Agents employee). Bartholomew, Spencer and Paul are licensed operators.
Ms. Spencer reported a fight between Mr. Trent and Mrs. Fletcher, and subsequently between herself and Mrs. Fletcher when she tried to intervene. Mr. Trent had been hit on the head several times by a heavy ashtray but was sitting up by the time the officers reached the scene.
Paramedics arrived within five minutes. Although Mr. Trent initially refused medical assistance, he was persuaded to go in the ambulance and receive treatment at Poole General Hospital. He had difficulty focusing and standing, and severe concussion was diagnosed. He was asked to remain at the hospital until Officers Clarke and Chambers could take his statement. His address-Crown and Feathers, Highdown-was supplied by Mrs. Fletcher.
Mrs. Fletcher agreed that Ms. Spencer had come to her house by invitation and that Mr. Bartholomew and Mr. Paul had come to Ms. Spencer's assistance when the fighting got out of hand. They deny trespass. Mrs. Fletcher admitted that she left her front door open when Ms. Spencer arrived, which is how Mr. Bartholomew and Mr. Paul gained entry. She thanked them for their assistance.
Mrs. Fletcher said that she had taken her husband Mr. Nicholas Fletcher for a checkup at Poole General this morning. She expressed considerable fear of both him and Mr. Trent and said she couldn't remain in the house in case either of them returned. She refused to give a statement at this time, asking instead to be taken to Poole police station to make a written statement there.
After escorting everyone off the premises, Officers Clarke and Chambers secured the house and drove Mrs. Fletcher to Poole police station. A statement was subsequently taken from Mr. Trent at the General Hospital. On his advice, Officers Clarke and Chambers allowed him to inform Mr. Fletcher of the incident. Mr. Fletcher reacted angrily but accepted Mr. Trent's offer to stay at the Crown and Feathers in Highdown until the matter is resolved.
POOLE POLICE STATION
CIVIC CENTER POOLE DORSET BH15 2SE
WITNESS STATEMENT
Date: 5.26.03
Time: 1630
Witness: Priscilla Fletcher aka Priscilla Fletcher Hurst aka Louise Burton aka Daisy Hopkinson aka Cill Trent
Officers present: DS John Wyatt, DC Peter Hughes
Also present: Ms. Sasha Spencer (at the request of the witness)
Incident: The murder of Priscilla 'Cill' Trevelyan on the night of May 30/31, 1970.
This statement was written from notes made during an interview with Priscilla Fletcher. She agrees that it is a true and complete record of what she said, and she has signed it accordingly.
My father started abusing me when I was eleven years old. I believe my mother knew what was happening, although the subject has never been discussed between us. When Cill and I became friendly, I tried to keep her away from our house because I knew my father liked her. She was unhappy at home and preferred spending time in other people's houses. When we bunked off school we usually went to Grace Jefferies's, where we spent time with Howard Stamp.
I became jealous of Cill because she was popular and I wasn't. I had few girlfriends at school because none of them liked the way my father behaved toward them. Howard didn't like me because I'd teased him in the past. Our teachers blamed me for leading Cill astray, and Cill's parents reported me to my parents, saying that Cill's problems were my fault. The fight we had at school on Friday, May 29, was sparked by my jealousy.
After Mrs. Trevelyan phoned on the Saturday morning May 30 to say that Cill had not slept in her bed the previous night, I went round to Grace Jefferies's house. Cill was eating ice cream in the kitchen. I thought it was funny because my mother had said how upset Jean Trevelyan had sounded. That is what made me decide not to say anything to my parents or the police. This decision was reinforced when my mother became angry after the police suggested we might know where Cill was. I couldn't contradict her without being punished. I told the police about the rape to get Cill into even more trouble with her father. He always said he'd wash his hands of her if he found out she'd had sex with a boy. I was still angry about our fight the day before when she had punched me and pulled my hair. It seemed a good revenge to make her life even more difficult. I hadn't told my father that Cill had been raped because I didn't want him feeling sorry for her. Instead, I told him she'd had consensual sex with three boys. He became upset and started referring to her as 'a tart.' When he told Mr. Trevelyan that 'she deserved what she got,' he was referring to a possible pregnancy, as I'd told him that Cill had missed a period. This wasn't true, but my father was pleased about it because he thought the Trevelyans were snobs.
After Cill went missing, he told me to repeat the story to the police so that David Trevelyan would know the sort of daughter he had.
Soon after my mother and I returned from the police station on Saturday, May 30, my mother ordered me to go to my bedroom so that she could tell my father what I'd said to the police. I disobeyed. Instead, I went to the public telephone in Bladen Street to call Roy Trent. I had made friends with Roy Trent, Micky Hopkinson and Colley Hurst after Howard kept complaining to Cill and Grace about the way they bullied him. Even at the time I understood that I had more in common with alienated teens than I did with losers like Howard Stamp and Grace Jefferies. Now I realize that I was looking for anyone who shared my sense of unhappiness and lack of worth.
It is true that I sought out Trent, Hopkinson and Hurst and asked them to give Cill Trevelyan a fright. It is also true that I engineered the meeting and was angry when Cill insisted on bringing my brother along. At no point did I suggest rape. I asked them to pretend to like her, then treat her unkindly afterward. My feelings about the rape were mixed. I was glad that Cill was violated but I became obsessed with the idea that Trent, Hopkinson and Hurst only did it because they fancied her.
This made me angry. Although I didn't name the boys, I described them well enough to be identified. They were well known to the police at that time as persistent truants, petty thieves and vandals, and they were regularly taken home in a drunk and disorderly state from Colliton Park and the waste ground behind Colliton Way (now Colliton Industrial Estate). I hoped Trent, Hopkinson and Hurst would be scared and embarrassed by being taken in for questioning. I hoped the same would happen to Cill when she went home.
I spoke to Roy Trent at his mother's house at approximately 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 30, 1970, and told him what I'd said to the police. I did this because I wanted him to know how angry the rape had made me. He told me I was a fool because Micky Hopkinson carried a knife and would cut me at the first opportunity. I said they should deny they were the boys involved because I hadn't named them and wouldn't identify them. I had also kept secret from the police that my brother, William, had been a witness. Roy said none of that mattered because Cill would identify them.
He asked me where Cill Trevelyan was, and I said she was at Grace Jefferies's house. He told me to go back to Grace's and persuade Cill to go to Howard Stamp's house in Colliton Way. I said she would never agree because she knew Trent, Hurst and Hopkinson also lived in Colliton Way. Roy accepted that. Instead, he told me to persuade her to go home by leaving the house via the alleyway at the back. He asked me to wait until it got dark at around 8:30
