The Runaway Schoolgirl (15 page)

Emily had been called as a witness for the prosecution, as she was able to give a clear picture of what Forrest was like out of the school environment. In this respect, she was the most independent of all the witnesses, who were much more affiliated with one side or the other. His parents had one view of him as he was their son, but as his estranged wife she had a clearer picture of him as a man.

Once Richard Barton had finished his questioning, it was Ronald Jaffa’s turn again, and he immediately started asking questions and making observations that would undermine Emily. It quickly became evident that he was out to show she was a monster and that is why Forrest had been ‘led astray’. Meanwhile, the note passing continued between Forrest and the rest of his team.

After a few minutes more, Emily broke down in tears. ‘I can’t do this!’ she said, pointing at Forrest and his team as yet another note was passed over. ‘It’s all too distracting.’

At that point, Judge Michael Lawson, QC adjourned the session and we all sat in silence, wondering what was going to happen next. The judge then announced that he was going to let Emily give the remainder of her evidence from behind a curtain so that she wouldn’t be distracted.

Ronald Jaffa was incensed, claiming that it should have been organised beforehand, but Judge Michael Lawson, QC simply wasn’t interested – ‘My courtroom, my rules,’ he insisted.

And so the cross-examination continued, with Jaffa striking low blows against poor Emily, bringing up details about her private life and trying to suggest that she was mentally unstable. She stood firm throughout and corrected
him on everything. Even if she had been a monster – which she obviously wasn’t – that didn’t give Forrest the excuse to do what he did to my daughter.

Finally, Jaffa’s character assassination ended and Emily was allowed to step down. We never saw her in court again.

Detective Inspector Andy Harbour was next up and confirmed that he had been to France to bring Gemma back, and then it was chief inspector for child protection Mark Ling’s turn to take the stand. There were no questions for either of them from the defence team as they were just there to confirm that all the police formalities had been followed.

Just before the court session ended for the day, I noticed that there was a bit of fuss going on between the legal teams about some document that the defence team hadn’t yet received from the police. I wondered if perhaps this was the technicality that they were going to pull out of the hat.

But I had no need to worry: Richard Barton confirmed that they had the piece of paper to give to the defence team, and DI Neil Ralph was sent out to collect it. The defence team were obviously really clutching at straws if that was the only way they could win the case.

And that was that for the day. I felt exhausted and relieved that my day in court was over. Now I had to brace myself for the next day, when Forrest would finally take the stand …

N
ow that the prosecution had concluded their questioning, it was time for the defence team to try and prove Forrest’s innocence. Finally, we thought, we would find out what he had meant when he said that he would reveal ‘the truth’ about what had really happened between him and Gemma.

I desperately wanted to hear what he had to say. If he had pleaded guilty when first asked to enter a plea, none of us would have had to give evidence or go through the hell of the last few weeks. We had all been led to believe that he believed he had a strong reason to think he wasn’t guilty of abducting my daughter. If he was so convinced of his innocence, today was the day for him to prove it.

Following our normal court-day routine of parking, meeting our friends, going for coffee and walking up the hill to the courthouse, we were ready for the big day. We sensed
that the press knew it was going to be a significant day, too, and I felt that they were showing me more respect after I had given evidence the previous day. Maybe they had realised that I wasn’t the chavvy mother the social media sites had been making me out to be, after all.

After we took our seats in the public gallery, the jury filed in, the legal teams assembled, and Forrest stepped into the dock. We all stood for the judge and there was an expectant hush as we took to our seats again and Ronald Jaffa stepped up to make an announcement.

‘My client will not be taking the stand.’

What did he just say? Did I hear that correctly?

We all turned to each other, saying the same thing. Did he really just say that Forrest wasn’t going to give evidence? Is that even allowed? As it slowly dawned on us that, yes, that was indeed what was happening, we sat there open-mouthed. We were speechless.

I don’t know what Ronald Jaffa or the judge said next. All the blood had rushed to my head and I was absolutely fuming. How dare that man put my daughter through this hell if he had no intention of even taking the stand! At the very least, I was hoping that he would have had the tiniest piece of respect for Gemma and said that he did it because he cared about her, but he didn’t even have the balls to do that. My entire family was shattered and he didn’t offer a shred of an excuse for what he had put us all through.

Forrest had completely destroyed Gemma’s childhood and robbed her of her last year at school and all the friendships and memories she should have enjoyed. He had used her for his own sexual needs and then refused to stand in the witness box to explain why.

There was no declaration of love, no apology, nothing.

If he had stood up there and said that he had done all of this because he loved Gemma, then at least there would have been some kind of emotional excuse to consider. It was quite obvious to me, though, that he didn’t give a damn about her.

It seemed to me that Judge Michael Lawson, QC looked really annoyed. He told the jurors that they should come to their own conclusions as to why Forrest wasn’t taking the stand.

I felt anger in its purest form in a way that I have never felt before. My hands were sweating, my heart was going nineteen to the dozen, my lips were tight and I could almost hear the blood rushing around my head. I couldn’t take my eyes off him; I was absolutely raging.

For the defence team’s next trick, they then read out six character references about Forrest. They had been written by his sister, his uncle, someone he used to work with and some old friends of his. I say ‘friends’, but they were obviously not exactly close, as none of them had bothered to come to court to support him.

Each statement took about five minutes to read out, and each said what a lovely, gentle person he was. They alluded to the fact that he had been locked in a bad marriage and had suffered with depression, and seemed to be suggesting he had almost been driven to find comfort elsewhere. Even if that was the case, it couldn’t possibly justify what he did.

I can’t speculate on what kind of marriage he and Emily had. I have been through a divorce myself and I know how hard it can be, but it didn’t make me go out and commit a crime. The statements portrayed Forrest as someone who was weak and mentally disturbed and yet this was a man who
came from a very supportive family, who was well-educated and had held down a good job. What they were saying just didn’t add up.

Gemma was never once mentioned. If Forrest had said that he loved her, or that he wanted to marry her when he was able to, then perhaps, just perhaps, he would have had a tiny speck of an excuse. But there was nothing. The sum total of the defence was six pieces of paper; that was it. I kept trying to make sense of it. Why were we all sitting there?

All Forrest did was shuffle around a bit and wipe away a few crocodile tears.

Needless to say, when lunchtime came around, I was in a complete daze. The press pack seemed every bit as bewildered as we were. I remember turning to Chloe and saying, ‘How the hell am I going to get Gemma through this, when the man she loves and has given up everything for hasn’t got the balls to stand up and say he loves her?’

I was reeling. Gemma had done so much for Forrest by standing up in court and trying to clear his name, but he had given her no support whatsoever. He had merely used her as a tool in his defence, and was too spineless to stand up and prove that he loved her in return.

While his actions – or rather, lack of action – made me angry at first, I then began to feel sad for Gemma. I couldn’t begin to imagine how she would feel when she found out that he had opted not to give evidence in his defence. All that heartache and sadness, and he wouldn’t even stand up and say why he did it.

Then another thought struck me. Maybe now Gemma would start to see him for what he is, a shallow, self-centred excuse of a man, not the knight in shining armour who had
whisked her away so they could be together. This was a man with no thought for anyone but himself.

Richard Barton did not pull any punches when he made his closing statement that afternoon. His words summed up everything that I felt about Forrest. They were brutal and hard for me to listen to – this was my daughter he was talking about, after all – but each thing he said was phrased to have the maximum impact on the jury.

Forrest, he said, was a paedophile who had groomed my daughter, and his actions were a gross abuse of trust: ‘She trusted him with all her vulnerabilities and he was the figure of authority. He won’t be the first figure of authority who someone gets a crush on and he won’t be the last but part of the role of a figure of authority is that you do not take advantage of it … You do not expect your school to invite people to have sex with your underage daughter and you do not expect it to be the teacher.’

Some of his comments were directed at Forrest, some at the jury. Every word hit home hard.

‘You do not have to decide whether he was a paedophile; you may consider, in the context of what he did, that is not an inappropriate label for him. It is about his desires to have that young sexual flesh, to satisfy his own carnal lusts,’ he continued.

Some of the references to the evidence heard in court were almost too much to bear. Richard questioned how appropriate Forrest felt it was to send Gemma a photo of his ‘naked torso, lying on a sofa with his hands in his underpants’ and looked at him directly as he said: ‘How did you feel when the fourteen-year-old student, this vulnerable girl, sent you pictures of her naked breasts? What did you do with those photos?’

His words were designed to shock but then again, make no
mistake about it, this was a shocking crime. As Richard said, this was not a case of Romeo and Juliet because they were not equal partners in what had happened and Forrest had organised the situation.

With every point he made, my stomach churned. I had flashbacks to that day when the police questioned me about the incriminating photos on Gemma’s phone and Forrest’s pathetic call to me in which he had practically begged me to stop my daughter ‘being a pain’.

Richard also talked about Forrest’s wife Emily: ‘It is interesting to note the woman he chose to marry is a very young-looking, petite woman with her own vulnerabilities. What is that Jeremy Forrest finds attractive about young-looking, vulnerable women?

‘There is a word for it. It’s called grooming – being caring, being kind, being close, gaining confidence, gaining the trust of that person and then you can do what you want to do with them.’

Richard’s closing statement lasted a good hour at least, and he delivered it masterfully. He ended by saying to the jury: ‘I invite you to find him guilty as charged.’

Forrest’s parents held on to each other and looked devastated by what they had just heard. I felt mentally exhausted; every point he had made was like a stab in the heart. It was a brilliant closing statement, but it had been so very difficult to listen to.

When it was all over, we walked out of the court and none of us knew what to say to each other. Someone suggested we go for a coffee, but it was all just too much.

Enough words. Enough emotion for one day.

D
espite Richard Barton’s powerful closing statement, there was no guarantee that the trial would be over by the end of the week. We had no idea how long the jury would take to reach a verdict, so we had to start planning childcare in case it dragged on into a third week.

We knew that Ronald Jaffa would be giving his closing statement today. After that, there would be a statement from Judge Michael Lawson, QC, and then it would be time for the jury to consider its verdict. So it was back to court to hear what Forrest’s lawyer had to say. Maybe today would be the day when he finally came up with the masterstroke that would prove Forrest’s innocence.

When we arrived at court, Mark Ling and Neil Ralph pulled us aside to tell us that Gemma had turned up with the woman from Hertfordshire who had befriended her via Facebook. It was
so upsetting for me to hear that she had chosen to attend court with a parasite she hardly knew. It also showed how vulnerable she was. First Forrest preys on her and now this woman.

As we took our seats in the public gallery, Gemma sat on the side where Forrest’s parents always sat, but after a few minutes it became clear that the defence team didn’t want her there and so she left the courtroom. I don’t know what was said, but I felt so sorry for her, as I knew how much courage it must have taken for her to come in the first place. In any case, after a little while she came back into court again, clearly determined that she should be there.

The press later reported that we didn’t look at each other, but that wasn’t true. I looked over to her repeatedly that morning; it was, after all, the first time that I had seen her since she left home. I wanted to be sure she was OK, but all I got was dirty looks from the parasite. She didn’t even know me but she had the nerve to think that I would be remotely interested in what her thoughts were. If I could, I would have scrambled across the benches and given Gemma a big hug. She looked so sad, lost and drained. I saw her and Forrest smile at each other. To me, it was as if he was still trying to intimidate her and keep her in his grasp.

Maybe now, finally, Ronald Jaffa would deal his ace card.

But no. In his closing statement, he claimed that Gemma was feeling suicidal, that Forrest had only gone to France to keep her safe, and that he was a good man. ‘We humans find ourselves falling in love,’ Ronald Jaffa said, ‘even if we know it is inadvisable.’

That was the sum total of his defence – a few pathetic excuses for what Forrest had done. At no time did he give a reason why his client hadn’t taken the stand, and he seemed
to keep repeating himself as if he had run out of things to say.

People were getting fidgety in the court. Unlike Richard Barton, who had captured the evidence in such a clear, detailed way, Ronald Jaffa seemed to be floundering. ‘I bet this is costing Forrest thousands,’ I thought. ‘What a waste of money.’

Forrest’s relatives sat in the same anguished state as they had the day before, and I think everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Ronald Jaffa finished his closing statement. I kept glancing over at Gemma to see how she was taking it all. She looked so scared and vulnerable. It was an unbearable situation to be in. I can’t imagine how she coped with hearing what was to come next.

Judge Michael Lawson, QC then began his summing-up. He talked to the jury directly and made reference to the fact that the information that Gemma gave the police in the September, as shown in the video footage presented to the court, was very different to the evidence that she subsequently gave in court, and instructed the jury to consider why she had done that.

It was clear to all of us that Gemma had been influenced about what to say. There was no doubt in my mind that the parasites had got to her and that the account she presented in court had been changed to support Forrest’s defence.

Judge Michael Lawson, QC explained to the jury that they would have to consider that Forrest had acted ‘out of necessity’ and had taken her to ‘prevent imminent death or serious injury’ in order for them to acquit him. It was not, he added, Gemma’s right to leave her parents’ care without their permission – ‘Questions of sympathy, or lack of it, or emotional responses to the evidence are not for now.’

Just before he concluded, Judge Michael Lawson, QC told the jury that he wanted them to make a unanimous decision, but that he would consider a majority verdict of 10-to-2 if they were unable to do so.

It was now over to the 8 men and 4 women of the jury to consider their verdict. All we could do was wait.

By this stage, it was about 11.30am. Mark Ling told us that he would call us as soon as the jury had reached their decision and so we headed out to our favourite tearoom. Naturally, we all believed it was obvious that Forrest was guilty, but what if the jury believed Gemma’s courtroom testimony and disregarded her video evidence? I had to trust they would make the right decision and take on board everything that had been said.

After lunch, we wanted to stay close to the court, so we visited the hotel opposite for a cup of coffee. Someone mentioned to me that it was one of the hotels where Forrest had stayed with Gemma. Luckily, I didn’t have time to dwell on that little piece of information, as at that moment my phone rang: the jury was back.

Chairs toppled and cups went flying as we all scurried back to court.

I noticed Gemma walking into court, too, and she looked really despondent. None of us could believe how quickly the jury had reached their decision. We later found out that they had taken only 40 minutes to reach a verdict, but that the judge had allowed them an additional hour for lunch.

Sitting in the public gallery, my heart was pounding. I could almost feel it in my throat. Judge Michael Lawson, QC looked at Forrest, then me, then Gemma. He then turned to the foreman of the jury and asked if a unanimous decision had been reached.

The foreman confirmed that it had, and the judge spoke again: ‘How do you find the defendant?’

There was a short pause and we all held our breath. It seemed impossibly long to me, but it was probably no more than two seconds.

‘Guilty.’

My head fell forward as the tension dropped away and I squeezed Paul’s hand. I mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to the jury and then looked over towards Gemma. She was in floods of tears and was looking at Forrest. She said, ‘I’m sorry’, and he said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m fine.’ Apparently, he then mouthed the words ‘I love you’ before he was taken to the cells.

Gemma blamed herself for what had happened. We had got the result that we hoped for, but this was only the start of the healing process to come.

Outside the court, the press were very keen to speak to me and there was almost a celebratory atmosphere. But I was in no state to celebrate – I was so upset about Gemma and the fact that she was there with that woman that I practically ran down the hill to get to the car and drive home. I just wanted to get home as quickly as possible – it was heartbreaking.

Shortly after the verdict was delivered, Portia Ragnauth, deputy chief crown prosecutor for CPS South East, read the following statement on the steps of Lewes Crown Court:

Back home that night, there was quite a sombre mood in the house. We still had the sentencing to face and we had no idea how long Forrest would get. As the police had said, he had already spent so much time on remand, it was possible he could even walk free the next day.