Backlash (2 page)

Mike and Paul looked at each other in surprise, taken aback by Oates’s willingness to speak freely and Kumar allowing him to do so. Mike decided it was best to hear what Oates had to say
before putting any questions to him and allowed him to continue.

Oates told his story: he had borrowed the van off the owner James Hully, who was selling it. He had taken it out at night for a test drive only because he didn’t have a driving licence or
insurance and he knew there would be less traffic and fewer police about. He went on his own to the Eagle pub in Hackney just before closing time where he’d noticed a group of
‘pissed-up’ women. After one pint he left to go home and was driving down the road when he saw one of the women and was worried because she was drunk and on her own so he stopped to
offer her a lift, but she had refused and continued to walk on. Oates had followed her and asked her again if she needed a lift. This time she had been, in his words, ‘Rude, told me to leave
her alone.’ He had driven past her for about fifty yards and then stopped and got out to tell her he was just trying to help. Oates claimed that she told him her name was Justine and she
agreed to accept his lift and got into the passenger seat. She agreed to have sex with him and he had driven to some waste ground by Hackney Marshes and they had both got into the back of the van
to ‘do the business’. After they had sex she suddenly turned hysterical and violent, kicking him in the balls, and he had panicked and hit her to keep her quiet. Oates explained that he
had just reached out for anything close to force her to stop screaming. He thought he had struck her with a section of the pump used to blow up the balloons.

Mike was not happy with Oates’s claim that Justine’s death was unintentional but he knew before a further interview that he would need not only the results of the
post mortem, but also to speak with Justine’s friends who were at the pub and importantly with any next of kin, who should by now have been traced by Barbara. Before ending the interview Mike
asked Oates where he currently lived.

‘I live rough.’

‘Then why did you say you left the pub to go home?’ Mike asked.

‘I don’t have a home as such, just a squat that I use sometimes.’

‘Where?’ asked Mike.

‘Number eight, Holcroft Road,’ Oates indignantly replied.

‘That’s a two-minute walk from the Eagle pub where you first saw Justine, isn’t it?’ Barolli enquired.

Oates made no reply and Mike Lewis informed him that he would remain in police custody while ‘the squat’ was searched, the post mortem carried out and some further enquiries were
made about him. Oates suddenly became agitated.

‘I’ve told you what happened. It was an accident so why do you need to keep me here?’

‘You don’t just hit someone by accident, Mr Oates, and the post mortem will tell us if your story is a lie or not. So unless there is another version of events that you want to tell
us about, this interview will be terminated.’

There was a long pause; Mike began to gather up his paperwork and Barolli was about to turn the recording equipment off when Oates said that there was something he’d like to tell them.

‘Are you going to tell us what really happened to Justine?’ asked Barolli.

‘I’ve already told you.’

Mike said that he had had enough of Oates’s truculent behaviour and that the interview was over.

‘Justine wasn’t the first. Before her was a ginger girl, exchange student from Dublin called Julia.’

‘Are you saying you’ve committed other murders or you know who has?’

‘If you let me finish I’ll tell you. Julia was about a year and a half ago, but she was the second.’

‘You just said that the student Julia was before Justine,’ Mike said, and Oates interrupted him.

‘No. You’re not listening to me, are you! Julia was the second, long before her was Rebekka Jordan – she was the first.’

Mike was taken aback by Oates’s sudden admissions, particularly about Rebekka Jordan. There had been extensive press surrounding her disappearance just over five years ago when she was
only thirteen years old. The enquiry, which had been quickly moved up from a missing person case to a suspected child abduction and probable murder, had been headed up by none other than Detective
Chief Superintendent James Langton. Mike knew that he needed detailed answers from Oates, who appeared to relish the sudden renewed attention, but with Kumar present he would have to play this by
the book as he needed Oates to make a full and frank confession concerning any other murders he might have committed.

‘Have you murdered other women?’ Mike asked.

‘You’re the detective, you tell me,’ Oates replied and laughed loudly.

Kumar was quick to interject, suggesting that it was a good time for a break as he would like to have a private consultation with his client before he answered any more questions. Mike told
Oates that he didn’t have to take Kumar’s advice as this was his opportunity to say what happened to Rebekka Jordan and Julia.

‘Are we playing roulette, officer?’

‘Oates decides if he wants to play, Mr Kumar, not you!’

‘Well I am advising him to make no further comment.’

‘It’s a simple yes or no, Oates. Did you kill Rebekka Jordan?’

Oates said nothing but arrogantly turned and nodded to Kumar.

‘Looks like Henry wants to take my advice, DCI Lewis.’

As Mike stormed out of the room he barked at Barolli to close the interview and then meet him in the office.

Mike was still seething by the time he had climbed the two flights of stairs to the allocated murder squad office, where he found Joan and Barbara were inputting data into the
HOLMES computers and preparing the incident board. It was immediately obvious to everyone present that DCI Lewis was in a foul mood.

‘Joan, request a copy of the Rebekka Jordan cold case file from archives and check with the national missing persons bureau for a Dublin girl by the name of Julia. Get them to search back
over the last five years.’

‘A few more details would be helpful, sir. I thought we were dealing with the Justine Marks case?’

‘And maybe a whole lot more by the looks of it, so just do as I ask. Where are we with next of kin?’

Joan informed him that Justine’s husband was Simon Marks, a stockbroker in the City, and arrangements had been made for a detective to take him to the mortuary at 1 p.m. to formally
identify the body of his wife.

Mike sat in his office, fully aware that there was a lot to do and little time in which to do it. He wondered what Oates was up to and if his tentative admissions to two other
murders were even true. It didn’t make sense that Oates should be lying about Rebekka and the unknown Irish girl Julia, however Mike knew both cases would have to be fully investigated and
Oates’s involvement proved or disproved. The burning question was when, if at all, should he inform DCS Langton, as he was currently on sick leave recovering from a knee operation and DCS
Hedges was in temporary charge of the murder squads. Mike Lewis made up his mind and asked Barbara to get everyone gathered for an office meeting in thirty minutes.

With the team all there Mike gave them a rundown of the interview with Oates, unaware that Paul Barolli had already filled them in on why he was in such a bad mood. Mike had
decided that the Justine Marks murder would be the initial priority and he himself would attend the mortuary for the identification by Simon Marks. He told Barbara to contact the Eagle pub and see
if they had any CCTV and to arrange interviews with Justine’s work colleagues. Joan informed Mike that she had asked ‘Mispers’ to run an enquiry on any Irish girls with the name
Julia but it could be some time before they got back with any results on such limited details for a five-year span.

Joan also said that the owner of the van that Oates had borrowed was indeed a James Hully, who had a history of petty crimes and had, he insisted, been sick in bed when Oates had borrowed his
van. His wife maintained that her husband had not left their flat for two days and that on the night of the 11th of October he had had a very high temperature and was in bed very ill. Hully lived
on the estate close to the pub and had access to a lockup garage where he kept his van. He claimed that it was not insured or licensed because of poor business and he was planning on selling it.
Oates had told him he was interested in buying the vehicle and wanted to test drive it so he let him try it out while he was ill as long as he did a few party deliveries for him. Hully alleged that
he did not know Oates very well, but had met him occasionally at a local pub. He said they had played darts together and during a game he had mentioned to Oates that he was selling his van and
quitting his job as a children’s entertainer. Apart from that, he knew nothing more about Oates or where he lived.

Before finishing the meeting Mike Lewis raised a couple of actions that he felt needed urgent attention.

‘Joan, I need you to prepare a full file on Oates. I want to know everything about him since the day he was born. Paul, contact the Crime Scene Manager and organize a full forensic search
of the squat address Oates gave us.’

Mike then thanked them all for their hard work so far but continued that as there was still a lot to do he would have to cancel all weekend leave for the team. There were a few sighs around the
room as they got up from their chairs to go home.

‘Hold it. I haven’t finished yet,’ Mike said and they all sat down again.

‘The fact that we are looking at Oates for other possible murders is to stay within these four walls and there will be serious repercussions if there’s any press leaks. DCS Hedges or
I will decide as and when DCS Langton should be informed of any developments concerning the Jordan case.’

Simon Marks was devastated and needed to be helped from the mortuary viewing room. He told them that Justine was twenty-seven years old and was a bank clerk at a Hackney branch
of the NatWest Bank. She’d been joining some of her co-workers for a baby shower party after work on the 11th of October. She had not taken her car into work as she knew they would be
drinking and the girls had ordered taxis to take them home. Justine told him not to wait up for her as she would be late, and when he discovered she had not returned the following morning he had
not been that concerned as he thought she might have stayed over with one of her friends. Simon only became worried later that morning when he called her work to be told that she had not come in.
He had started to ring round various friends when the police arrived to give him the terrible news.

Whilst at the mortuary Mike, anxious to know the cause of death, spoke with the pathologist, who was at the time still completing the external examination of the body,
photographing, measuring and detailing all the injuries. He said that he would not be able to give an exact cause of death until he had completed a full internal examination as well, but Mike
pressed him for his opinion on his initial observations. It was immediately clear that Oates had been lying about Justine’s death.

When the body first arrived at the mortuary the pathologist had carefully cut open the bin liners to preserve them for fingerprints. He had noted that Justine’s bra had been pulled up
around her neck and twisted so tightly that the hook and eyes of the strap had left puncture marks in the nape of her neck. Her tights and knickers, although still on her, were both torn and
ripped. Her leather zip-up boots had scuffmarks on both heels, which implied she might have been dragged backwards along the pavement and into the back of the van. Justine had also suffered a heavy
blow to the back of her head with a blunt instrument, which had caused a depressed fracture and an indentation mark in the shape of a half-moon. The pathologist was of the opinion that the head
injury probably didn’t kill her but it would certainly have knocked her unconscious. From the severe bruising and scratch marks to her thighs and vagina, it appeared that she might have been
raped whilst unable to struggle or defend herself.

All her clothing, swabs and toxicology samples had already been taken to the forensic lab for examination. Because of the head injury and the possibility Justine might have been strangled or
suffocated to death the brain would have to be left in formaldehyde for two weeks and then sent to an expert in forensic neuropathology for examination, which would further delay the
pathologist’s final report and his finding on the actual cause of death.

Mike Lewis asked if a balloon pump handle could have caused the head injury but the pathologist doubted that it would be heavy enough or leave the half-moon impression. Mike put in a quick call
to the lab and asked for details of items that had been recovered from the back of the van. Amongst them was a nine-inch heavy-duty spanner which the pathologist said could leave the type of head
injury that Justine had suffered. Mike asked the lab to make the spanner a priority.

On his return to the incident room Barbara informed Mike that there was no CCTV at the pub but she and other officers had spoken with Justine’s colleagues. On the evening
of the 11th at about 7 p.m. eight of them had taken over a small private room in the Eagle pub, and they had ordered food and bottles of wine to be brought up from the bar. The evening was to be a
baby shower for their co-worker Avril, who was expecting her first child, but as she had decided that she would not return to work after the birth, it was also a farewell party. At just after
eleven the party broke up. Two of the girls’ husbands had turned up to give them a lift home and Avril, who had not been drinking and had her car, had offered to give two of the girls a ride
home as they lived quite close to each other. The other two got into a taxi, but Justine had said she would get her own one as she lived in the opposite direction. The last sighting of Justine was
as the girls were driven off in their taxi. She had waved to them from outside the pub, standing in the car park.

All the girls were certain that Justine had been the last to leave. None of them could recall ever seeing Henry Oates and not one of them said that Justine was the type of girl to get into a
stranger’s car, let alone agree to have sex with someone she didn’t know. Justine was a very calm, quiet woman and in a loving relationship with her husband. Avril, in particular, was
inconsolable. She said that Justine was one of the nicest people she had ever known, always helpful and had bought a beautiful gift for her forthcoming baby. She wept when she said that Justine had
confided that she and her husband Simon were desperate for a child and were saving for IVF treatment as Justine had some medical problem with her fallopian tubes. She was adamant that Justine would
not have accepted a lift from Oates; she was by far too cautious.