he did things to me

while she was downstairs.

And I remember she was peeling potatoes at the sink

and... she never even stopped.

She never turned to me, she never said anything.

And five minutes later, she told me to go back upstairs

and finish my homework.

And I wondered at first if she hadn't been listening,

but then that night, she came upstairs

and she stayed there, folding clothes

and tidying... for an hour after I went to bed.

And...

of course, he never came near me.

And she did that for about six months

and then one day, she just stopped.

And then when she and my sister

were out at the cinema a few weeks later...

.. he raped me for the first time.

And I remember, I said to him erm...

.. if he did the same to Elise and he said, 'No, no.' It was just me.

Cos I was special.

I was special.

And the anger, Tony, the anger I felt for so many years,

and I still do....

In the end, it made me do a terrible thing.

Hey.

Hiya.

How are you?

He sent me that.

- Who did? - Him.

Your mother's lover.

It's the letter she wrote, telling him why she was finishing with him.

How she realised that what we had was what she wanted.

How terrible she felt about what she'd done...

.. and how the affair made her realise how much she loved me.

It's a good letter... to read, Cass, for me.

It's very good for me to know about.

Mm.

You wouldn't have got it if you hadn't gone to see him, Dad.

So you were right. You.

Listen, I've just gotta make a quick call.

I love you, Dad.

Just er...

.. I'll be quick.

- 'Sunny?' - Hey.

Can you meet me?

This case rests on them knowing each other.

Without conclusive proof of that, it is just a theory

and they're not gonna confess.

Without any bodies, it's gonna be... very hard

to connect any of them to the deaths.

So I can't see the CPS being delirious to press charges.

But we do have proof now.

I mean, you just told me you saw them together.

I saw them...

.. on my own.

CCTV or...?

And they arrived separately.

Fuck.

'Yeah, fuck.'

'Well...'

.. I guess in the end, you have to ask yourself the old question.

Why do we send people to prison?

And do Colin, Sara and Marion...

.. need to be deterred from committing murder again?

- No. - No, I don't think so.

So...

do they need to be rehabilitated?

I mean, for the last 20 years at least,

they've all been very valuable members of society.

All three of them helping the most vulnerable.

'Which means...

.. in the end, it pretty much comes down to punishment.

Do Colin, Sara and Marion need to be punished?'

'And that's it, you see, because for me,

I think their whole lives have been one long,

indescribably brutal punishment,

and I just can't see why we would punish them further.

I can't see who would benefit.'

No, no, nor can I.

OK.

So...

.. this is... significant.

Sunny, this is a pretty fucking huge thing I would do here.

- You? - Yeah.

To be absolutely clear, this is just me.

You would never be implicated in any decision I make.

But if you have a single shred of doubt, please tell me now.

Tell me to see Andrews first thing tomorrow morning,

report everything, tell him I saw them all together.

I don't believe they could be charged...

.. and I see no point in disrupting their lives further,

so... no,

I won't tell you to do that.

You're all right.

Do you know that?

You're not so bad yourself.

I'm gonna leave now before you try and snog me.

Smart move.

Na-night, Sunny.

Night, Gov.