The Heirs of Owain Glyndwr (29 page)

59

‘Well, you say that
you didn't want to get your sister involved, Mr Prys-Jones,' Evan Roberts said, springing to his feet immediately. ‘But you didn't mind getting her husband involved, did you? He was one of your co-conspirators, wasn't he?'

‘I am not here to speak about Trevor Hughes.'

‘You are here to answer any proper questions I put to you, Mr Prys-Jones. Trevor Hughes is also the father of your nephew Harri, isn't he?'

‘He is.'

‘Yes. But you had no concerns about involving his father, your sister's husband, in your plans, did you?'

‘I didn't involve Trevor Hughes in anything. Whatever he did, he did of his own volition. He must answer for himself.'

‘Well, unfortunately, he is not here to answer for himself, is he? The jury has not had the opportunity to hear from him. Why is that, Mr Prys-Jones? Do you know where he is?'

‘No, I do not.'

‘And if you knew, I daresay you wouldn't tell us.'

‘That is an improper comment,' Gareth said quietly, half standing.

‘Yes, it is,' the judge agreed.

Caradog had given no sign of answering the question.

‘If your sister was not involved, why was she driving the bomb and Dafydd Prosser to a rendezvous with you on the edge of the town square when she was arrested?'

‘She was not meant to be doing that.'

‘But she did, didn't she?'

‘She was not told what was in the car.'

‘How do you know what she was told, Mr Prys-Jones? You weren't there, were you?'

‘There was a clear understanding that she was to know nothing.'

‘Really? Well, even if that was clear to you, you don't know how clear it was to Dafydd Prosser, do you? Or to Trevor Hughes? You don't know what Trevor may have told her at home, do you?'

‘It was Trevor who insisted that she should know nothing. He would never have told her, and he would never have tolerated anyone else telling her.'

‘Trevor Hughes made that clear to you, did he?'

A pause.

‘Yes, he did.'

‘Was Dafydd Prosser present when Trevor told you that?'

Caradog began to answer, but then checked himself.

‘I cannot answer for Dafydd Prosser. Dafydd is here, and he will speak for himself if he wishes.'

‘I don't know whether he will wish to or not,' Evan replied. ‘So I am asking you.'

‘I am not going to answer for Dafydd.'

‘Dafydd Prosser built the bomb for you, didn't he? The bomb you were going to take into Caernarfon Castle under cover of your job as a night watchman?'

‘I will not answer.'

‘Using his skill as a chemist, and the tips you picked up from the IRA and the Baader-Meinhof group when all three of you went to Belfast?'

‘I will not answer.'

‘Why else was he there with your sister when you arrived in the square to collect the bomb?'

‘I will not answer.'

‘It was because he was the one who knew how to set the timer, wasn't it? He was going to set it to detonate during the Investiture ceremony, wasn't he, because that was the plan?'

‘I will not answer for Dafydd. I was the one who was to take the bomb and place it in the Castle.'

‘Do you have the knowledge and the skills to make a bomb, Mr Prys-Jones?'

‘No. I do not.'

‘Does your sister?'

‘No, of course not.'

‘Would you have known how to set it to detonate, using the alarm clock as a timer?'

‘No.'

‘Would your sister have known?'

‘No.'

‘So, who was going to arm the bomb for you? Are you sure it wasn't your sister?'

‘I am quite sure.'

‘Of course not, because she is opposed to violence, isn't she? Her role was only to do the driving, is that it?'

‘She had no role.'

‘So who was going to arm the bomb?'

‘I will answer only for myself.'

Evan turned to Mr Justice Overton.

‘My Lord, having taken the oath, the witness is compellable to answer these questions, but he is refusing to do so.'

‘Yes, thank you, Mr Roberts,' the judge replied. ‘I had noticed that myself.'

‘Then I would ask that your Lordship order him to answer the questions, and advise him of the possible consequences of refusing to do so.'

Jamie Broderick had closed his eyes and was leaning forward with his hands on the desk, folded under his chin. He opened his eyes, caught Ben glancing across at him, and raised his eyebrows with a shake of his head.

‘Very well,' the judge replied. ‘Mr Prys-Jones, you must answer the questions Mr Roberts is putting to you. If you refuse to do so, I will hold you in contempt of court, and you may be sentenced to time in prison. Do you understand?'

‘I understand,' Caradog replied. ‘But I am in prison already.'

‘Yes, well, you may have to spend another day there.'

There was subdued laughter, some of it from the jury box.

‘Do you have any further questions, Mr Roberts?'

Evan flung himself back down into his chair.

‘No, my Lord.'

‘Mr Prys-Jones, is there anything else you would like to say?' the judge asked.

‘No,' Caradog replied. ‘Thank you.'

‘Is there any witness you would like to call, or any evidence you wish to place before the jury.'

‘No. Thank you.'

‘Very well. You may return to the dock.'

Slowly, the small procession wound its way back from the witness box to the dock as solemnly as it had come. As the door of the dock was locked behind them, Gareth stood.

‘My Lord, I shall not be calling Mr Prosser to give evidence, and no evidence will be called on his behalf.'

The announcement caused a buzz around the courtroom, but if Mr Justice Overton was surprised, he did not show it.

‘Yes. Very well, Mr Morgan-Davies,' he said. ‘Do I take it that you will be presenting a case, Mr Schroeder?'

‘Yes, my Lord.'

‘Yes. Well, I don't suppose there will be any objection to a short break before you call Mrs Hughes. We will adjourn for half an hour, members of the jury.'

60

When they entered the
cell, Arianwen looked pale, but seemed composed enough. She gave everyone a hug, and was visibly pleased to see Eifion, who had returned from Cardiff to be at court with her. They exchanged a few quiet words in Welsh. As usual, she wore an ankle-length Indian cotton dress, today a light blue with a muted white floral design.

‘So, the moment has come,' she smiled.

‘Yes. Try not to be too nervous,' Ben said. ‘I know you are bound to be a bit apprehensive, but I'm not going to let anyone ask you anything they shouldn't. There should be nothing to take you by surprise.'

‘I'm sure I will be fine.'

‘I'm sure you will, too. I just wanted to check you had no last-minute questions. You know that once you start giving evidence, you're not allowed to talk to any of us – Barratt, Eifion or me – until your evidence is finished?'

‘I understand. It's so that you can't tell me what to say.'

‘Exactly. And you understand what is going to happen in court?'

‘I think so. You will ask me questions first, then I will be cross-examined, then the judge may ask me questions, and I will try to remember to call him “my Lord”.'

‘Don't worry too much about that,' Ben said. ‘The main thing is to listen to the question. Answer what you are asked and don't go beyond that if you can help it. Don't worry about the judge too much. I doubt he will have much to ask you, if anything at all.'

‘It's Evan Roberts you want to be careful of,' Eifion said. ‘He's a snake in the grass, if ever there was one.'

‘Actually,' she smiled, ‘I'm not worried about him. I would be more concerned if it was going to be Mr Broderick asking me questions.'

‘Oh?' Ben said, returning the smile. ‘Why is that?'

‘Evan Roberts is a bully,' she replied simply. ‘He's the sort of boy we all remember from school, strutting around the playground as if he owns it, picking on boys smaller than himself. I've been watching the way he treats people – not only the witnesses, but everyone, including the judge. He tries to walk over them to get his way, and it doesn't work. The jury don't like him. I've been watching them.'

‘You're quite right,' Ben said. ‘Just keep that in mind, and don't get sucked into playing his game, trying to argue with him and so on. I will argue with him if anyone has to, but you mustn't. All you have to do is stay calm and answer politely and truthfully.'

‘And don't be tempted into trying to provoke him,' Barratt added. ‘He is quite capable of getting worked up on his own without any help. As Ben said, just stay calm.'

She smiled again, brightly. ‘I can do that.'

61

‘Mrs Hughes, please give
his Lordship and the jury your full name.'

‘Arianwen Hughes.'

‘How old are you?'

‘I am 35.'

‘Have you ever been convicted of any criminal offence?'

‘No. Never.'

‘I think you were born Arianwen Prys-Jones, and you are the sister of Caradog Prys-Jones. Is that right?'

‘Yes.'

‘Is Caradog older or younger?'

‘He is my older brother. There are three years between us.'

‘Where did you live growing up?'

‘In Caernarfon, in the same house in
Rhês Pretoria
– sorry, that is Pretoria Terrace in English – where Caradog still lives. After our parents died, I lived there with Caradog until I got married.'

‘Yes. We will come to that later. Following up on your last answer, you gave us the name of the street in Welsh. Is Welsh your first language?'

‘Yes. Our parents always spoke Welsh at home. That's not unusual in North Wales. A lot of families are still Welsh-speaking. Of course, once we started school we learned English too, so I grew up with both. But Welsh is still more natural for me.'

Ben smiled. ‘But you don't need PC Watkins to help you?'

She laughed. ‘No, no. My English is quite good.'

There were some smiles among the jurors.

‘I can take this quite quickly. You went to school locally in Caernarfon, and then to university at Bangor?'

‘Yes.'

‘What were your subjects?'

‘Music and Welsh.'

‘And after university?'

‘I came back home. I started to take pupils at home, teaching music.'

‘Yes. What instruments do you play?'

‘The cello is my main instrument, but of course, I also play the piano. It's usual for musicians to play the piano in addition to any other instrument they may have.'

‘I see. Did you think of teaching in a school?'

‘I did, but at that stage I had some idea that I could play professionally, and I didn't want to commit to a school schedule.'

‘When you say “play professionally”, do you mean as a soloist?'

She smiled. ‘That would have been wonderful, but no, I didn't think of myself as having that kind of talent. I did think I could hold my own in the cello section of a symphony orchestra.'

‘And I think you did indeed hold your own in an orchestra for some time?'

‘Yes. I auditioned successfully for the BBC Welsh Orchestra, and I was a member of the orchestra for two or three years.'

‘Why did that come to an end?'

‘I had to spend a lot of time away from home in Cardiff, where the orchestra is based. We had a very busy schedule of concerts and recording sessions, and of course there was a lot of rehearsal involved. My parents' health was failing and I was needed at home, so I went back to Caernarfon. Unfortunately, my parents then died within a short time of each other.'

‘But you didn't return to the orchestra?'

‘My position had been filled. It is not a big orchestra, and – well, I suppose I could have waited and auditioned again, but I never did. I settled down to taking pupils at home, and I play chamber music with friends from time to time to keep my hand in.'

Ben paused to consult his notes.

‘Next I want to ask you this. What is your personal opinion about the political status of Wales?'

‘You're asking me if I am a nationalist?'

‘Yes.'

‘Yes, I do believe that Wales can and should be an independent nation. I support Plaid Cymru. I vote for the Party and I work for them at election time.'

‘Let me ask you this, then. Do you have anything against England, or the English people, or the Royal Family for that matter?'

‘No. Not at all. We have lived together, Welsh and English people, for centuries. I have many English friends. I hope it will always be that way.'

‘How do you reconcile that with being a nationalist?'

‘My vision for Wales is not that we exclude people. I don't want to set up road blocks between England and Wales. I don't want to make English visitors apply for visas or produce passports. I don't even want borders. I want life to continue much as it is now. My vision for Wales is simply the freedom to govern ourselves, to make our own laws about things that concern Wales.'

‘Have you attended demonstrations and rallies at various times?'

‘Yes, I have.'

‘What kind of things were you protesting about?'

‘My protests were mainly about supporting the Welsh language. I joined the
Cymdeithas yr iaith
– the Welsh Language Society – while I was at university, and I have always supported it.'

‘And, it may be a fairly obvious question, but what are the goals of that Society?'

‘To preserve Welsh as a living language. English is so pervasive today, everyone has to speak English, and there is a danger that people may lose interest in Welsh, even if they speak it at home. If that happens, the language could be lost within a generation or two. It is an ancient and beautiful language, and if we don't do something now, it may soon be too late.'

‘Did you also protest about political questions?'

‘Yes, sometimes.'

‘Can you give us an example of that?'

‘I protested about the flooding of the Tryweryn Valley and the village of Capel Celyn.'

‘It may be that the jury are not familiar with that episode. Could you tell us briefly what happened?'

‘The Government decided to flood the valley and the village, and forcibly remove the inhabitants, in order to create a giant reservoir to increase the water supply to Liverpool. There were protests for several years, and all kinds of challenges to it. But of course, in the end the Government had its way, as it always does.'

‘Yes. Did the Tryweryn question have any personal significance for you, apart from the obvious significance of a Welsh valley being destroyed for the benefit of an English city?'

‘Yes. The Tryweryn Valley was where our family were from. My great-grandparents had a home there in the village, and although our branch of the family didn't live there in my generation, I have relatives who did, and we still thought of it as our homeland.'

‘Did you protest against the Investiture of Prince Charles?'

‘I did, as did many others in and around Caernarfon, and in Wales generally.'

‘Why did you demonstrate against the Investiture?'

‘I really think that if it hadn't been for Tryweryn and one or two other things, I wouldn't have been all that upset about it. But it started to feel personal, you know, the assumption that the Government can come in and out of Wales any time it likes, take what it wants, and not even try to help us in terms of conserving the language, protecting our cultural heritage. The Investiture just seemed like another example. It was so crass and insensitive.'

‘In what sense, crass and insensitive?'

‘The title of Prince of Wales has been used by the English monarchy for centuries to emphasise its control of Wales. I am not sure Wales wants a prince of any kind in this day and age. But, if we do, there are princely bloodlines in Wales, and we are quite capable of finding our own Welsh prince without having one imposed on us.'

Ben paused again.

‘What is your attitude towards violence?'

‘I am against the use of violence in any shape or form,' she replied. ‘It horrifies me.'

‘In all circumstances?'

‘Yes. It upsets me even when I know there is no alternative, for example during the War when we had to stand up to Hitler.'

‘Would you be prepared to use violence to bring about independence for Wales?'

‘No. I would not.'

‘Would you approve of the use of violence by others for that purpose?'

‘No. I would not.'

‘Would you condone it or agree to cover it up?'

‘No. I would not.'