Unravel a Crime - Tangle With Women (5 page)

It was a manuscript note at
the foot of another page of figures. It looked from the photocopy as if it had
been written in pencil.

"Hmmm."

"Not so good?" asked
Lisa.

"Well, if David is
Newberry, why would his name be referred in a note in what was quite clearly a
private document. Where did the Police get hold of this anyway?"

Lisa reached forward to the
separate bundle of witness statements on desk. Brakespeare was pleased to feel
the tip of her breasts touch his arm.

"Oh, yes here we are in
the index. Bundle XS 1 - documents removed from Jonathan Levy's office. Taken
by DC Durkin”

“
Durkin. That name rings a
bell.” mused Brakespeare.

"Look at what the summary
says next" said Lisa, who had been looking ahead.

3.3 By 3rd November 1987 Newberry
had lent £10,000.00 to the company (Exhibit XAC1.163) a figure also revealed in
March 1988 (Exhibit XAC1.316)

"Oh Jesus." said
Lisa.

"You may well be
right". Brakespeare replied. "Personally I would use a stronger
expletive. Let's look at these references."

The exhibit at page 23 turned
out to be a copy of a letter from Levy to Newberry acknowledging receipt of his
"loan cheque" for £10,000.00. Page 316 was a summary of the company's
capital and it's sources. Newberry's name was recorded against the figure of
£10,000.00.

Lisa stood back from
Brakespeare, and folded her arms.

"It does seem to me that
if Mr Newberry lent money to a company with whose properties he was involved in
the valuations, then he has some questions to answer." She said from behind
him.

"Well he sure has, but
that doesn't mean that he's necessarily in the mire."

"When I came in, you were
all doom and gloom about him. " She moved round to the front of the desk.

"Well I was, and still
am, but the trouble is that I like a good fight, and when I see evidence like
this, I start to think of ways around it all."

"Like"

"Like, yes he would
certainly have a conflict of interest, but that does not mean that he would
necessarily be involved in fraudulent valuations. There’s a big gap between
behaviour being slightly murky in character, and a criminal act."

Lisa stood in front of him,
and folded her arms. She put her head to one side and looked at him. "Mr.
Jonny Brakespeare. Do you think that a jury is going to believe that."

Brakespeare looked back at her
and smiled. He was beginning to find this girl very attractive.

"Let's pass on that one
and read on shall we?"

Almost obediently Lisa came
back to his shoulder as he picked up the Case Summary and read it out loud once
more.

4. He failed to disclose his
interest in the company to the Building Society, and knew that this was
compromising his employment;

4.1 In his own words in interview
'if they had come to the National it compromised my position.’ (Exhibit XI2.
147)

“
Whose ‘they’?” asked Lisa.

“
Clearfield, I presume.”

"Hold right there"
cried Lisa as she dived away to the files of evidence and came back with
another large volume which she put on Brakespeare’ s desk, and started to
navigate her way through the pages.

"Here we are; the Police
record of his interview. Have you read this?"

"Come off it"

"Just asking." She
smiled a knowing smile at him. They read the extract together. It was not quite
what the summary suggested. DC Durkin had asked.

To which Newberry had replied,

"Well, that’s certainly
not an admission. He’s talking conditionally." said Brakespeare. “Let’s
move on.”

“4.2 He valued 39 Hardenham Road
(Exhibit XBJ.9) in September 1988 and again on 12th November 1988 (Exhibit
XBl.38/45) “

The Exhibits recovered by Lisa
from the papers were valuations on National Building Society forms, with
Newberry's name typed in as the Valuer, and signed by him.

“5. Newberry was essential to the
smooth running of Levy's companies

5.1 See the letter he wrote to Clive
Holmes on 9th December 1988 (Exhibit XMA3. 1) “

The letter was in fact a
memorandum written on National Building Society stationery by Newberry to one
of his staff surveyors. It told Holmes that Clearfield properties was a valued
customer of the National, and could be relied upon to have "well thought
out" any schemes for which they borrowed.

“6. He valued cases which were
important to the Clearfield business.

6.1 for example 4 Croftfield Road.
(Exhibits XB4.9, 245) and 252). John Black when revaluing the property found
that it had been overvalued by almost 100% of it's true market value (see
Exhibits XSJ.247 - 249) “

"Well that's an
exaggeration." said Brakespeare "I looked at those figures earlier.
Look, here we are," he rummaged to find Black's statement and his notes,
"even Black only puts the overvaluation at 51%"

"It's how you look at the
figures, isn't it" said Lisa, from her position at his shoulder.
"Black valued Croftfield Road at £245,000.00"

"Newberry at
£500,000.00"

"Well that's twice as
much, so it would be a 100% increase"

"Yes, but look what Black
says; the difference is 51%; his valuation is 49% of Newberry's"

"Does it matter. Black's
is half of Newberry's, so Newberry's is twice as much as Black's. It's the same
thing. "

"Well, yes, but when
their own witness uses the 51% figure, and not 100%, it’s pretty poor show for
the Prosecution to exaggerate." He thumped the table in anger.

"You have a short fuse,
haven't you?"

"No"

Lisa shrugged her shoulders.
"I hate to think what you would be like if you had."

"I'll admit to being
prickly" said Brakespeare warming to the banter.

"OK, Mr. Prickly, I'll
accept that, but look, it gets worse. " She took over the reading.

“7. He accepted gifts and advantage
from Levy in breach of his Professional Code

7.1 He was flown to Gibraltar with
his family for two weeks at the expense of Clearfield (Exhibit XT 1 - 5)

7.2 He went with his wife and the
Levy's to Paris and the cost was met by Levy (Exhibit XT 16 - 20)

7.3 Some twelve months after the
settlement he went to Paris at Levy's expense with Mrs and Master Potter.
(Exhibit XT 35 -40) “

Brakespeare and Lisa looked
gloomily at the receipts and vouchers for airline tickets which Levy had
assiduously saved in his files until the day that the Police removed them from
his office.

"Well we're really down
to the nitty gritty." said Brakespeare. “Christ, what is the man doing
going on holidays paid for by Levy. What's this ‘settlement’ and who are Mrs
and Master Potter?"

"Doesn't it say what ‘the
settlement’ was?"

"Not that I’ve noticed
among these papers. Who wrote this?"

Brakespeare turned to the
back. It had the names of the three Prosecuting Counsel typed at the end; David
Edwards-Mitchell QC, Andrew Evans and Stephen Luke.

"Well I don't believe it
took a silk and 2 junior barristers to cobble this up." said Brakespeare.

"What's a silk?"

"Didn't they teach you
that at University? Queen's Counsel are known as Silks because that's what
their gowns are made of' “

“
And what are other barristers
gowns made of?”

“
Stuff – and solicitors gowns
too.”

“
Thank you for sharing that
with me.” Lisa acknowledged the unimportant information..

She stood next to him with her
hands on her hips, still looking at the case summary.

Brakespeare said nothing but
put his hands together as if in prayer, his forefingers on his lips, thinking.

Eventually she spoke. “You
were right; it’s not looking at all good for David Newberry.”

There was a knock at the door,
and Margaret's head appeared.

"Sorry, am I interrupting
something?" she asked looking rather pointedly at Lisa, still leaning over
Brakespeare.

"Only a wake."
Brakespeare replied.

Margaret looked puzzled..

"Mr. Newberry",
Brakespeare explained. "It looks as if he may be buried, if not
dead."

"Oh dear", said
Margaret. "He's just been on the telephone, wanting to know what is
happening. "

"Well, you'd better make
an appointment for him to come in and see me. I'm afraid that I have some bad
news for him. "

"Oh, well that's not very
nice is it. Unfortunately I'm afraid that you will have to go and see him. You
see, he has transport difficulties." She looked towards Lisa as if
unwilling to speak the unspeakable. "

Lisa came to her rescue.
"After he had been charged by the Police for these offences, David went on
a drinking binge, but unfortunately drove. He was stopped by the Police for
drink-driving and has been banned for 18 months."

"He lives in Malvern,
doesn't he. Isn't there a bus or something." asked Brakespeare.

Lisa and Margaret looked at
each other. Lisa walked to the front of the desk and smiled one of her smiles
and said, "I think that it's expected that you will go and see him."

Brakespeare shrugged his
shoulders. "Well as long as I get paid my travelling expenses, I can't
object. Just fix me an appointment - I'll go. "

"How long will you
need?" asked Margaret. Brakespeare sucked his teeth. "Hard to know.
Depends what he has to say. I think I'm going to have to advise him to plead
'Guilty'" .

"You can't do that."
said Lisa quickly.

"Why not?"

Lisa shuffled her feet.
"Perhaps you should have a word with Mr. Mortimer."

"I think that's probably
best." agreed Margaret. "I'll call Mr. Newberry back and tell him
that you'll be over."

"Make it in the morning.
"

"Ten o'clock?"

"Fine - make it for the
whole morning." He glanced at Lisa. "I'll see Mr. Mortimer." and
left the room.

Mortimer looked grave when
Brakespeare came into his office and explained to him what he had read of the
prosecution case so far.

"So what's the bottom
line, Jonny?"

"Well it's an uphill
struggle. First we have the discrepancy in valuations. 1 know that at this
stage it is one man's word against another, but this chap Black is not going to
stick his name on a valuation unless he is pretty confident about it. Add to this
the fact that it looks as if Newberry did have a connection with Clearfield,
and therefore might stand to gain from any fiddle. At the very least Mr.
Newberry has got a lot of explaining to do. "

"So who else is involved
in this conspiracy?"

"Well there's Levy of
course, who is the man behind Clearfield. and Simon Simmons ... "

"Levy's solicitor."

"You know him?!"

"Of him.

"So there you have the
picture. The eternal triangle that you need for a mortgage fraud. A bent
mortgagee borrowing money - Levy; a bent surveyor – Newberry; a bent solicitor
– Simmons."

Mortimer frowned. "Only
David is not bent; not at all. I think we had better include that word
'alleged' somewhere." He gave Brakespeare a stern glance.

"Sorry - of course, but
you get the picture?"

"Get the picture?” said
Mortimer, thinking about the statement. “Yes, I do indeed." he said
heavily.

Brakespeare could not
understand why Mortimer seemed so annoyed with him. It was almost a classic
case of the messenger being shot. Newberry must be of more importance to the
firm than he had understood. Mortimer frowned at his desk, deep in thought.
Brakespeare waited for him. Eventually Mortimer looked up; his lips pursed.

"So your next step is to
see David?"

"Yes, Margaret is making
an appointment for me to go and see him tomorrow. "

"Good. Well, I hear all
that you say, but I am sure that you will agree that before any advice is given
to David as to how he should plead, you need will to hear his version of
events."

"Oh, sure, but I think he
ought to know what we think. "

Mortimer looked at him
sternly.

"No, I don't think that's
right. You may think that he ought to plead “Guilty”, Jonny after a first look
at the file, but 'we', and 'we' have known David for a number of years do not.
Can I suggest that you avoid any conclusions until you have looked at the whole
file in detail, and have heard what David has to say.