The second male I would describe as much larger in build than the first male and probably six feet tall. He was black. I could not tell what he was wearing, other than a baseball cap. I would recognize the first male if I saw him again. If required to do so I am willing to give evidence and attend court as a witness.
Signed: Louise Susan Jones
Fry was impressed with Miss Jones’ observation. She seemed to have identified the white male. That would have been Darren Barnes, the IC1.
MG15
RECORD OF INTERVIEW
ROTI
Person Interviewed: Darren Joseph Barnes
Place of Interview: Queens Road Police Station
Interviewing Officer(s): DI Blake
Other persons present: DS Sandhu, Solicitor Mr Alderton
DI Blake: Introduction and Caution in accordance with PACE. DI Blake reminds Barnes that he was arrested in connection with an alleged rape near the Connemara pub, Digbeth. Barnes gives his account of his movements on the night.
Barnes: I wasn’t in Digbeth. I wasn’t at the pub. I met up with S-Man (Marcus Shepherd) at the club in Broad Street. No matter what he says.
Blake: We have a witness who states that she saw you running from the scene, Darren.
Barnes: She’s wrong then.
Blake: Did you attack a woman in Digbeth that night?
Barnes: No comment.
Fry flicked impatiently to the end of the interview. Once the ‘no comments’ started, it was a waste of time. Though it wasn’t stated in the transcript, the solicitor must have intervened to steer his client’s responses. With an experienced suspect, it only needed a shake of the head. Nothing that would be recorded on tape.
She checked back to the beginning again. The solicitor was Mr Alderton. She had half expected to see the name of William Leeson printed there. There must be some significance to him, or why did Andy Kewley mention him? The same law firm as Alderton, maybe. She could probably check.
Barnes: No, I told you it weren’t me.
DI Blake: This interview will now be concluded, however, we need to make further enquiries and will be further interviewing you later. Interview concluded.
When Cooper’s call came through, Fry was sitting with the case file closed on the table in front of her, wondering whether she was right to have read it. Had it helped her at all? Had it made her feel any better? She was really no closer to knowing who these people were, these individuals who had become inextricably entangled in her own life. Darren Barnes, Marcus Shepherd, Louise Jones. And the mysterious William Leeson. Not forgetting him.
She drew a pad of the hotel stationery towards her and jotted down the information Cooper gave her.
Marcus Shepherd, also known as ‘S-Man’. A last-known address in Handsworth Wood, a string of cautions and convictions from the age of twelve, but just one spell in prison.
‘There’s a lot of other stuff,’ said Cooper. ‘Date of birth, ethnicity codes.’
‘You can skip those.’
Darren Joseph Barnes, also known as ‘Doors’. Another Handsworth address, an even longer conviction record. Barnes had started his career in crime early, with prosecutions for criminal damage and anti-social behaviour at the age of ten — the youngest you could be charged with a crime in this country.
‘Street names,’ said Fry. ‘They both have street names. Are they members of a gang?’
‘I don’t know, Diane.’
And Fry felt irrationally disappointed that there was so little on Leeson.
‘What was the name of his firm?’
‘I don’t know. I couldn’t find him. That means he’s not currently practising.’
‘Okay.’
‘So,’ said Cooper. ‘Have you got what you needed?’
‘I really need to know what the problem is with the DNA evidence. What Gareth Blake means by contamination. And what matches were made on the database. But I can’t ask you to get involved any more, Ben. You’ve done your bit. I’m already way out on a limb as it is.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes. Thanks. I appreciate it.’
‘See you back home some time, then?’ said Cooper.
‘Sorry?’
‘Back here, in Edendale.’
‘Oh right. Yeah. And, Ben — you’re not worrying about this incident on Monday? The girl who drowned?’
‘No, of course not. I’ve got far too much else to do.’
Fry looked at the case file again. She’d been told that a cold case hit had resulted from an arrest of one of the suspects — a routine swab taken from him when he was processed through the custody suite, linking him to the rape years previously through a DNA profile match.
There were two types of sample at issue here. There was a Criminal Justice sample, the DNA collected by rubbing a buccal swab inside a suspect’s cheek to collect skin cells. And there were SOC samples, taken from evidence recovered at a crime scene — blood, hair, semen, saliva.
When a new Criminal Justice sample was added to the National DNA Database it was checked against all Scene of Crime profiles on the database. When a new SOC sample was added, it was checked against all CJ and SOC records. Any that were compatible were reported as a match.
Fry wondered if she knew too much about this process. She wasn’t the average IP, totally ignorant of the criminal justice system, her knowledge of forensics limited to what she’d picked up from CSI: Las Vegas. Most victims would accept what they were told.
But it was true that current DNA profiling methods were very sensitive. It was possible to detect very low levels of DNA, equivalent to approximately fifty cells, and even to detect the DNA present in a single cell.
Fry knew that because of that high sensitivity, there was an increased chance of detecting DNA from more than one person in samples. It might be background DNA, which was everywhere in the environment and couldn’t be avoided. It might be DNA deposited inadvertently by police officers attending the scene after an incident, or collecting samples for analysis. Her own DNA profile was already on the PED, the Police Elimination Database, designed to eliminate DNA left innocently at a scene.
And it went further. DNA could be shed by scientists involved in the analysis, or even by the people involved in production of the laboratory materials. DNA could be accidentally transferred from one item to another somewhere along the line.
DNA from all of these sources was referred to as contamination. That was what Gareth Blake had said — ‘contamination’. Well, that sort of contamination was easily detected in CJ samples and the profile wouldn’t be loaded on to the database. It was less easy to detect contamination in a DNA profile from a crime-scene sample. Contamination at the scene could compromise the lab’s ability to interpret a DNA profile from an SOC sample. Despite all the precautions, contamination still happened.
Contamination. What a wonderful word. If anything or anyone had been contaminated in this process, it was her.
She looked at the notes she’d taken from Cooper’s phone call. ‘S-Man’ and ‘Doors’. Street names were significant. If these two were members of a gang, they would be well known to West Midlands Police. But she needed access to the police intelligence systems to find that out.
‘No, don’t be ridiculous,’ she told herself.
Fry almost laughed. She wasn’t on the inside now, she was an outsider. She couldn’t turn to the PNC any more, and she couldn’t consult the intelligence officer. If she wanted information, there was only one thing to do — ask the right person.
