Unfaithful (47 page)

Mr. Clifford urge
d the jury to take Mark's stories and examine them closely to see if they stood up. "There are a few different stories going on at the same time and it’s obvious that Henry Whitington-Smyth is a complete figment of Mr. McNamara’s imagination."

The tense courtroom listened as
Mr. Clifford continued. "Rebecca McNamara's affection, loyalty and trust yielded nothing more than deception, betrayal and humiliation in response from Mark McNamara. This was a man who cheated on his wife multiple times and who didn't appreciate being found out. He wasn't willing to accept the consequences of his actions so instead he decided to take matters into his own hands. The lives of his wife, Penelope Garrett and Shona Morgan were to be snuffed out because they got in the way of his greed. Last of all and equally tragic is his son, Christopher, who has been sitting here day after day, looking crushed and angry. Mark McNamara has betrayed his own son. There's tragedy in all of this." He concluded his speech with a quote from Shakespeare; "a man may smile and smile and be a villain."

Shortly after
Mr. Clifford completed his closing speech, Mark McNamara's barrister, Gerald Loftus, rose to his feet. "My client maintains his innocent plea. He voluntarily took the witness box and answered the questions. He is not blind, deaf or dumb. He saw witness after witness taking the stand and he knew what was coming. The decisions on the charges should not be taken lightly or flippantly."

Then he went on to the phone records which were mentioned during the trial and pointed out that two phone calls had been made from Cois Farraige, Mark's family home, to
London, on the evening of Wednesday, April 27
th
when Mark McNamara was out of the country. Who made that call? Nobody took the time to pay any attention to parts of Mr. McNamara's story. Nobody took the time to go through every single phone call."

Mr. Loftus
then referred to the email evidence which had been introduced. "According to the police, the "devils-revenge" email account was set up on Wednesday, March 30th at the office of M&R Photography. Supposedly, Mark McNamara was sitting in the office at that time on that day. However, he received a phone call from the office to his mobile phone at 11.21 that morning. The inference is that Mr. McNamara was not in the office at that stage. Christopher McNamara phoned his father on his mobile at 1.15 p.m. If the Prosecution is capable of analysis of cell site, why did they not retrieve information to tell us where Mark was located? It wasn't done and that's a critical part of the case which is absent."

Mr. Loftus
then paused for dramatic effect which gave the jury an opportunity to digest exactly what he was saying. "The investigation was flawed. The police picked up the idea and ran with it. Maybe they were thrilled to be going back and forth to England, working with Scotland Yard. Nobody even stopped for a moment to consider the alternative. It's interesting to note that the police declined the opportunity to make a liar out of Mr. McNamara in relation to the Henry Whitington-Smyth story. I thought we were going to get cell site analysis, but nobody bothered to take the time to go through the phone records with a ruler and a highlighter, why not?"

Mr. Loftus
stressed that Rebecca McNamara had written to the Director of Public Prosecutions, expressing her concern about what was going on. “Mrs. McNamara wrote that she had known her husband for more than twenty years and although he was by no means perfect there was no way that he would ever physically harm anyone. She also explained that Mark had helped her through her post-natal depression and that in her opinion the whole thing was a scam by Savannah Kingston, Daniel Williams and Henry Whitington-Smyth to extort money from her husband.

The Prosecution's case, while it appears comprehensive, is not. You cannot be sure
that Mr. McNamara did anything alleged by the Prosecution. My client says he has been put through hell and back. His family has been torn asunder. He's been pilloried in the community and ridiculed in the media. There's a momentum in this case which is almost free-wheeling to a conviction and you cannot allow this to happen. Put the brakes on," he urged the jury.

“
There are several discrepancies in the police notes of Mr. McNamara's interviews compared with the video evidence. It is possible that someone else may have written the emails. Mr. McNamara is telling the truth about Henry Whitington-Smyth and was indeed a victim of blackmail. If he is guilty why would he have voluntarily taken the stand and humiliated himself, his wife and his son? Wouldn't it have been easier to have pleaded guilty? It is imperative that you look long and hard at the facts. I urge you not to slavishly accept the computer evidence. I'm asking you to examine the inconsistencies which were found in the Prosecution's case. Nobody paid any attention to Mark McNamara's story.”

Mr. Loftus’
ninety minute speech brought to an end an emotional day. It was five o' clock when the day's proceeding drew to a close. The case was nearing a conclusion and the courtroom was filled with tension.

The court sat early the following morn
ing and it was the turn of Mr. Kiely to make his closing speech on behalf of his client, Savannah Kingston who had decided not to take the witness stand. Mr. Kiely raised his strong voice several times during his fifty-six minute speech. He began by referring to the charges which the jury had to decide upon and then spoke about the identification of Ms. Kingston in the identification parade. "Penelope Garrett opened the door late at night to a woman who she had never seen before. They had a brief conversation. A request was made for money, indicating that there was a contract on her life and her friends' lives. This is the arrival of who the Prosecution claims is Ms. Kingston into their lives. Shona Morgan was looking out the side door. The Prosecution has to establish that this was Ms. Kingston and in order to do so they must rely on the witnesses who were there. What if Ms. Garrett simply incorrectly described that person? After all, it was dark when the visitor arrived. This is the opening shot in the State's case against Ms. Kingston. One of the most fundamental building blocks of a criminal trial is identification and that's where the case against Ms. Kingston starts and where it might end."

The cour
troom listened intently to Mr. Kiely's riveting closing speech. "The Prosecution claimed there was nobody else apart from Mr. McNamara who could have sent the emails from "devils-revenge" but the State has never said that there was anybody other than Savannah Kingston who could have sent those emails. Nobody was going to murder anyone. Their intention was a "shakedown", nothing else. Mr. Williams was involved in a similar "shakedown" in England and there was no charge of conspiracy to murder brought there. Maybe Scotland Yard takes a more hard-nosed approach and they don't get carried away.

Mr. Clifford said that the ricin element was dramatic and the tip off came from Mr. Williams. Ms. Kingston denies the ricin claim. How did the contact lens get into her cell? It's a prison, things are supposed to be checked as they come in and out. My client is the scapegoat in this case. You should be under no illusions that Mark McNamara is the main defendant while my client is being dragged along behind him. Clearly, Savannah Kingston was after money, not out to murder anyone. It was a clownish operation run by clowns in the hope of hooking fools; nothing more, nothing less.”

There were a few sniggers in the public
gallery at his analogy. “My client was by no means the only person who had access to the phones and computers seized from the apartment in London. The only person with a criminal record in this case is Daniel Williams, someone who had a vested interest in giving damning evidence against Savannah and someone whose word should not be trusted. Their scheme was clumsy and foolish with an asinine plot. I implore you to treat Savannah Kingston with justice and discretion and not be swayed by the grand accusations of the Prosecution.

It was soliciting, not a conspiracy. They know that the conspiracy
to murder charge is a bridge too far, it's as simple as that and nothing that Daniel Williams would say could change that fact. Mr. Williams says that the intention was murder yet he didn't have a clue as to how the murder was to actually take place. Evidence cannot be welded together by self-serving perjury. I say it was a fraud operation from start to finish. It wasn't dial "M" for murder it was dial "M" for money."

The
task was then left to Judge Enright to sum up the evidence and charge the jury. The judge spent much of his time recapping the evidence that had been presented during the case. He concluded by saying that "evidence against one is not evidence against the other. It's a matter of fact, not of emotion. You've got to set aside your feelings and your personal views on alleged actions by any of the parties. Consider the evidence as coolly, as dispassionately and objectively as you can. Leave aside your prejudices and deal with the facts."

The jury raised a query on the conspiracy to murder charges which the judge addressed. "The matter is
simple at one level but more complex when you get down to it. It takes at least two to conspire. One would have thought it followed logic; if there is a failure to prove against one, automatically there is a failure to prove against the other. Where there is doubt, the benefit of that doubt must be given to the accused."

The judge concluded h
is charge to the jury while a strained, pale-faced Mark McNamara listened intently to every word. The end was near and the trauma was clearly visible on his face. The jury retired from the courtroom to begin its deliberations; deliberations which would take more than eighteen hours over three days before the curtain was drawn on the trial.

The worry
was palpable for Mark, Shona, Penelope and Rebecca while Savannah Kingston showed no sign of the strain that was in evidence on her co-accused's face. There was standing room only in the courtroom as police and legal personnel involved in the case, interested onlookers and an increasing posse of journalists packed closely together in the near-suffocating conditions.

The jury was recalled at seven o' clock that evening and was se
nt to a hotel for the night. Judge Enright told them he would recharge them in the morning on matters. "Take it easy this evening. Don't bother deliberating. Relax and have a drink; you are entitled to it," the judge told the weary jury before they finally left the courtroom ten minutes later.

The courtroom
quickly emptied and the stress subsided for the evening, but for the two defendants, the waiting continued. It would be several days before Savannah Kingston and Mark McNamara learned their fate and even longer before they would discover the price they had to pay.

Chapter 17

The convoluted story of Mark McNamara and Savannah Kingston had unfolded in front of the jury and packed courtroom and as the trial had continued the number of people who came to catch a glimpse of the two conspirators grew steadily. Onlookers whispered at the back of the courtroom as they peered at the long wooden bench facing the jury, where every day the defendants took their seats.

"Isn't she a pretty little thing?" they would whisper.

"Do you think he did it?"

As the weeks went on
the salacious details emerged and their numbers grew. Many of them were the same people who came to watch every high profile murder trial. The anorak-wearing pensioners, who always brought a plentiful supply of sandwiches and flasks of tea, had their seats staked out. They had turned up to watch the main event and as the weeks wore on, they certainly weren't disappointed.

Mark wasn't remotely interested in the inquisitive spectators. Every morning he arrived in
court impeccably dressed in. His dark hair was well-cut but he looked a different man to the arrogant person who had turned up to his first court appearance. He had lost a lot of weight since his original arrest and the angles of his face were now clearly visible. He seemed harder and sharper, unsurprisingly as he was close to losing everything that he had spent a lifetime building up.

During the early
days of the trial Christopher waited for him in the lobby of the courtroom where he would arrive after his daily consultation with his legal team. Chris was suited like his father but looked more like his mother. When Mark joined him there was time for a few moments shielded from the prying eyes in the partial shadow of the curved leather bench which was tucked beneath the stairwell. There were never any other supporters and as the trial progressed and the evidence against his father mounted, Chris' support waned. Mark didn't have any friends remaining; after all he was involved in the sort of scandal that seldom touched the civilised middle class lives of his peers.

Mark would usually head into court after checking that his co
-defendant, Savannah Kingston had already taken her seat. Every morning he would build a defensive fort of stationery in front of him. He would place his black briefcase on the table which held the original statements from the day's witnesses. Then out came the pens, neatly placed within easy reach. Next, out came the mints and gum on which he had constantly chewed as he listened to the evidence. He would place a large notepad on top of his briefcase and as the day progressed, he would write a steady stream of notes. Every now and then he tore off the top few pages which he neatly folded and passed to his legal team.